So many clubs, perhaps especially in England, live on a knife edge with there finances.  Huge transfer bills, massive wage bills and crazy amounts paid to let coaches / managers go where they are perceived to be not performing quite well enough.

In Germany the levels of debt are comparatively low and fan ownership more common.  In England we have massive debts with big business after the lucrative worldwide merchandising money.  In the case of Chelsea a billionaire owner who clearly loves his football but has frankly, bizarre style in running the club.  I guess he has rights as he has pumped hundreds of millions into the club - £50,000,000 (62,000,000€) for Torres alone even if some of the purchases he has made have not gone well.

On the downside the fans are totally ignored a fact that has been amply demonstrated by the sacking of RDM and his job being given to the fat controller (Rafa Benitez) who the fans clearly hate and don't mind singing so from the stands.  

Hertha announced in their members meeting on Monday that their debt has risen from 37 to 42,000,000€ and Hertha do not have a rich "sugar daddy" like Roman Abramovich,  One could argue thank god!  

Personally I don't like the idea of debt and don't see that as a way of spending our way out of trouble.  I'm not sure why we bought all of the players we did in the summer.  At least one more defender would have been handy rather than a whole raft of Strikers.  Having said all of this Luhukay has done a remarkable job forging a team this season.  I'm not sure what we're going to do to reduce the debt - hold our breath until we're back in the Bundesliga with crowds of 60-70,000 in the Olympiastadion!

There was talk in the press about having to sell Adrian Ramos in the winter break to balance the books but I gather Michael Preetz says they don't want to do this and nor do they need to.  Unless someone makes an offer in the Winter break that suits everyone he will be staying put. Personally I can't see a major offer happening as they weren't exactly queuing up to buy him in the summer.  I hope he does stay, we could do with him in the squad in the Rückrunde.
 
 

Hertha go into match day 15 with an unbeaten run of 12 games. Eight of these have been victories. In this season only Braunschweig have a finer record before their loss at Cottbus on the 24th.

In Aue Hertha have the chance to close the gap at the top of the 2. Bundesliga table to just two points. We have everything to play for and with Aue having only amassed 13 points in 14 games we could be excused for feeling confident.

I can't help feeling nervous however, there is so much that we could still mess up! Against St Pauli we gave away possession far to easily which isn't the best way to wrap up a game. Sloppy play could lead to a a counter attack etc etc

Aue may have not won the last three matches (four if you include the DFB Pokal) but they did get a point from Braunschweig and before that they beat VfL Bochum 6:1. They clearly can play if we let them so, I hope we can keep it tight down in Saxony and come back with all three points!

The team sheet according to my Eurosport app -

It's great to see the first start for Ben Sahar in Aue. It would be better still to see three goals from three matches from him. Good luck Ben!

Post match
Hertha romped home with a convincing 4:0 win against Aue and my fears were totally unfounded I am very pleased to say.

Ramos scored after just one minute with a great header and a goal, 7 minutes later fron Peter Niemeyer that bounced off almost everyone before going in!  Various sources, including the Eurosport and Hertha apps credited the goal to first Bastians, then an own goal to Schröder but now the DFB have credited Peter.  This caused a tweet nightmare for me during the game!
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In the second half Ben Sahar was needlessly brought down in the box to allow Ronny to slot away a penalty after 56 minutes had been played. To wrap it up Allagui dribbled around the keeper to pass it into the net in the 74th minute. Game over!

Now, Hertha are, as I hoped, two points behind Braunschweig and the top of the table.  They have the best goal difference in the league (+18) and have scored the most goals (30).

Peter Niemeyer put in a good stint again with him making an important 19 tackles and helping shut down anything Aue tried to get going.  He even got a goal albeit a bit of a pinball shot. 

Next stop - "English Week" and the visiting 1. FC Köln on Thursday . . .

Well this is a bit if a nightmare. The derby match against Union Berlin is on Monday the 11th of February.

