Tackling the New Year full on!
The sun finally managed to break out through the grey clouds just in time for Hertha’s first training session of the new year and the team were accordingly in good spirits at Schenckendorffplatz. “After a weekend off, it was good to get back to work. We’re looking forward to the new year and want to kick it off in the right way with a win at home against Köln,“ said Jordan Torunarigha, looking ahead to this weekend’s game. The ‘Old Lady’ welcome 1. FC Köln to the Olympiastadion on Sunday (09/01/22, 15:30 CET).
Possession play in focus
As they look to go unbeaten in their sixth consecutive home game, Tayfun Korkut’s side continued their preparations for the Rückrunde, which had already begun last Wednesday. After fitness coach Henrik Kuchno led a warm-up, the group focused on drills on the ball. To round off the roughly 75-minute-long session, the team worked on overload situations on a marked pitch with a limited number of touches. Korkut’s team looked well up for the task at hand, while Niklas Stark and co. did not shy away from any duel and threw everything into their challenges, while the coaching team ordered instructions from the sideline. “There was a good level of intensity. We know exactly what we need to work on and want to use the week as best as possible to be well-prepared for the Köln game. At the end of the day, we have some things to make up for,” said Maximilian Mittelstädt, referencing the loss in the reverse fixture.
Six players absent, Pekarík and Selke return
Stevan Jovetić’s involvement in the weekend’s game is still questionable at the moment. Like last week, the attacker trained individually. Meanwhile, Peter Pekarík and Davie Selke returned to full training. Marvin Plattenhardt and Linus Gechter were absent with colds, whereas Rune Jarstein (rehab) and Dedryck Boyata, Deyovaisio Zeefuik and Fredrik André Bjørkan, (all quarantine) also didn’t train. Some of Monday’s absentees still have a chance of featuring against Köln and ex Hertha man Ondrej Duda, with a few more sessions in store for the rest of the week. "That was a good start to the new year. In the coming days, we want to step up the intensity and work more closely on the details. We took a good feeling from the Dortmund game, which we want to use to come out on top on Sunday," said Suat Serdar ahead of the start of the second half of the season.