Teams | October 20, 2013 at 02:30 AM
1-0! Hertha up to 4th place
1-0! Hertha up to 4th place
An Adrian Ramos goal was enough for Hertha to beat top five side Borussia Mönchengladbach on matchday 9.
Berlin - On Saturday evening (19.10.13) under the floodlights at the Olympic stadium in Berlin, a crowd of 61.539 saw Hertha BSC beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0. The win was credited by many to a master stroke of tactical genius by Berlin's head coach Jos Luhukay, who opted to play a 4-4-2 system. Nico Schulz lost his place in the starting line-up to veteran Georgian battler Levan Kobiashvili, who took the place of summer loan signing from HSV Per Skjelbred in defensive midfield. The Norwegian was pushed up front alongside Adrian Ramos, while Änis Ben-Hatira operated down the left. Former Hertha coach Lucien Favre was without the injured Alvaro Dominguez and Havard Nordveidt. The Gladbach boss replaced them with Roel Browers and Christoph Kramer.
There was a familiar face up front for Gladbach, as former Hertha hero Rafael lined up against his former club. It was the Brazilian who would have the opening chance of the game too, but his shot was turned away for a corner after good approach work by Juan Arango. Luhukay's decision to play Kobiashvilli soon paid off, as the Georgian used his experience on a few occasions to win possession and set up dangerous counter attacks. On two occasions he superbly fed Johannes van den Bergh, who passed into the middle as he reached the by line. Sadly, the handily placed duo Ramos (13.) and Ben-Hatira (18.) were challenged before they could take those opportunities.
Ramos nods home crucial opener
The home side also threatened from set pieces taken by Skjelbred. On 19 minutes Gladbach's Tony Jantschke just about managed to clear a free kick narrowly past his own post for a corner. From a similar position Skjelbred then floated a free kick into the box where Ramos rose like a salmon to nod the ball into the top left hand corner of the net (37.). 1-0 to Hertha! The home side took that lead with them into the break, but only after their keeper Thomas Kraft produced a class save to keep out a blockbuster of a shot from the edge of the Berlin boy by Max Kruse moments before the halftime whistle (45.).
The second half began with Hertha putting the visitors under pressure and not allowing them to settle on the ball, which forced Gladbach into making mistakes. After around an hour Allagui had a huge chance to double his side's lead, but lost out in a one on one situation with Gladbach stopper Marc-André ter Stegen. Then Kobiashvilli was forced off with a knock and was replaced by Peter Niemeyer, who was immediately involved in the action, setting up Allagui, who in turn found Ramos who put the ball into the back of the net, only to be ruled offside (62.).
Hertha watertight at the back
Gladbach were pretty harmless up front in the second half. Their coach Favre reacted by making three changes in quick succession. But Hertha were water tight at the back and usually nipped any possible Gladbach danger in the bud. Rafael was invisible for most of the second half but he did get a shot away which did anything but trouble Kraft between the Berlin posts (78.). Hertha continued to seek the quickest route to the opposing area but lacked accuracy in front of goal.
The visitors were forced to play the final 120 seconds af the game a man down, after their captain Martin Stranzl was (unluckily) sent off for two bookable offences in as many minutes. Hertha easily played out the remaining minutes to record a well deserved 1-0 win, which could help them next week as far as confidence goes. Because matchday 10 sees Luhukay and Co. travel south to the Allianz Arena in Munich, where treble winners of last season Bayern Munich await them on Saturday (26.10.13, 3.30 pm). The home win over Gladbach sees Hertha rise to, 4th place in the Bundesliga table.
There was a familiar face up front for Gladbach, as former Hertha hero Rafael lined up against his former club. It was the Brazilian who would have the opening chance of the game too, but his shot was turned away for a corner after good approach work by Juan Arango. Luhukay's decision to play Kobiashvilli soon paid off, as the Georgian used his experience on a few occasions to win possession and set up dangerous counter attacks. On two occasions he superbly fed Johannes van den Bergh, who passed into the middle as he reached the by line. Sadly, the handily placed duo Ramos (13.) and Ben-Hatira (18.) were challenged before they could take those opportunities.
Ramos nods home crucial opener
The home side also threatened from set pieces taken by Skjelbred. On 19 minutes Gladbach's Tony Jantschke just about managed to clear a free kick narrowly past his own post for a corner. From a similar position Skjelbred then floated a free kick into the box where Ramos rose like a salmon to nod the ball into the top left hand corner of the net (37.). 1-0 to Hertha! The home side took that lead with them into the break, but only after their keeper Thomas Kraft produced a class save to keep out a blockbuster of a shot from the edge of the Berlin boy by Max Kruse moments before the halftime whistle (45.).
The second half began with Hertha putting the visitors under pressure and not allowing them to settle on the ball, which forced Gladbach into making mistakes. After around an hour Allagui had a huge chance to double his side's lead, but lost out in a one on one situation with Gladbach stopper Marc-André ter Stegen. Then Kobiashvilli was forced off with a knock and was replaced by Peter Niemeyer, who was immediately involved in the action, setting up Allagui, who in turn found Ramos who put the ball into the back of the net, only to be ruled offside (62.).
Hertha watertight at the back
Gladbach were pretty harmless up front in the second half. Their coach Favre reacted by making three changes in quick succession. But Hertha were water tight at the back and usually nipped any possible Gladbach danger in the bud. Rafael was invisible for most of the second half but he did get a shot away which did anything but trouble Kraft between the Berlin posts (78.). Hertha continued to seek the quickest route to the opposing area but lacked accuracy in front of goal.
The visitors were forced to play the final 120 seconds af the game a man down, after their captain Martin Stranzl was (unluckily) sent off for two bookable offences in as many minutes. Hertha easily played out the remaining minutes to record a well deserved 1-0 win, which could help them next week as far as confidence goes. Because matchday 10 sees Luhukay and Co. travel south to the Allianz Arena in Munich, where treble winners of last season Bayern Munich await them on Saturday (26.10.13, 3.30 pm). The home win over Gladbach sees Hertha rise to, 4th place in the Bundesliga table.