I somehow missed this but that is extremely impressive. The only other academy player was Fleckstein, who started at CB. I'd really like to see a playback of this game since something tells me that Nick has progressed a lot since we've last seen him. A winter camp seems likely, especially with not a lot of depth on the wing. EDIT: Here's a little review video thing. Starts with Nick's assist and ends with a Weston assist.
Agreed about his potential to train with the full team in winter camp. Harit seems like a pretty good player, and Konoplyanka is fairly solid....dont think they have much on the wings aside from those two though.
It was, even more impressive is that the cross was with his non dominant foot. Channeling his inner Pulisic two-footedness on that one
Played 90 (subbed off in minute 90) in a 3-1 win. Hard to tell exactly what his contribution was because the translations aren't exact for the Reviersport ticker, but it does seem like he drew the penalty for goal 1 and had an assist on goal 2. There wasn't much of a description of goal 3, so I don't know what his contribution was, other than he didn't score it. I'm having trouble figuring out the formation though, I'm counting 3 defenders, 1 CM, and outright 6 attackers, so there's a chance Nick might've been playing out of position. There's also a chance the coach knows Schalke's just so much better than the teams they play, so he can play a crazy formation.
Formation was confusing but Nassim who usually plays midfield played at left back. Played 4 in the back. 4-3-3 with a withdrawn 10. Nick got the pk and the assist. It was a good game for him as the crowd gave him a clap when subbed off. He is playing better and better and may possibly see some light. Tedesco likes him a lot.
Starkes Solo + Vorlage zum 2:1, @NTaitague! #U19 #schmiede #s04 pic.twitter.com/4b98YKAN4X— Knappenschmiede (@knappenschmiede) September 10, 2017 Do you have any insight on what position Nicks been playing lately? His coach seems to have a preference for him out wide but w/ his skillset I'd be really curious to see what he looks like more central
Nick plays the winger on this team. He was originally signed to play the 10 but after the first couple of games. Norbert used him as the winger. Nick uses moves and is very fast. Quick. Nick had to learn to play defense as wingers are outside wide middies. He flips with Jason or Nassim to play central sometimes but they like him attacking. Also, Schalke found out that Nick was being fouled aggressively, I guess they learned from all of the US Youth national team games that he won a PK in almost every game. He is a midfielder and until there is a better attacker on the wing, then this is the way to stretch the field and get the best players on the field. Interesting to see him progress to also see him with Christian...they are good friends in Germany so there will be instant familiarity as they somewhat play similar. I think Christian has been a great role model for him. Personally, he is effective in the middle, but he uses a lot of scissors and step overs to create space on the wing. Fun to watch and is spoken highly of from Schalke.
I try not to get too excited about prospects, I really do....but I think we have something here. Quick feet, two footed and tricky on the dribble. He ran right by 4 guys on that assist...excellent skill there. His legs look pretty sturdy, and with that low center of gravity and ability to dribble he reminds me of....Hazard. Yeah, I said it. Now if only he could become half the player Eden is, then we'd be in business
Here is another clip that I found that reminded me of that dribbling. It was about 2 years ago against Czech. http://imgur.com/aBQ6fOw
Very nice, he's right footed so that makes the finish even better. I was channeling my inner unproductive-self today and came across a recent preseason game against Real Madrid's U-19 squad. Taitague is all over the highlights, really shows off his quick burst...he's number 7 in the video.
Better angles on Nicks PK win and assist, had a shot on goal as well - Tore & Highlights vom 3:1 der #U19 gegen @f95! #schmiede #s04 pic.twitter.com/hOOANWhOdF— Knappenschmiede (@knappenschmiede) September 12, 2017
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/NTaitague">@NTaitague</a> vs <a href="https://twitter.com/VfLBochum1848eV">@VfLBochum1848eV</a> U19! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/S04?src=hash">#S04</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Knappenschmiede?src=hash">#Knappenschmiede</a> <a href="https://t.co/yTCHtVa6mT">pic.twitter.com/yTCHtVa6mT</a></p>— maaj1904 (@maaj1904YT) <a href="@NTaitague vs @VfLBochum1848eV U19! 💪💙🔥#S04 #Knappenschmiede pic.twitter.com/yTCHtVa6mT— maaj1904 (@maaj1904YT) September 17, 2017 ">September 17, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Just watching the video made me know that someone would call him scrappy. He has all the traits: white, short, and quick feet.
What about the bolded made it more likely that someone would call him scrappy. The other yes but white?