Hertha BSC is in a state of upheaval again. Managing Director Fredi Bobic depends on making money. At the same time, coach Sandro Schwarz would like a good team.
Sandro Schwarz preferred not to talk about goals at his presentation on Monday. “It’s about doing,” said the new coach of the Bundesliga soccer club Hertha BSC meaningfully. Words that could definitely be interpreted as an order for his new boss Fredi Bobic.
Because of the obligatory performance tests at the beginning of the preparation, Hertha’s squad continued to resemble a large construction site. According to Bobic, it could stay that way for a while. “We have to earn more than we spend,” apologizes the managing director of the sports division. According to this, the planning was not completed until the end of the change window at the beginning of September.
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The constraints of Fredi Bobic
Hertha’s tight financial situation dictates Bobic’s framework for this transfer summer. As in his first transfer phase, when the boss, among other things, through the Sales by Matheus Cunha and Jhon Cordoba reaped high transfer fees, Bobic’s main focus is on the rehabilitation of the club. So Bobic would like to bring money into the club through sales from the squad, which has now been in acute danger of relegation for three seasons in a row, and set up a team that is athletically more powerful than last year.
Not an easy job, especially considering that with players like Dodi Lukebakio Loans return with high salaries that further burden the budget with horrendous salaries. The first two transfers of the summer set the tone: defenders Filip Uremovic and Jonjoe Kenny were each free of charge.
Black soccer ball provides frame
With the powerful Kenny, Bobic was able to complete his plans on the right side of defence. It certainly helped that Sandro Schwarz had long been known internally as the new Hertha coach. The outcome of the relegation had no influence on his decision, said Schwarz. “I wanted to tackle this challenge in Berlin regardless of the league.” That’s why he had plenty of time in the last few weeks to talk to Bobic and his squad planner Dirk Dufner about the team.
In these conversations, the trainer and his new colleagues discussed their similar ideas. They want to turn Hertha into an actively defending counter-pressing team that plays with a lot of pressure. Compared to the passive approaches of the last three coaches Pal Dardai, Tayfun Korkut and Felix Magath, this is a revolution. The demands on players are clear: At Hertha, running strength, speed, tactical discipline and proactive defense are required. If you don’t master this, you don’t fit into the system.
The contrast between sport and finance
With the departure of Ishak Belfodil, Bobic has already made a first decision in this direction. Although the Algerian was one of the guarantors for the rescue in the final sprint of the season, his slow backward movement and the lack of speed in the start-up behavior do not fit Hertha’s plans. Especially since Belfodil didn’t earn badly. But sporting ideals and the need to save don’t always go together as well as in his case. When Sandro Schwarz thinks about the relegation and praises: “The squad definitely has speed and can actively defend and also play”, he means in particular the six Santiago Ascasibar and Lucas Tousart.
They dominated the midfield with running and tackling strength and thus gave Hertha the necessary dominance. Unfortunately, the two defensive midfielders who came in the record winter of 2020 are among the top earners. Ascasibar has already announced his departure. Tousart is likely to follow due to his high salary. Although both would fit perfectly into the new philosophy. With the Czech Axel Kral, another free transfer player is haunting the rumor mill as a possible successor.
Nobody is not for sale
“No one is not for sale,” said Bobic after the relegation. In his analysis of the team, he will assess each individual player position by position according to three criteria: How much does he earn? Can he still develop? Does it go with Sandro Schwarz’ football? In particular, loan returnees such as Jordan Torunarigha, Krzysztof Piatek, Omar Alderete, Javairo Dilrosun and Dodi Lukebakio are automatically in the shop window.
But players like 30-year-old Marvin Plattenhardt, who made it possible to stay up in the season finale with his crosses and free-kicks, and 31-year-old Vladimir Darida, Hertha’s best assist provider with five assists, could leave Hertha a year before their contract expires.
Internal solutions are already available for them, which played less under the passive coaches of the last season. But Maximilian Mittelstädt is statistically one of the most proactive full-backs in Europe and Darida’s loss could catch Jurgen Ekkelenkamp, who arrived as a hopeful at the end of last summer and has been waiting for the confidence ever since. Hertha does not have this depth in all positions. In the previous season, only the relegated Bielefeld and Fürth scored fewer goals than Hertha BSC.
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A new attack
Sandro Schwarz wants to change that: “My team should be very active and courageous going forward and well structured against the ball.” Everything would have to change for that. Because Hertha was even penultimate when it came to shots on goal. When things got dangerous, the team mostly relied on individual action from the notoriously injured Stevan Jovetic or the fickle eight Suat Serdar. “He’s very aggressive, very active, it’s about him reliably calling up his potential,” says Schwarz, who has known Serdar since he trained him in the Mainz B youth.
Black is flexible when it comes to his formations. In Moscow he liked to play a 4-1-4-1 or 4-1-2-3 with wingers, in Mainz he used a diamond without a clear wing. But the fact is that he needs agile and fit offensive players for his football. From the current squad, only Marco Richter seems to fit this description perfectly. So if there’s one zone Bobic needs to think about in particular, it’s attack.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, June 21, 2022, 9:15 a.m
