“Working on my physical strength has brought me forward”

A story from a recent training session: the ball came out to Stevan Jovetić, the attacker looking to drive forward into the space in front of him. Out of nowhere, Maximilian Mittelstädt flew in and won the ball back with a full-blooded tackle. That fired the Montenegrin up; the gloves were off and he wanted to go again, but our number 17 kept the upper hand in each of their following clashes, something symbolic for Mittelstädt’s actual performance – there’s almost no way past him at the moment. “I feel fighting fit at the moment. I’ve been working on my physical strength individually a lot, which has brought me forward and I’m reaping the rewards right now,” said the left-back, who has been a firm fixture in Hertha’s starting XI since December 18th. Ahead of the Blue-Whites’ trip away to Greuther Fürth on Saturday (15:30 CET), the 24-year-old spoke to herthabsc.com about his current good form, lessons from analysing the Bochum game and keys to beating Fürth at the weekend.

herthabsc.com: Maxi, there’s been some real energy put into this week’s training sessions, with you all coming off the pitch looking pretty tired – you could say preparations for Fürth are in full swing, no?

Mittelstädt: Yeah, I’d say so. Our focus has been on tackling and “Gegenpressing”, like the stuff we showed we can do in the first half against Bochum. After winning the ball we want to break quickly and take defenders on one-against-one; we’ve done some drills on that. At the end of the day, it’ll all depend on whether we score goals, something we’ve been missing a bit in the last few weeks.

herthabsc.com: The Bochum game was one of two halves. What lessons have you learned from analysing the game?

Mittelstädt: We’ve put the game behind us now, but we need to work on playing like we did in the first half. We want to put that level of performance in for the full 90 minutes against Fürth. We can’t let our heads drop after conceding goals and we need to be more clinical so that we can hit back from setbacks better. That’s something we need to improve on right away, keeping a cool head in those kind of situations. We’ve done that well at times, but also put in very poor performances in other games. If we always played at the level we did in our game against BVB, for example, then we wouldn’t have any issues. That’s exactly what we have to do, adding consistency.

herthabsc.com: Speaking of the Dortmund game; since then, you’ve been an ever-present in the starting XI since then. How fit do you feel at the moment?

Mittelstädt: Not too different to usual, honestly (smiles). I always try to give my all in every training session and match so I can help the team. I feel fighting fit at the moment. I’ve been working on my physical strength individually a lot, which has brought me forward and I’m reaping the rewards right now.

herthabsc.com: This is your seventh season in the blue and white, and you’ve come over a few hurdles during your time here. What do you see that gives you hope for us to climb up the table in the coming weeks?

Mittelstädt: As I’ve said, there’s been a lot of energy in training this week, which is exactly what we need. We need to stick together as a team and show that we are a single unit when it matters. We need to do that again and again in the next few weeks – that’s how we managed to stay up last season: as a team!

herthabsc.com: An important game awaits us on Saturday against Greuther Fürth (15:30 CET). What expectations do you have going into the game?

Mittelstädt: It’s going to be a pretty similar game to Bochum; hard-fought and very tough. We need to go into the game from the start with a lot of energy and the attitude that we can win. If we do that, then I’m sure we can get a good result there.

herthabsc.com: This is going to be your first ever game against Fürth – will it be a special match for you?

Mittelstädt: Oh yeah, thinking about it now has made me realise that (laughs), but I don’t really give any thought to that in the build-up to games. The fact I’m coming up against an opponent I haven’t faced before isn’t anything special for me, even if one of the things I say is that every Bundesliga game is a special occasion for me.

herthabsc.com: Greuther Fürth have gone their last four home games unbeaten and are in their best form of the season so far. What tricks have you got up your sleeves to beat them?

Mittelstädt: We’ll need to be good going forward and be powerful on the wings. We’ve got two really good strikers in the middle who can score goals. Alongside that, we’ll also have a bit of luck on our side on Saturday – I can feel it in my bones (grins)!