Hoppe now Brough: Back at Middlesbrough FC

LOL... Hoppe is not only better than Bulter (hands down), he is also better than Terodde. If you have watched him play with Schalke and then now in Gold Cup, dude is easily a top 5 league player. He needs to get a new contract and go play in England or back in the Bundi! He is too good and has shown much class and a lot of sauce!

 

Anywhere he wanted? Picking between Real Madrid and Barca?

 

I am sure I have watched more Hoppe at Schalke than you including Schalke II matches.

The disconnect is that Schalke is not standing in the way of Hoppe leaving and are asking E5M to E7M which is peanuts for a 20yo striker with a high ceiling. Bremen is asking E10M for Sargent.

 

The problem is most teams just don't have money to justify spending it on a guy they feel is still unproven. Better players from France are going to sell because those teams desperately need the money. I'm sure Hoppe will still go somewhere but I get why there's reticence on the part of buyers for him.

 

Which is progress on their part, no?

 

I must have missed you on all the pbp threads last year.

Just because a club says they want x, does not mean another club will pay x. Eg Sargent will be lucky to get 6 million and if so, it will be because they don't want him as a striker.

Also these € valuations are set by Transfermarkt with significant influence from posters in Germany.

I should know, as I tried to influence Hoppe's price on Transfermarkt BEFORE he signed that idiotic contract renewal.

 

They brought in a lot of journeymen. It's enough talent to get promoted but they have no chemistry. I expected a rough start and that seems like it's happening.

I hope Hoppe leaves before end of transfer window.

 

Well, look on the bright side. if there's no chemistry and their record on the morning of August 28th reads something like P4 W0, D2, L2 it should help Matt get PT that evening

 

Yeah, I think he'll be fine with PT if he stays

 

Buy Hoppe, be happy.

 

Hell of a game from Hoppe today.

 

The more I see of him the more Clint Dempsey vibes I get. Which is a good thing. The U.S. can use another scrappy offensive player who can play multiple attacking positions.

 

Hell of a goal. Thought he was pretty uneven, tbh. Two hard-hit volleys, and Blake is a v. good keeper, but he was not stretched at all. Some pretty head-scratching moves with the ball too. But you can't argue that header. Definitive finish.

To my eye, Hoppe could really benefit from a year under a tough, very structured coach/manager who drills the position into him. Lot of raw skills, but seems unfocused at times. Not sure this-year's-Schalke will do the trick, but he'll figure it out either way is my guess.

 

He plays like a very poor man's CR7 at Man Utd with the flair he showed

 

Lol not sure how to interpret that

 

His step overs and ball rolls and direct play on the wing looked like young Ronaldo

 

He has surprisingly good ball skills and technical ability, but he’s borderline below average as an athlete for the higher leagues, which makes him hard to pin down

at the same time he’s just 20, and with proper physical training, will increase his explosion.

For the record, love what he does on the pitch. Just something fun about him.

I just have no idea what he’s going to be 2-3 years

 

so nani?

 

Poor man's was the open question

 

I thought he was very good in the first half, started to fade in the second. Still don't think he is match fit yet. Wasn't his best moment when he tried to beat three players and turned it over in our third that lead to the counter chance for Jamaica. It was poor decision but if he pulled that off we would have been off to the races. Personally, I don't think shuttler is necessarily his forte and he's been doing quite a bit of that in his tournament. So other than the one gaffe I thought he was really solid early. The ball through to Moore was class and easily could have been a goal. Bottom line is that he had three clear chances, put them all on frame, scored one, and really only should have been better on that right footed volley in my mind.

No doubt he needs to tighten up his touches and decision making a bit though. My take is that he is desperately trying to impress Gregg enough so he is included in the qualifiers this Fall and maybe is trying sh@t that he might not normally. That and the fact that he is really the only dangerous attacking player on the team, so probably he feel he needs to do more on his own. I'd be really interested to see him rotated with Sargent at the 9 this Fall, see how he fits in on the A team, combining with the likes of Reyna, Puli, and Dest. Maybe with another performance or two like last night it will be enough for Gregg.

 

Wasn't there an entire discussion in this thread about Hoppe being weak in the air?

 

I really liked what I saw from him. Young, hungry, willing to try stuff. The Dempsey comparisons are great observations.

I'm really not concerned with the couple of poor decisions. That comes with time. Easier to tame a lion than embolden a squirrel.

He's really surprised me this tournament. When he got the hat trick for Schalke I started watching pretty closely and was rather unimpressed...thought he looked timid and along for the ride, and was wondering if he had just been unbelievably fortunate to bag all those goals in quick succession, and if that would he his high point. This tournament he seems completely different...in attitude, playing style, everything.
Cool to see.

 

Yeah, there is. It was his first header goal. It was not being weak in the air, but he has to improve in the air because he was/is weak.

 

The takeaway is that Schalke sucks.