Not much of note: - Won the ball back in midfield and earned a free kick in the 75th - Switched with Wood and played centrally around the 81st. Later switched back.
Starting (with Bobby Wood) in a friendly: 👀👀👀 Sebastian Soto and Bobby Wood starting up top for Hannover in their frienldy with Zulte-Waregem ‼️‼️‼️ https://t.co/mdU2F1EnyP— Yanks Abroad (@usmnt_abroad) January 9, 2019
seems like he played 46 minutes in what ended up as a 3-3 draw. https://www.hannover96.de/aktuelles/news/details/24487-wildes-33-nach-03-im-test-gegen-waregem.html 99 striker Hadzic from II scored the 1st goal in a comeback draw as H96 were down 3-0.
This Hannover squad is really poor. I suspect there were more than a couple of youth players on the field for this game. Soto was not impressive. His movement was okay and overall mobility was not bad, but that would have been the highlight of his 45 minutes. Physically, he is completely overmatched at this level, which really affects his hold up play. He is not very good defensively -- angles and coordination with the right back and midfielders were off and his individual battles were mostly lost. Looked a little timid the few times that he was in possession. I'd say his prospects for playing first team minutes are minimal this season. He might make the bench toward the end of the season, but I wouldn't have expectations for anything more than that. He's a skilled player, but there is a big adjustment to football at this level that will take him at least several more months to make if he is able to at all.
Soto was the only youth player in the starting XI. 6 of the 11 starters also started the last game of the Hinrunde for Hannover, the other 4 have made, respectively, 8, 10, 11 and 12 Bundesliga appearances this season. It was a potential first choice squad outside of Soto. And while I wouldn't say Soto blew the doors off, I'd generally disagree with your characterization of his performance. The ball didn't come his way a lot, but he was generally assured in his link-up play. Got a foot to a ball over the top and couldn't control it but it would have been an amazing touch if he had. He won his share of 50/50 duels. Defensively, he put in the work and won the ball back a couple of times. That said, you may well be right that he won't make a gameday roster until later this spring.
Thanks for the info. That is pretty shocking that this was a first team Bundesliga squad. I didn't see the things the positives that you did. The run that led to the ball over the top, yes. But he didn't bring that ball down so it's hard to credit him for anything else on that play. I'd press you for actual clips on other positive moments if this were a serious scouting meeting, but this is BS... Lots of shaky moments that I would show if this were a true evaluation. I saw one good layoff, but that is completely expected at this level rather than being noteworthy. Another couple of giveaways and some stuff off the ball that clearly shows he's in an adjustment period. He was passed through a few times (at least partly his teammates at fault there also), unable to prevent at least one dangerous cross from his man and unable to prevent his man from playing much at all, and mostly obsolete in 50/50 duels, especially when it was played long out of the back. None of this is a huge deal, and somewhat what you might expect from a youth player in his first start with the first team. Just my take on his 45 mins today...
I did a little GIF thread. I've got GIFs of Sebastian Soto's 45 minutes in a friendly for Hannover, if anyone's curious. Some bad, some good. He was in an XI of first team regulars, and played on the wing, which hasn't been his position since he joined RSL's academy 3 years ago.Loose touch here. pic.twitter.com/472qulamJE— scuffed (@scuffedpod) January 10, 2019 Rewatching it after reading your review, @don Lamb, the instances of him being passed through really did stick out. As I note in the thread, though, that pretty much stopped after about 20 minutes, and we gotta give him a little leeway because he hasn't been a winger for three years. I saw two good layoffs, two times where he won possession back, two giveaways that were clearly his fault, two good linking passes down the wing, one instance of decent holdup that resulted in lost possession but you'd have to split the blame between him and the intended target for the pass. I still think he was about 50/50 on duels. His movement was ok. Should have probably shown to the penalty marker early in the match for the cutback but instead drifted to the back post. The fact that Hadzic, the 19-year-old striker from Hannover II, came on and scored in the second half may push Soto down the pecking order a little bit but I'm more optimistic about Soto getting in a gameday roster earlier this spring than you are. Guess we'll see!
Thanks for putting together @zlebmada ! Mostly agree with the overall assessment. He certainly made some adjustments, and it had to be a big learning experience for him in his first start. The questions concerning the quality around him and the uncertainty of what happens in the club if they go down are bigger concerns to me than this 45 minutes was. Are those good ingredients for a positive developmental environment?
He subbed on late in the friendly against Heracles Almelo. Schlussphase läuft gegen @HeraclesAlmelo: Die jungen Talente Soto, Hadzic, Klar und Aytun machen noch mal richtig Tempo. #H96HER #H96 #NiemalsAllein ⚫️⚪️💚— Hannover 96 (@Hannover96) January 13, 2019
scored once against Havelse (one of the worst teams in Nord/Nordost) in 4-1 win. Neiss also scored a double and currently tied with Soto with 11 goals for H96.
Highlights start at 3:13 Soto does his work in the second half, getting behind the defense on long balls for both the assist (square ball for a tap in) and the goal.
https://tv.dfb.de/video/15-spieltag-staffel-nord-nordost-alle-spiele-alle-tore/24273/ Nope, just a dumb poster on a Tuesday morning.
scored once in a 4-2 win over Union Berlin U19. His teammate Neiss scored a double in this game and is now leading the U19 Nord/Nordost scoring charts.
Hoping he keeps improving. Felt a bit too good to be true that he’d start playing first team ball after the winter break. Unless they get relegated that may have been the best opportunity for him.
scored once in a trashing 5-1 loss to Hertha U19. lol 4/5 goals scored by Hertha were PKs scored by the same player.
17th place Hanover loses 1-5 to 16th place Stuttgart to fall 5 points behind. They are almost certain to go down next season.