I haven’t written a post for this blog for quite some time.  This has been partly as a result of illness but also being a bit involved with the Don’t Mention The Fussball (DMTF) Podcast.  I have been revived from this blogging slumber by the remarkable match played by Hertha in the second round of the DFB Pokal against SG Dresden on October 30th 2019. 

I’m not going to dwell too long on the technicalities of the game but more on the atmosphere as the evening progressed.  The background of the game was framed by the comparative closeness of Dresden to the Capital, the strength of their fanbase and the decision by Hertha to allow well over thirty thousand yellow clad Dynamo supporters into the Olympiastadion.  The effect was almost like two sets of home fans facing each other across the stadium.  There were rumours before the game that some fans of other clubs were going to infiltrate the crowd in order to make trouble, start fights and so on.  Luckily, as far as I am aware, those fears proved to be baseless and the event passed peacefully and in a good natured fashion.  These factors alone would have been an electrifying experience but the way the game unfolded it turned it into something quite extraordinary.

You really cannot say that the price of the ticket didn’t provide value for money.  None of the normal 90 minutes of football . . . oh no!  We “enjoyed” a full 120 minutes of football plus penalties (if you consider that a bonus).  In terms of the goals they trickled in at regular intervals creating anguish and the relief not necessarily in that order.

The run of play started with Dynamo going ahead with a goal from Moussa Kone after 36 minutes and it was accompanied by the customary site of Hertha Fans burying their faces in their hands.  Not all was lost however as the goal was followed by an equaliser from Dodi Lukebakio twelve minutes later.  With just five minutes to go in the second half things were looking up as 
Ondrej Duda slotted one home from the penalty spot!  Happy days we thought, what can go wrong with just five minutes to go?  With Hertha, five minutes is an eternity in which to mess things up.  Sure enough at 90 minutes Patrick Ebert made it 2:2 and all square with Hertha faces disappearing into those hands once more.

So, penalties . . 

• Patrick Ebert scores 0:1
• Vedad Ibisevic scores 1:1
• Sascha Horvath scores 1:2
• Vladimir Darida scores 2:2
• Janine Muller fails. 2:2. Thomas Kraft Saves!
• Javairo Dilrosun scores 3:2
• Moussa Kone scores 3:3
• Karim Rekik fails (Oh my God - this can’t go wrong now!). 3:3
• Luka Stor scores 3:4
• Davie Selke scores 4:4
• Kevin Ehlers fails 4:4 Thomas Kraft Saves again!!!
• Marko Grujic scores!!  5:4

​The Hertha Fans went mad, absolutely bonkers.  It was a gruelling night of fan experience and it took it’s toll in terms of emotional energy and I suspect physical energy for the teams.both sides to be fair but will never understand those spectators leaving before the end.  Sure it was late and it was cold (the cars were covered in from when we left the stadium) but to miss the final chapters of such an epic battle is crazy.

I made it home by about 02:00 and cracked open a beer to celebrate and thought - What a night that was!

At halftime all I had to say was RONNY!

At full time all I have to say is RONNY!!

The best I could find to show the remarkable contribution from Ronny was this YouTube clip. Naturally, there is no o guarantee how long the clip will remain live on YouTube.   

Two cracking free kicks won that away point for Hertha to bring back to Berlin on an eventful visit to Freiburg. Nico Schulz however also brings a red card back to the capital after his last ditch "tackle" late in the second half.  But, who knows how important this away point might be later in the season.

There are positives we can take from this match including successfully fighting to come back from behind twice in one game. Having said this, that ball keeps on finding it's way into our net. I can't help feeling something is going to have to change if we're going to see this through this season.

Sadly I an not in Berlin for this game and will be in the UK. I won't even be able to watch it on the Internet and that's very sad indeed.

I gather the ticket sales went quite well so the atomoshphere must have been pretty good in the Olympiastadion on the day. I had hoped that Hertha had little longer to prepare and for some of the injuries that have plagued us to heal. Also, perhaps some of the very new blood will get a chance to show us what they are made of.

A few more goals, perhaps a brace from Julian Schieber or a debut spectacular from Salomon Kalou and a fully focused tight defence . . . who knows!

Well, it wasn't to be.  Ronny scored from the spot but Mainz scored three including one from Sami Allagui which just added insult to injury . . . .

