False start perfect: Hertha loses at home against newly promoted Wiesbaden

In the first home game of the season, Hertha BSC lost 1-0 (0-0) to SV Wehen Wiesbaden in front of 40,000 spectators. After the defeat on the first matchday in In Düsseldorf, the Berliners are now in relegation place 17 with zero points and without their own goal.

“Really offensive” wanted Hertha coach Pal Dardai to play. However, the team was initially unable to follow up the announcement with any action. The Berliners didn’t have a real chance to score in the first 45 minutes. Palko Dardai came close, if at all, to a goal, who accidentally played the ball into the run in the 21st minute. However, his subsequent attempt to score while falling and under pressure lacked both power and accuracy.

Wiesbaden, on the other hand, became dangerous with two counterattacks. In the eleventh minute, Hertha was lucky that striker Ivan Prtaijn frittered away the ball in the penalty area with a bad first contact. Otherwise he would have come free from a few yards. Two minutes later, Hertha goalkeeper Oliver Christensen blocked a long-range shot by Thijmen Goppel right in front of Hyun-Ju Lee’s feet. However, the South Korean couldn’t react quickly enough and stumbled the ball from a few meters into goal.

Pal Dardai responded, bringing in left-back Anderson Lucoqui early in the second half Jeremy Dudziak. Before that, in the 43rd minute, he had to bring on new signing Haris Tabakovic for the injured Florian Niederlechner.

However, it then became dangerous again for the Hertha goal. After some nice preliminary work by Lee, Prtajin failed from one and a half meters at Christensen (52nd). In return, Tabakovic appeared for the first time. After a throw-in from the left and a header extension by Marc Oliver Kempf, the Swiss played the ball artistically with his heel against the crossbar (56′).

Two minutes later, referee Florian Lechner then decided on a hand penalty for Hertha BSC, but had to revise it after video evidence. Coach Dardai changed again in the 69th minute, brought on the offensive forces Bence Dardai for Marco Richter and Smail Prevljak for Pascal Klemens.

However, it wasn’t enough for a goal. Hertha still had two chances with a Reese header (83′) and a shot from Prevljak (86′). However, both failed because of the otherwise strong Wiesbaden goalkeeper Florian Stritzel. Instead, Wehen Wiesbaden scored the winning goal for the guests through Lasse Günther with an unstoppable long-range shot in the second minute of added time.

Against defensively deep and well-standing guests from Wiesbaden, Hertha rarely made it dangerously into the penalty area. The few crosses lacked precision, so Florian Niederlechner in particular was not a factor at all in the first half. But Hertha did not develop any danger through the center in the 4-2-3-1 either. Marco Richter was too much on his own here. In addition, with a few exceptions, the necessary pace of play and mostly also the accuracy in the passing game were missing. It only got better when Tabakovic and Prevljak came on. Hertha broke up the double six, now overloaded the penalty area and thus automatically found more pass opportunities in the dangerous area.

The increased susceptibility to counterattacks was not an issue, mainly thanks to the strong performance of Toni Leistner. In general, the Berliners knew how to convince defensively, as they did in Düsseldorf. The fact that Hertha still lost and had to accept a Sunday shot in added time and as a result of a corner early on Friday evening did not fit the course of the game. But very well to Hertha in recent years.

Broadcast: Fritz, 08/04/2023, 8:15 p.m