This weekends game was a bitter pill to swallow. A second home loss but we didn't play badly and in my, albeit biased opinion, we deserved a point at least.

If you look at the stats it gives a clearer picture than the final score of 0:1 can do.

• Possession 58:42%
• Kilometers run 123:120km
• Shots on goal 12:4
• Corners 9:1

Unfortunately, the one statistic that counts is the 0:1 and what adds insult to injury is to see the assist given by Hegeler to the goal scorer Stefan Kießling, was made from an offside position. The goal should never have been given but the football gods were not smiling on us on this day and given it was.

Not all blame can be placed at the doors of others however and had we taken one or two of our chances then the story would have been very different.

More luck and better luck next time Ha Ho He!

Well the first has dropped out with a week to go and it's started with Miroslav Klose who has dislocated his shoulder and will be out for at least three weeks or so it is being reported in "Football-Italia.net.

From the England camp Michael Carrick (Achilles' tendon) and Danny Welbeck (knee injury) will not be playing on Tuesday. I gather neither will be being replaced in the squad.

Also the Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard and Tottenham defender Kyle Walker will be missing the Chile match on Friday through injury. Will they miss the match against Germany as well?

Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge has been nursing a foot injury and perhaps Frank Lampard (who would be captain in Steven Gerard's absence) has a slight cold, are by no means certain for the Chile match. The list goes on . . .

. . . and England go 2:0 down to Chile at Wembley whilst Germany get a 1:1 draw. The scene is now set - not long to go now!

The matches running up to the winter break a crucial. We have taken a couple if hits over the last couple of weeks against Bayern and S04 and we need to keep accumulating points. We've been mid table half way through the Hinrunde before (11/12) only to be followed by it going horribly wrong. I don't want to go there again thank you very much!

Against Hoffenheim the history includes six encounters, three of which resulted in victories for Hertha, one draw but two defeats. To gain something on this day I really hope the guys have worked on their set pieces. Our away record has not set the world on fire either.

Yay! An away win 3:2 with a brace from Adrian Ramos together with an assist for Änis Ben-Hatira's goal and some great saves from Thomas Kraft - all adding up to three valuable away points.

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.

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. 

The worst of these in some ways is to Sebastian who managed to fracture his middle finger and torn an associated tendon. Perhaps if this is strapped up he will be able to continue? Who knows? It depends on the full extent of the injury and the pain involved although the BZ say Jos Luhukay is confident both Sebastian and Johannes (dead leg / bruised thigh) will play. Peter may be a little more doubtful with bruising to a previously injured shoulder.

On a positive note it appears Marcel Ndjeng and John-Anthony Brooks continue their journeys back to full fitness with an U23 game against Viktoria.

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.