Pal Dardai settles accounts with his players after defeat at 1. FC Köln

After the debacle at 1. FC Köln, Pal Dardai sharply criticized his players at Hertha BSC. “We can’t get any further in the Bundesliga with our duel values. We can only defend together, if the gaps are too big, we won’t make it. We don’t have the speed, we don’t have the duel lead,” said the coach of the bottom of the table after the 2nd: 5 (2:3) in the Bundesliga.

“We knew what Cologne’s strengths were and also what we had to do about them – and then we couldn’t do it,” said Dardai: “These are simple things: how I start, at what pace, at what pace, at what Will – if I’m not ready to start at full speed, then we have a mentality problem.”

In this way you “can’t survive in the Bundesliga or get an away win”, he explained: “How can it be that this team didn’t manage to win twice in a row at the end of the season?”

The list of defects is long. Not only did Dardai not like the attitude, the coach also identified deficits in terms of play and physicality.

“Every time we counterattack, we’re way too slow. It’s such a bought-in team, when Cologne have set the pace, we have huge deficits,” he said: “We can’t even keep up with Cologne with every sprint over 30 meters. That you saw it, clearly. Meters, meters, even more. Either together or not. The boys have to understand it.”

Hertha BSC shortly before relegation

Hertha’s rivals VfL Bochum (against FC Augsburg), VfB Stuttgart (against Bayer Leverkusen) and Schalke 04 (at Bayern Munich) are still in action as the 32nd matchday progresses and could increase the gap.

In the event of an unfavorable course, Berlin can no longer have a realistic chance of staying up this weekend. “Now we have to wait for the weekend for a little hope,” said Dardai.

Bundesliga: Table before the Saturday games