"We can't just talk the talk: we need to walk the walk!"
The first Saturday evening game of the season at the Olympiastadion is up next this weekend (kick-off 18:30 CEST)! The players are evidently excited for the upcoming fixture against Borussia Mönchengladbach. “The lads are doing well at the moment and need to stay fit ahead of tomorrow’s final training session which will be good for us. They’ll really feel the atmosphere in the stadium during the warm-up before kick-off tomorrow. Another victory would put us on something of a winning streak,” commented Pál Dárdai at Thursday’s press conference. herthabsc.com have summarised the key quotes from our head coach and sporting director Arne Friedrich as the pair answered questions on...
... the game against Mönchengladbach:
Pál Dárdai: We’ve worked hard these past couple of weeks. The lads have learnt that we need to be disciplined but also need to push ourselves at the same time. It’s crucial that we work hard off the ball but that we also get players forward in attack. In addition, we need to be attentive at set-pieces. Our opponents will be looking to take home the three points, but of course we want to secure victory on home soil.
... the squad:
Arne Friedrich: We’re glad that not so many of our players are injured at the minute. It’s one of the reasons why we’re able to bring a bit of stability back into our side, as we’ve had to go without some important squad members in recent times. We hope to not be too severely affected by injuries in future: they aren’t posing us too many problems at the minute which is great news for us.
... how things are looking from a footballing perspective:
Pál Dárdai: There’s always room for improvement. We initially want to settle on a playing style and master elements of our game that we’ve really been focusing on in training, but this will take some time. Of course we’d like to string a few wins together, but we won’t do that just by talking the talk in the press conferences, we need to walk the walk on the pitch. The lads are doing well at the moment and need to stay fit ahead of tomorrow’s final training session, which will be good for us. They’ll really feel the atmosphere in the stadium during the warm-up before kick-off tomorrow. Another victory would put us on something of a winning streak.
... attacking coach Vedad Ibišević:
Pál Dárdai: We’re very happy with Vedad’s work. He still needs to decide on what path he wants to take and in which area he wishes to work. Vedad is a strong presence and talks a lot to the lads, which is great because we need people with a winning mentality to influence the dressing room. He’s a very positive guy and that’s really helpful. We need the positive vibes to outweigh the negative ones, but of course we must not be too positive or else this will lead to overconfidence: it’s important that we find the right balance.