Hertha BSC countered their 5-0 defeat at FC Bayern with two wins. After the 0:6 in Leipzig, the Berliners face their next “relegation test” on Saturday against SC Freiburg.
Those who followed Hertha’s training this week heard many commands, corrections and announcements: from the coach and the professionals. Pal Dardai observed “very good training sessions” and a “very dynamic team”: “”The focus this week was on doubling, securing, setting down, compactness, talking and coaching. I tried to provoke the boys a bit so that they would participate well. And they participated well. It was really loud, the boys tried everything.” That sounds good, really good even, but the reality test will follow on Saturday. “The important thing,” the coach knows, “is that it also works in the game. “
“You can always lose a game, but you have to feel a bit of resistance. “
FREDI BOBIC
The 0:6 in Leipzig, a 90-minute declaration of surrender, once again ruthlessly exposed a weakness that has plagued Hertha for some time, in addition to all manner of footballing deficits: that this team resigns itself too often and too quietly to its fate. “The most important thing is the body language you have on the pitch,” says sporting director Fredi Bobic. “Of course, the boys in Leipzig somehow gave everything that might have been in it, but it just wasn’t together. That’s what they also have to question and what was addressed during the week. You can always lose a game, but you have to feel a bit of resistance. And you can see that especially in the body language.” Bobic expects the team against Freiburg “to be able to stand up to it and not just surrender because of a setback, which can happen in a game.” That has been the focus this week, and Dardai is fully satisfied with the commitment: “I can’t complain or reproach anyone, not even a little thing.” His demand to his own team: “Show a better body language together and be a bit clearer, it’s the right moment for that. The coach has expectations of the team, the fans have expectations of the team. And if we win, everything will be nice again. “
Freiburg are “making the most of their opportunities “
After the 5-0 thrashing in Munich at the end of August, Hertha showed their resilience and responded with two straightforward wins against promoted Bochum (3-1) and Fürth (2-1). Bobic “wouldn’t mind if that happened again” – only this time the opponent is of a different calibre. While Hertha have already conceded 18 goals and are still searching for a common thread, both in terms of personnel and tactics, unbeaten fifth-placed Freiburg look like the epitome of homogeneity. You can “only speak highly of Freiburg”, praises Bobic, “Freiburg has long since ceased to be a small Gallic village somewhere in Breisgau. They make the most of their opportunities. They have a high level of continuity in the sporting area, in management and in the coaching position, and a team that can play very intensively and that plays according to a clear pattern. The intensity with them is very, very high, everyone is pushing their limits. I’m not surprised at all that they haven’t lost a game yet. They earn it through the mentality they bring to the pitch. When we talk about Freiburg, we talk about a great constant.” While SC is the great constant, Hertha is – in pretty much everything – the antithesis of that. Also when it comes to the environment, which always tends to snap earlier in the capital than elsewhere. “There,” says Dardai, referring to Freiburg, “it’s always calm. Work is done consistently. The players almost never have much pressure. If they play well, it’s accepted, and if it goes wrong, it’s accepted. “
In Berlin it’s different. After the embarrassing performance in Leipzig, there is already a lot of pressure on the kettle again. “We always want to win,” explains Dardai. “But you can’t say to the players every day: must, must, must. That would be difficult.” He’s sounded different before, but at the moment he’s noticeably keen to clear any blockages in the professionals’ minds. “The boys should be able to play freely and without inhibitions,” says Dardai. “If they play really freely and everyone knows everyone, it’s a good squad for the current circumstances. I’m going into the game very positive and attacking and I think the boys are too. “
Return of injured
Among those back on the training pitch since Thursday is right-back Deyovaisio Zeefuik. The Dutchman recently complained of groin problems, followed by an MRI examination at the beginning of the week. He wants to fight through it. On Wednesday, captain Dedryck Boyata (after a thigh injury) returned to team training, on Tuesday Stevan Jovetic, who Dardai believes can play half-time after overcoming a calf blister. “If Boyata and Zeefuik continue to train tomorrow as they did today, we have two players who have reported healthy,” said Dardai. “Then we can also play with a five-man backline again and field a stable team against Freiburg.” Hertha were further away from a stable team in Leipzig than perhaps ever before in Bundesliga times. Saturday will provide the answer to the question of whether this was an aberration or the harbinger of the next complicated season.
