After a weak pre-season, Hertha is in the midst of upheaval – and has to pull itself together again after the early DFB Cup. The goal with a new coach and new players remains relegation, if possible without tremors.
After the desolate pre-season, Bundesliga club Hertha BSC is now starting the new season with great fear. Last weekend, the Berliners knocked out of the DFB Cup by the second division team Eintracht Braunschweig, again after 2020/21. Hertha’s good intentions of wanting to do better in the new season initially failed in reality. What plans is the ambitious capital city club pursuing to make at least the Bundesliga season a success under new coach Sandro Schwarz?
Hertha misses the lead and loses on penalties
Hertha BSC missed the second round of the DFB Cup. The team coached by Sandro Schwarz lost 9:10 on penalties to second division promoted Eintracht Braunschweig on Sunday. It initially looked like a sovereign victory.more
That’s how last season went
Three different coaches, long tremors in the final sprint of the season, rescue in the relegation – Hertha’s 2021/22 season could hardly have been more turbulent. Even if you ignore the discussions and background noise away from the pitch, a purely sporting look at Hertha revealed a lot of chaos and little consistency last season.
After a very mixed but not catastrophic start to the season with 14 points from 13 Bundesliga games and two wins in the DFB Cup, Pal Dardai had to vacate his coaching chair. “Our big problem was the mentality in the team. There was no structure either,” sport manager Fredi Bobic would later say. The problem: When Dardais was replaced by his successor Tayfun Korkut, there was hardly any improvement. Hertha won 3-2 in Dortmund shortly before Christmas, but not a single one of the ten games that followed. So Korkut had to go too.
Felix Magath finally took office as designated rescuer at a time when many had already written off Hertha. But: In eight Bundesliga games under Magath, Hertha have won three and drawn one. The Berliners played in such a way that they were more annoyed about the missed direct relegation instead of being happy about the relegation. The fact that it then only took a 0-1 defeat in the first leg against Hamburger SV to wake up the leader in Kevin-Prince Boateng and the magic foot of Marvin Plattenhardt fits into the picture of the turbulent Hertha season, which nevertheless found a happy ending .
Who is coming, who is going
There is still no end in sight with regard to Hertha’s transfer summer. So far, Fredi Bobic’s work in terms of squad planning has been characterized by two words: transfer excess and patience. So Hertha had to and still has to generate money by selling players before they can invest the same in reinforcements. He still wants to give up one or the other player this summer, Bobic is always emphasizing. And the search for reinforcements is far from over, so Hertha’s squad will continue to change.
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So far, the greatest financial proceeds have come from the transfer of Arne Meier (FC Augsburg), Javairô Dilrosun (Feyenoord Rotterdam) and Jordan Torunarigha (KAA Gent), who were recently on loan. The biggest sporting loss, on the other hand, will come from the departures of Santiago Ascacibar (Cremonese), Ishak Belfodil and Niklas Stark (Werder Bremen). The fact that goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow is loaned to Schalke 04 should annoy Hertha’s officials and fans much less than the departure of the talented Marcel Lottka to BVB.
The signing of striker Wilfried Kanga, the last newcomer to date, gave Hertha cause for joy instead of anger. The 1.89 meter tall Frenchman comes to Berlin with the recommendation of 16 goals and five assists in 42 games for the Youngs Boys. There he should liven up Hertha’s offensive game, which was often too dangerous recently, and arm them for the targeted sale of the expensive Krzysztof Piatek.
The Charlottenburgers are also hoping for new life in the attacking game from Jessic Ngankam and Chidera Ejuke. While the former is back at Hertha after a loan to Greuther Fürth, 24-year-old Ejuke comes on loan from CSKA Moscow. The Nigerian’s reputation as a lightning-fast winger precedes him – a player profile that Hertha has sorely missed of late. Ejuke should give his new team’s game additional variability.
Who is in focus at Hertha BSC before the start of the season
The new Bundesliga season is just around the corner and squad planning is slowly coming to an end. Marc Schwitzky took a closer look at the Hertha BSC team and says who to look out for in the coming season.more
On the other hand, Hertha is hoping for additional stability with three defensive approaches. While Filip Uremovic, who has arrived from Kazan, offers a new option for central defence, Jonjoe Kenny has been signed for right-back from Everton FC. A little further up, the Croatian Ivan Sunjic will take over the tasks that Santiago Ascacibar recently fulfilled. Sunjic, who was last nicknamed “Destroyer” in England, is considered to be a strong runner, a very physical player with a good sense of space and an even better work ethic.
The trainer
After Felix Magath announced his departure from Berlin with a sort of relegation, Sandro Schwarz was chosen as the new strong man on Hertha’s sidelines this summer. After the last year and a half at Dinamo Moscow, Schwarz is supposed to establish a new, more intensive and, above all, more offensive style of football at Hertha.
Schwarz was recently satisfied with his team’s work in the run-up to the season that has now opened. In the run-up to the cup game in Braunschweig, he reported a high level of willingness and high intensity in training. If you observe Schwarz during this training session, you will notice his clear announcements to his protégés and his consistently committed communication.
All in all, the cooperation between Schwarz and Hertha is an opportunity for both sides. While Schwarz has the chance to re-establish himself as a Bundesliga coach almost three years after his departure from Mainz 05, Hertha wants to rest on the sidelines after the last seven coaches in three years.
“Not bad to have the pressure right at the beginning”
On Sunday the new season begins for Hertha in the DFB-Pokal at Eintracht Braunschweig. The Berliners want to forget the desolate pre-season. In an interview, manager Fredi Bobic explains to what extent he sees the squad prepared for this.more
expectations for the season
The sportingly unsuccessful past few years have left their mark on Hertha BSC. Both in the club and among the fans, one simply wishes for a quiet season – hopes that now seem to have been dashed by the early cup defeat against Braunschweig.
The focus is now on the Bundesliga. There, staying up in the league is the sporting goal of the season. Higher ambitions would be presumptuous in view of the pre-season and the tough transfer summer to date. Fredi Bobic also knows that, who recently warned that Hertha will probably face difficult phases in the new season, in view of the repeated change of coach.
Far greater are the expectations at Hertha away from the football pitch. After the election of the new President Kay Bernstein, Hertha’s fans in particular are hoping for nothing less than a cultural change. Unrest in the club management, disputes with investor Lars Windhorst and the recently difficult relationship between club and fans should be a thing of the past. In its place should be a new culture of communication within the club, but also externally, unity from the club management to the professionals and, last but not least, a new connection and more identification between the fans and their team.
Broadcast: rbb UM6, July 31, 2022, 6 p.m
