Hertha’s reversed 4–2–3–1
Hertha Berlin’s turbulent season saw them assigning their 4th manager of the campaign, Bruno Labbadia. Labbadia’s start after the Bundesliga’s restart reads as follows, three wins against Hoffenheim, Union Berlin and Augsburg, and a draw away to RB Leipzig.
Impressive defensive performance from Dedryck Boyata and Jordan Torunarigha protected Rune Jarstein’s goal and presented Hertha with three clean sheets in the four games played till now. The number is low but if we factored in that Hertha only managed to keep five clean sheets this season. Then it’s importance rises.
Upfront Hertha managed to score eleven goals in these four games under Labbadia. The shape they play in is a 4–2–3–1 with Vladimir Darida behind Vedad Ibisevic. Out wide it’s two of Dodi Lukebakio, Matheus Cunha and Javairo Dilrosun. This shape however isn’t what it seems. In possession, Hertha’s central midfielders go wide as the wingers go inside to act as central forwards.
In the build up phase Per Ciljan Skjelbred drops in place of Peter Pekarik to build up from the full back role and allow Pekarik to push forward. This provides Pekarik with a safety net similar to what Juergen Klopp used to do at Liverpool with James Milner and Gini Wijnaldum in the first half of the 2018–19 season.
Pushing Pekarik forward allows Lukebakio to go inside and play as a forward next to Ibisevic. As a result, Hertha have an extra goal threat nearer to the goal rather than only having one in Ibisevic.
Aiding Skjelbred is Darida whose role is to roam to the wing area to support the full back. Acting as a connector between the backend of the team and the full backs who push forward to cross the ball for the three forwards inside the box.
In the first goal against Union, Cunha who is infront of Darida makes the correct call of staying central rather than going wide. On paper his role is a winger, but his role while Hertha is attacking is to be central.
The wide role is assigned to the full back who is always supported by Darida. Whether it was the left full back or right full back, Darida is always supporting. The whole idea of this is to have more players centrally inside the box rather than having only one (striker) in a regular static 4–2–3–1. Here, Cunha is ready to go inside the box as Lukebakio is sprinting to go inside the box on the far side.
Marvin Plattenhardt’s wiped in cross now has two options in Ibisevic and Lukebakio. Meanwhile Cunha is present for any second ball. In this attack, Ibisevic attacks the cross and opens the score for Hertha.
Against Augsburg it was the same. Defensively the shape was a normal 4–4–1–1 with wingers out wide but once Hertha hit the ground running, their midfielders went wide as the wingers went inside. As Hertha transition from defence to attack you can spot Lukebakio, who is doing his defensive duties, out wide.
As the transition commences, Dilrosun chose to keep himself central and played a diagonal ball to Maximilian Mittelstaedt, the left full back. Taking a point in time image, you can spot Darida at the top of the screen moving wide rather going central. While Lukebakio is ready to start his sprint towards the penalty box.
Mittlestaedt’s cross was too high for Lukebakio, but here comes Darida’s role into play. Because the Augsburg defender is dragged inside by Lukebakio, Darida whose role is to support the wide area, collects the ball without any pressure.
After Darida collects the ball, Dilrosun doesn’t go wide to support as his role just like Lukebakio is to remain as a central threat inside the box. Dardia then plays the ball back to Pekarik whose cross finds Lukebakio centrally. Lukebakio’s flick is saved, but Dilrosun follows and scores. The two wide players’ central positioning inside the box enabled them to score.
The differentiator in Hertha’s 4–2–3–1 is that the midfielders build up from the full back up role. This allows better ball progression down the wing as they are better passers and also introduces a safety option for the full backs. All of this is to make the wide players go inside. Here, it’s Darida the number 10 in a full back position supported by Skjelbred.
Skjelbred progresses with the ball and plays it wide to the right full back Peter Pekarik. Lukebakio who is theoretically the right winger is now inside the box acting as a striker. Pekarik’s cross found Lukebakio, but the latter weirdly missed a free header from close range.
Hertha’s 4–2–3–1 might seem similar to any other, but their midfielders seek to occupy the wing area as their wingers seek to occupy the central area. All connected to each other to reach the final goal of maximizing Hertha’s goal threat.
Skjelbred’s better passing at full back enables better progression on the wings and allows Pekarik to be more advanced with a safety net behind him. The advancement of Pekarik lets Lukebakio move inside and act as an additional threat centrally. Darida meanwhile is roaming to the flanks to support the full backs. All to enable Hertha’s wing oriented style of play.
In the end, roles are reversed but the target remains the same. A win for the BSC