I managed to see the highlights on the morning after the game and from what I saw it wasn't a pretty sight. To this humble observer it was a case of when is a defence not a defence?


For the first goal Johannes van den Bergh didn't track back and, although Thomas Kraft made a double save it came back to Okazaki who's shot left Kraft no chance to make the third save in a row.

For the second goal, Marcel Ndjeng had the right post but didn't fully close down the Mainz player . . the cross came across past both Ndjeng and Kraft to find not just one but two Mainz players waiting in from of goal and no defender on the far post. Only one defender was near but, out he was out of position, behind the attacking Mainz players.  Then, bang  and Sami Allagui of all people put the ball in the back of the net.

For the third Lusti was tracking back but when the shot came in Marcel Ndjeng came hurtling back towards to the goal (and Thomas Kraft) and perhaps they put each other off as the shot from Okazaki . . goes into the back if the net.

Good old Ronny did pull one back from the spot but in open play we had nothing.

All deeply worrying. I had hoped the defensive frailties were in the past but, it appears not. Jos Luhukay is going to do some serious work on the team after this performance. We have some good new players but they must play together, keep organised and stay that way for 90 minutes. In short, we need our defence to be the defence we hoped they might be. I so hope he can pull it off - I've grown tired of roller coasters - but, off we go again!

This afternoon I went up to the Amateurstadion to watch Hertha U23 play in a Regionalliga Nordost match against VfB Auerbach.  Some well known players were in the team today incluging: Fabian Lustenberger, Christoph Janker, Hany Mukhtar, Valentin Stocker and Marius Gersbeck in goal.  

It was a great match to watch and ended in a cracking 6:0 victory for Hertha.  Here are a few photos from the afternoon -

Saturday the 23rd of August saw the first game of the season at the Olympiastadion as Werder came to Berlin.   There was a decent sized crowd there for the match (59,672) and the atmosphere was, as always, fantastic.  A great little Choreo was performed by the fans in the Ostkurve before the start and I managed to catch a bit near the end on my phone to share -

After just 16 minutes our new striker Julian Schieber placed a header past the keeper and into the net. The crowd loved it! Well apart from a few guys wearing green for some inexplicable reason (perhaps they were colour blind - very sad).  Hertha had pretty good control and, if I remember correctly they had 9 shots to only one from Werder in the first half.


They picked up where they left off in the second half where Schieber picked up a second within two minutes of the start! Briefly we were in heaven, but then it all unravelled.  Hertha lost focus following a disputed refereeing decision and then went on to concede two goals in two minutes.  They came close a few times but couldn't score again.  You know things are not going your way when Sandro Wagner is brought on and sadly, it didn't help and at full time it was 2:2.  A few photos from my phone to give a taste of the afternoon.

One piece of bad news was Genki Haraguchi injured his shoulder and it sounds like he'll be out for at least three weeks. It's a shame as he was doing really well with his debut up until that point.

But hey, a point is a point and certainly better than no points at all.  In the coming months Hertha will need to sort their heads out and not allow themselves to be thrown so badly by decisions they don't agree with or feel were unjust.  It's all part of the game and an important one at times like these when two points were lost by a few minutes loss of focus.  Easier said than done I'm sure but onwards and upwards!

The start of the season is upon us and I have a long drive back to Berlin ahead of me on the Thursday before the first match against Werder Bremen on Saturday.  It is about 750 miles and will take us most of the day to get back with a crossing booked for 09:20.   We might stop off somewhere on route to stretch our legs and take in a few sights.  Osnabruck is one possibility but we have nothing planned. 

All was not lost however.  We stayed in Oberhausen overnight and managed to get to Berlin by train.  We will have to go back to Oberhausen by train next week to collect our car but, we will be in Berlin on Saturday to see the first match of the season!!

Thinking about Saturday I hope the forecast of showers for the match isn't right but I'm sure it'll be great to be there anyway.  Werder have had their problems over the last season as well so they will pose an interesting test for Hertha at home.  I'm hoping for a good start and to get three points at home to kick off the season would be a very good start indeed.  Either way I'm looking forward to being there -  it feels like it's been a very long time since last season and, after our experience just before the game, even longer!!

