What Does Bruno Labbadia Bring To Hertha BSC Berlin? – Tactical Analysis

When Bruno Labbadia took over in Wolfsburg in February 2018, his new team was only one point above the relegation play-off zone.

While they hardly managed to stay in the league, the 54-year-old significantly improved his side in the next season.

Although not quite as bad, the situation in Berlin is in many ways similar.

An ambitious club that once again struggled to live up to the expectations, currently fighting against relegation.

In previous years, Hertha have established themselves as a solid team in the midfield of the Bundesliga.

However, after 4.5 relatively successful years under Pál Dárdai, they were unsatisfied with the development and decided to finally aim for bigger goals and implement a different style of play.

Ante Čović was the man who was to bring attractive offensive football to Berlin and, at best, lead them back to the Europa League this year.

As we now know, things turned out slightly differently, which led to Covic dismissal in November and the entertaining tenure of Jürgen Klinsmann.

For all of you wondering whether the German capital club is kind of chaotic – yes, it is! Bruno Labbadia is already the 13^th coach since sporting director Michael Preetz took office in summer 2009.

The recruitment of a head coach might be the most difficult task for clubs nowadays as their skills are often less explicit and measurable compared to players, but 13 coaches in eleven years don’t sound like a sustainable strategy.

In this tactical analysis, we will examine if Bruno Labbadia can solve Hertha BSC Berlin’s issues, implement his idea of football and meet the requirements of Michael Preetz.

Bruno Labbadia Tactics & Formations

Before his job in Wolfsburg, Labbadia had a dubious reputation in Germany.

With all clubs that he worked for, he had short term success and could save teams from relegation, but struggled to really develop a team over a longer period.

His average time of office is only 1.42 years.

He was received with corresponding criticism by many Wolfsburg fans, who met him with scorn and derision.

Only the boldest optimists really believed he could lead them back into the top half of the table after years of fighting against relegation.

However, those optimists should turn out to be right and only disagreements with sporting director Jörg Schmadtke led to Labbadia’s departure last summer.

After years of searching for a clear playing philosophy in Wolfsburg, Labbadia managed to implement an offensive, well-functioning 4-3-3.

His idea of football is based on dominance, quick passes, and intense pressing.

A look at the stats further explains this and gives some indications of Labbadia’s tactics.

Over the whole 2018/19 season, the Wolves had the fourth-highest figure of ball possession (54.9%) only behind Bayern, Dortmund, and Leverkusen.