Hecking on record signing Pleá: 'He's very dangerous in the penalty area'
Gladbach coach Dieter Hecking praised Alassane Pleá after the record signing scored a hattrick in his first official match for the club.
| Dieter Hecking. |
Yesterday, the 25-year-old forward made his official debut for the club, and he started out with a hattrick as Gladbach took a crushing 11-1 win in the DFB-Pokal against BSC Hastedt from the fifth tier of the German league system.
The opposition wasn't the greatest, but nevertheless, Pleá showed what is his biggest force - scoring goals from within the penalty area.
"Alassane showed what distinguishes him: he's very dangerous in the penalty area. If he gets the ball there, he is always good for a goal," Gladbach coach Dieter Hecking told Kicker after the 11-1 victory - Gladbach's biggest win in the DFB-Pokal ever.
Raffael and Thorgan Hazard also scored hattricks for Gladbach in the match, and sporting director Max Eberl says he was generally very pleased with Die Fohlen's offensive display.
"All the offensive players - not only Alassane Plea, but also Thorgan Hazard, Raffael, Jonas Hofmann and Florian Neuhaus - harmonized very well," Eberl told Kicker.
Last season, Pleá made 49 appearances for OGC Nice, scoring 21 times.