When wondering whether I am looking forward to the next season I inevitably find myself gazing into that crystal ball again as there are even more unknowns than normal this year.  Hertha have been very busy over the summer and have brought in some new blood so there are some real glimmers of hope this year. The newcomers themselves are not a guarantee of success of course as so much depends on how they integrate into the team and perform in the Bundesliga. Some have come in from other leagues whilst others have had limited game time in last season.

 All of this was promising but at times possession was conceded far too easily in the midfield and some of the old defensive frailties were visible as well.

Do I have grounds for optimism?  Well, in my opinion yes.  I know I am a Hertha fan and may be just a little bit biased by I haven’t thrown reason out of the window completely.  Attempts have been made to address some of the well-founded worries of the end of last season and let’s be honest here; they really needed to be addressed.  Our overdependence on the goal scoring talents of Adrian Ramos has been approached not as a direct replacement (which would have been difficult to finance) but rather by aiming to get goals from a variety of sources.  

In the long term this is a wise approach in my opinion in the it takes away that single point of failure that we were frighteningly exposed to in the 2013/14 season.  A drop of form or a long term injury to that one player leaves you in a dark place indeed.  With Hertha’s approach of buying a number of players, all of which can score goals and, hopefully feed off each other, builds in a resilience for the long season ahead.  Various combinations of Schieber, Haraguchi, Beerens and Stocker will  give Jos Luhukay options when his first choice stalls in a game.  It mustn’t be forgotten that Sami Allagui put nine in the back of the net last season so on his day he can be a handful as well.

In the defence we have built up the squad.  Johnny Heitinga I think has been a fine addition to the back line. He has a wealth of experience and although perhaps he could have done more to close down Wunderlich for his goal the the first dfb Pokal match he also made some key clearances against Viktoria Köln.

Clearly Jos Luhukay has got some work to do as the season goes on in getting some of the interplay more fluid (and not gifting possession) but through the fog in my crystal ball I am hoping it is a Hertha finish higher up the table that I am seeing in May.  Come what may, I am still looking forward to the new season and will be there to cheer on the “Blue and Whites” against Werder Bremen on that first day of the season.

The summer will undoubtably bring a number of changes in terms of Hertha's squad. As has been discussed in previous posts, it has to. As early as May 8th and before the end of the 2013/14 season, the first of those changes hit the newsstands. I intend to keep this a flexible piece that I will update as and when news of what must be frantic activity at Hertha breaks surface.  The last one that was officially announced was on Friday the 11th of June with the anouncement of the three year contract signed by Roy Beerens.

Signing number one.
The first if these changes saw Hertha announce, on the May 8th the signing of the flexible midfielder Jens Hegeler from Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The 26-year-old, had a contract with Leverkusen until 30 June 2017and the new contract with the old lady mirrors that.

Hegeler suffered a tear in his ankle ligaments back in March during Leverkusen’s away match at Hanover 96.  This prematurely brought this season to an end for Jens and he is currently in rehabilitation.  However, the 1.93 m (6ft3”) midfielder should start the 52nd Bundesliga season fully fit.

Signing number two.
On May 16th it came to light that it appears Valentin Stocker (25) will be joining Hertha. At this early stage, in mid May, Hertha are looking like the king of the transfer season this summer! According to a Swiss newspaper and widely reported now in the German press, including the Berlin locals, the top scorer from FC Basel, says he will be playing in the Olympiastadion in Berlin. It is also reported he has already had his medical in Berlin. He comes after a season where he scored 13 goals and created 8 assists for Basel..

The Berliner Morgenpost report that Valentine's services have been acquired on a four year contract for an estimated five million Euro fee. If correct this this the highest transfer fee in Berlin since Raphael back in 2008. The Swiss winger will join his countryman Fabian Lustenberger Who I understand he knew from childhood days in Lucerne as well as the Swiss national team.  Hopefully his goal scoring talents will go some way to replacing those of Adrian Ramos next season. Änis Ben Hatira and Nico Schulz however, with this years inconsistent for, will feel some real pressure for their places next season.

Signing number three.
On May the 20th Hertha announced the signing of the left-back Marvin Plattenhardt from 1 FC Nürnberg on a three-year contract until June 2017. The 22-year-old actually had a contract with Nürnberg until 2017 but, as a result of their decent into the 2. Bundesliga, he was released from that commitment for a reported fee of €500,000.

