With Hertha on the rise
©IMAGO
There are five wins from the last six league games, making Hertha BSC the strongest team in the 2nd Bundesliga after SC Paderborn. One person who has been successfully involved again at the capital club since mid-October is new signing Paul Seguin. The 30-year-old now spoke about his time of suffering due to injury, the reasons for Berlin’s upswing and his goal for promotion. There was praise from the veteran for coach Stefan Leitl – and a general warning about public treatment of shooting star Kennet Eichhorn.
“The basis is working against the ball. We have good compactness and a very good structure – even with the ball. We have many variations in our game, it’s not always the same. You have a good feeling on the pitch, even if the opponent has the ball. We have a good composure without being passive. We defend actively,” Seguin summarized the reasons for Hertha’s recent positive series in an interview with Kicker magazine.
The next step should be taken on Friday evening in the home game against Eintracht Braunschweig. The Magdeburg native was confident about the current mood and work on the Spree: “You have to run together in football, that’s the most important thing. And that’s what we’re doing right now. It’s working well as a team at the moment. Nobody is going on an ego tour with us.”
Seguin moved to Berlin from league rivals FC Schalke 04 in the summer, but had to wait until matchday 9 in Bochum for his first appearance for Hertha due to a calf injury. “It was brutal. You come here and want to help the boys, and then it doesn’t work. I felt brutally bad,” said the midfielder, summing up the difficult first few weeks at his new place of work. However, he has put this behind him, is “on the right track and wants to continue to show the same performance as in the last games”.
Herthas Seguin on long absence: “It was a bad time”
He “underestimated the injury a bit,” Seguin explained his long absence: “I had the injury for the last few weeks at Schalke, then I went into full preparation. But a running session on vacation is something different than football training. Team training is much more intensive. The problems recurred and came back three or four times over the months. I kept doing too much too quickly. At some point I realized that I have to give my body the time it needs and can only increase the strain slowly. It was one “It’s a bad time. Now my focus is finally on football again. (…) I noticed in the first few games that it happened very quickly. I now feel that I’m fully resilient again and close to my 100 percent.”
During his absence, Hertha had a mixed start to the season. After four match days they were in a relegation zone before a breakthrough was achieved in Hanover. In the traditionally turbulent environment of the Old Lady, Coach Leitl was also up for discussion at times, at least in the public debate. “The coach remained calm during this phase, which is a great strength of his. He knows what he can do,” said the coach, who played more than 100 games for the Greuther Fürth game association under Leitl between 2018 and 2022. Seguin emphasized that he really appreciates his coach, not just because of the long time they spent together with the Franconians.
“We see football in a similar way. I really enjoy working under him. He is a person for whom I have a lot of respect. (…) Stefan Leitl treats every player the same. What sets him apart is that he addresses things clearly – regardless of whether it is with Fabian Reese or with a young player like Kenny Eichhorn. It is very important that we treat each other honestly. He does that. Sometimes it doesn’t feel nice when you are criticized, but it is important.”
Seguin also commented on Hertha’s shooting star Eichhorn on “Kicker” and at the same time warned that the hype surrounding Hertha’s youngster should be kept within reasonable limits: “What the boy can do is crazy. To have such calm at 16 is very impressive. But we should all leave him alone. The boy should just play football.”
Seguin’s contract in the capital runs until 2027. He has 73 Bundesliga games to his name to date, all from his time at VfL Wolfsburg. Ideally, more should be added soon, then in the Hertha jersey: “We have set the goal of promotion, the season is still long. It remains our goal. We make no secret of the fact that we want to get into the Bundesliga – and I want it too.”