Football Season Guide

Hertha Berlin managed to avoid the relegation playoff on goal difference which shows just how poor they were throughout last season. They were responsible for an insipid style of play mixed with a lack of scoring threat and negative football borne of desperation to stay up. But they managed to achieve this goal with a late run of decent form under coach Pal Dardai who took over just after the winter break. In his fourteen games in charge though he has won less than a third with four wins coming from his fifteen matches at the helm. Nevertheless the club has stuck with him over the summer with there being some signs of an improvement. The coach has taken the decision to not reinforce over the summer and Hertha have been the side with the least dealings so far. Dardai made it clear within a few weeks of joining the club which players he wanted to work with and which would be sold and he has kept faith with his squad from last season. Very few players have left the club and only two new ones have joined. Mitchell Weiser, frustrated by the lack of chances at Bayern München, has joined to try and establish himself in the Hertha first team but he is largely unproven in the league. Vaclav Darida on the other hand has been a regular for Freiburg for the past few seasons and should add some goals from midfield. Of the players to leave none have had an important role of the last season and all the outfield players except for Fabian Holland were over 30. Dardai’s task will therefore be to get more out of his players than he managed last season which is not impossible but their track record is not positive. The lack of improvement to the squad could put Hertha at risk of being in the relegation fight once again and another change of coach and/or winter panic buying are also possible. Julian Schieber and Salomon Kalou will be responsible for scoring the goals to keep them but neither had a good record last year. Their defensive coverage is also looking very thin and one or two injuries to first teamers would force midfielders to fill in or youth team players to be promoted. The lack of quality throughout the team is also worrying. By resisting the temptation to add to the squad over the summer and keep faith with their existing squad could pay dividends if the squad shows the team spirit required to take the points they need. A poor start though could snowball into a crisis as it did last year and it could well be another long season for the capital’s only top division side.