Not Bad, But Not Good Enough

By: Abby | March 24th, 2008

That just about sums up Sunday’s game against Schalke 04. Not bad. Not good enough, but not bad. Considering that Schalke are definitely a decent team and we played well enough against them, we can hold our heads up despite the loss.

Still, though, I’m not sure how we managed to lose this game. (Well, I am, but it’s a figure of speech, isn’t it?) We were undone by poor marking early in the first half, which let Gerald Asamoah in for a free header after a twelfth-minute free-kick. Considering Schalke are a team that are good at set plays, we really should have been paying more attention. Then, in the twenty-third minute, Jermaine Jones (he’s half-American, for those keeping track) let loose a long-range shot after Hertha gave away possession too cheaply. Two goals down and not even a half an hour gone.

Those two goals woke us up and we looked much better after that. But when Schalke have a lead, they know how to sit back on it. Despite that, we had more than enough chances to equalize, even to win.

We got a goal back in the 67th, after Höwedes obstructed Gojko Kacar (who looked very good, at least until it came to the finishing) and Sofian Chahed put away the penalty. The second half, really, was mostly Hertha- shot after shot, which a combination of Manuel Neuer (definitely having one of his better days), poor finishing, and simple bad luck kept us from coming away from this with points. We were missing something.

Namely, Marko Pantelic. The Serbian top-scorer was just what we needed to put away all those chances. Without him we just couldn’t find the back of the net. A chance for little Fabian Lustenburger towards the end was heartbreaking- a beautiful ball from Raffael which the young Swiss poked past Neuer…and the post. Sigh.

Fortunately, Pante should be back in training by Wednesday or Thursday, so his leg issues aren’t awful. The drama over his future continues to be endless, but I’m not thinking about it yet. It’s been a stressful football weekend for me and I’d rather not have more drama. However, we’re apparently also interested in a Tunisian 20-year-old, Chermiti Mohamed. Even with Pante we could use more decent strikers- Lima and Okronkwo (who I still like despite myself) haven’t shown anything much in the past two games.

Oh, and Josip Simunic got himself another yellow card in the 88th minute. It’s his fifth, which means he’s out of the game at Cottbus.

But, if it means anything, we’re solidly mid-table and without real fears. Not bad for a team which was tipped for relegation in August.