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.
| There were some positive signs in the first DFB Pokal match against Viktoria Köln but the scoreline of 2:4 flatters slightly. With goals from: Ronny(33’), Roy Beerens(41’), Genki Haraguchi (51’) and finally Julian Scheiber (76’) Hertha had the firepower. Ronny's goal was a peach coming in from about 25-30m. He also had a hand in the third from Haraguchi which went in from the right at quite an improbable angle. |  Team line up photo courtesy of Hertha Twitter |
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.
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.
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