Eins, Zwei, Drei, Neun
By: Abby |
3 Comments
Apologies for lack of posting in a week where actual things were going on, but I’ve been having a birthday and therefore without time to write up posts.
But in my absence, Hertha’s done surprisingly well for themselves. Three wins in a row as of today, and as I type we’re in ninth. One of those wins was even away. As Jan pointed out the other day, in the table just for the second half of the season we’re in sixth. There’s one game left to go and instead of collapsing, we’ve done better. We could still go down horribly to the champions next week, but that hardly counts.
Tags: No, Really!
By: Abby | 3 Comments
Next season, Hertha might have Kaká.
Category: transfer newsThanks Buddy!
By: Abby | 2 Comments
It feels nice to win again. Even if it was a bit lucky in the end, every team is due a bit of that now and again. It’s our turn. 
KSC started bright, missing several good chances before giving us a present- keeper Markus Miller misjudged a long ball from Arne Friedrich, allowing Gojko Kacar to snip in and get his first goal for the club. It’s nothing less than he’s deserved for his good play since coming to the capitol in January. The young Serb has been a fine signing for us, and now that he’s got his first goal hopefully more will come.
The second goal also came as the result of a mistake. Patrick Ebert made the most of a midfield turnover, racing forward and rounding Miller, then sending a pass in so Pante can get his twelfth goal of the season.
Two-nil up at the half, then, all without playing particularly well. This would continue in the second half, with KSC pressing hard, then eventually scoring. They came close on more occasions, before interplay between Raffael and Miniero (who might have been offside, but if it wasn’t called, I’m not going to complain) set up Rudi Skacel to slam a rebound shot into the open net. While it was the easy part, it could have just been an agonizing miss from Raffael without Skacel coming in at the right time.
The end result? A 3-1 win where we didn’t play very well, as recognized by Karslruher coach Edmund Becker and our Lulu. Lulu in particular was not particularly happy, saying that we have to “vastly improve” in the next three games.
Although I’ll probably take another not-played-well win, personally. As would Steve von Bergen, who said “I would rather play badly and win, than the other way round.”
Goals and other highlights after the jump!
Category: match reportsA Visit From Some Friends
By: Abby | 1 Comment
Karlsruher SC, our friends from Baden, come up for a visit on Saturday. When we went over to their place earlier in the season we left the points with them. This week, I hope that they return the favor. 
Despite falling off a bit lately, KSC have been the surprise of this season. Freshly promoted from the 2. Bundesliga, they currently lie 10th, 3 places (and seven points) ahead of us. We’ve got a Fanfreundschaft with them, which I detailed for the away game, so it’s generally a good time when the two teams meet. Let’s hope it is again.
Just like last game, we’ve got a bit more incentive to take points than Karlsruher as we’re not technically safe yet. A good run of form by one of the bottom clubs combined with a continuing reluctance to win on our part could be dangerous in the final few games of the season. KSC, though, are just in solid mid-table form. Pretty good for a just-promoted team.
As far as the actual match preview news goes, Hertha might be missing a few players- Arne Freidrich has an ankle knock, Steve von Bergen picked up yet another thigh strain, and Andre Lima is with his newborn daughter in hospital in Brazil. Good luck to him, and I hope she recovers soon. Josip Simunic broke his nose, but he’s likely to play anyway, perhaps with one of those fetching John Terry masks. But Pante and Raffael are both fit, so that’s something.
Jaroslav Drobny has been talking up the need to win, after a long series of draws and losses. Can’t agree with you more, Jaroslav. Let’s do some winning.
I don’t really make predictions (in case anyone hasn’t noticed that by now), but I’m hoping that our friends will return last round’s favor. Three points for Hertha would be a great present.
Category: match previewWeekend Trips
By: Abby | 3 Comments
Hertha and I both had weekend work-related trips, with the boys going off to Hanover and me to Chicago. Of course, my trip made me unable to watch theirs. In fact, it didn’t even let me see much of what happened until now.
And what a whirlwind of excitement I missed. Hannover 96 have been in good form this season and currently lie ninth. While we did beat them at the Olympiastadion, it wasn’t a particularly convincing win- the highlight was that the entire stadium was absolutely covered in snow. Also, Andre Lima scored a goal.
Anyways. Back to the present. While by all accounts we started brightly, by 19 minutes we were behind. Fit-again Steve von Bergen marked his return by deflecting a Mike Hanke shot into his own net. And if that wasn’t enough, a mix-up between Joe Simunic and Jaroslav Drobny handed Hannover a second goal on a plate. Two-nil down at the half. 