I'm not surprised if I was honest (see previous post) but its a real killer for fans from outside Berlin.

Even fans,from both sides, that live in Berlin will have a bit of a rush getting back from work and then getting out to the Olympiastadion. I know about the money coming from TV rights etc but for heavens sake, think of the fans - the "match of the season" on a Monday night . . .

I'll have to work from Berlin on Tuesday so I can go to the match on Monday night. I may have had to cash in some brownie points at home for this one and the whole business is a bit of a pain but, under the circumstances, its just got to happen!!

Well this is another big one for Hertha! The team are coming home after a stunning 6:1 victory in Sandhausen. 

  St.Pauli has six draws so far this season, four defeats and only 3 victories and only one of these were away from home.  Hertha on the other hand have won 7, drawn five and only lost one - unbeaten in eleven matches!

Here is the teamsheet acording to the Eurosport App on my phone.  Starting to form up a starting eleven now.

Post match -
Well it was a frustrating match to watch in the end. In the first half the play was quite open for the most part. More open then it needed to be from the Hertha perspective because we gave up possession far, far too easily.

We went in at half time at 0:0 but came out stronger, holding possession a lot more effectively.
Then, Fabian Holland was replaced by Felix Bastians in the 57th minute. In the 64th minute Ben Sahar comes on to replace Peer Kluge, and lastly, in the 78th minute Nico Schulz is replaced by Sandro Wagner. At this point the die had been cast by Jos Luhukay!

Seven minutes later Ben Sahar scored a header that proved to be the decider in a 1:0 win for Hertha at the Olympiastadion.

A key goal clinching all three points and Ben's second in two matches for his new club! Welcome to Berlin Ben!

Today we're planning to go and watch the Hertha U23 team play Carl Zeiss Jens at the Amateurstadion.  I've never been to watch the U23 team play before but I thought it wouls be worth a try.  The  Amateurstadion has space for about 5400 spectators with a.bout 1100 seats.  It is just north of the Olympiastadion itself and near to the training ground and Hertha Offices.

I have no idea how busy it's going to be or how it all works.  We're going to cycle up to the stadium at about 12:00 and find out!

We had a great afternoon with our trip up to the Amateurstadion.  It turned out to be a grey cool and damp November afternoon with hats and scarves being needed to keep a sense of feeling in your extremities!  

It was quite easy finding our way in and a quick wave of our tickets gained us entry.  We joined 821 other souls in watching the game whete we chose to stand. We could have taken a seat in the stand if we had wanted but the view if the match was better from the back!

We saw at the start mixed bag of the Hertha youth playing together with some of the more well known, but younger names.

The team wore black armbands in memory of Alex Alves and they held a minutes silence as a mark if respect. Having said this a couple of people about 4m away talked all the way through it which as very disappointing.

Philip Sprint added a little experience in goal and things could have turned out much worse but for his efforts.  I'm not totally sure about all of the players but I think I spotted these out there:

39 - Gracjan Horoszkiewicz
35 - Jamil Dem
2  - Mark Leinau
29 - Marvin  Knoll
43 - Dominik Wohlert15 - 
15 - Elias  Kachunga
27 - Alfredo Morales (Red card)
7 - Daniel Beichier

I guess it is fair to say things didn't go totally to plan. We lost possession quite often by players trying little back heels and flicks that didn't work so well. Also some of the passes were miss timed and went astray. There were a few chances but far too many were lost by players taking that extra touch or trying one more pass - and missing the chance to actually shoot!
In the 37th minute we brought down one of the Jena players in the box and tote ref. pointed to the spot. Schlosser put it away to make it 0:1 to Carl Zeuss Jena.

At half time we make use of the most excellent Hertha BSC Imbiss! Glüwein and Bratwurst - both a warming treat for a increasingly chilly football fan!

In the second half Hertha tried and there were s few chances and half chances but they all came to nothing.

