Three home defeats, including the end of the cup against the city rivals from Köpenick. The new year started anything but well for Hertha BSC. Now the first of two groundbreaking games is coming up.
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Hertha’s head coach Tayfun Korkut. Photo: Soeren Stache/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa (Image: dpa)
(Photo: Soeren Stache/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa)
Berlin – Hertha is facing important weeks. The Bundesliga game against direct competitor VfL Bochum (8.30 p.m. / DAZN) will start today.
Coach Tayfun Korkut’s team has it in their hands whether they can gain some breathing room in the relegation battle or whether they are permanently stuck in the bottom half of the table. At least in terms of personnel, Korkut has more options again.
INITIAL SITUATION: After five Bundesliga games with just one win, the Berliners need to get back on track. The team is in 13th place, just three points above the relegation rank. In addition, there was recently the elimination in the DFB Cup derby against 1. FC Union Berlin. With Bochum, who are in eleventh place with two points more than Hertha, and Greuther Fürth at the bottom of the table, the Berliners will face direct competitors in the next few games, against whom you actually have to score points.
PERSONNEL: New signing Marc Oliver Kempf will make his debut at Hertha BSC and form the center of defense with Niklas Stark. Stevan Jovetic, Berlin’s top scorer this season (5 goals), should also be back in the starting XI after a long absence in recent weeks. Goalkeeper Rune Jarstein and defender Dedryck Boyata are out.
QUOTE KORKUT: «It will be extremely important that we have the basics in hand, with the ability to fight, with the willingness to run. But still, we need to remember our basic principles and stick with it. That means continuing to play with the joy of playing. We have to be incredibly active and courageous.”
SPECIAL: Bochum last won in the Bundesliga almost 31 years ago at Hertha: on April 2, 1991 with 4:2. In this Bundesliga season, only Fürth has scored fewer points away from home than the team from the Ruhr area. But the Berliners have lost all their home games so far in 2022 – that’s more defeats than in the 14 home games before (2).
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220203-99-966302/3
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