But something happened in the second half- we came back. First, Hannover gave away a penalty that Sofian Chahed put away (I’m not entirely sure why he’s the penalty-taker, but it works so I’m not questioning it). Then, young Polish striker Lukasz Piszczek scored a frankly excellent goal (I’ve included video at the end of my post) to equalize. And open his scoring account for Hertha- this was his first one, and he picked an excellent time and way to do it.
The story though, of course, is Marko Pantelic as always. While the first Hertha goal came before Pante was on the pitch (he started on the bench), the second came with the Serbian striker definitely involved after coming on for Skacel a few minutes before. His contract wrangles continue, but he is proving his worth. I hope he’s also proving that he can be the sort of team player Lulu wants.
One who may not be is Joe Siminic. The veteran defender has been making quite a lot of mistakes lately. Saturday was just another. It’s hard to say what to do- he can be good when he wants to be, but he does have lapses. Lots of them. Either it’s in his playing or in his temperament. If we can get something for him and a good replacement from somewhere, I wouldn’t be adverse to seeing the big Croat go. But those criteria have to be met.
Anyways, I’m back now and I don’t have another tradeshow for another month, so that means I have time to catch up on all the Hertha gossip. Which there’s a surprisingly large amount of.
Oh, and before I forget: here’s Lukas!
Category: match reportsA Whirlwind of Absolutely Nothing
By: Abby | 11 Comments
I’ve been busy at work, so I haven’t had much time for updating here.
Fortunately, Hertha has helped me out by having absolutely nothing happen.
Seriously. Nothing. The Hertha newsletter has had a full issue on the DFB-Pokal final (held in Hertha’s lovely home ground) and has offered congratulations to the Berlin hockey team. The lead story of today’s issue was on the U-15s (although it was a good one, as they beat Tennis Borussia Berlin 4-0). Even my Google alerts has nothing. Things are just…rather quiet.
But, on the other hand, the quiet’s been good for us. The break the league took for the DFB-Pokal has allowed just about everyone to return to training. It’s looking likely that we’ll have a full squad- one that features Marko Pantelic, Raffael, and Steve von Bergen- for our trip to Hannover this weekend. Which makes me very happy, as without our two main attackers we haven’t been scoring goals, and missing one of our main defenders we’ve been letting them in as well.
Speaking of attackers, new father Andre Lima is staying for now, or something. We’ll see. I’m kind of hoping for Klasnic, but yeah.
Also, Dieter Hoeness wants play-offs. I guess to get people paying attention to Hertha? Whatever the case, we’re in no way ready for Europe right now. Just look at Nürnberg- too much too soon can be damaging, as much as I’d like us to do some exciting things like they did last season.
And apparently we have a Chinese guy. And a football school in Beijing. I guess that’s why there’s a Chinese option on the Hertha website.
Er…yeah. That’s about it at the moment. Hopefully as we get closer to a game, more things will happen.
Category: Team NewsTotally Not Mind-Numbingly Dull
By: Abby | 5 Comments
You mean a game between two injury-or-suspension-hit teams in indifferent form wasn’t going to be super-exciting?
Er, well, that’s what can really be said about today’s game. It wasn’t all that interesting. It was a 0-0 draw against Hamburg, who’ve been in a bit of a slide lately and were missing some of their best players (as Chris elucidates here). Hertha, for their part, have also been in a bit of a slide lately and were missing some of their best players, with Raffael and Marko Pantelic both out with various leg complaints, as well as Steve von Bergen also still out, and even Solomon Okoronkwo picking up something.
Last game (which was Saturday, for those keeping track) resulted in a 1-1 draw away to Bochum. Not a bad result, as it’s Bochum’s strong home form that has been keeping them in the place they’re in, but it was a bit distressing that we can’t hold a lead. Nor can we win, it seems, without our top-scorer Marko Pantelic around. By most accounts it wasn’t all that interesting, either, and we probably should have won, but again, the final ball was missing.
Today it was at home to HSV, who despite their current run is still one of the better teams in the league. They’d just managed to lose at home to Duisburg over the weekend, and I was a bit concerned- it does seem that whenever a team needs a win, they get it at Hertha. Fortunately for us, they didn’t get it. Instead, it was a not-hugely-interesting 0-0 draw that suits us more than it does them, especially with those below us losing and those above Hamburg winning.
Both teams had a need for points, although HSV’s needs were more pressing than ours, as they still have something left to play for in the season. We just have to not screw up too badly in the remaining games. However, no team really looked like they needed anything to happen here.
