FC Schalke: Suat Serdar tells the same story every match

There’s a reason why FC Schalke continue to find places for Suat Serdar, but if he wanted to alter his story just a little bit, it wouldn’t be the worst thing.

There will always be a place for Suat Serdar at FC Schalke. Even in the state that he is currently in. There is so much dynamism wrapped up in one midfielder that he is truly capable of anything… for better or worse.

Which is what I’m here to talk to you about today—the story of Suat Serdar’s average match day as of late.

Suat Serdar starts slow in matches. It’s hard to see his impact. If anything, he’s sloppy and a borderline liability, giving the ball away left, right and center. His passing consistently hovers around the 50% mark. Against Bayer Leverkusen it didn’t even hit that. He was at 45% in the first half.

Then he starts to settle in. He starts to create a threat and make things happen. He dribbles like a magician with the ball attached to his foot and instigates attacking moves, again, left right and center.

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He’ll create chances, he will do some remarkable things. He becomes an irreplaceable piece of attacking moves. Maybe mix in some sloppiness, but he more than makes up for it in that time.

It was the exact same thing against Bayer Leverkusen. Same against Union Berlin. Same against Werder Bremen. This is the Suat Serdar story. In about fifteen minutes of the second half, Serdar completed five dribbles and created chances. He was the guy in the attack.

But it takes him so long to get there. And that’s my thing. Right now, Serdar is worth the risk. Of course he is. If only we could fast forward the early parts of the story and get to the good parts, where he’s able to do so much for the team.

It’s hard to say what that takes, though. Do you try to contain his creativity? That’s a volatile situation that could blow up in our faces. Chances are the best option is to let him solve his issues himself and mature as a midfielder. That’s the safest, most hands-off approach. We just have to struggle with the understanding that Serdar will probably always make an impact, we just have to wait for it.

It’s not the worst situation to be in, like I said. But… it could always be better.