Oh Hey, This One Happened

By: Abby | January 27th, 2009

I’ve got to be right every so often, right? And now, Marko Babic is a Hertha player.

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.