"Show our qualities from the home games"
Hertha BSC face their longest away trip of the season on Saturday, when Sandro Schwarz and his team travel around 800km to take on SC Freiburg. Ahead of the game, the head coach spoke to the media and discussed the important keys to victory on the weekend. “We need to be effective in defence, avoid making individual errors and be brave and active when we have the ball,” said Schwarz. “We have to go out and play as a team and take the qualities from our recent home games and show them on the pitch in Freiburg.” Here’s what Schwarz had to say on…
… potential options in attack:
Schwarz: We’re lucky that Dodi Lukébakio has had the international break that he has and is returning to the squad in a positive spirit. The way we use him on Saturday depends on how things look in the final training sessions in the next couple of days. Jessic Ngankam also did well with Germany U21s. Wilfried Kanga used the break well. We have to look at how we’ll line the players up after Stefan Jovetić’s injury. Jove had a good international break and had also scored for us recently, so his injury is frustrating. But it’s a good thing that we still have a lot of quality going forward.
… the opposition and set pieces:
Schwarz: Freiburg have been performing very well. The team has a lot of individual quality and they’re a good side. They are characterised by their high-intensity approach, and everyone is aware of their threat from set pieces. We’ll analyse some video sequences with the team and also work on dead balls in order to be well prepared. It’s about demonstrating the ways in which we have to defend such situations. At the same time, it is important that we define clear spaces where we see opportunities for set pieces of our own. We need to believe in ourselves and be effective when it comes to free kicks in wide areas and corners in order to score goals ourselves.
… the right reaction to setbacks:
Schwarz: We used the international break to work on the disappointing performance against Hoffenheim. The data doesn't always show a big difference between home and away games, but at home we're always able to turn games around in certain phases. Away from home, it's often just not been good enough. Every player has to remember their individual task and complete it with discipline, and deal with any mistakes in the same way that we do at home. That is decisive. It will also be important to defend effectively, avoid making individual errors and be brave and active when we have the ball. We have to go out and play as a team and take the qualities from our recent home games and show them on the pitch in Freiburg.