Thomas Müller im Audi Star Talk

Hertha Bayern preview, let’s wrap the league up

Second attempt. By winning its game against Hertha in Berlin on Tuesday, FC Bayern can clinch the title without depending on results from other teams. Against a slumping opponent in the German capital.

Hertha, the Old Lady on crutches

Hertha Berlin was a promising prospect when it got promoted. As all of those teams do, they signed a number of players to improve the team. Playmaker Alexander Baumjohann was a top acquisition but he got injured. Without his passing and dribbling, the Old Lady has been making heavier user of its wings, thanks to mobile guys like Sami Allagui and Anis Ben-Hatira, a good passer and overall great young talent.

Coach Jos Luhukay started the season by injecting a lot of team spirit and energy into Hertha, winning games against top teams such as Dortmund and Gladbach. Berlin was sixth in the table before the winter break, which many saw as overachieving. They are winless since 22 February (that’s a full month) and they are especially weak at home.

Luhukay likes to use a 4-2-3-1 formation with a lot of width and Ronny as playmaker. The team is aggressive but it sometimes lacks overall movement (aside from quick transitions between defence and offence) and its attack is not the most creative. It is prone to individual mistakes and ball retention is one of their biggest problems.

Hertha counts on striker Adrian Ramos to do most of the work. He scored 15 of the team’s 35 goals this season. He’s also great at providing assists and dribbling. Definitely the danger man. He’s likely to join Dortmund in the summer.

The hosts tend to lose the ball when going forward. They don’t shoot very often, save for Ramos. If you can keep them away from the area, they don’t try their luck with the long shots. You can run around their defence to create chances.

The only concerns are that they are good at tackling (Lustenberger), at dribbling. Taking set pieces is a strength because they have a good air game. They don’t allow many shots, but we all know that this will change with Bayern on the pitch.

On a bad day, Hertha lacks finishing. Not something that I recommend against an efficient Bayern.

You can also bet that goalkeeper Kraft will make one of his mistakes when coming out of his goal on a challenge.

Possible lineup

Bayern, one last win

Same old, same old. Bayern wants to clinch the title and shift its focus to other concerns and other competitions.

The team has been Thiago-less for a few games, due to a small injury, with guys like Thomas Müller filling in at playmaker. We could see more of that, although no. 25 hasn’t been comfortable in the position during the last game.

Hertha’s playing style could force Bayern to run a bit more to cover more width. But then again, possession could be the solution to that. You can’t expect the hosts to defend with the same competence and energy than Mainz, but they will most probably go ahead with a compact team.

The key to this game is most likely heavy use of the wings. Run around defenders and look for a cross to the striker or false nine.

This can be won by a pair of goals.

Possible lineup