The fun cannon starts. Wright on the bench 📋 Our 11 Royal Blues to face @borussia_en! 🔵⚪#s04 #S04BMG pic.twitter.com/uwLTzKTaEq— FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) February 2, 2019
The lineup graphic on FS2 indicates he'll be playing CF. So that should be interesting. He has anomalously good heading ability for a stocky guy, but Schalke are really grasping at straws after all the fw attrition. To wit, good chance Wright receives significant playing time, coming on for McKennie, or transferring him to another position. Haji has been as lucky as could be with all these opportunities.
Sure looks like it in the first 3 minutes. Schalke's style of play is painful to watch though. McKennie as a CF is a good representation of that.
Made a matchday thread so this doesn't get clogged up: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/mc...johnson-bench-2-2-schalke-v-gladbach.2095113/
Training staff are lifting Mckennie's legs so it could be a calf or hamstring injury #S04— Schalke 04 Canadian Fan Club (@Schalke_Canada) February 2, 2019
Only watched the first half. Schalke was very disciplined in Defense, Caliguri was good, but they did not have much in the way of ideas going forward.
Hope we get an update soon. Frustrating to watch that entire match then see him get injured on the last touch of the game
Man, that team is over-coached, no flow to their play, night aggression in their runs. Why not play Bentaleb high with his skill and lack of speed? No lo comprendo
Awkward fall, where McKennie seemed to twist his left knee as he went OOB. Didn't look too bad, as he looked to be getting up; then thought better of it, and laid back down. I think he was just being cautious.
I have no idea what that formation was. It seemed custom-made to marginalize Schalke's creativity. Was defensively good 1st half though - didn't see second.
Bentleb is so good on the ball. Anyone listen to Univision? Female play by play person was top notch, fun to listen. Weston as CF was weird but happy he’s on the field. He worked his butt off but was beat by 75’, and man down made it brutal. Couple nice plays and amazing work rate.
But he was behind Uth like 80% of the time - and not just a little behind. He played more like an AM most of the first half - only the top man on a few pressing movements. I saw it listed as a 4-4-2 with Wes and Uth up top and as a 4-5-1 with McKennie up top, but if anything it played the 1st half as a 4-5-1 with Wes behind Uth, or a 4-4-2 with Wes withdrawn (though he was back deep a lot.) Anyway, he's a smart player, knows how to use his body (at one point he did good work on a Monchen corner kick to get his body to the attacker even as he was out jumped to take some pace off the header.) His passing could be sharper.
i get the same impression i do every time i watch. i love mckennie as a player, and its impressive that he can and will play so many spots. but also- their coach is a dumbass for throwing him into whatever opening they have that day (rather than just nurturing a fantasic young 8. use all the broken down veteran players to clog holes) and they are not a fun team to watch. at all.
Tedesco=Klinsman. Tinkerer without solid plan. So, let's not get scored on? WM at cf is not really playing to his strength. As others have pointed out, Bentleb is not being used to his strength either. I won't go on, but something is not working.
I agree. When I watch Wes I get the feeling he's working hard, but he rarely imposes himself on the game.
And in the 1st half it seemed like Caliguri was the most creative player on the field for Schalke at times. They seem to have the players, to be mid-table, but lack a bit of special.
I think the only reason Tedesco is still around is because of his results last year and how far they’ve gotten in CL. Did they get a CF in the Jan transfer window?
To be fair to him, they lost a tremendous amount of talent seemingly without viable replacements. Goretzka, Meyer, Kehrer, Howedes, and Naldo all gone