At the very end of this drastic evening, when the members of Hertha BSC had not only been humiliated 5-2 by FC Schalke 04, but also by insults from their own fans, sporting director Benjamin Weber found a few words that expressed all his distress. "What are we longing for?" he asked almost desperately, in order to provide the answer right away: "For continuity and stability in the place with all the unrest we have."
By "the spot" he meant the coaching position in which Sandro Schwarz was still on Saturday morning, but whom Weber described as "the poorest pig". The coach had been let down by his team and by a catastrophic defensive behavior of his players; the Berliners had invited by far the weakest attack in the league to five goals. But perhaps Weber's sympathy for Schwarz was also based on the premonition that it could now be over, with the continuity and stability on the Berlin bench.
Immediately after the final whistle, the sporting director did not want to "open a personnel discussion", but that is exactly what he did when he said: "I will not announce anything here, but we will discuss". This game is a "slap in the face". For a week, the Berliners had been talking about the fact that such a relegation showdown between the bottom of the table and the penultimate had to be contested first and foremost with passion, energy and dedication, but when the game was underway, the Berliners defended like a few amateur footballers on Sundays in the park.
"We weren't there at all in the duels," said Marco Richter, no one had an explanation for the spectacular listlessness in the game against the ball. This is one of the reasons why the idea that a new impetus might be needed to save the day is more present than ever this season.
Dardai? Labbadia? Hütter? Gisdol?
The Berliners have a weekend ahead of them, on which a lot could happen, especially since, yes, the question is who comes into question as an alternative. It is hard to imagine Felix Magath, who saved the club last year, coming again. So is there a search for another "firefighter"? Or should a head coach be found for the medium-term future who is also suitable as an immediate helper? The circle of candidates is not particularly attractive: Dardai? Labbadia? Hütter? Gisdol? Breitenreiter? Or do they stick to black at the end of their deliberations?
It is obvious, however, that this Berlin team cannot cope with the pressure situation, while Schalke lost in Hoffenheim last weekend, but were able to win direct duels against the competition from the bottom of the table against Stuttgart, Bochum and now against Berlin. The team looks relatively stable, and coach Reis has a good sense of which skills could be particularly helpful in which games. That was a key to the win against Berlin.
There are certainly better footballers in the squad, but for this duel, in which Schalke were also under a kind of pressure to win because of the schedule with four away and only two home games, the coach explicitly relied on the heroes of the previous season. With Kaminski, Latza, Bülter, Terodde and Drexler, there were five players in the starting line-up who had been promoted a year ago at the end of the second division season under similar pressure from successes in very close games. "The idea was to bring a lot of experience to the pitch," Reis said.
Devotion takes its toll
Terodde scored his first goal since last November, Bülter even scored twice, and Tim Skarke, who was injured during long periods of the season, made it 1-0 early (3rd) before setting up Bülter's 2-0 (14th). "It's really important that we have a broad squad and don't give a millimetre in terms of mentality," said sporting director Peter Knäbel. However, total surrender in a permanent extreme situation also demands its victims.
The pressure was one of the reasons for the many injuries, Knäbel speculated, after Maya Yoshida could not play at all due to a muscle injury, and goalkeeper Fährmann, Skarke, and Brunner had to be replaced injured. But somehow, in this second half of the season, Reis usually finds suitable solutions to the problems. Schalke have been playing this simple but very pragmatic football for weeks, with which coach Reis kept VfL Bochum in the league last season. On the other hand, it is quite unclear what kind of football the Berliners want to use to stay in the league.