Hertha Berlin are the Bundesliga’s surprise team of the season – a team with relegation level talent is competing for the Champions League just months after surviving the drop.
Exactly one year ago in March 2015, Hertha were sitting on just 25 points after 24 games in 14th position of the Bundesliga. Pál Dárdai, the then 38-year-old former club legend had just taken over in February from Jos Luhukay in a desperate attempt to avoid the drop, after being just three points above the relegation zone.
The Hungarian’s spark was enough to pull off a couple of narrow wins early on, but just two points from their last six matches had the team on 35 points – the same as 16th place Hamburg SV, who were forced to play a relegation play-off. The statistics, most notably 42.8% possession and 8.8 shots per game, both dead last in the Bundesliga were proof for many that Hertha pulled off a Houdini escape job in staying up.
Supporters of Dárdai claimed that he needed some time for his system to work, and to raise the players’ fitness levels. General Manager Michael Preetz, himself a standout Bundesliga player with over 500 appearances and 177 goals, would do his best to improve the squad over the summer, after having added the likes of Salomon Kalou, Per Skjelbred, Genki Haraguchi, and Marvin Plattenhardt for a combined total of €4 million in the summer of 2014.
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Never a big spender due to a tiny budget, BSC offloaded gigantic forward Sandro Wagner to Darmstadt. The former Bayern Munich player’s free transfer to the newly promoted SV 98 caused relief, not uproar. But unlike the season before, where they made a combined €20 million for selling their two best strikers in Adrian Ramos to Dortmund and Pierre-Michel Lasogga to HSV, Berlin completed some impressive deals.
The biggest summer signings were the relegated Freiburg’s hard-running midfielder, Vladimir Darida and Nürnberg youngster Niklas Stark for a total of €7 million. Mitchell Weiser left Bayern on a free transfer in search of playing time, while Vedad Ibisevic had worn out his welcome at VfB and came on a loan. Several youth players were also added, but Hertha’s failure to “break the bank” during the transfer window meant that even optimistic previews were hoping for a 12th place finish.
To everyone’s surprise, the 2015-16 season has been a roaring success, as Hertha had already exceeded last season’s win total of nine games by the winter break. Four draws and a loss was a rocky start to the Rückrunde and the questions about the sustainability of Hertha’s success began to emerge. Yet, 10 points from their next five games (with an ugly loss to HSV) have seen Hertha right the ship and the team sits three points clear of fourth place Borussia Monchengladbach after 26 games on 45 points.
The next five points will examine the reasons for the Berlin club’s remarkable success.
The coach – Pal Dardai
Former player and youth manager Pál Dárdai deserves all of the credit for instilling a work ethic and ruggedness to the Hertha side that was characteristic of the Hungarian midfielder in his playing days. The team’s move toward a more possession-based approach (up to 49% from last year’s 42%) has started with developing a strong core in the central positions.
John Anthony Brooks (who in 2014 was benched for the derby against Leverkusen for getting a “large-scale back tattoo” the night before the game) has developed into a resolute defender alongside the ever-solid Sebastian Langkamp – both are passing at a career-high rate of 83.6 and 85.6% respectively. Mitchell Weiser, 21, and Niklas Stark, 2o, have added youth, depth and three unlikely goals in key matches for a team that averages just 1.3 a game.
The acquisition of Vladimir Darida
Vladimir Darida’s €3 million move from the relegated SC Freiburg is arguably the signing of the season, as the Czech midfielder has revitalised Hertha’s midfield. He has covered the most distance in the league on 13 of 26 matchdays and has scored four goals and provided two assists. His partnership with Per Skjelbred has shored up Hertha’s midfield, which is now completing 85% of its passes, compared to last season’s 75%.
Productive strike partnership
Vedad Ibisevic, a Bundesliga veteran on-loan from VfB Stuttgart has scored eight goals, and when he etches his name on the scoresheet, Hertha are yet to lose a game this season. Salomon Kalou, a massive disappointment during his lengthy tenure at Chelsea has scored eight of his team high 12 goals away from home. Dárdai should win coach of the year just on what he has gotten out of Kalou alone.
A dependable reserve gloveman
Prior to this season, Norwegian Rune Jarstein was a 31-year-old backup goalkeeper signed from Viking in 2013, who has played a grand total of 180 minutes in the last two Bundesliga campaigns. He got a chance to start after the 21 September injury to regular goalie Thomas Kraft, and has been an enormous reason for the team, only conceding 26 times. Prorated for a season, 34 goals allowed would be a monumental upgrade over the 52 they let in last year. The Norwegian’s 75% save percentage is ranked second among goalies, behind who else but Manuel Neuer and in some lofty company. Jarstein’s 75% save percentage is massively superior to Thomas Kraft’s save percentage of 66% from 2014-15.
Clinical conversion rate
Getting that kind of goalkeeping miracle performance for over a season is just another example of the tremendous luck that Hertha have been riding all year. They have taken the fewest shots in the league (248) – Cristiano Ronaldo has taken 252 by himself in the UCL and La Liga –, but their team conversion rate has been a whopping 14%. The standouts are Salomon Kalou, whose 12 goals came on just 42 shots, a 29% conversion rate, while Vedad Ibisevic has 8 goals on 48 shots for a very good 17% rate. Vladimir Darida also has four goals on 31 shots for a 13% conversion rate – astounding for a central midfielder. On the other side of the ball, the team’s 8.3 conversion rate against is second behind Bayern’s 7.6.
Hertha’s miracle campaign, which has a whiff of Leicester City to it, has been an amalgamation of managerial genius, front-office hitting on four to five key players for cheap, career seasons and conversion rates from two 31-year-old strikers. Their 31-year-old backup goalkeeper is a revelation and draws a similar resemblance to Petr Cech as well.
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