More action in the Hertha BSC offensive

The new week started very positively for Krzysztof Piatek. An interview with Paulo Sousa appeared in “Kicker” this Monday, in which the coach of the Polish national soccer team was remarkably benevolent about the Hertha BSC striker. Piatek is – in a positive sense – a killer, Sousa said. “He has something like a natural greed.”

The old week, however, ended very badly for Krzysztof Piatek. After three starting eleven in a row, he was only a substitute for Hertha’s Bundesliga game against Bayer Leverkusen – and remained so until the final whistle. Since Piatek recovered from his severe ankle injury from last season, it was the first time that he was not used in a competitive game in Berlin.

Hertha’s coach Pal Dardai had chosen Stevan Jovetic as the central striker against Leverkusen. And, as he explained the next day, it was not just a decision in favor of Jovetic, but at least indirectly also against Piatek. “I wasn’t entirely satisfied,” said Dardai of his team’s offensive performance. “I need players up there who aren’t just waiting somehow for the snap moment.”

Piatek is known to be someone “waiting for a pass into the sixteenth,” said Dardai. Then he is really good too, ice cold in the end. But in the end the passes did not come because Hertha is still having difficulties playing a powerful offensive game.

None of the 18 Bundesliga clubs has as few ball actions in the opposing penalty area as the Berlin team. And that’s why Piatek has recently remained largely invisible. So far this season the Pole has scored one goal – as a wild card against Freiburg – in a total of six competitive appearances.

Jovetic played centrally in the storm for the first time

Before the game against Leverkusen, Dardai had come to the realization that “more action” was needed in the storm. Hertha’s attacking game has so far lacked this as well as a reliable goal scorer. So Dardai offered Stevan Jovetic as the central point for the first time: “In my head was: I need someone who can get free kicks, who has technique, who gets the balls and not just waits for the balls.”

Jovetic, who moved to Hertha from Monaco in the summer, had previously only played on the right wing or as a tenth behind the tips, but Dardai remembered that the Montenegrin is actually also a striker. To be on the safe side, he had his assistant Admir Hamzagic confer with Jovetic on this matter again in their common mother tongue. Apparently there were no objections.

“Jove is a player who can fint well, has both feet. I think it worked out well, ”said Dardai of Jovetics’ appearance against Leverkusen. In the end, the 32-year-old not only fired the most shots on goal (four); It was he who gave Hertha the lead with his second goal of the season just before the break.

Dardai also praised the start-up behavior in which Jovetic was coached accordingly by Vladimir Darida in his back. “Vladi did an outstanding job,” said Hertha’s trainer.

After the break, Jovetic missed the chance to make it 2-0

It would have been more than overwhelming for Hertha if Jovetic had used his chance at the beginning of the second half to make the presumably decisive 2-0. “If he made a better decision after Niklas Stark’s pass and didn’t volley the ball, he would have scored two goals,” said Dardai. “Because he makes sure the ball in.” But Jovetic tried it directly and shot the ball too hectically towards the sideline. So Leverkusen stayed in the game and scored the goal at the last minute to make it 1-1.

The 1-0 but was a goal of exquisite beauty. After Maximilian Mittelstädt’s headed pass, Jovetic took the ball with his right and then chased it with his left from 15 meters into the corner of the Leverkusen goal. “This is an exceptional moment,” said Dardai. One that he had last sorely missed with his team.

Jovetic, who has Inter Milan and Manchester City on his résumé and has scored in each of the five top European leagues, is very much in a position to bring this special individual touch to his team’s game. But at the beginning of the season he wasn’t really fit and was injured afterwards. “The calf problems are cured,” said Dardai now. “He moved delicately in training, scored a lot of goals, showed good body language.” And he confirmed these impressions in the game.

In general, there is nothing to be said against sticking to the variant with Jovetic as the central striker. Pal Dardai was asked on Monday whether he would play there again against Union. Dardai replied: “Union is another game again.”