The standard of play was fairly equal and the "one on ones" (Zweikämpfe) were about 50:50 although Hertha had 18 shots to Schalke's 11. Hertha looked dangerous on the counter attack and we had our chances but sadly we didn't take them as Timo Hildebrand made save after save.
Well the Schalke game ended in a disappointing 2:0 home defeat. We deserved more with the way we played especially in the second half but goals from Szalai (26) and Draxler (90) meant no points stayed in Berlin. The standard of play was fairly equal and the "one on ones" (Zweikämpfe) were about 50:50 although Hertha had 18 shots to Schalke's 11. Hertha looked dangerous on the counter attack and we had our chances but sadly we didn't take them as Timo Hildebrand made save after save. The video clip below shows the fans before the match.
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I am keenly anticipating Hertha's up-and-coming home game against S04 on Saturday. This is partly because this is the first game I have been able to attend in person for a few weeks now so it'll be great to be back. This is only part of the reason however, Hertha performed so well against Bayern on the weekend I can't wait to see how we can do when Schalke visit the Olympiastadion.. It appears that I am not alone as the Bild was reporting that by Tuesday morning 56,000 tickets had been sold already. They also speculated that, following the performance in München, the remaining 18,000 may go as well to give a full house in the Olympiastadion - always a joy to behold! In the U-Bahn on Thursday evening I noticed one of the TV screens said they were expecting 70,000 to attend so fingers crossed.
Schalke have done frailties of there own however - having conceded 22 goals go far this season gives a clue as to where thei might be. Although they are in a very respectable 7th place in the table their GD is -4. I hope Hertha will be able to exploit that tomorrow. There were three minor (hopefully) injuries picked up over the weekend in Bavaria. These were to: Peter Pekarik, Johannes van den Bergh and Sebastian Langkamp. I'm hoping the injuries reported in the BZ will have no impact on the game on Saturday though it is hard to tell for sure. Well, we'll see how things go in the match. I'll be sending the occasional tweet before, during and after the match. If all goes to plan I will be blogging away after the match as well. I am guessing a likely team to be announced for today's game against Bayern would be something like as follows: Thomas Kraft, Peter Pekarik, Sebastian Langkamp, Fabian Lustenberger, Johannes van den Bergh, Per Skjelbred, Haijme Hosogai, Sami Allagui, Änis Ben-Hatira, Nico Schulz and Adrian Ramos. I can't see Ronny starting and I think Kobi might struggle a little against Bayern but he may get a run out at start of the match like he did against M'Gladbach. We will soon see what we can get out of this match - there is always hope and you never know what might happen once that whistle blows and the game starts! Ha Ho He - HERTHA BSC! It looks like the starting lineup does not include Sami Allagui as I guessed but it does include Tolga Cigeri. A little more defensive perhaps and perhaps taking a bit of a risk - Tolga has not had very much game time in Blue and White. After/During the match Wow, what can I say? In the fourth minute Per Skjelbred took his second corner, lifting it over the pack to Ramos who struck a towering header past Neuer into the Bayern net. Hertha took the lead and held it for twenty five minutes until Mandzukic equalised only three minutes after Gaving been brought on. At half time Hertha go in all square at 1:1 and they were certainly no Bundesliga whipping boys in the first half! Ha Ho He! It's worth mentioning that's three assists for Per Skjelbred since his arrival at Hertha - a good trade with HSV there I think. Things went a little astray following a rash challenge by Haijme Hosogai and the resulting free kick the 51st minute. Mandzukic struck again to make it 2:1 and just three minutes later Götze, possibly the shortest guy on the pitch, managed to get a header away past the Hertha defence to beat Thomas Kraft and make it 3:1. Hertha certainly didn't give up and were rewarded by a second goal initially struck by Ramos but helped past Neuer by Änis Ben-Hatira in the 58th minute. There is most certainly honour in defeat - especially defeat by the narrowest of margins. It ended 3:2, not totally without controversy.
The game today could go either way in the Olympiastation as the two teams are quite evenly matched. Over the last ten matches in the Bundesliga Hertha have won three and drawn five so they have the slight edge. Although Hertha were lucky to get away with a point in Freiburg they were very, very unlucky to not get anything from the last home game against Stuttgart.
. . eight minutes in and Nicolai Müller scored for Mainz . . . not a good start!