But hey, at least it wasn’t a loss. And it could have been. Josip Simunic, showing the poise and nuance he’s known for, gave away a penalty in the 74th minute. And Ivica Olic, perhaps, as the people doing the live-blog on the Hertha website, in thanks for the good times he had as a bit-part player here in 1998 (he played two games), sent it wide. As the charming GolTV commentator said afterwards, you could see the two teams playing 160 minutes and there would be no goals. Yes, in this game, the most entertaining parts were the Hertha writers I followed the game with while at work and the GolTV commentator I listened to after.
But I savor all opportunities to watch my team, even if it’s a mind-numbing draw like this. And I’ll take a point rather than none. Bring on more news, and eventually Hannover at the weekend. And hey, maybe another win someday.
Category: match reportsYep, We’re Wearing That
By: Abby | 5 Comments
So remember a little while ago when I posted what might be next year’s Hertha shirt?
There have been several presentations. First there was the Kaiserbanhof, the train station in Potsdam, where there was a giant reproduction of the new jersey and some odd performer thing. The big guns were there for this- Lulu, Dieter Hoeness, the captain, Pante and Raffael looking awkward in suits. Train stations are a bit of a theme here, as Hertha’s sponsor are Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s train company.
Last night it was in the Hauptbanhof, the shiny main train station in Berlin. Several players showed up to the presentation and signed autographs, as well as posed for fan pictures. So Hertha fans in Berlin got to see Jaroslav Drobny, Rudi Skacel, Gojko Kacar, Patrick Ebert and Steve von Bergen present the shiny new jerseys.
Today was the presentation at the Brandenburger Tor, and again with more players signing autographs and taking photos. No pictures have shown up of that yet, and the news on the website is lagging, so I’m not sure how it’s gone yet. Hopefully well and all that. No rain. I’m not sure what the weather is like in Berlin, so who knows.
So, a shiny new jersey for the new season. As I said when I discussed it the first time, it’s something that they’ve done before, so there’s tradition on their side. It’s much brighter than the current strip, which is more of a navy, and the red collar does add something to it. It looks better on the players than it did in the dark and blurry bootleg picture that was floating around on the Internet. Still, though, I’ll probably be buying one of the old ones before they go away. I think the current ones are unique and interesting- there are few out there like that, while stripes is fairly common. But for stripes, they’re not bad. And the red is nice. I’m looking forwards to seeing what the away jersey is like.
Category: MemorabiliaThree in a Row
By: Abby | 1 Comment
The thing about Werder Bremen is that, even now, you don’t know which Werder Bremen will show up. Will it be the one that beat Arminia Bielefeld 8-1, or the one that lost to Duisburg? Majestic or tragic? Thrilling or mundane? You never know, with Bremen.
After they scored inside of the first minute- Fritz and Rosenberg combining, with help from a Jaroslav Drobny error- I was dreading what was to come. (Also, I was sleepy- it was 6:30 in the damned morning.) After a fairly humiliating couple of weeks, it looked as if the good Bremen had awoken. Unfortunate timing, in my opinion, as much as I like Bremen and their adorable Zaubermaus Diego (also Torsten Frings’ hair). I was hoping they’d hold off on the revival for one more week.
However, ten minutes in, I had reason to hope. Rudi Skacel curled in a free kick and Andre Lima met it, heading past Tim Wiese. Game on, all within the early stages.
And then I fell asleep again. It was way too early in the morning for me to be watching football, and I had the memory of Arsenal’s disappointing draw doing nothing to keep my spirits up. Fortunately, I’ve got at DVR, so I could rewind it to check up on what happened. Which was more wayward finishing (a common theme in the past few games), Lima hitting the bar, and a goal from Tim Borowski to kill it off and leave us with the third 2-1 loss in as many games.
Sigh.
It’s not a good run of form. There’s no way to deny that. It’s not that we’re particularly dire, even- in all the games, we had chances to do much better. Our finishing is mostly atrocious. Marko Pantelic being out (his leg thing flared up again, and now it’s a question mark as to when he’ll be back) doesn’t help things, as no one seems to be stepping in to take his place. We’re now without four main players- Raffael came off at half-time with a hamstring injury- and it shows. We simply don’t have the squad to make up for the players that are missing. Pantelic, Patrick Ebert, and Steve von Bergen were all out against Bremen, and they make a big difference. Raffael will likely not play next week against Bochum. Which, without Pante as well, leaves us with absolutely nothing in offense.
It’s not a good time for injuries. Our 12-point cushion against relegation is now an 8-point one. We should be safe (she says, knocking wood), but it’s not a good time to be dropping points when we should be consolidating our position and thinking about the reinforcements to be brought in next season. And we seriously need them- the only reinforcement to be brought in on Saturday were Tobias Grahn, who is pretty but not much else, and Pal Dardai, who is nowhere near young. No one that could change a game, or even make it better. The squad is threadbare as it is and these injuries are not helping.
