“We’re hard to beat when we’re compact”
“We’re hard to beat when we’re compact”
Berlin - On Tuesday morning (20.10.20), Bruno Labbadia’s mood was worlds away from the recent match against Stuttgart. The confidence was back and the disappointment of the last few days was gone. All focus is on Saturday’s game at RB Leipzig (24.10.20, 15:30 CEST). It won’t be an easy task though, as they are undefeated and sit top of the table. “They’re one of the best sides, they’re well set up and play with real speed. They had a great time of it in last year’s Champions League and they’re carrying on with that now,” said Labbadia, speaking after the first training session of the week. “Narrow defeats like that in Munich aren’t what we want. Expectations are always high in the Bundesliga, no matter who we’re playing against. We want to try and win no matter where we’re playing.”
If Hertha are going to succeed in Leipzig, where they won in 2017 and picked up a point towards the end of last season, they’ll need to improve on their last performance considerably – that’s clear to all. “We go into every game positively but we’re still too inconsistent,” said Labbadia, who suggests that the team have reviewed the game against Stuttgart in great detail. “We have a clear line and when we make such mistakes, we’re clear about analysing and discussing them in depth. At the same time, it’s our job to improve the players and make them confident.” Alongside conversations and detailed video analysis with individuals and as a group, day-to-day work on the training ground is focusing on stopping the little mistakes in defence. “We’re not making many tactical errors, they’re mostly individual errors, and that makes it harder,” said the 54-year-old, who is going back to basics to improve. “We need to work hard on our positioning again. We’re hard to beat when we’re compact.” The head coach often intervened in the 90 minute-long training session, giving loud instructions to his players. “We wanted to move on from the last game and get pumped up for the next. It was an intensive training session.”
Four players training individually
Whilst their teammates were working hard on the training ground, four players were working individually on their comebacks. That includes Peter Pekarik (pelvic bruising) and Deyovaisio Zeefuik (muscle injury) who were forced off the pitch at the weekend, as well as Jhon Córdoba (heel) and Mathew Leckie (neck). “We’ll have to wait and see with them. Jhon had some minor issues with his heel playing for his country and in the game against Stuttgart; he might be able to return to training on Wednesday or Thursday. Mathew has a more complicated issue with his neck. Deyo hasn’t torn anything thankfully, and Peka has bruising on the bone but we’re hopeful that he’ll be back for Saturday,” reported Labbadia. Santiago Ascacíbar und Jordan Torunarigha’s comebacks aren’t being rushed so they won’t be available for the game. Daishawn Redan, who played for the U23s on Sunday, ended training early as a precaution.
Ideally, the Dutchman would return to training on Wednesday morning, but there are plenty more chances to get out on the training ground before Hertha go up against Julian Nagelsmann’s men.