So among the press it’s time for random speculation, fluffy interviews, and the occasional attack from an ex-player. Raise your hand if you’re surprised that new Ajax striker Marko Pantelic, now that he’s got a club and is away from the Bundesliga, has some choice words for the manager of his former club? Yeah, me either. In case you’re so inclined to see what he has to say, the quotes are here. It’s basically what you’d expect- he claims that Lulu had nothing to do with last season’s success, and that everyone in Berlin knows and loves Marko Pantelic. Good luck with him, Ajax.

Anyway. In current player news, Rasmus Bengtsson’s girlfriend has arrived in Berlin. (I told you it was a slow news weekend.) The Swede has been getting to full fitness, as the Swedish season is different than the Bundesliga, but we’re likely to be seeing more of him soon. He gives that same newspaper a nice little interview, saying the required nice things about Berlin and saying he could have earned more other places, but Hertha is a good place to develop.

New striker Adrian Ramos’ girlfriend says he is a fighter. Well, she wouldn’t say otherwise, would she? The striker is with the Colombian national team right now, and is unlikely to be back bei Hertha until Friday. We’ll see if he’s ready to play against Mainz at the weekend.

And in case you weren’t yet convinced that nothing is happening, here’s some baby pictures of Florian Kringe. He looks blond.

Tomorrow is more internationals. Kapitän Arne Friedrich is supposed to be set for a central-defense role in the qualifier against Azerbaijan. Maximilian Nicu got his first start for Romania against France over the weekend and is hoping to continue on that. Valeri Domovchiyski came on in the 83rd minute for Bulgaria and scored against Montenegro, but Italy might be a stronger opponent. Jaroslav Drobny, despite how awesome he is, only sits on the bench for the Czech Republic, but at least he’s on the bench now. Steve von Bergen played all of Switzerland’s 2-0 win over Greece, and faces Latvia next. Pal Dardai’s Hungary faces an in-trouble Portugal after losing to Sweden. Also, we’ve got a few kids out in the junior internationals with Lennart Hartmann, Shervin Radjabali-Fardi and Sebastian Neumann all playing for the U19s as they won against Belgium.

Good luck to all the Herthaners out with their countries, and please come back in one piece.

I still haven’t read up on, much less watched, the final game of the season. I was away at my parent’s house when it was going on and woke up to find the last result I expected, to say the least. I haven’t been able to read a recap yet. It’s a long-standing thing with me and football; when a result is particularly depressing, I don’t even want to acknowledge that it’s existed.

So in the end, we didn’t get that Champions League place that had seemed to be within our grasp. Our budget has been slashed accordingly, and with that, we’ve got to say goodbye to Andriy Voronin and Marko Pantelic. It’s a shame. I don’t think any Hertha fan truly wants to see either of them go, for different reasons. Voronin for the form that propelled us to such an unlikely height. Marko for the heroics of his four years here. Voro goes back to Liverpool, who are likely to offload him somewhere else that can pay, while no one’s quite sure yet where Pante’s future lies.

But a bit of time away from the news has helped me to stop dwelling on the depressing. We may have fallen, embarrassingly, at the final hurdle, but we’ve still had the best season in recent memory. We still went from 10th place to 4th without the flash typically heralding such a rise. The season has made me giddy and excitable. I don’t want to forget how great the past months were despite the past week. I’m still incredibly proud of the team and Lucien Favre for what they’ve accomplished.

Besides, the period of mourning for the Champions League is over. (And realistically, we probably would have ended up in the Europa League anyway, after qualifiers.) It’s time to start thinking about next season. In fact, we’ve already made our first signing- Christoph Janker, formerly of Hoffenheim. Perhaps he’s most famous for showing up late for a doping test, being investigated, and then having the investigation suspended. He’s a defensive all-rounder who, most importantly, was available on a free. Without the extra boost from the Champions League we have very little money to spend, suggested to be as low as €5 million unless we sell one of our prize assets.

The confirmed goings so far are limited to Sofian Chahed, the Berlin-born defender who has been at the club since 1999. He and his agent demanded a salary of over €1 million and that was deemed to be just too much for him (he only played 13 games last season, after all). Janker is his direct replacement. It’s a shame to lose a child of the club, but there are cuts that have to be made. in the same vein, it seems that we’re cutting quite a few youth/amateur players as well.

