So its a new season and another new league Hertha's ins: Maik Franz Andreas Ottl Thomas Kraft Tunay Torun Outs: Domovchiyski Beichler Bigalke Knoll What do people think? I think we may surprise a few people, but in the end if we don't get relegated again, I think I'd be happy.
I think this could be pretty damn good. -----------Lasogga------- ------Ramos----Raffael----- -------Lusti-----Ottl----------- -----------Niemeyer--------- Kobiashvili---Hubnik---Franz---Lell ------------Kraft-------------
I hope Torun will get some playing time, too. I think the season will depend heavily on how well the team plays in the first few fixtures. If Lasogga can see the back of the net a couple like he did last season, it could a fairly interesting run. But on paper the team looks to be a solid if unspectacular lineup.
Both are permanent transfers. Currently out on loan are Daniel Beichler ( Duisburg ), Marvin Knoll ( Dresden ) and Shervin Radjabali-Fardi ( Aachen ). Lennart Hartmann also moved to Aachen, permanently, he is missing in the op. That's probably the reason the club signed only Germans who have experience in the league. If you remember the relegation season foreign talents like Pejcinovic were struggling to adjust and at the winter break going down was pretty much a certainty already. Torun is having a really good pre season and there aren't many other creative players on the squad, so expect him to see some substantial playing time. Generally Babbel has hinted at using a style similar to Hannover last season, formulaic super quick counter attacks rather than flair. I'm not sure if he the tactical knowledge to pull it off, the 4-1-5 in last season's first leg was frankly an absolutely terrible idea and while the 4-4-2 usually used during the second leg worked alright, the few tests with a 4-2-3-1 weren't really successful. Babbel and Preetz have shown the ability to analyze, learn and adjust though and that's an invaluable quality for anyone in a leading position. They also clearly have a plan. Dieter Hoeness and Copacabana-Rudi ( Wojtowizc, former head of scouting ) would party in Brazil right now and maybe bring a "present" or two just before the transfer window ends. While I'm still somewhat sceptical about the current manager and CEO I now think that their way of doing their job might be more suited to the club than moody Lucien Favre, who was in a completely different league as a tactician but had trouble managing the human aspect and was too sure of his expertise. With the lack of exactly that expertise on the club's board I believe the guys in charge have to be much more critical of themselves than Favre was. The board simply doesn't have the required knowledge to effectively identify longterm issues like Favre relying too much on unproven foreign talent and systematically changing the squad to be mentally weak ( Yes, I'm looking at you more than anyone else, Mr. Artur Wichniarek ).
PML pretty anonymous in this RM friendly. I of course don't expect him to duplicate his performance from last season, but I was expecting a more energetic performance.
Which one? I wanna join one. Apparently there's a good one where you play with friends, but it was in German.
First game of the season 0:4 win for Hertha. Ramos scored twice, for some reason I expect big things from him this year, whereas with Lasogga, I think it will be a big time learning season for him. Just a feeling I have that he will struggle, of course, this is just a feeling, but he's looked lethargic in the preseason, although he set up Ebert really well for the 4th goal. As for Ramos, he might be the freakiest athlete in the Bundesliga, for a person that tall, he has exceptional speed and balance. He also has decent technique as well, so hopefully as he matures he can harness all the physical gifts he has, because he might be too much for most Bundesliga defenses IMHO.
This team really needs work. That midfield was especially disastrous, no organization. It was all very aimless. The strikers were rendered useless. I'm not really sure how this season will go if new players are brought in.
Agree 100 %. Hertha players were awful today,but I loved what the fans did in the beginning of the game with the raised Hertha flag.Looked pretty cool.
I don't think it's a matter of individual quality, or lack thereof. With the exception of Lasogga and Kraft all of these players have several seasons of Bundesliga experience under their belt, some even have played in the Champions League. The issue lies with the coaching team. Babbel and Wildmayer are terrible tacticians and it's been showing last season already. After more than a year the players still have no idea what to do on the pitch and how they as a team are supposed to score and prevent conceding goals. That would be understandable if it applied to the new guys only, but those who were there last season look just as confused. It probably doesn't come as much of surprise that a fairly basic 4-4-2 is the only system the team has been able to show at least somewhat convincing performances in. It's comparatively easy to play even without extensive tactical instructions - to a point, anyway. The opponent just has to press on the two central midfielders and Hertha is done. Unlike the other young coaches in Germany Babbel clearly has his roots in the eighties, when it was all about grit and determination rather than carefully constructed tactics. Today that's just not enough anymore, especially if the team regularly can't even show that much because they are scared of the big stadium and many fans If there aren't quick and substantial improvements in the way Hertha play, the club will go down with an even worse record than last time.
This might be all true, but did you see that midfield? It was like watching the MLS. There was absolutely no organization or forceful execution of a forward moving attack to the point where Ramos and PML were barely touching balls. Overall there was just nothing that resembled a plan out there; and whether we blame that on the coach or just a poorly assembled team of players doesn't really matter. I just hope improvement comes soon, but after that first game, I'm not really sure what to expect.
Phew... Good for PML to get BL scoring campaign going with today's equalizer. Overall, I thought the guys played fairly decently and was a proper match against Hannover. Kraft just doesn't impress me.
It's an improvement and that's whats important at this stage of the season in my opinion. And against a good side as well.
Never seen a team wear last season's home jersey again after switching to a new one. What, do Hertha have like 4 shirts now?? Anyway, excellent movement on the equalizing goal.
OMG. This match against Stuttgart has been terrible. If Hertha wants to keep this up, they might as well go back to the second division.
Frustrating match, but good and important ending. They needed the confidence boost of a win at home and they got it and hopefully they will carry on from there. I have criticized him a lot before, but Ebert looks like a more mature player and he deserves to stay in the side after yesterday. And I think while Franz is a good defender, he hasn't really convinced as of yet. Hubnik and Mijatovic at this point are the better defenders and although Hertha got a bit lucky 2 or 3 times, we looked better defending, especially on set pieces.
I agree on Ebert. He put on, in my opinion, a MOTM performance for Hertha this weekend. The attack was really wasteful, and Rafael was lucky to have made that one goal after Hertha, as a whole, messed up so many opportunities. The team was really disorganized and couldn't really figure out quite how to gel together, especially bc every other game there's a different starting lineup. Torun scores one game, PML gets benched the next. PML scores against HSV, he starts the following game, and Torun is benched. I don't mind the idea of a fluid setup, but I think figuring out how to get that team working as a unit is the most important thing right now (and developing greater speed in the front). I'd also like to see Torun and PML play together a few more times and see if that might be a better solution.
I noticed that as well, here's their away kit from the team shop: http://www.herthashop.de/$WS/hertha-bsc/websale7_shop-hertha-bsc/produkte/medien/bilder/gross/110507pokaltrikot1000.jpg I don't understand how this uniform would have clashed with Hannover's home kits. Last season's home and away are discounted on the team website
It's not the starting lineup, the coaching team just doesn't have the slightest idea of the football the team is supposed to play. Markus Babbel and his assistant Wildmayer are stuck in 80ies mode. Every player for himself, just the Vokuhilas are missing.