Alexander Schwolow stood in front of the north stand with the jumping Schalke fans. He shook his head, and on the giant video cube above the center circle, you could read his lips as he muttered to himself at that moment: “Insane!”
Schwolow is the goalkeeper of Hertha BSC. He was loaned out to newly promoted Schalke 04 before the season, and because luck gave him a wide berth in Gelsenkirchen, just like in Berlin, Schwolow lost his number one spot over the course of the season.
On Friday evening, of all things, in the supposed final in the relegation battle, against his actual club of all things, the goalkeeper came on for the injured Ralf Fährmann shortly before the break. His current team led 2-0 against his former team, and yet Hertha’s fans sneered at Schwolow’s substitution: “Here we go!”
Maybe shortly afterwards, when the first shot on his goal led to a goal for Hertha BSC, Schwolow actually thought: is it going to start again? But in the end everything went well. For him. For Schalke. Just not for Hertha BSC.
Madness made fat booty that evening in Gelsenkirchen. And Schwolow’s story was ultimately just a small one in the much bigger madness, for which Hertha BSC was once again responsible. The team again embarrassed themselves in the relegation battle to the bone. Instead of new confidence, the greatest possible sadness spread among the Berliners.
The 2:5 against the former Last Schalke, which sent Hertha to the bottom of the table, was one of those defeats that shake everything up. Sports director Benjamin Weber, who has been in office since the end of January, recalled after the game that the club had “a clear conviction, a clear attitude”. “What are we longing for? For continuity, for stability,” he said.
Oliver Reiss and Ante Covic are considered candidates
And yet on Saturday everything indicated that Black could no longer be held. Oliver Reiß, Hertha’s U-19 coach, was traded as a possible successor; in a team with Ante Covic, who was again responsible for the U23s after his interlude as head coach of the Berlin team (July to November 2019). The name Markus Gisdol was also mentioned again, as an alleged preferred candidate by Hertha’s investor 777 Partners.
Of the five clubs at the bottom of the table, Hertha is the only one who has not yet changed coaches this season. And actually, Schwarz, the eighth coach since the summer of 2019, shouldn’t be swept off his chair with the first storm. The defeat against Schalke left those responsible with little choice.
The coach is the poorest pig when you see the defensive behavior.
Benjamin WeberHertha’s sports director, after the 2:5 against Schalke
Schwarz’ was a done deal, at least not on Friday evening. “We will not have a personnel discussion here directly on site,” Weber said before returning to Berlin. “But it is also clear that we will analyze the situation completely.” After all, he had to admit “that the coach is the poorest sow when you look at the defensive behavior”.
Schwarz came to the Hertha BSC club grounds at just before half past nine on Saturday morning. The training for the substitutes on the pitch was canceled and the team went out. When the players returned from their turn, Black had already left the area. The usual media round with the coach on days after the game also did not take place. Everything important happened behind closed doors.
There has been no stable progress under Black
In the press conference on Friday evening, Schwarz described the coaching discussion as quite legitimate, it was the club’s responsibility to think about it. And, no, he doesn’t feel let down by his team. “It’s my responsibility as head coach,” he said of the team’s performance, which was in fact a non-performance.
The last two attractive games in Freiburg and against Leipzig were followed by a wild performance by Hertha against Schalke. “In our situation, that’s unbelievable,” said captain Marvin Plattenhardt. “It’s difficult to find the right words.” Even if the conditions were complicated with this crooked squad: Appearances like the one against Schalke ultimately fell back on the coach.
There has been no stable progress under Black. The team was able to show what the coach had in mind. But there was no sign of the reliability that would have been necessary in the fight against relegation. The point average of 0.78 points per game is disastrous.
The situation is even worse than a year ago, when Hertha only secured relegation at the end of the season. At that time, the club changed coaches after matchday 26 (from Tayfun Korkut to Felix Magath) – second to last, with 23 points and level with the sixteenth. Now Hertha is last. Sports director Weber was asked on Friday evening whether he believed this team could survive. “Yes,” he replied.
