On Returning
By: Abby | December 23rd, 2008How do you respond to a game like last Thursday’s?
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.
Category: 
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments are closed
Home 