It got worse in the 90th minute when one of the Jena players got his handbag out and Morales retaliated by grabbing the guy by the throat!! Not such a good idea and it earned him a deserved red card. I hope he learns a little from the experience and shows a little more discipline in the future.
A disappointing result with us going 0:1 down but we really enjoyed the afternoon. Must go again sometime!

At the end of a sad week for Hertha fans a small tribute has been set up by fans to Alex Alves. Alex tragically died of leukaemia aged only 37. The tribute was small, but touching I thought and can be found outside the east gates leading towards the ostkurve.

I wanted to have a moan about the fact the exact dates for 2. Bundesliga matches are released so late. We are currently waiting for the precise dates for matches at the start of the Rückrunde including the derby match against Union Berlin.

I know its because of the TV rights - Sky, Sport1 etc and I understand in a way but, as a fan wanting to be at the match it does create problems.

On a Friday night it must be awkward at best for an away fan having to cross Germany to get to a 17:00 kick off. As for Mondays . . well forget it. At least you can watch it on free tele I suppose but it's not the same as being there.

The match can be on any one of four days spread out over a weekend and you don't know which until a few weeks beforehand. This is a bit of a nightmare for away fans but also home supporters travelling to a match from far afield.

Forget "book early to avoid disappointment", it's more like book early and take pot luck!

I'm stuck on the train on the way home from work with only twitter and 90elf for company. At the moment Hertha are two goals up with a goal from Ramos and a technically tricky shot from Peter Niemeyer using his back to score - half time . . .

Arrived home for the second half just!  The picture wasn't good but even so, how glad was I that I had!!  What a goalfest this game turned out to be!

So many goals at the end I couldn't keep track of who scored which goal in the last two minutes!

1. Adrian Ramos 28 minutes   (one goal from six shots)
2. Peter Niemeyer 34 minutes   (one goal from two "shots")

3. Ronny 68 minutes    (one goal from four shots)
4. Sami Allagui. 81 minutes    (one goal from two shots)
5. Marcel Ndjeng. 89 minutes    (one goal from five shots)
6. Ben Sahar. 90 minutes   (a goal from just one shot!)

 Ben Sahar, came on in the 76th minute and scored his first goal for Hertha after just 14 minutes!. Congratulations to Ben - the first of many I hope!

I'm going to record the highlights and watch this one again I think!

The 1:1 away draw by K'Lautern on Saturday was nice. That leaves Hertha just one point clear in second place to the dominant Braunschweig. With Hertha being five points behind they still have a lot of work to do but the gap is closing, albeit slightly.  

Energie Cottbus kept things tight at the top of the table by a 2:0 win at home against Dynamo Dresden.  This leaves them separated from K'lautern by goal difference alone on 25 points - just one behind Hertha.

Onwards and upwards - Ha Ho He Hertha BSC !

Here we are in the first game of November and Hertha meets Ingolstadt at the Olympiastadion,  The skies are nearly all blue and the sun is shining.  It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day - fingers crossed! 

This will not be an easy match with Ingolstadt coming from two wins and being undefeated in four matches home and away.

Every point is important so we had to keep organised in this one and take any, and all chances that we make or, come our way by good fortune!

Well, that didn't go to plan did it!. We ended up with a 0:0 home draw after we got off to such a good start, we were driving forward and the defence werestarting to look solid.  I felt Fabian Lustenburger had a particularly good game. 

There were no end of shots and corners but Hertha just couldn't get it in the net, try as they may.  It appeared as if the Hertha strike force suddenly got shy when they got near the goal.  They appeared to want to pass the ball rather than shoot or even more, turn and shoot.

Perhaps this was best demonstrated by one instance where Wagner, on the edge of the box, instead of turning and running at their defence just put in one more pass and the attack collapsed.  Perhaps a confidence thing, I don't know.  Wagner was taken off in the 75th minute and replaced by Allugui but still no breakthrough.

The Ref. in his infinate wisdom added one minute of extra time even though there had been a total of six substitutions - economical to the last!

Hertha kept the tempo high and tried to attack but it was not our night.