There’s also the next rumor of Lulu himself going, which I think will be a factor whenever a club bigger than Hertha loses a manager. Thanks to the departure of Martin Jol, that club is currently Hamburg. Bild says that Lulu is now a candidate, but it seems to be built on a case about as strong as the one that suggested he would go to Bayern. Part of it is based on an interview he gave to Swiss newspaper Blick, where he was somewhat bleak about Hertha’s chances next season, especially in regards to finances. I don’t think I can begrudge him a bit of frustration at being expected to improve on this season with nothing to do it with, but he does already seem to be starting on trying to do just that.

Even though Lulu’s still taking a well-earned vacation with his family, there’s still transfer rumors afoot. AS Monaco’s Yohan Mollo, a talented 19-year-old midfielder, is being mentioned. There’s also talk of a possible loan deal for ivan Klasnic, the Croatian striker who had a fine Bundesliga career with Werder Bremen, two kidney transplants, and recently relegated from Ligue 1 with Nantes.

Whatever the case, I’m unlikely to be idle during the summer months.

The 27-year-old Croatian was last seen in the Bundesliga at Bayer Leverkusen, where he played for 7 years and 144 games. In 2007 he left for Real Betis, but never settled in Sevilla (to be fair, Betis is a bit of a mess right now). The deal is apparently a free loan until the end of the season, with an option to buy, although I’ve seen conflicting reports on that.

I’m a bad blogger and I can’t say I know much about Babic, but I do know he’s what we were looking for- an experienced, versatile left-sided player. His Bundesliga experience is definitely a plus, and he’s young enough to regain his confidence after that abortive time in Spain. So it’s a transfer that I’m happy with, and I look forwards to seeing him in the squad.

In not so good news, young Swiss midfielder Fabian Lustenberger is out for 6-8 weeks with a foot injury. While he’s more of a squad player than a starter right now, we’ve got enough injuries as it is. More is not a good thing. I wish him a speedy recovery, and hope his hair isn’t too affected.

Better news is that Gojko Kacar is fit again, and while he’s been out too long (most of the winter break) to be a likely starter for the Frankfurt game, he should be on the bench and ready to go after that. It’s great news.

The Bundesliga resumes on the 31st with said Frankfurt game. Our friendlies leading up to this have been a little mixed- last at the 4-team Wintercup (I read a report somewhere calling us the “English” of the tournament, for failing in all the penalty shootouts- ouch!), but a 4-0 win over Bablesberg 03 today has put us in a better mood. And that’s about all we can hope for.

The next half of the season can go in either way, as elaborated by captain Arne. If we pick up where we left off, stay solid, things will go well. If confidence drops…well, I don’t feel like talking about it.

Oh, and since it’s been a few posts since we’ve discussed Marko Pantelic, now he’s going to Athens.

For example, soon after I wrote my last post, a notice appeared on the Hertha website that we’re trialing a young Serbian named Darko Lazović. He’s an 18-year-old attacking midfielder from Borac Čačak, and has already made his debut for the Serbian national team. Serbian youth are all the rage these days (our own lovely Gojko Kacar, for example), and he’s supposed to be quite talented. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on how that develops.

A signing that seems to be very likely, pending the results of a medical (he’s got some kind of foot injury), is that of Australian Scott Chipperfeld. Known as “Chippers,” apparently, he’s a 33-year-old midfielder who’s played his entire European career at FC Basel. If he passes his medical, he’ll be joining us on loan from the Swiss club until the end of the year. It’s a bit of a random deal to say the least, but injuries have been piling up, with Kacar, Pal Dardai, and Sofian Chahed all with various degrees of injury- the latter two unlikely to play before the Frankfurt game, if not longer. Chipperfeld seems to be a solution to that.

In addition to Chipperfeld and Lazović, we’re linked to anything Swiss. Seriously, just about everything. Reto Ziegler, of Sampdoria (born in Geneva) is a possibility. Apparently, so is Ludovic Magnin of Stuttgart (born in Sion). I’ve also heard rumors about Alain Rochat, who was born in Quebec but plays for FC Zurich and the Swiss national team, and Behrang Safari, a Iranian-Swede with a fantastic name who plays for FC Basel. (Guilherme, currently of Almeria, who we’ve been linked to strongly, has nothing to do with Switzerland but is Brazilian, which is the other thing that we seem to look for in transfers.)

