I'd take Ball over Hooper any day. It really frustrates me to see Hooper put not effort in pressing when we don't have the ball. Unless he's banging in goals week-in week-out then he has to contribute in transition. He just strolls around and this takes all the pressure off the back four and allows them to set up and build from the back. Ball on the other hand is tireless and willing to do anything for the team. He never gives up, in attack and defence. Huge difference in attitude between these two IMO.
I really can't believe people are saying this. Hooper's a guy who's played in Scotland and Scun-thorpe most of his life and he's not fully fit, you can't expect him to play like prime Aguero in muggy 30°C weather he's probably only experienced on a binge in Bali. He's put in effort in every other game we've seen. He's a completely different position and role to Ball too. If we wanted our striker to press like a madman we'd play Ball there instead of on the right in a full-strength team.
Thought he did well given the circumstances, and I usually hate this argument but I'd love to see what a lot of forum posters could do in that weather. It was incredibly noticeable that almost all players were struggling