By Roberto Lamprecht
This young man is becoming more and more valuable for Hertha!
Tjark Ernst (20/born March 15, 2003) is the second youngest goalkeeper in the top two German professional leagues. Only Fürth’s second division keeper Jonas Urbig (born August 8, 2003) is a few months younger.
For weeks now, his performance curve has been rising steeply in his first season as number one in the Berlin box.
Against Karlsruhe (2:2), Ernst was once again a strong support. With two brilliant saves on the line against Mantovic (47th and 78th), he at least held on to one point for the Berliners. With the two goals conceded, nothing could be done.
Top in goal! Where would Hertha (12th place) be without Ernst?
Previously in Rostock (0-0) he plucked all the balls out of the air in the hot final phase and secured a point here too. One game before, Ernst also kept a clean sheet in the cup against Bundesliga side Mainz (3-0).
Ernst gives the defense loud commands. His father Thomas Ernst (55) used to play in goal for Bochum, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Lautern in the Bundesliga Photo: City Press
The young keeper is getting better and more confident with each game. He quickly matures into a personality.
After the lightning sale of Oliver Christensen to Florence on August 10th (4.5 million euros transfer fee) and the surprising exit of Marius Gersbeck (28/was suspended for a long time after a fight in the training camp in mid-July and pardoned much later) Ernst was was basically thrown into the deep end as number one – and has long since swum free.
Ernst stands his ground with flying colors. He is now Hertha’s great support – also a great credit to goalkeeping coach Andreas Menger (50).
Ernst is extremely ambitious and said after the KSC game: “From my point of view, we lost two points, which is completely annoying. After the break, the approach was to move from midfield pressing into counterattack situations. At times we were a bit too passive, and we have to blame ourselves for that. But we still had enough chances to get the game on our side early on and make it 3-1. We missed that. We have to strike!”
Hertha is not moving forward in the table – it’s not because of the strong goalkeeper!
Ernst on the table situation: “That’s annoying. You can and should actually win in Rostock and against KSC. Of course it hurts that we can’t move forward. But we are a team, stand together and attack together again after the international break. We want to be up to speed by Christmas.”
Before that, Germany’s U20 international wants to keep the box clean in the international matches in Romania (November 17th) and against England (November 20th).