As another busy week of European football draws to a close, we turn our attention back to the Bundesliga where the Billy Goats of Cologne welcome the boys from the capital for matchday 23’s curtain raiser. Pal Dardai’s Hertha Berlin are still at the right end of the table, but in order to tighten their grip on the automatic Champions League qualification spot, they need a turnaround in form as a matter of urgency. With just four points from a possible 15 since the winter break, only bottom side Hannover have a worse record in 2016.
Poor start to 2016 for both
Drawing has been an overriding theme in Hertha Berlin’s recent games and tonight they may be drawing inspiration from their Friday-night record, not just of late, but against tonight’s hosts in general. Hertha are unbeaten in five Friday night games and of the two previous Friday night meetings with Köln - in 1969 and 2008 - they have won both. Far-fetched? Perhaps, but as the saying goes - the proof is in the pudding, and should Hertha get back to winning ways in the Rhine city tonight, it will be a very sweet-tasting pudding indeed. More solid ground for optimism lies in the fact that Köln have not beaten Hertha in the last five attempts - a run dating back to 2012 when both sides were in the second tier of German football.
They’ve come a long way since then, for sure, and at first glance, the Bundesliga table would suggest that it will be smooth sailing with regards to staying in the top flight. The reality of the situation for 1. FC Köln, however, is that should their mid-table ‘consistency’ turn into even a short string of defeats, they could find themselves in the ever-intensifying relegation battle. Their form, like Hertha’s, leaves much to be desired as despite knowing how it feels to win in 2016, unlike Hertha, they have only one more point to show for their efforts this calendar year. The game in the Rhein-Energie-Stadion will be a fight for momentum, as much as for points.
As another busy week of European football draws to a close, we turn our attention back to the Bundesliga where the Billy Goats of Cologne welcome the boys from the capital for matchday 23’s curtain raiser. Pal Dardai’s Hertha Berlin are still at the right end of the table, but in order to tighten their grip on the automatic Champions League qualification spot, they need a turnaround in form as a matter of urgency. With just four points from a possible 15 since the winter break, only bottom side Hannover have a worse record in 2016.
Poor start to 2016 for both
Drawing has been an overriding theme in Hertha Berlin’s recent games and tonight they may be drawing inspiration from their Friday-night record, not just of late, but against tonight’s hosts in general. Hertha are unbeaten in five Friday night games and of the two previous Friday night meetings with Köln - in 1969 and 2008 - they have won both. Far-fetched? Perhaps, but as the saying goes - the proof is in the pudding, and should Hertha get back to winning ways in the Rhine city tonight, it will be a very sweet-tasting pudding indeed. More solid ground for optimism lies in the fact that Köln have not beaten Hertha in the last five attempts - a run dating back to 2012 when both sides were in the second tier of German football.
They’ve come a long way since then, for sure, and at first glance, the Bundesliga table would suggest that it will be smooth sailing with regards to staying in the top flight. The reality of the situation for 1. FC Köln, however, is that should their mid-table ‘consistency’ turn into even a short string of defeats, they could find themselves in the ever-intensifying relegation battle. Their form, like Hertha’s, leaves much to be desired as despite knowing how it feels to win in 2016, unlike Hertha, they have only one more point to show for their efforts this calendar year. The game in the Rhein-Energie-Stadion will be a fight for momentum, as much as for points.
