Chapter 922: It Doesn’t Work At All!

Unfortunately for those guys who thought that things wouldn’t be that bad with Suat Serdar, no, it was way worse than anyone could imagine.

Once the game started the next day, everything seemed to favor Schalke’s side. Even though they played an away game, the confidence they gained after destroying Arminia Bielefeld last week still lingered in the air, giving the midfielders the right mindset to control the tempo from the beginning of the game.

The two wingers also worked well at the beginning, destroying the opponent’s flank so many times and forcing Hoffenheim’s two fullbacks to breathe so heavily like a dog in the summer when it was still the first half of the game.

However, everything worked well for all sides except for the end product, where the focal point of the attack couldn’t convert all the chances that were created by his teammates into a goal.

Yeah, Suat Serdar, with his heavy movement and lack of coordination with the other players, somehow looked like a sore thumb, standing out in the worst way possible.

His movement was sluggish; his run always came to the spot where Morita, Nabil Bentaleb, or any other player would send the ball to, and he often clashed with the other Schalke players on one side, cutting off his teammate’s route to move.

Not only that, but he got so many chances to score a goal so far. Hell, in total, the man got three one-on-one scenarios that should’ve been an easy goal for any other striker, and yet, none of them managed to get into the back of the net.

The first one took advantage of the through ball that Morita sent, where one of Hoffenheim’s defenders failed to clear the ball perfectly and just let the ball fall on Suat Serdar’s foot.

The man was startled for a second, not even thinking and just using his instinct to swing his foot to kick as hard as possible. Unfortunately, the ball fell on his left foot, the non-dominant one, and as a result, it just rolled weakly toward the goalkeeper’s palm, not even enough to threaten the opponent.

Then, the second one was even worse.

It all started with a low cross that Benito Raman whipped from the right side of the pitch, and somehow, Hoffenheim’s goalkeeper made a blunder, letting the ball slip through his grasp when it should’ve been an easy catch for him. As a result, the ball fell behind him, where Suat Serdar only needed to tap the ball gently to get his name on the scoresheet.

However, this time, he didn’t use his instinct anymore. No, the man touched the ball with his left foot, wanting to shift it to the right foot first to deal with it. Unfortunately, the process was clumsy and took a long time, so the other Hoffenheim defenders had already reacted to block all the chances to score against them.

As for the last one, it came from a rebound scenario, where Morita’s long shot from outside the box just hit the goalpost and bounced back into the penalty box. There, Suat Serdar had to fight against one of the center backs to get the ball first, and in the end, even though he managed to touch it first, it was far from perfect as the ball just flew high into the sky.

Three chances that all should’ve been a sure goal somehow became a waste for Suat Serdar. The man sure had to accept that he would be a good meme video once the game was over, failing to score all the chances that he got so far.

The only fortunate thing was that Higo was still stronger than ever on the back, blocking all the threat from the opponent’s side and even leading the defensive line to prevent any dangerous chance to get closer on his side.

In total, even though Hoffenheim didn’t really get too much possession, their threat was still there, and Higo had to make at least 4 saves in the first half, a big number for just half a game but also a normal statistic for Higo, who had already gotten used to fighting with all his best since the beginning of the game.

Still, even with a dominant first half from Schalke’s side, they still failed to score a single point here, coming back to the locker room in a frustrated state. The head coach also had his face darkened, glaring at anyone else as if they had just killed his dog or something like that.

He knew that it wasn’t the team’s fault that they were still at a draw. No, the man witnessed everything on the pitch, and he had to admit that this was the team’s best performance this season.

It was just a combination of bad luck and terrible performance from Suat Serdar that failed to give him the lead, but even he himself couldn’t really blame his striker, since the man only got a notification that he would play 48 hours before the game began.

Once again, the head coach could only curse the situation and Goncalo Paciencia’s stupidity right now, finding that this should be a situation they could avoid if only one person wasn’t that stupid, getting drunk in the middle of the season.

Still, as the head coach, he had to make a decision here, and now that everything but one aspect was flawless, it should be clear who he should replace in the second half.

"Sorry, Suat, not only has your breath started to get heavy, but you are also not that effective in the first half," Frohling explained without batting an eye at the striker’s ugly expression. "Hoppe, get ready for yourself. After this, we will try to rely on you."

For a moment, everyone was so confused, not knowing if they had anyone whose name was Hoppe.

However, in the next second, a young, lanky and handsome man with messy-wavy hair style suddenly got up excitedly, shouting, "YES, SIR!"