- "Shy as a fiddle": Hertha is putting Fiél right in the middle of a puzzle
Cristian Fiel was left speechless by his captain's assessment after his unsuccessful debut as Hertha BSC's trainer. "Too timid" was how Berlin's player-coach Diego Demme described their performance after the 1:2 (0:1) loss to SC Paderborn in the 2. Bundesliga season opener. The problem for Fiel: Demme was right.
"I can't really say much to that," Fiel admitted. Asked why he had described his team as "ready" and "fired up" before the game, and then they put up such a poor showing against Paderborn, who had never won at the Olympiastadion before. It was not enough for a team with ambitions of returning to the Bundesliga.
"Now it's about picking ourselves up and preparing for Hamburg," the 44-year-old said. They must avoid the nil-point start they had last season against HSV. It feels like Hertha is back to square one, having now lost their season opener for the fourth year in a row.
Felix Gotze (42nd minute) and Filip Bilbija (48th) scored for the visitors in front of 48,591 spectators. Hertha managed to pull one back through Ibrahim Maza (72nd) but that was all they could muster.
A season opener can be tough and challenging, as both teams demonstrated. The first chance, a post shot from Haris Tabakovic (24th), came from a poor Paderborn pass. The Ostwestfalen were equally generous in gifting the lead goal. Gotze's header was not challenged.
Only Maza scores
New signing Michael Cuisance (47th) missed a chance to equalize just after half-time, and Bilbija made it two with a clear chance. At least Hertha didn't give up. But apart from Maza's long-range strike, they couldn't create anything else. So the questions remained unanswered, and Fiel had no immediate answers.
"Despite aspirations of promoting back to the German Bundesliga, Hertha's performance in the Bundesliga 2 was critiqued by captain Diego Demme, whose description of 'too timid' proved accurate."
"Given that Hertha BSC has struggled to win their season openers in the Bundesliga 2 for four consecutive years, the upcoming match against Hamburg becomes even more crucial to prevent another nil-point start, like last season against HSV."
