Chins Up, Chins Up

By: Abby | April 10th, 2009

Right, then. I’ve had my sulk and now it’s time to get back to anticipation and support. These next few weeks are going to be hard, but damn it, there’s still hope. And whatever the case, we’ve got some great memories to fall back on.

Right now, we’ve got a decent game to recover our form with. Hannover 96 came into this season with high hopes and expectations of Europe, but now they’d be happy to avoid relegation. On 26 points, they’re only 3 away from the drop at place 13. Recent form isn’t all that great either, with only two wins after the break.

However, their home form is actually rather decent and looks likely to be the thing that keeps them up- those two wins were over Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen, and their other home games were high-scoring draws against Dortmund, Stuttgart, and Hoffenheim. With away form our bigger problem and home form their biggest strength, it’s not quite as simple as it looks. But when has anything looked normal for us?

The other thing we have to be concerned with is, of course, injuries. I’ve already lamented the lack of Arne Friedrich, but it looks like Marko Pantelic will be out as well. And while the Hertha website says that Andriy Voronin will be fighting through his back problem and likely to play, it’s still unknown how much of him we’ll actually see. Steve von Bergen is likely to take over Arne’s spot in defense, which is a little worrying- let’s hope it’s the Steve that got himself called up to the Swiss national team for the Euros, and not the guy he’s been since he had to drop out. But Patrick Ebert has been forgiven and is back in the squad.

Even a good draw would be an improvement here- so knock on wood, throw salt over your shoulder, whatever brings luck. And hope it works.