Marvin was born in Filderstadt, played a total of 61 Bundesliga games for 1.FC Nürnberg and he has also been through the German youth national teams. He is currently playing in the national U21 team.

For Hertha this is the third transfer within ten days and gives a useful injection of quality into the Hertha squad. Now the search is on for a striker!

Signing number four.
May 24th - Genki Haraguchi (原口元気)

Well, perhaps the search for a striker has come up with something as it has been widely reported late on Saturday the 24th that Hertha intend to sign the Japanese striker Genki Haraguchi on a four year deal and it was officially announced on Sunday the 25th. 

The 23-year-old is the second Japanse at the club following on from Hajime Hosogai who arrived two years ago.  Genki is coming from the Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds where he played with Hajime Hosogai in the past. Hajime, who has already been in Germany since 2011, pretty well knows the ropes by now. When Genki does come to Berlin, Hajime will be a great help to him with settling in and adjusting to the German culture and language. Jos Luhukay has said he is prepared to be patient with the young Japanese and will give him time to adjust.

Genki plays mostly as a pacey "back up striker" but he can play on the left wing as well. He has scored 36 goals in 189 matches for Urawa and in 2013 he scored 13 times in 41 matches with 11 assists. These are useful figures but a much depends on how he makes the transition to playing in the Bundesliga over the coming seasons.

I think this should be a fantastic step forward for the Old lady and adds commanding presence to the back line. His 87 caps for the Dutch team and periods at a number of top clubs, including Ajax, Atletico Madrid and Everton give him vast experience that he brings to Hertha.  He will have taken a big pay cut from the €2m he was earning in England but how could he not be tempted by a spell in the German capital?

Signing number six.
Following contined reports in the press of Hertha's interest in Julian Schieber (25) from Dortmund he joined the club, as predicted on Thursday the 3rd of Kuly after his medical. It was reported on the July 1st that the deal includes a fee of some €2M with "bonuses" that could bring BVB a total of €3M. This adds to the strike force and fills the space left b are you all important now you can't do it

The Dutchman scored five goals in thirty three appearances for AZ Alkmaar last season and has picked up two caps for Holland so far.

This makes Beerens the seventh new player for the new season after: Jens Hegeler (26/Leverkusen), Valentin Stocker (25/Basel), Marvin Plattenhardt (22/Nürnberg) Genki Haraguchi, (23/Urawa), Johnny Heitinga (30) and Julian Scheiber (25).

This is quite a haul in such a short period of time!  The Bundesliga site was talking a while back about a new attacking quadriga - Hertha to share the burden without Ramos

it appears Lasogga will not be extending his contract and wants to stay at HSV. On June 30th the Bild, the BZ and the Berliner Morgenpost have reported Lasogga going to HSV for a fee of between €8 to 10 million depending on which paper you want to believe.

As always, time will tell. If half the talk in the press comes to fruition the Old Lady will have a whole new team in August!

Speculation in the press
on the 27th of May news starting to break in the BZ about a possible alternative to Lasogga if he is lured away by an EPL club. Not the most reliable source of information perhaps but it did appear in Bild two days later.  They report that Hoffenheim's Anthony Modeste is top of Hertha's not so secret wish list.  Jos Luhukay is allegedly enthusiastic about the 26 year old striker who scored 12 goals and made four assists. Having said this I had not seen anything about this until signs appeared over two months later on August 8th saying the deal is almost done. Time will tell . .

I'm sure Michael Preetz and Jos Luhukay are preparing for all eventualities!

I took the opportunity on Saturday to cycle over to the Hertha team training session at Schenckendorffplatz.  It was just a brief session with the players being split into two groups and each group was sent on a gentle jog in opposite directions around the field.  Jos Luhukay remained in the centre as the players circled.

As usual I took a few snaps as the players trained and on this occasion I had the opportunity to welcome Johnny Heitinga to Berlin and wish him good luck for the season.  I said I hoped we'd do well this season and he replied he'd do his best.  What more can you ask of a man?

Anyway the first few pictures are in the slide show below I'll add a few more as I have the time - come back and check later if you want to see the rest as well.