Winter Rest
Winter Rest
In modern football, teams have to stay alert for the full match to secure points. Any lapses in concentration can be punished, as Hertha BSC found out in their final match of 2018 away at Bayer Leverkusen. The decisive moment in the match came shortly after half-time lost Mathew Leckie to injury. The visitors were preparing a substitution as Leverkusen started a counter-attack and Kai Havertz was able to fire the ball past a helpless Rune Jarstein to give the hosts a quick 3-1 lead. “We scored to reduce the deficit and went in search of the equaliser. When you return for the second half looking for a quick goal but fail to prevent your opponents from scoring, this questions our focus,” said an open Valentino Lazaro after the match. “Our task got harder with every passing minute, Leverkusen were playing the ball very cleverly around the pitch, we were exhausted. We have to work on that,” summarised the Austrian.
Disappointing mistake: Support for Rune Jarstein
The visitors from the capital had conceded twice in the opening 25 minutes before battling their way back into the match. Kevin Volland (6’) and Havertz had put the Blue-Whites on the back foot. Hertha also suffered from a stroke of bad luck as a backpass to Rune Jarstein bobbled before it reached the Norwegian and he miss-kicked the ball into the path of the fortunate Havertz, who fired home. “Of course it isn’t a nice feeling to make a mistake like that and I will be frustrated for the next couple of days. However, I cannot change what has happened,” said Jarstein regarding his mistake. The Hertha goalkeeper has received a lot of support from his teammates. “We certainly do not blame Rune for the goal,” says Fabian Lustenberger. “It was a comical goal to concede and nobody can take individual responsibility for it, especially when the ball bobbles like that.”
Good morale shown despite the deficit – Dárdai gives clear message
Despite the two goal deficit, Hertha replied quickly as Jordan Torunarigha got the visitors on the scoresheet in the 26th minute. This gave the team high morale to kick on and find an equaliser. “We were sleepy in the first 20 minutes and this wasn’t how we wanted to started the match. After their second goal, we can be satisfied with our first half performance,” analysed Hertha head coach Pál Dárdai. However, the Hungarian was very clear with his post match message: “Mistakes such as the goals we conceded today cannot happen in the Bundesliga.” Although the visitors did not allow their head to drop and attempted everything they could to get a result, the task was simply too much for the Blue-Whites. “We responded well to the Leverkusen goals and played better before the interval, creating chances to equalise,” explained Fabian Lustenberger. “We conceded their third goal virtually straight from kick-off and we couldn’t create any more chances to get back in the match. Leverkusen played well and deserved to win.”
Returning with more hunger after the winter break
Hertha BSC ended 2018 in defeat but secured a place in the top half of the table at Christmas with 24 points from their opening 17 matches. Despite the disappointing result in Leverkusen, there are plenty of positives for the Blue-Whites to take out of the first half of the season. “It wasn’t our best day but that doesn’t change much in the context of our overall performance so far this season,” admits Marvin Plattenhardt.”We are satisfied but would’ve of course liked to have taken more points. We want to play well once again after the winter break and secure more points,” Pál Dárdai admitted that the winter break has come at the right time for his injury depleted Hertha squad. “When you consider our injury list, we should be pleased with 24 points so far this season. I hope that Mathew Leckie is the last injury we suffer. We will work hard together to start again after the winter break.”