The 29-year-old Czech has been in fantastic form all season, so much so that he was not only voted Herthaner of the Hinrunde, according to the Hertha website, but that the fans have given him the humble, subtle nickname Jesus. Game after game he’s kept Hertha in it. It’s our defense that win our games, and it’s Drobny that’s at the heart of it. I say, give him whatever he wants.

He was a player who bounced around clubs, with periods in Greece and the Netherlands, failing to hold down a place at Ipswich and not playing a single game for Fulham. It was his good season at Bochum that brought him to Hertha’s attention at the beginning of last season. And this season, like the team in general, he’s upped his game and improved. In a lot of ways, Drobny represents the team. We’re not a team of recognizable names, but this season, things are getting done.

Here’s an interview from a few months ago, with Deutsche Welle. It’s in English, so you can all hear about ice hockey and Greece.

What is it with us and Wolfsburg?

The controversy stems from two goals- one given, one not. The one given was what proved to be Wolfsburg’s winner, where Edin Dzeko climbed all over Josip Simunic to head the ball into the net. A clear foul, and especially galling considering that Cicero had a goal ruled out in the first half for a foul on a defender. (The two goals between them- first one of ours from Cicero and then a legitimate one from Dzeko- no one has a problem with.)

So our reign over the table was short. Just a week. A win- maybe the one we should have had?- would have kept us there, since Bayern lost to Köln and Hoffenheim only managed to draw Stuttgart. Instead, we’re down to third, level on points with Hoffenheim but behind them on goal difference. It’s kind of bitter. I just have to remember that being third is pretty damn special, and hope that the team put it behind them quickly.

I’m actually fairly confident of their ability to do that- there have been a few bad losses this year, but the team has yet to look perturbed by them. The 5-1 loss against Werder Bremen was followed up by the 1-0 win over Hoffenheim. A loss to Cottbus at home led to beating Leverkusen away. We’ve been able to carry on well after disappointment. I’m hoping it continues.

So I’m going to hopefully lead by example and move on.

A non-Wolfsburg story that I’m finding interesting is the potential international career of Maximilian Nicu. The 26-year-old was signed over the summer from 2. Bundesliga SV Wehen Weisbaden, after a career spent in the lower leagues. He’s taken to the big leagues very well and has been one of Hertha’s more noticeable players. So much so that there’s talk of an international callup for him. The only question is, what national team? Nicu was born in Bavaria, but his parents are Romanian, and he’s talked about being interested in a call-up from the Balkan state. So much so that there are reports that he’s being fast-tracked to Romanian citizenship. According to tabloid reports he’s already deposited his paperwork at the consulate in Munich. Not that he’d mind a call-up from the DFB, but it seems like the first who act will the ones to get him. Romania hasn’t been shy about their desire to have Nicu on their side and it looks like they will. Perhaps even as early as their qualifiers against Serbia and Austria at the end of March/beginning of April.

Also: welcome to the world, Arne Friedrich. Apparently the newborn Arne’s older sister was so taken with our Kapitän at the World Cup that she convinced her parents to name their baby after him. Awwwww.

But then, before September had even started, he got injured in a UEFA Cup qualifier against Interblock Ljubljana. It was a bad knee injury that kept him away for much of the season. We finally started to see him again in the last trickle of games before the winter break, with a substitute appearance in the 1-0 loss to Schalke, as he got himself back to match readiness.

It looks as if he’s getting there. His goal against Floria Swinemünde was followed up by a goal in our most recent friendly, scoring the equalizer against SC Freiburg.

True, it isn’t yet scoring the winner against Bayern Munich, but it’s a good sign, and it’s great to see a comeback of this nature from him. Let’s hope that he carries this form over into the actual season, as well.

The result, of course, was not what I wanted, and I spent quite a bit of time sulking over it. A fortuitous snow day (Seattle has been covered in snow- not a normal occurrence, and we’re all going a bit crazy) meant that I could watch a midweek game for the first time in I don’t know how long, so I got to see all but the first few minutes of Thursday’s game with Olympiakos.

It’s hard to decide what to think about it. We were on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline. We’re out of Europe for the year. But there are parts that were downright…positive, and I’m torn between feeling at peace about it and being still sulky, as I was after it ended.

We didn’t play terribly poorly, for the most part, and a 4-0 loss is, in my opinion, harsh. It may be karma paying us back- our last Bundesliga game of the year, after all, was a 4-0 win that was probably harsh on our opponents. In this case, though, we had a strong first half where we could have gone ahead on a few occasions. The team that came out was somewhat depleted- shorn of Gojko Kacar, Josip Simunic, and Andriy Voronin, which meant that Marko Pantelic, Steve von Bergen, and Kaka were in the starting lineup.

A word on Marko Pantelic- I would not be surprised if an announcement of his leaving is made soon after the start of January, judging by his performance on Thursday. Often this season he’s come in and immediately proved his worth, almost as if trying to show that Lulu was wrong in his judgment (or to show off to any scout that might be watching). Thursday, he just looked off and disinterested in a way I hadn’t seen. As always, I’ll be keeping you posted.

Anyway, back to that first half. It was a fast, open half of football, and we looked good- Cicero, Raffael, and Maximilian Nicu all came close to opening the scoring, and as it wound down I felt like we had a good chance of nicking something from the game.

The second half, though, Olympiakos came on strong and it was only a few minutes after the break that Drobny was called upon to make a nice save. A few minutes after that Hertha fell asleep at a set piece and an unmarked Dudu headed in a free-kick. 1-0 to the home side. We tried to come back into it, but on the 64th minute poor Steve von Bergen gave away yet another penalty, which was duly converted. 2-0 to the home side. von Bergen’s been sadly disappointing this season- I actually do like him, but it seems that he’s never got his head straight after missing the Euros this summer through injury.

