Different manager now, and obviously players adapt differently, but if Chris Mueller couldn't hang on at Hibs, I really don't see Hoppe doing it either. Best of luck though.
Mueller just couldn't deal with the off-field cultural adjustment. Hoppe has been over there awhile, so that shouldn't be an issue. I don't rate Hoppe terribly high, but he can hang in Scotland if he has his head on straight and doesn't conflict with his teammates or coach.
True believer checking in - 5 goals in 5 reserve matches and still not getting a fair shake - I believe in Hoppe's game. Hopefully he has a productive spell at Hibs.
Right, but the idea that Harkes, Pittman, Polvara, Efford aren't good enough for the Championship is accurate. I can't think of an American of note in recent memory on a non-Old Firm SPL team that was good enough for the Championship. Ramirez looked very good at Aberdeen before Glass got fired, so maybe? Sands probably is good enough on the right Championship team. I mean.. he was a much better player in MLS than Trusty was.
How many non-Old Firm players have there even been besides the ones you mentioned? Feels like not more than a handful. Soto, Ariyibi, Perry Kitchen...struggling to come up with many. I feel like all of the 2000s guys were at Rangers.
Trusty, for whatever reason, turned into a major underachiever in MLS. Maybe he managed to get to the level initially expected?
Ok, the thing about being in the Old Firm is that the competition is so weak, we cannot even know where they stand. Is CCV still good enough for the Championship? I don't know. They got destroyed in the Champions League. Their entire defense was out of its depth.
This dude better produce another hat trick soon or else he's gonna be in a 3rd division Turkish side sooner or later. He showed some things in the friendlies but his club career has been a straight arrow down for two years.
Brilliant! That is the way you introduce a player. Hilarious! And I don’t remember seeing any potential thread titles using ‘beer hops’ pun, so that was a new one.
It will be interesting to see how Hibs will use Hoppe with centre-forward and Scotland international, Kevin Nisbet. When healthy, he’s been an a tear scoring 8 goals in 8 league matches and 2 in 4 cup matches. He’s a smallish, very quick, poacher with good movement in the box. That’s where he lives. Think a poor man’s Chicarito. Obviously, not near neat that level but the same type player. Millwall, Coventry, and Reading expressed interest and he turned down a deadline week move to bottom feeders Wigan. Decent player. I’m interested to see if they can play together. The question is…. does Hoppe play off Nisbet or does Nisbet play off Hoppe. I thinking the latter than the former. But we shall see…., it’s put up or shut up time, IMO, for Hoppe.
I'm one of the few that watched Hoppe play for those five months at Schalke and felt that he was more than just a flash in the pan one game wonder. That he looked pretty good over a decent number of games on a crap team in B1. Most people seem to feel that it was all smoke and mirrors. The more time that goes by, and the more Hoppe fails to produce at every stop, I've become much more inclined to agree that those folks are probably right. He has talent, and he has shown it at times for both club and country but something is missing, either on or off the field with him, or both. He is still young but I'm feeling that this might be now or never. Hopefully he balls out, but at this point I'm not expecting it.
Like I've said in the past I don't think it's a lack of talent for Hoppe as much as for as bad as Schalke was it was also a good opportunity for him to play and grow. Now while Mallorca Hoppe allegedly had some attitude issues, the other common theme is that Hoppe's agent is in way over his head and has not helped in finding a good situation for Hoppe. Wish the kid luck because at this point he needs playing time to show what he can do.
I never really saw it with Hoppe. Not that he doesn't have the talent to be a decent piece somewhere above the Scottish league, but he was never going to be banging in hat tricks regularly, yet sometimes it seems like he thinks that is the case, which is a problem.