Wright at 6'4 and bulked is asked to play outside of the 18-yard box like if he was 5'6 player. Strange.
45+: long ball to Wright that he was a little passive in pursuing, and he's beaten to the ball by Baumann flying out 40 yards from his goal. If Haji had gotten a touch, Schalke almost certainly would have scored.
I'm not seeing the urgency to win 50-50's, instincts to make slashing/diagonal runs that are timely, poise on the ball (normally a strength), and anticipation or consistent effort in pressuring. Needed to seize more on this opportunity. A teammate could have picked up his head and found him more often, but nevertheless. Hopefully he's not yanked at halftime. Otherwise not long before he's relegated to reserves which would be limbo. He's sort of at a crossroads right now. This is before the WTW. If it doesn't happen with the first team in the next couple of weeks in the midst of all their attrition, he and they should be angling for a 3. BL loan.
The trust isn’t there for Wright. I get that. But the dude has literally been wide open making decent runs. They need to find him and he needs to be screaming at the top of his lungs and less passive. If he doesn’t get yanked at halftime due to no fault of his own, I hope those runs can be rewarded. What’s the worse thing that can happen?
This is awful to watch. Schalke's midfielders have 0 creativity or a decent first touch. This play here ended up bouncing off of the defenders leg. The attacker never even turned his head toward Haji, who was running down that side unmarked for 30 yards This shot, predictably, ended up rifling into the defenders leg and bouncing away, while another attacker stands completely unmarked 10 yards away. It's genuinely infuriating stuff. He's had a couple of rough touches, but the only balls that have been played to Haji are ones that are 50/50 with defenders, into a crowd, and with no one with the ability to actually play with the ball on the ground.
Haji probably committed a handball, but it wasn't called. No matter; Ozcipka commits a far worse handball 2 seconds later. Penalty for Hoffenheim.
61:00: Haji attempts a run, turns it over, Hoffenheim drives the other way, forcing Sane into a foul and a yellow card. I feel bad for Haji; he clearly isn't at this level.
The whole midfield and attack has been awful. It's very rare that you see a professional soccer team with this little flair or creativity. It's like watching 11 defensive midfielders.