“Be on top in the decisive moments”

End of the double gameweek, end of competitive games for the season! The ‘Old Lady’ will take on 1. FC Köln this Saturday ((12.11.22, 15:30 CET) in the final Bundesliga clash of 2022. With the supporters in the stands behind them, the team want to successfully complete the last remaining task of the year. My greatest wish is that we put in a top performance on Saturday, there is a brilliant atmosphere in the stadium yet again and get three points out of the game in the end. We have to improve in some areas and want to leave everything on the pitch one last time,” emphasised Sandro Schwarz in his press conference before the game. Fredi Bobic also looked ahead to the final outing of the season with excitement. “The stadium will be fairly full, the atmosphere will be good. We have to be on top in the decisive moments and finish the game well. Having such a long break is new to all of us, so it will be even nicer if we can finish the year off with a win,” suggested Hertha’s managing director for sport and communication. herthabsc.com has compiled the most important comments. Schwarz and Bobic spoke about…

… expectations of the game:

Sandro Schwarz: Our next challenge is ahead of us against Köln and we have to do things better than in Stuttgart. It is important amongst all the disappointment to now see this next opportunity. A home game, the last game of this year – this is the task. We have the quality to win this game. My greatest wish is that we put in a top performance on Saturday, there is a brilliant atmosphere in the stadium yet again and together we can be rewarded. We have to improve in some areas and want to leave everything on the pitch one last time. We are able to influence the mood around the whole club with our performance and go into the break with a more positive feeling. We know this.

Fredi Bobic: The stadium will be fairly full, the atmosphere will be good. We have to be on top in the decisive moments and finish the game well. Having such a long break is new to all of us, so it will be even nicer if we can finish the year off with a win.

… the opponents:

Sandro Schwarz: Köln were unlucky to lose against Leverkusen; they were really dominant and played very energetically, which was also clear to see in their past few games. You can see Baumi’s handiwork all over them (Köln head coach Steffen Baumgart). We know what to expect. It will be an intense game, both sides want to play the ball forward with purpose. Köln play a lot of crosses, we are going to have to defend the wings and our box well.

… the current situation & Blue-White potential for improvement:

Sandro Schwarz: We definitely have the opportunities to improve our presence in the box. It is also important in the future to avoid giving the ball away easily. This is the first step in the process and based on previous games definitely possible to improve. Lots of little moments in the final third have not been played tidily enough, every single player is challenged to improve this. But throughout the team I see a lot of preparedness to work on this. To be critical but at the same time to encourage the group – that is our approach, which also has given us a lot back! Our belief in the boys will never be lost just by single situations.

Fredi Bobic: After going through a period like this it is important to discuss how things have gone. In the mean time, we are now in a completely different position, have kept our processes going in difficult situations and made a lot of changes. But we know that our return in terms of points is still not quite there – we will keep trying to bring things in the right direction.