What is wrong with Hooper?

Im not saying he can do no wrong just that he is playing how he always does only he hasnt scored in the two games, although hes not had a chance and has only hit 1 shots.

He is playing the exact same way he always does, drops deep, links up play, mkes runs out wide/round the back etc etc etc

If he was out of form as people are saying he'd be doing things wrong/different whatever but hes not.. Is he wasting chances? losing posession? slower? showing no effort? or anything... no. All thats missing is he's been provided with no oppertunities to score so hasnt scored.

 

Legend

Hooper is Klass!
He is excellant of the ball too!

 

Yes to the first 2 bolded parts, and not as much as he has to the third.

All strikers are confidence players and imo there is no doubt he will go on a good run again. I think though that he is not even close to being as good as a lot of our fans think. I will be keeping a close eye on him in Europe (if we get past Sion) as I think he will be found out a bit there. If he played all 38 games in the SPL I think he would score 20-25 goals in them. We should expect that from any no.1 choice striker at Celtic.

 

this is a daft thread

 

Why do you think he'll be found out in Europe though?

He's scored 4 goals in 6 games against Rangers and Braga who last season were both Champions League teams.

He also has a better record at scoring in the Championship and SPL than Scott McDonald who scored a few in Europe and is quicker and a better footballer than McDonald. He also scored 20 SPL goals last season in 26 games, so obviously he would score 20 in 28.

 

i think he is pining for home, and the enthusiasm has gone as is the novelty, some players can handle it others cant. IMO

 

well i didnt see any of the friendlies, or the game last week, but i watched the game yesterday, and the reason i think hooper was off the boil yesterday was because stokes was wide left.

for what reason i have no idea, because at first i thought it was a 4-4-2, but its as if hooper kept thinking stokes was beside him, like he should be, but wasnt. i thought hooper done alright yesterday considering what went on. just think him and the team werent on the same wavelength for whatever reason. formation yesterday was like a 4-5-1

 

hooper started off for us amazing then got a dirty tackle fae the fat boy bougherra and hasn't been the same since.
he used to be deadly around the box and when he went deep for the ball his link up play was spot on. now though he's just not as deadly and his link up play is borderline. he still does the same things as when he was awesome but he's just not as effective, he seems to have lost that edge to his game plus the fact that he had so many opportunities you just knew it was a matter of time before he scored. this wee bad spell is going to the back end of last season not just the last 2 games. most people at the end of last season even speculated he was carrying an injury which he wasn't. I would rather he got a wee stint on the bench just to buck him up then bring him back and play him behind stokes as a secondary striker because he's defo not a main striker or lone striker. he likes to come deep too much for that.

hopefully he starts banging them in again soon

hail hail

 

For a player yous are making sound so off form, he has never went more than 2 games without a goal in the SPL since he signed and has scored atleast 2 goals in every 6 games for over 3 and a half years.

 

you would have to be blind to say he's not off form.
he would admit it himself.
yeah he's scored a few goals of late but they have to be set up on a plate for him. hoopers way better than the form
he's showing recently. he's not * by any means just a bit off the boil in his allround play.

maybe he needs a new song.
I tried but nobody listened

hail hail

 

Spot on mate !!!!
Any chance of sharing your prescription with us !!

Hail Hail

 

I think he has a fair bit to learn still. His off the ball work is not of the required standard imo and I dont think he is an intelligent enough player to create space for himself at that level.

He's still youngish though and can improve. Fair enough he scored against Braga but tbf the tie was long over by then. I feel sorry for him a bit as well as Lenny playing him on his own is not really his game. Hopefully he will prove me wrong and shine on the Euro stage, but I dont really expect it. Certainly not against the better teams anyway.

 

I've thought the same. But he still has had the chances to score and just been unlucky or had his shots saved. I noticed during the Dublin games, Hibs and Aberdeen he was still holding the ball up really well, making intelligent runs and passing the ball about. As long as he continues he will score eventually. However I wouldn't expect the same as last year from Hooper. Opposition players will have wizened up to his style. Last season he was good for taking the ball past players in front of him and using his speed to his advantage. The rest of the SPL will now know what to expect from him.

 

maybe, like commons, hes going to take a couple of games to get going

 

spot on. were only two games into the season

 

Don't see what all the fuss is about.

He didn't have the best of games at Easter Road, but he looked sharp in Dublin, netting a couple of goals and he was starved of service yesterday.

Just needs a goal me thinks.

 

poor first touch

try's too many fancies

when on his own up front poor

something not right and should have been off lenny made wrong choice
when subing yesterday

noticed this last season and just got slated for it

 

If you think Hooper has a poor first touch mate, go back and watch his 1st goal against the beasties in the 3-0 win at home last season and at Easter Road.

'Trying fancies'? I don't think I've ever seen him try a flick or stepover in my life.

 

For that reason alone mate i would have kept him on longer ,The game was dire to watch and out of the 22 on show maybe 2-3 players looked like there near full fitness ,it takes a few games to get into it again,,Hooper will .

 

when I mean fancies, mean back heels that never work.

his first touch,as one poster above hit the nail on the head, very similar to Mc Donalds, this is why i think there is something wrong, either lenny needs to play him closer to a partner, as you stated, i have seen the games you mentioned,it is no good when you are off the boil and stopping the four