Sandro Schwarz didn’t lose his sense of humor even after the next setback. “Enjoy the weekend, you bastard,” said the new Hertha BSC coach with a wink to Gladbach coach Daniel Farke as he left the press conference early. Schwarz was in a hurry, after all the plane from Cologne back to the capital was already waiting.
Once again, Hertha had nothing to count in their luggage, the false start to the season after the 0: 1 (0: 1) at Borussia Mönchengladbach is perfect, at least on paper.
Only one point from three games, plus the loss against second division side Eintracht Braunschweig in the DFB Cup – memories of the past season are coming back to the fans when Hertha was even pointless after three games. And now Borussia Dortmund is coming to the Olympic Stadium.
And yet the appearance in Gladbach was encouraging, because Hertha was by no means the worse team. Farke also recognized this. “These opponents will still score a lot of points. They did a very, very good job,” said the foal coach, who, like Schwarz, is new to the job but was even able to enjoy the lead in the standings for at least one night on Friday.
At Hertha, on the other hand, there was frustration because good performance was not rewarded. “We have always said: You need a little time for a development. But of course you also need results at some point,” said sporting director Fredi Bobic: “But we are only on the third day of the game. I don’t want to paint the devil on the wall now .”
Schwarz also saw it that way, who even spoke of the best performance of the season so far. He was asked whether he was still worried when looking at the table. The quick answer: “Nil. Really. I would only worry if we didn’t see on the pitch how we want to play football.” However, this is not the case, the results “will come”, says Schwarz.
Bobic criticizes referees
In addition, there were unfortunate referee decisions – before the 0: 1 by a hand penalty converted by Alassane Plea (34th), the Berliners were whistled off a promising counterattack. “That was a clear wrong decision,” said Bobic.
He also criticized the second hand penalty missed by Jonas Hofmann. “It was a joke and shows the weaknesses of VAR. Unfortunately, the referee has to give it. If he’s sent out there, he’s under pressure. That’s ungrateful for him.”
In the end, however, pride prevailed. “We can go home with our heads held high. It’s only a matter of time before we score points,” said Bobic. Maybe next weekend? At least black is already hot. “Now we have Borussia Dortmund in front of us…” he said with a smile: “Nice job!”