Hertha Berlin failed to build on their strong 2016/2017 campaign in what was a very uneventful season for Pal Dardai’s team. After finishing sixth last season a European campaign beckoned for the capital city side, but rather than helping the team progress, playing in three competitions potentially overloaded the squad.
Results in the league were mixed throughout the campaign, and some underwhelming performances in the Europa League meant they failed to progress. A lack of goals in the second half of the season stymied their chances in the league and a mid-table finish was the result.
Hertha’s strength in the previous campaign was their excellent home form which was coupled with a very solid, hardworking core squad. But after making a good start to the season, wins at home became hard to come by as they would win just three times at home from round 10 onwards.
The effect of their Europa League matches was also clear to see as Hertha won just a single match following a mid-week European tie. Dardai’s side did manage to stay clear of the bottom 3 and never looked in trouble of going down. Their positions of 10th and 11th in the first and second half of the season show how unspectacular this campaign was.
Despite not achieving much in the league, Dardai continued to develop his squad. There is some cause for optimism in what is a youthful squad overall. In particular the addition of Davie Selke proved to be successful, with the 23 year old finding the net 10 times, though he lacked consistency.
The story of the season was the contrasting fates of veteran strikers Vedad Ibisevic and Salomon Kalou. While club captain Ibisevic struggled, and only scored 6 times including a 13-match drought, Kalou ended as top scorer with 12 goals. Ibisevic’s position in the team may well be reviewed for next year.
Overall Hertha look to have established themselves in the league and with some more intelligent purchases over the summer they have the foundations for a potential top 7 push.
