VfB v. Hertha Berlin | Match Review

My first post back! I have to admit that it feels pretty amazing! I did promise that I would be back to update for the week before, but things came up with the morons who provide the internet at my parent's house, where I write to you from. Anyway, we are back and ready for action! 

Anyway, Saturday afternoon, VfB welcomed the struggling Hertha Berlin to the Mercedes-Benz Arena where the boys in red and white thrashed the bottom-half team 5:0. Martin Harnik put three in the net with Shinji Okazaki and VfB new boy Vedad Ibisevic each scoring one. 

Bruno Labbadia made three changes to the squad that started in the Cup loss to Bayern earlier in the week. Martin Harnik started in place of Cacau, Tamas Hajnal in place of Julian Schieber, and January signing Gotoku Sakai made his debut in place of Cristian Molinaro, who was suspended. 

The home side broke out of the gates early with chances from Christian Gentner and Martin Harnik before Ibisevic eventually broke the deadlock in the 24th minute. The winter signing slammed the ball into the net with a fabulous flying scissors kick that even Booker T (Wrestling humor. ha-HA) would be envious of. About four minutes later, Ibisevic made a great assist to Martin Harnik, who made it 2-0 with about 15 minutes before halftime.

Quickly after the goal by Harnik, the visitors' poor match got worse with Andreas Ottl made a dodgy tackle on Tamas Hajnal, and was shown an automatic red. VfB took advantage of having an extra man on the field when Shinji Okazaki made it 3-0 after 32 minutes. About ten minutes later, Harnik bagged another to make it 4-0 heading into halftime. 

At the restart, VfB continued where they left off, but with fewer chances that materialized into anything. However, chances by Okazaki and Sakai both looked promising. Just before the hour mark, the home fans were celebrating once again. Martin Harnik scored his third thanks to a great set up by Okazaki. 

As the match neared the end, the pace of play slowed. This mainly due in part with Labbadia using all three subs. The win gave VfB their first home win of the year, and boosted us up to ninth. 

We play Hannover next, so lets see where this win will take us. 

For stats and photos, please click here.

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Post match comments

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VfB coach Bruno Labbadia: “I am delighted that we kept a clean sheet and of course that we scored five goals. It’s good to have been able to give something back to the fans after our poor performance in the cup on Wednesday. We performed as a unit today. The basis for that was our work in pressing on the ball – we live from that. The team rewarded itself, today simply everything worked out. The pressure has been released a little but we are still wary.”

Hat-trick scorer Martin Harnik: “Today was an important reaction to the last week, particularly the cup game with which none of us were satisfied. The comments made by the coach and the director of sport were important and good. In spite of the difficult phase, we managed to keep our cool – which certainly wasn’t easy. Today Hertha didn’t possess the class of Bayern, but it was clear to see that we went into the game with a different approach. We played an exceptional first half and at some point it’s just like playing in a daze.”

VfB right full-back Khalid Boulahrouz: “After four Bundesliga match days, today we can finally be pleased about a good team performance. Even before the red card we dominated the game in attack as well as defence. We implemented exactly what we had intended to, we were very compact and constantly put our opponents under pressure. Still, we need to continue working hard because we are a long way from where we want to be. It was certainly a step in the right direction.”

Gotoku Sakai: “At the beginning it was difficult for me to maintain the gaps in the back four but from minute-to-minute I got more into the game and felt more secure then. The baby celebration following Shinji Okazaki’s goal was for my daughter Yuno, who was born in Japan yesterday. I wanted to do my very best today for her and my wife. I can definitely improve upon my crossing of the ball but I think it was a good start. Now I’m just going to enjoy the win.” 

Partial credit (c) VfB Stuttgart

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