Besides being linked to half of Switzerland, Hertha’s been continuing on their training trip. Amine Chermiti did a photo shoot with a boat for some reason. We played a friendly against VfL Onsabruck, winning 1-0 thanks to an 86th-minute goal from Kaka (no, not that one, the one who no one is throwing £100 million at). Tomorrow we continue the Swiss theme with a friendly against one of everyone’s favorite names in Swiss football, Young Boys Bern.

And since it wouldn’t be a Hertha update without some story about Marko Pantelic, apparently he’s being linked to Hoffenheim, as a replacement for Ibisevic.

Our opponents are our Fanfreundschaft partners, Karlsruher SC. (Here’s my backround post from last year if you’re interested.) Last season at this time, after promotion, they were propelling themselves up the league. This season, it’s not quite the same. With 13 points, they’re only a point away from the drop zone, after having lost some of their better players in the summer.

That doesn’t mean they’re pushovers by any means, and are bound to be in good confidence after last week’s home win over Werder Bremen. Granted, Bremen’s away form is awful, but it’s still worth mentioning.

It’s important to win this game, I feel. After two losses in a row, I want us to go out on a high before the break. I want us to continue on in our good form in the Rückrunde, and while winning (or losing) the last game doesn’t guarantee anything, it’s certainly better. It would be a psychological boost as well before the ‘cup final’ with Olympiakos next Thursday. A good win tomorrow could set us up well for Athens.

News ahead of the game is that Josip Simunic has a calf strain and could be out for a while, even until after the break. It’s a blow, certainly. The big Croatian, after seemingly being on his way out over the summer, has been in great form for us. Steve von Bergen is set to start instead, and as much as I like the Swiss, he’s not been nearly as impressive. (He’s also being bandied about as a transfer candidate in the winter window.)

The other story is, as always, Marko Pantelic. Reports are swirling that it could be Marko’s last home game. There’s still talk that he’ll go to England. And with concerns about our finances, both the transfer fee and the removal of his salary might be welcomed.

There’s also that Junior Cesar transfer to discuss. Lulu sounds less than enthused about it, which worries me. New players are nice, but I’d agree that keeping Kacar is more important…

Last I posted, Hertha was riding high, unbeaten in five, with quite a lot of confidence. Now, we’ve lost two in a row. Granted, they were difficult games, and neither were lost by much, but still. I tend to prefer winning over losing.

First up, Galatasaray. A crowd of 62,612 greeted the teams, with much of it made up of Berlin’s Turkish population. Hertha were not all that impressive at first, and it was clear that both the missing players (like Cicero, starting only on the bench) and the flu bug running through the team were impacting the performance. But, it was goalless at the break.

Hertha came out better at the second, although not quite enough to get through, and after about 65 goalless minutes the Italian ref decided that Steve von Bergen had handled in the area and awarded Galatasaray a penalty. It was a very harsh penalty (especially since von Bergen has had his troubles this season), striking von Bergen on the elbow that was protecting his face from Kewell’s cross. I know that if you raise your hand anywhere in the penalty area there could be consequences, but it struck me as a little ridiculous. (Although I may be biased.)

Milan Baros scored the penalty past his countryman Drobny, and that was all Galatasaray needed. We threw everything at them, and possibly could have had a penalty of our own in a replay of their penalty as Kewell did something quite similar to von Bergen with one of our crosses. But in the end it was a 1-0 win for the Turkish giants, and they’ve now qualified out of the group stages. And as for us…

Well, surprisingly, it’s still up in the air. UEFA Cup math confuses the hell out of me, but from what I understand, thanks to Metalist Kharkiv’s win over Olympiacos, which saw the Ukrainian team qualify, we’re still in with a shout. The Greeks are on three points and we’re on two, with Benfica on one. If we beat Olympiacos, we go through, no matter what Benfica and Kharkiv do, as Benfica have only one point and a win for them over the already-qualified Ukrainians would put them at four, to our theoretical five and Olympiacos’ three. If Olympiacos win, they get the spot. If we draw, I’m pretty sure Olympiacos go through, but I’m not positive because I can’t be bothered to remember what the tiebreaker would be between them and Benfica, if they win, as we won’t be involved at that point.

So it’s in our hands. I have to admit, I’m not the most optimistic about our chances. But to advance through the group stages in any competition a team has to actually win games, and we haven’t done that yet. We’ve done better than I think I expected, but all good things and all that.

Speaking of good things ending, our league non-losing streak got snapped this weekend with our visit to Schalke. An uninspiring, and uninspired, Hertha Berlin went down to a 65th-minute Gerald Asamoah goal. We didn’t even do enough to give me enough looks at Manuel Neuer. It was even shown on GolTV, so I got to watch it on my nice TV, but they didn’t give me much to watch.

