Teams | September 13, 2013 at 11:29 AM
Extend Home record?
Extend Home record?
On Friday evening (13.09.13), VfB Stuttgart visit the Olympic stadium on Bundesliga matchday 5.
Berlin - Hertha BSC kick off Bundesliga matchday 5, with a home game against VfB Stuttgart at the Olympic stadium in the capital city on Friday evening (13.09.13, 20.30 CET). The visitors are a little tough to fathom at the moment. They made a nightmare start to the new season, losing all three of their opening games. They sacked coach Bruno Labbadia as a result only to beat TSG Hoffenheim 6-2 at home last time out, after promoting former Stuttgart player and under-17 coach Thomas Schneider to the hot seat.
Hertha have yet to lose a home game under coach Jos Luhukay (19 matches). While the overall stats look pretty even (56 games, 21 wins, 15 draws and 20 defeats), Hertha's home record against the Schwabians side tells a different story. In 31 games the capital city side recorded 18 wins, nine draws and only four defeats. Jos Luhukay announced this week that Alexander Baumjohann, and Marcel Ndjeng will be out of action until further notice through injury.
Mutual admiration
On the good news side Luhukay has said that nothing stands in the way of Johannes van den Bergh playing on Friday night. Peter Pekarik was the last international to return to Berlin from international duty on (12.09.13). Luhukay had the following to say about Friday's visitors to the Olympic stadium: "I expect a Stuttgart side of high quality on Friday night. They made some shrewd summer signings and have quality and experience in all departments."
Hertha's coach sees Stuttgart far better than their current table position suggests. The Dutchman: "By appointing a new coach they played well and with a lot of confidence in their last home game, which brought an impressive performance and result for them. They are the things they bring to Berlin with them." As always though Luhukay preferred to focus on his own side, telling the media this week: "We want to prepare well for the game and while we respect their quality, it is down to us whether or not we win on Friday night. Of course we want to beat them but are at the same time aware of how tough a task that will be."
Hertha is "quick on the counter attack"
The coach added: "What impresses me most about them is their ability to quickly switch from defence to attack after opponents lose possession. We have to try to combat that." VfB coach Thomas Schneider describes Hertha's way of playing as "mature" for a newly-promoted side. Schneider: "We must finish off our moves and not make mistakes in our build up play, because Hertha are quick on the counter attack." Despite his side's emphatic 6-2 win over Hoffenheim last time out, the new Stuttgart supremo is rightly dampening any euphoria.
Schneider: "There is no need to be euphoric. Of course we are glad to have won that game because it calmed things down for us. But we saw room for improvement in that game which we must improve on if we are to be successful in the future." At the pre-match press conference Schneider would not be drawn on his possible starting line up. He told the media: "People often say never change a winning team. But we will have to see how tired some players are. We have enough fresh players with which to change the team." He then added with a grin: "But we don't necessarily have to."
Possible line-ups:
Hertha BSC: Kraft - Pekarik, Lustenberger, Brooks, Schulz/van den Bergh - Niemeyer, Hosogai - Allagui, Ronny, Ben-Hatira - Ramos
VfB Stuttgart: Ulreich - Sakai, Schwaab, Rüdiger, Boka - Kvist, Gentner - Leitner, Maxim, Werner - Ibisevic
Hertha have yet to lose a home game under coach Jos Luhukay (19 matches). While the overall stats look pretty even (56 games, 21 wins, 15 draws and 20 defeats), Hertha's home record against the Schwabians side tells a different story. In 31 games the capital city side recorded 18 wins, nine draws and only four defeats. Jos Luhukay announced this week that Alexander Baumjohann, and Marcel Ndjeng will be out of action until further notice through injury.
Mutual admiration
On the good news side Luhukay has said that nothing stands in the way of Johannes van den Bergh playing on Friday night. Peter Pekarik was the last international to return to Berlin from international duty on (12.09.13). Luhukay had the following to say about Friday's visitors to the Olympic stadium: "I expect a Stuttgart side of high quality on Friday night. They made some shrewd summer signings and have quality and experience in all departments."
Hertha's coach sees Stuttgart far better than their current table position suggests. The Dutchman: "By appointing a new coach they played well and with a lot of confidence in their last home game, which brought an impressive performance and result for them. They are the things they bring to Berlin with them." As always though Luhukay preferred to focus on his own side, telling the media this week: "We want to prepare well for the game and while we respect their quality, it is down to us whether or not we win on Friday night. Of course we want to beat them but are at the same time aware of how tough a task that will be."
Hertha is "quick on the counter attack"
The coach added: "What impresses me most about them is their ability to quickly switch from defence to attack after opponents lose possession. We have to try to combat that." VfB coach Thomas Schneider describes Hertha's way of playing as "mature" for a newly-promoted side. Schneider: "We must finish off our moves and not make mistakes in our build up play, because Hertha are quick on the counter attack." Despite his side's emphatic 6-2 win over Hoffenheim last time out, the new Stuttgart supremo is rightly dampening any euphoria.
Schneider: "There is no need to be euphoric. Of course we are glad to have won that game because it calmed things down for us. But we saw room for improvement in that game which we must improve on if we are to be successful in the future." At the pre-match press conference Schneider would not be drawn on his possible starting line up. He told the media: "People often say never change a winning team. But we will have to see how tired some players are. We have enough fresh players with which to change the team." He then added with a grin: "But we don't necessarily have to."
Possible line-ups:
Hertha BSC: Kraft - Pekarik, Lustenberger, Brooks, Schulz/van den Bergh - Niemeyer, Hosogai - Allagui, Ronny, Ben-Hatira - Ramos
VfB Stuttgart: Ulreich - Sakai, Schwaab, Rüdiger, Boka - Kvist, Gentner - Leitner, Maxim, Werner - Ibisevic