As a Hertha fan, when that first goal went in, my heart sank (again) and you think of all of times were games were thrown away. The same kind of defensive error that has been Herthas undoing so many times before allowed Müller in. Having said this, soon after I was willing the team on again knowing they could do it . . . and do it they did! Perhaps the turning point was when Sami Allagui was brought on in the 46th minute as two minutes later he got the equaliser! I don't want to build that up too much as it was a tap in from a cross from Ramos who had done the work but here was in the right place at the right time. The second goal from Sami was a great boost, bringing those three points within sight. When Änis Ben-Hatira scored the third that was the icing on the cake and a joy to behold. Hertha enter the second round of the DFB Pokal tomorrow when they meet Kaiserslautern in the Fritz-Walter stadium. Kick off is at 19:00 CET and it is being shown on Sky.de but not on BT Sport for Uk viewers - boo hiss! The team sheet announced by Hertha includes a number of old friends who are back in the team for the first time for a while. The team listed was as follows: Kraft - Janker, Franz, Lusti, Holland - Schulz, Niemeyer, Cigerci - Sahar Allagui and Wagner up front. I hope the team can come up with the goods tomorrow as we have already missed the creativity of Baumjohann since his loss to an ACL injury. It's been a while since Maik Franz, Christoph Janker or Fabian Holland have played so that a pretty "new" defence lineup there and in Mid-field Ronny has not been on the best of form as yet IMO. Hertha could do with the income from a cup run as well as the confidence boost from a win under their belt. Fingers crossed and thumbs pulled! We'll all my crossing fingers and pulling thumbs was in vain. The team choice was strange although I freely acknowledge the need for rotation. There were just so many changes . . It was nice to see Peter Niemeyer get a goal as he worked so hard for Hertha last year. After that things went down hill. Getting knocked out of the Pokal 3:1 when we really needed a boost. There are the inevitable cases of finger pointing directed at Jos Luhukay but it is way too early for any of that nonsense. We do need a boost soon as you can almost see confidence draining away in people's body language . . Hertha went on to dominate the middle sixty minutes of the match in terms of posession but again they didn't convert the posession into goals. Oliver Baumann, the Freiburg keeper was doing his job annoyingly well. However Per Ciljan Skjelbred slid in to get his first goal for Hertha in the 38th minute following a long throw from Ronny. Ok not that pretty but it was an important goal.
The last 15 minutes were a bit hairy and Hertha were lucky to survive. It ended 1:1 with an away point for Hertha's trouble. Who knows how important that point might be when it comes to May next year. We don't want to be needing points when we play Dortmund on the last match of the season! I found a great little Hertha music video made by a couple of guys (Schwecke & Thilo mit h) who I believe are musicians that have just started working together again this year. The video is shot all around Berlin so spot the landmark! Not surprisingly it features the Olympiastadion quite heavily!. I found it after they made a comment (a nice one) about my magnificent Hertha Gartenzwerg on YouTube! Immer wieder Hertha the chorus Blau Weiß Blue White Die Farben einer Hauptstadt The Colours of a capital city Berlin Berlin Mehr als eine Heimat More than a "home" Du bist You are Liebe Leben Herzschlag Love, life, the beating heart Berlin Berlin Und immer wieder Again and again Hertha Hertha! You can buy the MP3 from this link if you like it - What a frustrating game to watch this was as Joachim Löw looked on from the stands. Hertha dominated the first half with nearly two thirds of the possession, more corners and more shots. But they lacked clinical finishing and shots went anywhere but in the net. I lost count of the number of times I threw my hands up only to end up grasping my head!! At half time it ended 0:0 but with a positive air in that Hertha were on top. It was not to last . . . . In the second half Stuttgart "came out of the blocks" running but we were still putting our shoes on. We were caught napping and paid the price. Hertha conceded a goal totally against the flow if the match up until that point and it was a real blow. Hertha continued to battle on creating chance after chance but nobody could get it in the net. Even in the closing minutes another chance appeared and then faded away once more. It ended 0:1 and Hertha pick up no points again on this match day. There is still much to be proud of not least of which is the support given by the fans but also the fact Hertha dominated a team that got to the DFB Pokal final last season and qualified for Europe (although they didn't stay there long). The numbers speak for themselves really: Hertha having 19 shots (compared to 8 from Stuttgart!) and winning 61% of the tackles. Sure they came away with no points but if there was any justice in the world they deserved at least one. The worrying thing, in my opinion, is the finishing, and Jos Luhukay has some work to do in the coming week I think. 6:1 against Frankfurt feels like a long time ago now. After the Champions League draw I noticed today that the Bundesliga site has put up the exact dates for the future Hertha matches. Book early . . All times in are in BST / GMT so add one hour for Berlin local time. ST Date Time Visiting team 5 13.09.2013 20:30 VfB Stuttgart 7 28.09.2013 15:30 1. FSV Mainz 05 9 19.10.2013 18:30 M'gladbach 11 02.11.2013 15:30 FC Schalke 04 13 23.11.2013 15:30 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 14 30.11.2013 15:30 FC Augsburg 16 13.12.2013 19:30 SV Werder Bremen 19 01.02.2014 15:30 FC Nürnberg 21 15.02.2014 15:30 VfL Wolfsburg 23 01.03.2014 15:30 Sport-Club Freiburg 25 15.03.2014 15:30 Hannover 96 27 26.03.2014 20:00 FC Bayern München 29 05.04.2014 15:30 1899 Hoffenheim 32 26.04.2014 15:30 Eintracht Braunschweig 34 10.05.2014 15:30 Borussia Dortmund I've uploaded a home game list/planner as a pdf below. Use it if you like . . .
It appears Hertha have just signed another midfielder to give a little depth - Tolga Ciğerci a 21 year old German born Turkish player from Wolfsburg. He may occupy the bench a lot of the time but he could also be very useful since Alex Baumjohann appears to have done his ACL in the match against Wolfsburg (ironically) on Saturday. I would imagine he'll be out if the picture for six months now. It is widely reported that this is the case. Hertha have also taken on the 26 year old Norwegian International midfielder Per Ciljan Skjelbred on loan from Hamburger SV where he has been since 2011. At Hertha he will wear the number 13 shirt. He arrives as a loan swap for Pierre-Michel Lasogga who moves to HSV until the end of the season. |
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