Oh well. Lulu admitted that Schalke were the better team, and Arne was rather philosophical. These things happen, I suppose. In fact, this isn’t the first time we’ve relieved pressure for the coach of one of the ‘big clubs’- our away losses this year have come at Bayern Munich early in the season when Klinsmann was struggling, and at Werder Bremen when Schaaf was doing the same. Now we’ve also bought Fred Rutten time as well. These teams should be thanking us, shouldn’t they? Points in the Rückrunde would do nicely.

Anyway, it’s almost the Bundesliga’s interminable winter break, which also means that it’s nearly January, which means transfer time is upon us. The big story with Hertha right now (thanks, Nick, for pointing it out to me first) is that it seems that we’re about to sign our sixth Brazilian. He’s a 26-year-old full-back from Fluminense named Junior Cesar, and his agent says he’ll probably sign for us. Werder Bremen were also allegedly interested, but clearly not enough. He’s small, fast, and a friend of our beloved orator Cicero, who says that he has “an absolutely winning mentality.”

Six Brazilians is a lot. Even though I don’t think one of them (Rodnei) has ever played for us. Still, I hope he’s more of a Cicero type than not.

It isn’t all incoming- rumors continue to swirl around Marko Pantelic. Four Premiership clubs are linked- Everton, Middlesborough, West Brom, and Wigan. In my mind, none of those bar Everton are a big upgrade on Hertha, and West Brom are mired to the bottom of the table. This doesn’t mean that he’s not going to go in January to one of them, mind.

That’s it for right now. There’s one game left, against our buddies Karlsruhe, before the league is out for break.

I wish I had six weeks off work…

Weird, yeah?

After Wednesday, we’re in fifth place. A 3-0 win, at home, over Hannover 96 brought us up to a total of 18 points. Marko Pantelic opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, but the scoreline didn’t add a nice gloss of the multiple goals until the last few minutes, when Andriy Voronin (in the 84th) and Valeri Domovchiyski (in the 90th, just a few minutes after coming on) added to the total. A nice win, a clean sheet, and despite all our injury problems, we’re doing quite well. Hertha has been a busy team indeed while I’ve been busy with lots of life things.

That doesn’t mean everything is running smoothly, however.

Namely, the Pantelic situation is getting worse and worse. He scored another goal at midweek, but also talked about how the club needs to meet his demands. Complaining about how the manager is treating you seems to be all the rage among players in Germany right now, and Pante is no exception.

He says some telling things. “I have the feeling that from our first day working together, I was not the coach’s favourite player,” said Pantelic. “Nevertheless, I held my tongue and have scored 13 goals in the league last season.” Which is probably true- reports of Lulu and Pante not getting along started to emerge around when Lulu came to Hertha. Pante, for all his abilities, is clearly not Lulu’s kind of player. He also hasn’t done anything to make himself more likeable to the coach, and has continued to be, well, a bit of a diva.

The issue now is the contract. The wrangling has gone on for a long time, and now, Pante has decided that he’s no longer negotiating. “Now Hertha must understand that they can’t determine the price of my contract any longer. They must accept what I want,, said the Serbian.

Which, you know, whatever. I’m used to him being a diva. The problem I have, though, is with the rest of what he said- namely, that the sort of €4 million contract being offered to Arne Friedrich isn’t good enough for him- and that “it is quite normal that a top forward gets a better contract than a defender.”

It may be true, but it annoys the crap out of me. Defense is as needed as offense is. Our success this season is built as much on a well-organized defense as on the goals we’ve scored. Not to mention that Arne is the club’s captain. There’s no reason that Marko should be paid more than the captain just because the captain is a defender. It’s something that does bother me. Strikers should have a certain level of arrogance, it helps them do their job, but they need to respect the rest of their teammates. The defenders aren’t as flashy as they are- but that doesn’t mean they don’t matter.

Anyway, the whole thing drags on. The contract wrangles continue. The fighting continues. Dieter Hoeness, for his part, seems to desperately want to keep Pante and is preparing a contract. It’s hard to say exactly how far Lulu will take the fight. He would definitely prefer a younger, less demanding striker, but finding one is a risk. We already have a proven one who’s saved us many, many times and continues to do so…but he knows how many times he’s been a savior.

At least it gives me something to write about, I suppose.