Working on game aspects

"Together as a group," coach Sandro Schwarz called out to his squad as they headed off for a run after the morning’s session of training at Scheckendorffplatz. At that point, the squad did not have only an extensive warm-up in the dressing room under their belts, but also a proper session on the pitch. "We worked intensively on our passing game. The focus was on having few touches and looking for a way to continue play after getting the ball,” said Schwarz. He had his players play in different drills over the 80 minute session.

What Schwarz saw from his team pleased him. "The boys played with a lot of focus and concentration. They are ready to implement the techniques and principles that we have established.” This goes not only for training, but for matches too. In other words, the boys played with dynamism on Tuesday, whether in small groups on small goals, or large groups in large goals - working on setting up situations and finishing with precision. Most importantly, they worked as a unit, not only during the run-around. This “long” week of training is not a disadvantage, however. “The extra day helps us to work on both the positive and negatives aspects of the Dortmund game. We know that there are things we need to improve on,” the Hertha boss continued, and added: “In every training session there are things that we want to deal with. This week we looked at defending from the front, or our transitions after losing the ball. Those are the situations where we need to be more on it.”

Uremović ahead of his return

In all likelihood, Filip Uremović will hear his boss’ instructions up close again in the near future. The centre-back, who was suspended last game anyway, had to take a bit of a break last week, but his return is imminent. “We didn’t want to give him the full workload right away. If he has improved in his individual sessions, then he will return to team training on Wednesday,” said Schwarz confidently on the matter. Dongjun Lee and Jessic Ngankam, who have been training alongside Uremović under the guidance of fitness coach Hendrik Vieth, have also been making progress. The same goes for Derry Scherhant, while Linus Gechter (infection) is still some time away from rejoining the full squad training sessions.

Augsburg at a glance

For the upcoming game, which sees our boys travel to Augsburg on Sunday (04.09.22), our number 5 will most likely become a talking point again. Our Herthaners want the points in Augsburg. With his eye on matchday 5, Schwarz is sharpening the senses of his players once again. “There’s a fine line between believing that an opponent is on a par with us and to think at the same time that it’s simply our turn to win.” The head coach is demanding the highest level of preparation and reiterates that, “we have to be aware, that after our start to the season, we have to improve without tensing up.”