Bruno Labbadia Tactics & Formations At Hertha BSC 2019/20

After the Bundesliga restart, we have seen some surprises.

And Hertha Berlins latest performances definitely are amongst the most extreme upward trends in the Bundesliga.

With a new manager, they won three of their four Bundesliga matches after the restart and had a draw against RB Leipzig.

This means they earned 10 points out of possible 12 points.

In the following tactical analysis, we take a closer look at Bruno Labbadias philosophy and the tactics he deployed at Hertha Berlin so far.

Hertha Berlins new playing style & system

In the first four games under their new manager, Berlin enjoyed more possession.

Except from their game against RB Leipzig (47.51%), they had a possession rate above 50% (50.41% vs Augsburg; 58.33% vs Union Berlin; 51.71% vs Hoffenheim).

But the sample rate is way too low to draw any conclusion from that and the more important question is how Berlin utilised their ball possession.

Under Labbadia, Hertha will not always play the ball forward if being pressed.

Instead, they will look for opportunities to switch play and therewith penetrate the opposition defence in areas where there is more space offered.

This can be proven by the increase of lateral passes since Labbadia took over.

In the last four games they played 179.25 lateral passes per game compared to 157.15 lateral passes on average before Labbadia took over although the overall number of passes did not change significantly.

As expected, Labbadia deploys a positional play similar to his approach at Wolfsburg.

But whereas Labbadia deployed a 4-3-3 at Wolfsburg most of the times, at Berlin he utilised a 4-2-3-1 formation in the three most recent games while deploying a 4-4-2 in his first match against Hoffenheim.

As one can see in the graphic above, Liverpool loanee Marko Grujić (#15) will often play in central midfield pairing up with Per Skjelbred (#3).

This double pivot is supposed to ensure the required balance during the attacking phase.

They either stay at the back to cover the attack or push forward and support up front.

The wingers rather o