Hertha Berlin

Hertha tried everything, didn’t give up and fought to the end, but at the end of the game, the team return to Berlin with nothing having lost 3-0 in Frankfurt. In part, this was due to the good form of the hosts and their excellent striker Randal Kolo Muani, but also due to a first 45 minutes which, all in all, were not good enough. “We were still asleep in the first half, Frankfurt were the better team. If we let the game get away from us like that up until half time, it will always be incredibly difficult here,” said Florian Niederlechner, who was critical of the performance after his first start in a Hertha shirt. “The coach found clear words in the dressing room and had the expectation that we would show a difficult side of us. After that, we were more in the game and had our chances.” Even if the mood is not good after four straight defeats in the New Year, the new signing appealed to the importance of togetherness. “After the game, it is difficult to stay positive. But, we have to stick together; if we do that, then I am certain that we will be able to get out of this hole we’re in.”  herthabsc.com has summarised the intial reaction to the game in Frankfurt.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for Hertha BSC. There have been lots of Bundesliga fixtures in a short space of time, Fredi Bobic has left the club, Benjamin Weber and Andreas “Zecke” Neuendorf have been brought in and there were the late movements in the transfer window. Following on from this eventful period, we spoke to club president Kay Bernstein to discuss the developments at our club. “I sense that everyone is aware of the situation and everyone understands what’s going on with regards to the league table. The most important thing is that we approach this with the necessary clarity and composure and we can operate in a unified manner,” explained the 42-year-old. Bernstein also spoke about the recent big decisions, the new path the club will take, women’s football and the potential new stadium.

Changes of system, different moves, personnel changes. Lots of different things can happen tactically when Hertha play 90 minutes of Bundesliga football. Reacting to different situations and taking different approaches during games was a topic of conversation in Friday’s presser ahead of Sunday’s clash with Borussia Mönchengladbach (15:30 CET). “Regardless of the set-up, it’s not just the what, but also the how that’s important. Our system will have advantages and disadvantages based on the approach that our opponents take. We have looked to show our strengths on the break with our banks of three recently. Now we’re facing a team with a different way of playing,” explained Schwarz on Friday afternoon. Benjamin Weber was also present and he expressed his support for the head coach: “I can sense a focussed and concentrated team and Sandro and the coaching staff have my full backing. Even though we’ve had negative results of late, showing our support isn’t difficult to do because I can see how hard the players and staff are working,” said the sporting director. Here are the most important bits from Friday’s press conference:

Sandro Schwarz’s side started in a 3-5-2 formation on matchday 20, with Márton Dárdai starting in the back three alongside Marc Kempf and Filip Uremović. Marvin Plattenhardt and Marco Richter played as wing-backs, with a midfield three of Tolga Ciğerci, Suat Serdar and Lucas Tousart. Florian Niederlechner and Jessic Ngankam started upfront. Ciğerci made his first start of the season having re-joined the club, while Dárdai made his first start since August. Pascal Klemens also celebrated a first, with the 17-year-old making the first team squad for the first time. Gladbach had a former Herthaner in their starting eleven in the shape of Lucas Netz, who replaced Ramy Bensebaini who missed out with illness.

As the board showed that there would be six minutes of additional time, there was a chorus of cheers around the Olympiastadion. At this point, Hertha held a narrow 2-1 lead over Borussia Mönchengladbach. Just minutes later, and the Blue-Whites had sewn up the three points, and could enjoy the long period of additional time a bit more. Despite pressure from the Foals,  Derry Scherhant scored his first goal for Hertha and Dodi Lukébakio converted a penalty to give Hertha a 4-1 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach; a successful game with the perfect result. ”That was very, very important. We needed these three points,” said Tolga Ciğerci. Birthday boy Márton Dárdai scored a brilliant goal put Hertha ahead. “Starting eleven, goal and three points – I can’t imagine a birthday much better than that. On the pitch, the shot almost didn’t feel real,” said the defender. herthabsc.com has summarised all of the immediate reaction to the game.

Sami Allagui will be working with the first team and taking over the position of head of team management with immediate effect. The 36-year-old will work as an important contact person for the coaching staff, players and backroom staff, while bringing his experience as a former player to the daily running of the club. The striker played in blue and white from 2012 until 2017.

‘Is it fate?’, was the question on the lips of the Hertha fans present at training on Wednesday afternoon, with the weather taking a turn for the better after the first win of the year with the sunny shining, while training session in the last week took place under grey skies and accompanied by rain. It was no coincidence, however, that the mood among the squad was clearly much better. “It was an enormous weight off our shoulders that we finally won again. We were all really pleased and happy that we have finally turned a page,” said Florian Niederlechner, representative of the whole team.

With memories of last weekend’s 4-1 home win against Borussia Mönchengladbach still fresh in their minds, our Herthaner head to face the ‘other’ Borussia in Dortmund on Sunday (19/02/23, 17:30 CET). “The win was good for us, and the atmosphere was great. However, ever since our preparations began on Wednesday, we have been fully focused on the task that lies ahead of us,” head coach Sandro Schwarz said during today’s pre-match press conference. Ahead of Sunday’s trip to the league’s third-placed side, the coach spoke about his formation, the approach and working on set pieces to the journalists at the Olympiastadion. Herthabsc.de have summed up all the key quotes from today. Hear from the 44-year-old about…

Sandro Schwarz kept faith in the starting eleven that started the important 4-1 home win against Borussia Mönchengladbach for Sunday’s away game against Borussia Dortmund. Hertha played a 3-5-2 formation as they had done against the Foals. There was one change on the bench, with Agustín Rogel returning to the matchday squad having overcome a knee injury and Pascal Klemens dropping out.

The Blue-Whites fought hard against Borussia Dortmund and the performance was much better than the final scoreline suggests. The players were correspondingly disappointed, but could also find positives from the game. “From my point of view it wasn’t a 4-1 game, it’s a weird result for a really good performance from us. We were right in it after pulling one back, and threw everything into every challenge. Unfortunately, we just lack a bit of consistency in our shooting in the key moments,” said Marco Richter, also looking forward to the next task as he stood on the pitch at the Westfalenstadion. “We have a six pointer ahead of us now against Augsburg – if we win that then everything looks completely different,” said Hertha’s number 23. hertha.bsc has all the immediate reaction to the game in Dortmund.