Thursday December 31, 2020
Klinsmann, Lehmann, Kalou
A year in which Hertha got everything wrong
By Sebastian Schneider
For Hertha BSC, 2020 is a year to forget. Starting with Jürgen Klinsmann’s spectacular farewell on Facebook to the corona theses from board member Jens Lehmann. In addition, there is a serious sporting crisis among the blue-whites around coach Labbadia.
Jürgen Klinsmann, Salomon Kalou, Peter Pekarik: In an absurd 2020, there will be numerous people at Hertha BSC with memorable stories. While some sound like a fairytale, like the surprising comeback of the long disregarded Peter Pekarik, others are far less: like the Facebook exit and that sensational diary by Jürgen Klinsmann, the Corona ignorance from Salomon Kalou and Virus Harmless Jens Lehmann. But there is no hope of a halfway conciliatory end to the year. Carsten Schmidt, the new “Hertha boss” and manager of Michael Preetz’s manager, has been in office since December 1st. In his very first “Bild” interview, the ex-Sky boss rumbled that he was “maximally dissatisfied” with the start of the season.
And Schmidt has every reason to be. After 76 days with Jürgen Klinsmann and the Corona crisis, there were only few positive sports in the new season. The spectacular 4: 5 first round out against second division Braunschweig in the cup, 13 points from 13 games, the third most goals conceded in the league: All in all, a meager result for an expensive and ambitious blue-white team. The tense situation is increasingly irritating to coach Bruno Labbadia. After four games without a defeat, there is the next 1: 4 setback against Freiburg. “It annoys me where we could have been,” he grumbled after the game. Almost even worse: from 14th place, eight points are now missing from local rivals Union.
Labbadia came to sweep up the broken pieces
Although demands and reality are so far apart, the coach question is hardly ever asked publicly. That is unusual for Hertha. The Olympic Stadium has not always been the best place for trainers. In his eleven years of responsibility, more than a dozen head coaches work under Manager Preetz. So why not fire Labbadia too? In an interview on the club’s website, Arne Friedrich, ex-performance manager pioneer and now sports director, says that the team is in a “process”. Perhaps he says so knowing that Preetz ’14th trainer, Bruno Labbadia, neither initiated this “process” and was neither responsible for it. He didn’t come until spring 2020 to sweep up the broken pieces that Klinsmann had left behind.
The trainer himself can only work with the circumstances that Preetz and Friedrich offer him and he did not want them. An example of the transfer summer, which everyone in charge imagined differently. Because it was not only shaped by the corona pandemic, but also by spectacular rumors (Mario Götze, Julian Draxler, Wout Weghorst, Luka Jović). Not all were denied by Hertha, some media reports were picked up and further fired. Labbadia hoped in vain for early planning security and sensible preparation, his currently most important transfer only came on the last day of the deadline.
After Arsenal loan Mattéo Guendouzi recovered from his Covid 19 disease, its quality flashed quickly. The defensive Frenchman is the best tackle in Hertha midfield, has the best pass rate and the charisma of a top player. It is not for nothing that Mesut Özil is “certain” that the 21-year-old will be a “great football player”. However, Guendouzi returns to London in 21 games.
Nevertheless: The hoped for “finished players”, as Labbadia calls them, did not come. Positions that should be improved are still vacant. Right-back Deyovaisio Zeefuik has not yet proven to be a permanent replacement for Peter Pekarik. A player for the right wing was not even signed, so Matthew Leckie, who was actually sorted out, continues to collect regular bets. There is still a hole in the creative offensive part of the midfield, also thanks to a failed Götze commitment. Labbadia recently played with a row of three in front of the defense, which consists of the rarely convincing record man Lucas Tousart, endurance runner Vladimir Darida, Mattéo Guendouzi and the trained central defender Niklas Stark.
A fundamental problem in the squad
There is also a fundamental problem. After the departure of long-time players such as Per Skjelbred, Vedad Ibisevic, Salomon Kalou and Thomas Kraft, Labbadia complains about the lack of hierarchy in the squad. Old hands who are their fellow men Conducting and coaching like Thomas Müllerone searches in vain. Then it happens that the young Matheus Cunha does not stick to tactical guidelines and, as against Freiburg, according to Labbadia, appears “underground”. There is criticism “only from the coaching team”, says the head coach.
For individually inferior teams like Freiburg and Mainz, the unstructured makes a lot of things easier. Also because the Polish international Krzysztof Piątek is currently helping out for the injured Jhon Córdoba in the storm center. Sometimes it seems to the 24 million euro man as if he is training with another team during the week, so much is he alienated with the offensive game in Berlin. Against Freiburg he only has one more ball contact than Matheus Cunha despite almost double playing time.
All of this contradicts what manager Preetz has shown on the transfer market in recent years. Numerous examples and discoveries (the profitable loan sale from Davie Selke to Werder, the transfer of Javairô Dilrosun, the recognition of Matheus Cunha’s talent) prove that he actually developed the right feeling. But the current squad lacks balance. The winter transfer window will open on January 2, 2021. According to media reports, investor Lars Windhorst is said to have opened his wallet again, and improvements will probably be made again at the beginning of the year.
With the beginning of the “Big City Club” era in summer 2019, those responsible for Hertha were also hoping to finally shed the dreary Platz-Elf image of Berliners. While Manager Preetz appeared publicly as a warning, Klinsmann and Co. were already fantasizing about the championship celebration. The club should finally be “cool”. They dreamed of titles, big names and, finally, captivating football. A good 18 months later, the reality sets in: At the beginning of December there was not a single shot on goal on either side of the entire game against the penultimate Mainz. The last time that football boredom manifested itself statistically was five years ago at the same place, in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, against Hoffenheim.
Disappointments until the last day
The association and those responsible are in a bind. With the head coaches (Ante Čović, Jürgen Klinsmann, Alexander Nouri and Bruno Labbadia), who have been constantly changing since summer 2019, no sustainable game idea can be developed. After one record transfer after another and the chaotic 2020, the team needs calm and trust. Another coach dismissal would torpedo that. For the ailing Labbadia it is the strongest argument at the moment.
Especially because he has already shown that he can stabilize an insecure team. After taking office in spring 2020, he not only saved Hertha from relegation, but also played decent football under him again with the mini-chance at Europe. To do this, however, you also have to give the trainer the necessary space. With the Windhorst millions that should actually be possible.
Instead of developing sportily, Hertha annoyed his fans again shortly before the end of the year. Since the discounter Tedi, the former main sponsor, cleared the shirt chest in summer 2020, the blue-whites have made the free space available for social purposes. The team called for compliance with the corona rules, looked for a stem cell donor for a girl suffering from leukemia and advertised the “Herthakneipe” campaign in the derby, which campaigns for restaurateurs stricken with corona. There was a lot of applause for that. This is now over: In a city with an acute housing shortage and (sometimes dramatically) rising prices, the club will advertise a real estate startup from 2021. Until the last day, it remains a year for Hertha in which almost everything is done wrong.
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