"The climb starts here!"

We defended as a team, fought and put our all into it, and at the end of an intensive game we come away with our first three points of the 2021/22 Bundesliga season! Everthing went to plan for our Herthaners against promoted VfL Bochum, and the scoreboard made for satisfying reading. After their 3-1 win in the Ruhr region, our Blue-Whites spoke to the TV cameras with smiles on their faces. "The second half wasn't great from us, but we managed to be effective and score from a single shot. We need to carry on the hard work and get our next three points against Fürth. The climb starts here," said two-goal man Suat Serdar on the first three points of the season. 

Niklas Stark: It was a high-pressure game, which we put our best defensive game into. We kept ourselves calm in the right moments and were dangerous on the counter. We were very efficient going forward and decided the game that way. The five-at-the-back worked well - we were able to communicate well on the pitch. Not everything is possible yet, but we've now got another week where we can work even more on our confidence. Above all, it was a good start in terms of defensive improvement. We need to keep working as a team so that we can keep the ball for longer after long balls.   

Suat Serdar: We struggled early on, so the coach reacted and changed some things on the pitch. When we had two number eights playing it went a lot better. I had a bit of luck to score my two goals but of course I'm happy that we went into the break ahead.  The second half wasn't great from us, but we managed to be effective and score from a single shot. I've been practicing my finishing and corners in training a lot recently - I'm happy that it translated into the game. We need to carry on the hard work and get our next three points against Fürth. The climb starts here!"

Eduard Löwen (VfL Bochum): We put in a good performance, and created a lot of good chances in the first half which we didn't take, unfortunately. On the other hand, Hertha punished our mistakes - it's really our own fault that we lost the game. Hertha blocked a lot of shots and passes off but my standard wasn't as high as I wanted it to be. We have to take that on ourselves. We didn't let our heads drop and put a lot of pressure on in the second half, but just one shot meant we lost 3-1 in the end.