Hertha missing the crucial composure in front of goal

So far this season, Hertha BSC were unbeaten against some of the top teams in the Bundesliga including FC Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, FC Schalke 04 and Borussia Mönchengladbach. This unbeaten run unfortunately came to an end on Saturday evening (3rd November 2018) at home to RB Leipzig. The scoreline, a 3-0 home defeat for the Old Lady, does not fully reflect what could have happened in the match. However, unlike the hosts, Leipzig were able to take their chances and score at the crucial moments. “We came in at full-time feeling deflated, we lacked the bit of luck required to take something today. Days like this occur occasionally. We didn’t bring our best form on the day, Leipzig were more switched on and playing better than us on the counter,” summarised Hertha head coach Pál Dárdai after the match.

In the opening phases of the match, Hertha were forced into coping with Leipzig’s counter attacks which have been successful against other teams in recent weeks. Rune Jarstein was forced into an early save but he was unable to prevent poacher Timo Werner from giving Leipzig an early lead. Pál Dárdai’s side reacted straight away: “We altered our formation from a back five to a back four in defence and this was initially successful. We then also created some good chances but were unable to take them. It would have been a completely different match had we been able to take one of these chances,” said Niklas Stark. “We had to be wary of conceding a second goal as Leipzig are so strong in attack. Salomon Kalou and Vedad Ibisevic could have scored at least an equaliser for us before half-time but Leipzig were a constant threat.”

Strong Jarstein

The Blue-Whites did not succeed on this occasion as they were not helped by an early goal for Leipzig in the second half. “With the chances we had, you can achieve two or three things and start to get back into the match,” says Valentino Lazaro. Leipzig started the second half with a lot of momentum, as they did in the first half, but Jarstein was able to deny the visitors from Saxony with strong save. However, Werner was once again there to eventually to score. “We tried to do a lot of things and were highly motivated, but things didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. Huge compliment to Rune Jarstein, who kept us in the match for a long time but he had no chance for each of the three Leipzig goals,” said Davie Selke, who came on in the second half and gave everything he had. However, he was unable to turn the match in Hertha’s favour.

The club from the capital continued to press forward, but were unable to draw their way back into the match. A goal would have brought some excitement back into the match but chances were constantly wasted. At the other end, Leipzig continues to create chances themselves and Cunha was able to beat Jarstein with a shot from distance to seal the victory for the visitors. “We played against strong opponents today, who hit on the break with a lot of pace. A few things we usually do well didn’t go to plan today,” said Karim Rekik. Maximilian Mittelstädt and his teammates are now looking ahead to next weekend. “Matches like yesterday happen, we have to put the match behind us and go again in Düsseldorf next week.”