By Roberto Lamprecht
Bitter for Hertha! The Berliners lost 1-2 against St. Pauli in front of a dream second division crowd of 66,113 spectators in the Olympic Stadium.
The guests thus conquered the top of the table. The Berliners, who had hoped for more after their two previous victories, are currently only left with a midfield position (12th place) and the sober realization that they are not enough to get to the top.
Against the dominant and new leader St. Pauli, Hertha was absolutely inferior for a long time. And the Berliners also had no chance against HSV, second in the table, on matchday 3 when they lost 3-0. Hertha is not yet a top team in the second division.
BZ gives three reasons why the relegated team is (still) missing the top!
► Courage and aggressiveness: Hertha had planned so much, but the guests immediately intimidated the hosts with their confident possession game and good spatial distribution. Hertha just ran after the music at the back. And at the front, their own offensive was completely up in the air. Hertha goalkeeper Tjark Ernst said: “We wanted to stress St. Pauli straight away and go all out. But we let ourselves lose our edge too quickly and retreated too far.”
Hertha coach Pal Dardai (47) makes it clear: “HSV and St. Pauli are a class better than us, we can’t compete with them. That was a lesson for us. That’s not our level. We were paralyzed in the first half. We have to play much more physically. If your opponent is better in terms of play, it’s not enough to just run a lot (Hertha ran a total of 122 kilometers, the editor.), then you also have to fight duels that hurt your opponent. We have to learn from this. In the second half we showed different body language, more risk, passion, will and willingness to run. That’s the only way we can keep up.”
► Missing automation/control center: Against top teams it is clear to see where Hertha still has problems. Some automatisms on the pitch are missing – such as well-rehearsed running routes for deep passes, blind understanding between the individual professionals or when moving entire parts of the team.
The reason is the relegated team’s many transfers (23 departures, 12 new signings), some only shortly before the end of the transfer list.
Dardai: “The first six weeks of our preparation can almost be thrown in the trash. We still need some time, it won’t happen overnight. Pauli, on the other hand, is a well-coordinated team.”
Particularly noticeable: After the injury to playmaker Palko Dardai (24), there is a gap in the offensive midfield center. Substitute Smail Prevljak (28) acts more centrally as a hanging leader and has far fewer ball contacts (only 22 against St. Pauli). The Bosnian also only played twelve passes.
Derry Scherhant made it 1-2 Photo: City-Press GmbH
Hertha’s offensive stars Fabian Reese (25) and Haris Tabakovic (29/seven goals this season) hardly received any balls. Winger Marten Winkler (20/seven ball contacts) was also missing and had to go out at halftime. Hertha’s defensive midfielders Andreas Bouchalakis (30) and Marton Dardai (21) were hardly able to provide forward support because they had to struggle with St. Pauli’s strong attack.
► Full-back: Michal Karbownik (22) is an elegant player, but the right-back was overrun on defense by Pauli left winger Elias Saad. And this time nothing came from him. As well as left-back Jeremy Dudziak (28). Dardai: “Both sides at the back weren’t good enough. But several players were failures. They have to learn from this.”
So that Hertha will be good enough for the top at some point…