In the short-term, all we can do is hope that Lima or Okoronkwo remember how to score, or that Gojko Kacar (who, admittedly, looks fab otherwise) starts finding the net with his shots.
Cross your fingers.
Category: match reportsThe Pantelic Question
By: Abby | 6 Comments
The big debate among Hertha parts (well, there’s something about a club election, but that’s not as tabloid-friendly and also I haven’t been planning a post on it for a while) is the issue of whether Marko Pantelic and Lulu Favre get along or not. Which is something to think about, to be sure, as Marko is our top scorer- and as I like to joke, with only a bit of humor, our entire offense- and Lulu is the manager that actually makes decisions about things. The tabloids who write things about Berlin, in the style of all tabloids anywhere, have taken a few things, picked a narrative, and ran with it.
That narrative? That Lulu doesn’t like Pante and wants to get rid of him.
Which, of course, is not entirely the truth. A grain of it, maybe, but a lot more…not-truth. It starts back around the beginning of the second half of the season, when Marko wanted to extend his contract and the club said it was premature, allegedly because they wanted to see whether he’d perform in the second half of the season or not (he doesn’t always). From there it went to reports that Lulu wasn’t happy with the way Pante plays in general, saying that he was perhaps not as versatile (I like the word “polyvalent” that Lulu always uses) of a player as Lulu normally likes, that he doesn’t train enough and is a bit lazy. Apparently, he doesn’t show up to training as much as he should. He can be a bit arrogant. He acts, well, like a star player.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that Lulu wants to get rid of him. He certainly produces, after all. Maybe he can even be trained into the sort of player Lulu wants. And considering a lot of this inferring by the papers is done as a result of Lulu being slightly snippy with the press, it should be taken with a grain of salt- it’s about every other question he’s asked, and he clearly doesn’t want to talk about it any more. He’s not always press-savvy, Lulu. (Maybe he can learn, too.)
I love Marko Pantelic. Everyone loves Pante. It’s hard not to love the top scorer, after all. His goals are, as put, are the life insurance of Hertha. Also, I find him charming and like his hair, which is very important. The last thing I want is for Pante go to.
However…here’s where I cross my life as Hertha fan with life as an Arsenal fan. I try to keep the two identities separate, but there are parallels to be drawn. Not exact, of course, but not far off.
Arsenal were always reliant on Thierry Henry. As well they should have been- Henry was absolutely and utterly brilliant, and there’s nothing that can be said that can diminish that. However, when he started to fade, or wasn’t there, the team didn’t know what to do. They didn’t know how to play without Henry and especially didn’t know how to score goals without him. Everything they did went through Thierry Henry- the midfielders were always looking for him, the attacks needed him to form.
As we’ve seen lately, without Pantelic Hertha don’t entirely know how to score. (Even with him it’s not certain, although he was involved in the goal we did score against Cottbus.) Perhaps if the team loses its new figurehead and top scorer, the rest of the team will realize that they have to pick up the slack. They’ll have to learn how to play without thinking of Pante, work on their finishing, and perhaps be more versatile in general for it.
Not that I’m suggesting the cases are exact. For one, Henry had a much greater influence on Arsenal than even Pante has on Hertha. And Pante’s not the captain- that’s still Arne Friedrich (get away from him, Roma). But it’s worth thinking about that way.
And Lulu is not Arsene Wenger, as much as he’d like to be. Hardly a bad ambition in my admittedly biased opinion. He’s not Wenger, but he has proved to have some good opinions in regards to players and transfers. Raffael, who he fought so hard for, is proving why Lulu kept up in his interest. Gojko Kacar has looked good. And he’s got a great track record for spotting talent, such as Yassine Chikhaoui, at FC Zürich. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being an Arsenal fan, it’s that sometimes you just have to trust the manager. No one is perfect- not even Wenger- but if they have a decent history, they deserve a bit of a chance. Just the slightest benefit of the doubt. So if the price is high enough, because we should not let him go for pennies (that means way more than the few million pounds he was quoted for before), perhaps Lulu can be trusted to find his replacement.
And perhaps he already has. Bild reports that we’ve already agreed to sign Amine Chermiti of Etoile du Sahel. If that’s true, we’ve managed a pretty good coup there. The 20-year-old has been in high demand. Even if we (as I hope happens) don’t lose Pante, he’d be useful anyway.
So, to sum up. I don’t want to lose Marko Pantelic. We shouldn’t lose Marko Pantelic. But if we do lose Marko Pantelic, it may not be the end of the world.
Hopefully.
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