Review: Hertha BSC @ 1. FSV Mainz 05

Starting 11s

Mainz: Hertha:

—————–Adler—————– ———————–Jarstein——————–

——Diallo—-Bell—Gbamin—— –Weiser–Langkamp–Rekik–Plattenhardt–

–Brosinski–Frei–Latza–Donati– ————-Lustenberger—Skjelbred———

———Maxim——DeBlasis——- ———Leckie——-Duda——-Kalou——-

——————Muto—————– ———————–Ibisevic——————–

The match (Result: Mainz 1:0 Berlin (54th, De Blasis))

Overall:

A pretty ugly game between two teams who desperately tried to prevent being scored on. Therefore nearly no chances at all were created by either side and most of the game played out in the midfield.

In the end Mainz won because of a Penalty in the 54th minute caused by Hertha’s Karim Rekik.

Defense:

Hertha played in their usual 4-2-3-1 system which provides solid defensive stability. The defense was rarely tested by a innocuous Mainz offense. Mainz‘ match plan was clearly to create danger through counterattacks but Hertha’s defense almost completely repelled any attempt. In the end it was a single mistake that lost Hertha the game. Still a decent performance by the defense.

Offense:

This was really the disappointing side of the ball for Hertha. They couldn’t get anything going offensively. Mainz parked the bus with a 5-back system which positioned itself deep in their own half. Furthermore they offered no space in the midfield, preventing Hertha from patiently building up through the center. Even though Mainz executed that idea almost perfectly, Hertha needs to find ways to score against these kinds of defenses. Especially the wings lacked freshness and creativity, robbing Hertha of the only thing that sometimes allows them to overcome these kind of opponents.

Also, while the build up through the center definitely made a step forwards after the addition of Duda, it still needs to improve. What we saw today from the Offense was mostly a dreadful performance as they were not able to create any chances at all.

Individual Review:

Rune Jarstein: Wasn’t really asked to do much. Nearly saved the penalty. Quiet evening for the keeper.

Mitchell Weiser: I mostly liked what Weiser did offensively. He seemed to be the only one that at least had some ideas offensively that could have caused problems for Mainz‘ defense. Hertha’s best man on the pitch

Sebastian Langkamp: Got booked really early in the game but still managed to play all 90+x minutes. Had some problems in the build up (completion percentage >75%). Decent, but not good performance.

Karim Rekik: Caused the penalty by clumsily challenging Muto. Showed his youth and relative inexperience in the Bundesliga for the first time. Unfortunate that his mistake cost the team the game.

Marvin Plattenhardt: Really struggled to contribute offensively. Had to play every single minute of the season so far as Hertha lacks a replacement with Mittelstädt being injured. Perhaps this was a sign of exhaustion after a couple of demanding weeks. Hopefully he can bounce back as there are still two difficult games left before the international break.

Per Ciljan Skjelbred: Skjelbred struggles in the build up. A disrupting role in a pressing system suits him far better than what he was asked to do against Mainz. Pretty poor performance overall.

Fabian Lustenberger: Clearly better than his partner in the defensive midfield. Has a knack for make ultra-conservative passes which sometimes disrupts the build up but also surprised me with a couple nice passes. Had a really nice through ball but Ibisevic couldn’t finish it.

Matthew Leckie: His worst performance so far. Had some technical issues at times and overall couldn’t find a way through the defense. For the first time an inferior performance to Weiser. Has earned some leeway though with his prior appearances.

Ondrej Duda: I hoped that Duda could make the difference in the build up against very defensive opponents like Mainz. He didn’t, although I probably expected too much out of him. Had a nice completion percentage (90.9%) but was not able to evolve Hertha’s build up. Pretty disappointing performance overall, as he lacked ideas in the center.

Salomon Kalou: Pretty poor performance. Completed less than 70% of his passes and I didn’t see much of him all game.

Vedad Ibisevic: Overall I feel Ibisevic played decent. He was on the receiving end of a lot of difficult passes and several times managed to not lose the ball but instead initiate some kind of offense. On the other hand failed to score on what was Hertha’s by far biggest chance in the game when he appeared alone in front of Adler. Was sent off for allegedly cursing out the ref. I don’t know what happened there. The suspension will hurt as neither Selke nor Schieber are ready yet. Therefore Esswein and maybe Kalou will have to replace the captain upfront.

Overall:

Games like this unfortunately happen to you. I think Langkamp articulated it pretty well in the immediate aftermath when he said: “If you’re unable to win this game, you mustn’t lose it.” It just seems like this happens way too often to Hertha where they perform decently away from home but still lose due to avoidable mistakes. Hopefully it won’t continue as it did in the previous season, where Hertha could not win against anyone on the road.