After that, we really did lose it a bit. We’d looked pretty good up to that point, but after the penalty we never looked like scoring. Either we got tired (we’ve played a lot of games, what with all the qualifiers), or our heads just went down after we were 2-0 down. We’d have had to score 3 goals at that point to go through, and we hadn’t taken our chances up to that point, so…well. The final two goals came on the 86th and 89th minutes, well and truly killing our chances, but the game was done before that. 4-0 was a harsh scoreline, but in the situation, I could see how it happened.

But it’s not all negatives. The first half, as said, was very nice, and with better finishing during that 45 minutes, the story could have been a lot different. It was also more minutes for a recovering Amine Chermiti. Those who’ve been following the blog here know that Rami over at Tunisia World Cup Blog has got me excited about the kid, and I can’t wait to see what he does in the second half of the season.

The big story, though, to the point where it almost overshadowed the result, was the return of Lúcio. The Brazilian midfielder started so well last season before suffering a horrible knee injury in September of 2007. It’s been a long, long recovery, over a year, but on the 87th minute he made his re-entry onto the field. He’s back. The winter break and training camp (and whatever friendlies get played) should see more of him, and, just as with Chermiti, I can’t wait to see him in the second half of the season. Welcome back, we’re all happy to see you. It also means he’s cut his hair, after 15 months.

So that’s Olympiakos, and that’s the UEFA Cup. It’s sad to be out, but we’ve got some good memories, and at least we didn’t finish bottom- that position was reserved for Benfica. Hopefully, we’ll see Europe next year, and perhaps we’ll be in a better position for it.

In other news, Arne Friedrich has officially signed a new contract. The new deal takes him to the 2012 season, with a one-year automatic renewal if he plays at least 25 games in that season. What’s interesting is that apparently, Arne took a pay cut in his new contract, rather than the rumored pay raise. His new deal is supposed to be at €3 million a year, but at the beginning of the discussion he was apparently demanding four. Something happened to bring it down. I’m not sure what, but I’m glad. And I’m very glad to be keeping Arne.

Our season has been defined by two things- a good defense and astute signings. The thing is, the two haven’t really met. Our inspiring signings, like Maximilian Nicu and Cicero, have been offensive. Our defense, on the other hand, has been based on players that predate Lulu (excepting magical goalkeeper and Herthaner of the Hinrunde Jaroslav Drobny). The attempts to sign new defenders, like von Bergen and Kaka, haven’t worked out nearly as well as what we have. So until our defensive scouting gets sorted out, keeping the defenders that have got us to the place we are is worthwhile.

Speaking of new attackers, the other Hertha news making the rounds is that Voronin wants to stay. I don’t mind keeping him, especially since if Pante leaves we’ll be seriously deficient in the Eastern Europeans with dodgy ponytails category. My only question is his price tag- I’m not sure the kind of wages (and transfer fee from Liverpool) he’ll command is best spent on him. (Maybe on Gojko Kacar’s possible salary demands.)

So that’s the story. The best Hinrunde we’ve ever had is over. We may be out of Europe, but we’ve got a whole other half of a season to make sure we get a chance again.

Whatever the case, he’s in Berlin, at Hertha, and will be wearing the 27 shirt. Why 27? Well, his normal shirt has always been 9, which is Marko Pantelic’s number, and 2 plus 7 is 9. (A bit like Gojko Kacar’s shirt decision- four was already picked, so two fours is 44.)

If you want to learn about the ‘Tunisian Maradona’, and even if you’re not sure you do, check out Rami’s post on the player. It is far more detailed than anything I could dream of, written by someone who’s been following the kid for quite some time. He’s made me pretty excited for a player all of 20 years old.

2. Hertha BSC are through to the next qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. I didn’t write about it last week because I’ve been way too busy in my actual life and frankly, the game was boring. As everyone probably expected, considering the first match was won 8-1. The second was a formality and ended in a 0-0 draw played out in front of 700 people in Chisnau, Moldova. Yay? The exciting news was that 17-year-olds Shervin Radjabali-Fardi and Lennart Hartmann, two of the young stars of the Hertha pre-season, made starts, and were joined by 18-year-old Sascha Bigalke after the break. All Berlin-born kids brought up from the youth system. It does seem as if Favre’s vaunted ability with youth players might actually be true.

Our opponents in the next round are another team from Eastern Europe I’ve never heard of. Let’s hope that NK Interblock Ljubljana prove as easy as FC Nistru Otaci. We do have the advantage of a second leg in Berlin this time, though.

3. Gojko Kacar will be staying in China with the Serbian team, despite today’s ruling in favor of the clubs. While his case hasn’t been nearly as high-profile (or mentioned) as the players at the bigger clubs, it’s basically the same thing. Gojko wanted to play in the Olympics, we wanted him to play for us in our opening games and our UEFA Cup qualifiers. We didn’t let him go, then we did. Now, since he’s there already and pissing him off would be pointless, we bartered with the Serbian federation to pay his salary while he’s there and some insurance for possible injuries.

Gojko’s group contains Leo Messi’s Argentina, but also the Ivory Coast and struggling Australia, so there’s a chance we won’t be seeing him for a bit.

5. We had a ‘keeper question between Jaroslav Drobny and Christian Fiedler, but now we don’t, as Fiedler tore his cruciate ligaments in our friendly win against Newcastle last week. He’s looking at six months out, at least.

6. Work gets in the way of things that aren’t work, and I’ve been lax here. Sorry, everyone.

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.