False start in the 2nd division: Hertha BSC – from crisis to crisis

After three games in the 2nd Bundesliga, Hertha BSC are still without a point and without a goal. As soon as the new season has started, the Berliners are stuck in the next crisis, from which they currently cannot find a way out. By Luke Witte

A good three months have passed since Hertha was disastrously relegated from the Bundesliga as bottom of the table. And yet hardly anything seems to have changed. Zero points, zero goals, 18th place. That is the frightening record of the Berliners after the third day of the 2nd division. Never has a relegated team started worse. “We’re not competitive at the moment. You just have to see it that way,” said club legend Axel Kruse, evaluating the club’s performances so far rbb podcast capital derby.

Good training doesn’t pay off

It seems to be going a class down, just like it left off in the Bundesliga. Meanwhile, the actors are at a loss. “During the week in training we score goals, combine and have really good shots. In the game we just don’t get that onto the field,” explained captain Marco Richter after the 3-0 defeat in Hamburg last weekend. Coach Pal Dardai has also been satisfied with the training performance so far. However, in the past season he was repeatedly praised for his work during the week – in the end he was relegated anyway.

“The training interests a dead person. What counts is when the light goes on. When it matters, you have to be there. If that doesn’t work, you have a problem,” explains Kruse. And this problem is particularly noticeable at Hertha on the offensive. So far, the Bundesliga relegated team has hardly been able to create good scoring chances from the game. If it ever went deeper into the opposing half, usually only flanks remained. There were clear technical weaknesses and the ball almost never landed in one of the boxing players in the penalty area. “The probability that Hertha will score a goal is as high as winning the lottery,” says Kruse.

Kader has big gaps in midfield

Only the clear 5-0 cup success against Jena Hertha was able to deliver offensively this season. “But it’s not enough to beat a team from the fourth division and excel in training,” Dardai agrees. The game against HSV clearly showed where the Berliners currently stand. “It was a class difference. (…) For the people who were thinking about promotion – the reality is here now,” the coach made clear after the defeat in the Volksparkstadion.

In the league there is a lack of creativity and offensive game ideas. This task should take on the field Captain Richter, who was recently used again and again as a ten. Actually his desired position, but the 25-year-old has been pale in his new role so far and actually seems better off on the wing. But there is no replacement. Hertha’s squad has large gaps in midfield. The trained central defenders Pascal Klemens and Marton Dardai have to play as a six again and again and reveal clear weaknesses. An eight is also missing as an alternative as long as newcomer Jeremy Dudziak has to play as a left-back.

More new arrivals likely

The coach doesn’t seem to be able to find a tactical solution with the current squad to finally get the first points. So something should probably happen before the end of the transfer window. “We’re a team that has to find itself again. The season has only just started. We’ll probably get players too. (…) We’ll have to wait until September 1 and then see what’s up,” explains Dardai.

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Diego Demme is probably at the top of the wish list. The 31-year-old from SSC Naples has been associated with the Berliners for weeks and should bring the necessary reinforcements in midfield.

A player like Suat Serdar, who was surprisingly back on the field in the last cup match after it was actually suspected that he would leave the club, could certainly help. But even that hope quickly faded. He signed off for the Hamburg game due to muscular problems and, according to media reports, is now about to move to Italy. Last season’s top scorer, Dodi Lukebakio, also did not play a game for Hertha in the new season and should urgently disappear from the payroll of the financially troubled club in the capital.

Gersbeck incident causes unrest

So there is still unrest in the squad – not only in midfield, but also between the posts. There, after the sale of Oliver Christensen, the only 20-year-old Tjark Ernst has to guard the goal. The experienced Marius Gersbeck was actually planned for the role as a regular keeper, but since then he has been in the training camp in Austria is said to have seriously injured a man in an altercation, is he suspended

His future at the club is open. According to information from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, there is currently a conflict in Hertha’s committees about the goalkeeper’s rehabilitation. “Of course, the whole theater all around does something with the players. There’s never any peace in there. The Gersbeck issue is floating around all the time. You have to solve that too, in order to finally have some peace in it,” says Hertha legend Kruse.

Bielefeld as a warning

So there are still some construction sites for the Berliners. Those responsible should take care of eliminating them as quickly as possible so as not to slide even deeper into the sporting crisis. “Bielefeld is a warning example. Once you’re in the whirlpool and you have to win, that’s the great art of delivering top performances. So I don’t even want to think about being in the back at the end,” explains Ex -Player Kruse.

Arminia Bielefeld was passed straight through to the 3rd division after being relegated from the Bundesliga. There is still enough time to correct the false start and prevent this scenario. Next Saturday (1 p.m.) the first points of the season should be scored against Fürth in the Olympic Stadium. “The boys want the team spirit to be there – we have to find that on the pitch now,” said Dardai: “We’ll build up, just like we’ve always done.”

Broadcast: rbb24, August 21, 2023, 6 p.m