“Then we’d be complete as a team”

Schladming – The Schladming training camp is over! Demanding training sessions in hot summer temperatures, two friendly wins and a lovely team get-together are now behind Hertha BSC. The atmosphere in Styria has been fantastic, which certainly wasn’t a given. Nevertheless, Pál Dárdai’s men won’t be unhappy about returning home to Berlin, where they’ll have two days to recover from their exertions of the past week. The coach can look back on a successful training camp, which has given him plenty to think about for the upcoming Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and Europa League clashes. We’ve summarised our coach’s most important quotes:

Pál Dárdai on…

… the team's time in Schladming: I can only praise the lads. They’ve shown a good mentality, worked hard and sweated together. We now have a good training camp in top conditions behind us. The hotel was super, all the staff looked after us very well - everything went well. I’m satisfied with the shape of the team.

... his side's pressing: We worked on pressing a lot in Schladming. We’ll see whether the team can execute in a game what we’ve practiced in training. What happens in the games against Hansa Rostock and VfB Stuttgart is what counts. After the first block with these games and the encounters in Dortmund and against Bremen, we’ll be able to say more.

... his starting formation: We had 18 players in the squad for the Galatasary game – just like in the Bundesliga. That showed that we took the match seriously. The games with numerous substitutions are over. Two subs were agreed beforehand, the others happened over the course of the 90 minutes.

... his team's tactical direction: We’ve developed the team every season. At the start, we wanted to survive relegation so it was important to be good in midfield, close spaces well and counter. In the second year, we placed a lot of importance on possession and opened the game with a back-four. Last season, when building play, we swapped between a back-three and back-four – that’s what we’re building on. When a defensive midfielder drops deep, more space is created and with it we automatically have more ideas and options in our game going forwards. We have to be able to play both systems with a plan. We want to attack through the middle more and more in the future, if it works well, we’d be almost complete as a team. We also have to improve our counter-attacking game, as in Mathew Leckie and Alexander Esswein, we have quick players. We’ll also have even more options for our counters when Davie Selke is fit. It’s a shame he’s injured.

… the squad: We have a good squad and a good mix. We don’t need 35 players, and we cant affor that many anyway (laughs). Apart from a couple of experienced players, we have a young team, but I think our age structure is ideal. It’s fun to work with them. We obviously hope no more players will get injured.

… positive surprises: I’m really happy about how the boys have worked – I can say that very honestly. It’s nice to see the young players improve week by week and gain confidence. However, they’re only 18 and have to learn a lot more. But they aren’t under any pressure; we support them on their way. Mathew Leckie has integrated well – it’s as if he’s been playing here for ages. Karim Rekik is also making progress, for example when we try to open our game. Esswein has also made a good impression at centre-forward – he’s an option for this position.

… being more dangerous in front of goal: Scoring goals is an art – and players who are dangerous in front of goal are always welcome here (grins). What’s clear is that we want to create more chances and be more deadly in front of goal. Last season, we played some wonderful football and often crossed the ball, but it didn’t happen often enough. We have to improve on that. We now have, also thanks to our new signings, players who will help us to be more dangerous in front of goal.

… new signing Valentino Lazaro: When we’re back in Berlin, I’ll speak to him and take a photo with him. For me, he’s a player like Mitchell Weiser – and that’s won't do us any harm. He attacks boldly and can win his one-on-ones. He can also assist and score goals. In the last few days, he’s already started working individually in Berlin.

… Ondrej Duda and Sinan Kurt: It’s good that Ondrej has partaken in all of pre-season - that’ll help him. We know he’s a good, creative player. He’s improved recently, plays with more concentration and also fulfils his defensive duties. He now has to keep at it and avoid risky square passes. I’m currently not satisfied with Sinan, and he knows that. He has to work on his mentality. He has done well here in Schladming, but he has to understand he has to do more for a longer period of time.

… the season goals: In Schladming, we didn’t speak about our goals for the season, because not all of us were here as a team. Alongside Julian Schieber, Davie Selke, Niklas Stark and Jordan Torunarigha were missing. Jordan has aready played for the U23s and Nik will return to training next week. When everyone’s here, we’ll speak about our objectives.