This guy is, on paper, good enough to be a mediocre Ch'ship player. Like he was a mediocre MLS player. On the other hand, time and again he gets forgotten on the bench or worse. So who knows. He's been a bit of a puzzle to me, and I suspect (speculate) he's just not the sort of person who makes himself well-liked.
Down 2-1 as of the 67'. Not impossible to imagine him getting a 5' runout to try and snag a goal if it stays this way.
Well, Boro is neither getting promoted nor getting relegated, so losing away to Preston, who are fighting to get in the playoffs, is no biggie.
currently 2-1 in stoppage. 'boro has made 3 changes so far, but seems doubtful that he'll see the pitch given that they've already made one change at CF.
Middlesbrough making subtle threats to MLS. "Take him now or we will play him and then you can't have him at all this year! We swear we will!"
I was always dubious that Hoppe's Schalke run was sustainable, but even as pessimistic as I can be, I never anticipated this... What a drag for him.
This guy just can't buy a chance. If he looked that bad in training, he wouldn't be on the bench. And we all have seem him play, he's not terrible.
One of the last newspaper stories I can find him mentioned in from Feb. 13th: So, uh, that's a pretty solid non-answer about his current prospects.
If he was any good, any good at all, the answer would have been something like “He’s in the squad and he's training well. He hasn't been quite ready, mostly because the mismatch between the MLS and English season has left him a little short of match fitness. We hope he'll be able to contribute soon." It wasn't. He's done there. The only question is whether Boro can find anyone willing to take him on loan in July or if they can negotiate a "by mutual consent" payoff.
Here's the #BoroU21s team to take on Fulham at 12 noon 🗞️ #UTB pic.twitter.com/YhBbpfDbHn— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) April 8, 2024 FYI Hoppe is 23.