If Hoppe keeps it up I’m not worried if Schalke go down, he’ll have plenty of suitors. Especially because Schalke can’t just hold onto him even if they wanted to.
Uth can find the bench to make room for Huntelaar. Max Meyer can pass the ball and will replace someone in that horrible midfield. Not sure it's anywhere near enough but it's a start. No way they bench Hoppe until they're for sure relegated. Then they'll pull an Arsenal because Hoppe won't be playing for them next season.
They need to fix that midfield! Harit was a shell of himself.. Still all the positive attention on him for his goal is great. Endorsements must be coming in too, is he with Nike/adidas etc?
You have a point but wouldn't he have to be doing the other stuff too and be influential in other ways if was not scoring in the academy yet still got called up to the 1st team?
I thought Schalke had called him because they'd run out of other options? They hadn't thought enough of him to extend his contract which expires in June.
Seems there were two issues. 1) He was apparently having some Landon Cali adjustment issues. 2) A sizeable group didnt rate him. Gross disagreed and brought him in as soon as he saw him. just to be clear this info is reading between hardcore schalke fans and local papers, so ymmv.
What's the German press saying about him? I would assume more people in the club and beyond are beginning to rate him, no? I can see the homesickness issues. Germany is nothing like sunny southern California.
I haven't seen enough in the German press to get a feel. Yes, there was a lot of noise about the hattrick, but nothing really about him overall. I get the sense that he is still an unknown in the long run. The local paper just mentioned that the Hoppe scored against Frankfurt when there was a misunderstanding between defender/goalie. No other mentions for Hoppe. https://gelsenkirchener-zeitung.de/zwei-schritte-vor-ein-schritt-zurueck/ In other news, Huntelaar should be available to play against Köln: https://www.kicker.de/schalke-rueck...l-schon-gegen-koeln-dabei-sein-794942/artikel
I didnt save the links. Right now I am sort of working on a project (see Sanogo thread on Academy) Asomoah is a fan.... at least now he is, but generally all of Schalke was down on him and that is why they didnt resign him. Then came Gross and exposed an already radiant managerial and professional incompetency. I could write a manifesto on German entitlement teams. Kaiserslautern, HSV, Schalke, Hertha... Bremen soon. Red Bull is an affront to their natural order.
Berhalter’s‘s reaction to the hat trick seemed to reflect some skepticism about Hoppe’s game. There was something to the effect of “he’s great in transition but let’s see what he can do against us that defense.“ I don’t know if Greg had already seen him and just didn’t write him, or what.
I'm getting the sense you didn't read my post. Sargent makes perfectly fine runs, or have you not missed the billion different references to runs where he simply doesn't get the pass, isn't seen, or the cross or pass is totally botched. I know you think you just smashed an eephus pitch into the stands, but all you've said is what I have been pointing out from the jump, Hoppe's runs have been supported by clever balls from harit and a beautiful chipped pass this week from somebody, Sargent literally never see's any of that. If you want to pretend that's because he doesn't know wtf he's doing with his runs and Werder Bremen are producing a litany of chances, and he's too clueless to make the right run, or to finish properly, feel free to do so, but it's a fools errand to make such an assumption, not the least because if he was making dullard runs and was utterly clueless his coach would've benched him months ago. He hasn't. Anyway, very happy for Hoppe, hope he gets called in and given a legit chance to be a part of the 4 and even start if he continues to play like this and trains well w/the club. I want fully open doors at Forward because nobody has earned the right to have their name written in ink.
Had to rep your post. I learned a new term! I thought this was some type of archaic soccer field reference. LOL
Yes. Up to the minute he scored that first goal against Hof, everybody in Gelsenkirchen was questioning Gross' sanity for playing him.
No news of Schalke extending his contract yet? The fans expect Schalke to make a low offer, and if he doesn't take it, they expect Hoppe to put on a display with enough goals to save them anyway, since he'll be playing to get interest. https://www.schalker-block5.de/index.php?thread/54782-matthew-hoppe/&pageNo=13
This why they can only sign 37 year old Huntelaar for six months, as well. Their (mostly) abject rejection of reality of what management and the fans themselves has done is.... Alex Jonesian.
What can Schalke really offer? Aren't they truly broke? I'm sure simply not being relegated is the best they could hope for. Hoppe should def resist any extensions and play to get a far better club and $$ interested in him.