Part 4 – Preseason: The friendlies
http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/SPORT/football/12/11/football.bundesliga.leverkusen.hertha/t1larg.jpgBoth Adrián Ramos and Fabian Lustenberger scored goals in the preseason friendlies
“The first matches of a season are always important to get everybody back in match fitness, but it is even more important when you are a new manager and need to know exactly how the players work together, how they react to different situations and how they think.” These were the words Ernst Mertens used to describe the importance of preseason friendlies. The preseason would also give an indication of the kind of football that Mertens wants to practice in the Bundesliga. The club had decided on two small tours and having all of the preseason friendlies away from home. “I would have liked that we had stayed a little closer to home, so our preparation wouldn’t have to be spent in a bus or a plane; but the tours were already planned when I arrived and cancelling in the 11th hour seemed a bit churlish.” The two tours were set in Israel and France. In the first tour Hertha played Hapoel Ako, Maccabi Be’er-Sheva and Hakoah Amidar of the Israeli premier league, the second tour the opposition were Racing CF Levallois 92 of the CFA 2 and USBCO of Ligue 2.
The five friendlies showed a very attacking style of play with a lot of short passes and a high tempo which also ended up with Hertha seeing most of the ball in the first four games. Mertens made quite an effort to get as many players a good amount of game time as possible; this meant that a lot of youngsters got game time in the preseason friendlies. Despite the use of many young players all preseason games saw Hertha BSC as winners, the Israeli tour ended with a combined score of 8-1. Bashkim Kadrii played in the first friendly against Ako and did a good job setting up for an own goal by Ako defender Yossi Milov. Rivic got his first minutes after being subbed in at the 58th minute in the second friendly against Be’er-Sheva, he set up a Ramos goal after having his shot blocked by the Israeli keeper.
The five preseason friendlies ended up with a combined score of 12-1 and Mertens was very pleased of what his team had shown him. “We met some pretty tricky opposition and it was great to see that we dominated the passing game in most of them, but I’m saddened to see that we only hit the target on 30% of our attempts, I would like that figure to be a little bit higher. Only in one game did more than a third of our strikes hit the target, and that was against a weaker opponent.” Mertens is a great believer in the use of statistics and these that he has mentioned has only scratched the surface of what he looks at prior to and after a game. As Mertens said: “Everyone can play football and the best footballers usually win, but it takes great skill and meticulous preparation in order to make the worse footballer win. Right now I haven’t got the best team in Germany, so what should I do? I need to prepare and understand every facet of the game before hand so I know how to control every situation should it arise”.
The Matches Played
H. Ako 0 – 2 Hertha BSC (6/7 2011)
Maik Franz – 25’
Yossi Milov - 50’ Be’er Sheva 0 – 2 Hertha BSC (9/7 2011) Adrián Ramos – 17’ Adrián Ramos – 72’ Hakoah Amidar 1 – 4 Hertha BSC (13/7 2011) Pierre-Michel Lasogga – 16’ Stiven Rivic – 50’ Itamar Tuito - 56’ Maik Franz – 87’ Amit Kadosh – 93’ RCF Levallois 92 0 – 3 Hertha BSC (20/7 2011) Adrián Ramos – 13’ Clement Berger - 22’ Fabian Lustenberger – 59’
Patrick Ebert – 89’ USBCO 0 – 1 Hertha BSC (23/7 2011) Maik Franz – 62’
