Hertha BSC: Explosive exchanges between the posts
Stefan Leitl (47), the new head coach of Hertha BSC, surprised everyone when he took office by changing goalkeepers. Tjark Ernst (21) was preferred over Marius Gersbeck (29). Had Leitl perhaps rummaged through Hertha's history?
The Munich native was just eight years old when Hertha's legendary head coach Helmut "Fiffi" Kronsbein introduced the "rotation principle" among goalkeepers in the 1968/69 Bundesliga season. And this is how it happened: regular goalkeeper Volkmar Groß was injured and the Berlin team brought Gernot Fraydl, the Austrian national goalkeeper, into the team. As both goalkeepers later proved to be equally good, Kronsbein rotated every two games. At the end of the season, Fraydl, nicknamed the "spider" because of his great control of the penalty area, made 18 appearances and Groß 17. But Kronsbein took this unusual competition to the extreme when he swapped goalkeepers at half-time in a 1:2 defeat at MSV Duisburg!
56 years later, Stefan Leitl obviously has no rotation in mind after he immediately corrected a decision made by his predecessor Cristian Fiel in goal. It was already the second goalkeeper change at Hertha this season, because Fiel relegated his regular number one, Tjark Ernst, to the substitutes' bench during the winter break and put Gersbeck between the posts.
Coaches who are under pressure in particular like to use the goalkeeper swap to give the team a new impetus. For Stefan Leitl - I think - this measure is part of the overall package to stabilize the team's often fragile defense. However, the sensitive change in goal has not been practiced very often at Hertha before. The coaches who have been brought in in emergency situations since 2020, like Leitl now (Labbadia, Dardai, Korkut, Magath and Dardai again), mostly only resorted to other corrections, built on changes to the field players and also publicly praised individual players. This was especially true of Felix Magath. He elevated Kevin-Prince Boateng to leader at the end of his dazzling career and was rewarded in the relegation match against Hamburger SV (0:1, 2:0).
Stefan Leitl now needs eleven games to stay in the second division. The fact is that goalkeeper Ernst will remain number one. Jürgen Röber, Hertha's former cult coach, is also observing the situation in Berlin from afar. It was Röber who made a controversial goalkeeper change in 1997/98 after promotion to the first division. On the seventh matchday - Hertha had still not won - there was a 0:4 defeat at Hansa Rostock. After almost 100 games in a row in goal for Hertha, Christian Fiedler had to make way for the Hungarian Gabor Kiraly. "Both were almost equally good," Röber told me, "I often had trouble sleeping for several nights when making such serious personnel decisions." At any rate, Hertha slowly started to climb up the table after the Rostock defeat.
Goalkeeper change? Remember the 2006 World CupA goalkeeper change can affect the hierarchy in the team, and also the relationship between the goalkeeper coach and the head coach if there are different opinions. Spectacular changes have always taken place on the big stage. In 1990, the young Oliver Kahn permanently replaced regular goalkeeper Alexander Famulla at Karlsruher SC when he was substituted for Kahn after two mistakes at half-time against VfL Bochum. Kahn, who would later become the "Titan", was demoted by Jürgen Klinsmann just before the 2006 World Cup. Klinsmann relied on Jens Lehmann.
Whether Tjark Ernst will remain number one at Hertha BSC in the long term depends on the club's development and prospects. When Gabor Kiraly moved into goal in September 1997, an era began. With 198 first division appearances, the now 48-year-old is the most goalkeeper for the blue and whites. There will no longer be such consistency at Hertha.
Berliner-zeitung
