On the move
Winning the ball back, getting it to the front and finishing the move: the instructions from the coaching staff were loud and clear on Tuesday morning. The week of work kicked off with high energy and lots of movement at Schenkendorffplatz. “How loud It is here really isn’t normal anymore,” the fans in attendance commented, surprised and enthralled by the intensity out on the pitches. There was a clear feeling in the air: the Blue-Whites want to take the positive energy from their point against Bayer Leverkusen into this Friday’s match against Mainz. “It’s important that we keep working hard and carry on getting used to the way we want to do things. What will be essential this week is going about business as a team and working in a focused way,” emphasised head coach Sandro Schwarz ahead of the game against his former club.
Schwarz, along with his squad, were full of energy and enthusiasm for the 70-minute session. He was vocal in the drills, pushing his team forward, and giving both praise and advice when needed. At the end of the session, Hertha’s head coach chatted with Filip Uremović and Lucas Tousart one-on-one. The message is a clear one – there is no time to lose ahead of Hertha’s trip to Mainz on Friday night (20:30 CEST). “The mood in camp and around the whole club is very positive, but at the same time we can’t stop looking at our performances in a critical way and analysing things,” Schwarz explained.
Lee and Scherhant return – six train individually
In order to keep polishing the team’s performances, the session consisted of a warm-up and some passing drills before some match scenarios. The main points of interest in the session: “Gegenpressing” and playing on the break. It was all about getting the ball back and transitioning into attack quickly to try and create chances – Wilfried Kanga and his other attacking teammates performed well several times. “In terms of content, we are trying to gain a kind of muscle memory for our work off the ball and in the press. To that end, we’re trying to improve our positional play,” said Schwarz, giving an insight into the session’s aims just a couple of days before he turns 44.
In terms of team news, our head coach was able to welcome two injured players back into full training today in the form of Dongjun Lee and Derry Scherhant. The duo completed the majority of the session with no issues, sitting out the match simulations at the end. Linus Gechter and Kélian Nsona were working individually on Tuesday, as were Tjark Ernst, Robert Kwasigroch, Suat Serdar and Davie Selke. There were still 23 outfield players working hard in the full session. “The team we pick to start our next game depends on a lot of factors. Their performance in the previous game is one, as well as their work in training and the challenges that our upcoming opponents will pose to us,” explained Schwarz, keeping his cards close to his chest. Behind-closed-doors training sessions on Wednesday and Thursday will offer the coach further opportunities to assess his squad, but one thing is already clear: our team is on the move!