Hertha Berlin vs Schalke 04
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Today’s free tip is in the German Bundesliga encounter between Hertha Berlin and Schalke 04.
I agonised over this one for longer than usual, I must admit. Opposing Schalke 04 is a no-brainer, but whether Hertha Berlin can actually be trusted is another matter entirely.
Still, I’ll take my chances here. On paper, this remains a very good Hertha Berlin side; one of the best I’ve seen, actually. Finding the right manager to lead them, and finding a style of play that suits them, however, has been problematic. I still really like the long-term Hertha Berlin project. I think they’ve taken most of the necessary steps to become an authentic Bundesliga powerhouse in the years to come. For the present though, the capital club feels rather disjointed, so I do tend to swerve their matches rather than weigh in at such times.
However, I think that they should be too good for Schalke tonight. Guendouzi’s arrival has lessened the impact of Ascacibar’s continued absence, and the goals have been shared out well enough rather than there being an over-reliance on Polish poacher Piatek, with Cunha, Cordoba, Lukebakio, and even youngster Ngankam getting on the scoresheet too. I do want to see more authority in midfield though. They’ve got to control games better, Hertha Berlin, or teams will always score against them, especially when they play with wing-backs.
Still, the Hertha Berlin problems pale in comparison to those of Schalke 04, and that’s the driving force behind this tip rather than some unusual level of confidence in this unconvincing Hertha Berlin side. Schalke 04 are a joke, to be frank. If they don’t get relegated this season, it’ll be a miracle. They’ve been severely regressing for two or three years now, letting top players leave without even attempting to replace them. They’re losing players to injuries far too often, and with no depth, that’s a huge problem. They’ve got so many question marks in this squad that I honestly don’t think anyone at the club can name the starting eleven.
Take their goalkeeping situation, for example. Who is their number one? Last season it was Nubel, until he made it clear he was leaving on a free for Bayern Munich. The board sulked, and sat him on the bench for the rest of the season, fielding youngster Schubert instead, who was not read. For at least half of the season though, Schubert, for all of his youthful flaws, was the number one. Now they’ve done a part-exchange deal with Eintracht Frankfurt for him, bringing in their Danish bench-warmer Ronnow, who has played some games this season. Veteran goalkeeper Fahrmann is back from his comical loan move to Brann Bergen in Norway, and he’s played some minutes this season. Even Austrian backup Langer has played! Who even is the number one? I don’t know.
That’s just one issue that now confronts yet another new manager in…Christian Gross! Yes, that’s right – the man who did a sterling job at FC Basel some fifteen years ago, and has…well, he’s failed everywhere since then, enough so for the Swiss football fans to actually ridicule him rather than respect him nowadays. Sounds like the perfect Schalke 04 manager, I’m sure you’ll agree. Lots of thought went into this appointment(!). So, what’s that – their fourth manager of the season? Wagner sacked in September, Baum sacked in December, Stevens back for a game in December, and now Gross. If this team wasn’t such a pillar of German football, I would probably find this amusing. It’s a grave situation though, and one there is no quick fix to solving.
Their defensive situation is a joke too. Oczipka has been playing, and one fan lately said he’d cancel his season ticket if he played again, such was his disastrous display versus Arminia Bielefeld. Kabak and Nastasic are supposed to be the main men at the back but one of them is usually injured, which means calamitous Sane plays. They’re afforded some good protection by battling Mascarell but as he’s still out, that won’t be happening any time soon. Indeed, Bentaleb is still out too so who will be sat in front of the defence, I don’t know.
Their attack is a disaster too. Harit is still a brilliant creator but, as has been the case throughout his career, he’s inconsistent with it. They’ve got half-decent target men without having a good enough wide game to feed them. I thought they were very clever for signing veteran striker Ibisevic pre-season as he’s a very good link-up man and a good finisher, but he’s barely kicked a ball. Highly-rated Turkish forward Kutucu, who still has a lot to learn, hasn’t been given the time on the pitch to develop. Honestly, everything that could be wrong about this team, is wrong. They look short of everything, including confidence.Therefore, new manager or not, opposing Schalke 04 is the only thing I can do here. Bundesliga teams will not have an easier game this season than facing this disjointed, unconvincing, ineffectual, and poor Schalke 04 side.
Verdict: Hertha Berlin to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 5/4.
Saturday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Australian A-League:
Wellington Phoenix vs Sydney FC
Melbourne Victory vs Brisbane Roar
English Premier League:
Tottenham Hotspur vs Leeds United
Crystal Palace vs Sheffield United
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
West Bromwich Albion vs Arsenal
German Bundesliga:
TSG Hoffenheim vs SC Freiburg
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Koln vs Augsburg
Werder Bremen vs Union Berlin
Arminia Bielefeld vs Borussia Moenchengladbach
Hertha Berlin vs Schalke 04
VfB Stuttgart vs RB Leipzig
German Bundesliga 2:
Heidenheim vs Nurnberg
VfL Bochum vs Darmstadt 98
Würzburger Kickers vs Karlsruher SC
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs Hapoel Kfar Saba
Maccabi Haifa vs Hapoel Hadera
Ironi Kiryat Shmona vs MS Ashdod
Maccabi Netanya vs Hapoel Be’er Sheva
Beitar Jerusalem vs Hapoel Haifa
Portuguese Liga 1:
Sporting Clube de Portugal vs Sporting Braga
Spanish Primera Liga:
Villarreal CF vs Levante CF
Real Betis Balompie vs Sevilla CF
Getafe CF vs Real Valladolid
Real Madrid vs Celta de Vigo
Turkish Super Lig:
BB Erzurumspor vs Gazisehir Gaziantep
Sivasspor vs Denizlispor
Ankaragucu vs Yeni Malatyaspor
Alanyaspor vs Istanbul BB
Hatayspor vs Konyaspor
Galatasaray vs Antalyaspor
Enjoy your free betting tips!