The decision in the goalkeeper question at Hertha BSC has been made

When asked who will be in the goal in the next game – the previous stem keeper or his representative – head coach Cristian Fiél deliberately answered vaguely. Only so much he gave a price: “There will be a goalkeeper in the goal, I don’t have to put a field player in.”

It’s been almost exactly a year now. Fiél was still employed as a coach in the second division soccer team 1. FC Nürnberg, and right after the winter break, he had to deal with the question of whether the previous number one, Christian Mathenia, would be between the posts in the future or Carl Klaus, the At the end of the first half of the season, the injured Mathenia had taken.

Fiél is now facing a similar question with his current employer Hertha BSC. Tjark Ernst, 21, was number one so far, and that when the second half starts in Paderborn Marius Gersbeck, 29, played nothing to change the basic ranking. Ernst was missing in Paderborn due to muscular problems.

A week later, in the top game against Hamburger SV, it looked different. Gersbeck was again in the starting eleven – although Ernst was fit again and even belonged to the squad. “I think he did it properly in Paderborn,” said Fiél about Gersbeck. “And that’s why I didn’t see the reason to change again.”

According to this logic, Gersbeck would have to stand in the goal again on Saturday, at Hertha’s away game against the bottom of the table Jahn Regensburg (1 p.m., live at Sky). Because he did it properly against the HSV. But not more either.

Will it really happen? Fiél has already decided. The decision, “she has made,” he said. But Hertha’s trainer has not yet communicated. Of course, not the two goalkeepers and the interested public.

On Friday, Hertha’s trainer wants to inform the two participants, and if everyone keeps tight, the audience will find out on Saturday, shortly before the kick -off in Regensburg, who will be number one among Berliners in the future. Because the definition not only applies to the next game, but until further notice. At least that’s what Fiél has already understood.

Of course, something can always come between in football: a serious injury, a lock, a serious weakness in shape. But if everything goes somewhat normal, “it won’t be the case that we rekind the situation every week,” says Fiél.

Goalkeepers are considered sensitive beings; Change is therefore more the exception in this position than the rule. For a bad game, a goalkeeper is not immediately banished to the bench. To do this, there must be more than just a point.

A year ago in Nuremberg, Fiél decided against the established goalkeeper Mathenia and had Carl Klaus played throughout the second half of the season. In relation to the situation in Berlin, this would mean that Tjark Ernst is probably rid of his regular place.

The U-21 international is undisputedly one of the largest German goalkeeper talents in his generation, but overall he was not as stable this season as he could have been. In autumn at Hertha, his position is said to have been discussed internally. And if Gersbeck had not failed with an injury to the ankle in that phase, the change might have existed much earlier.

Experience speaks for Gersbeck

After all, Gersbeck had returned to Hertha in the summer of 2023 with the perspective. In his previous club, the Karlsruher SC, he was considered one of the best keepers in the second division. Ultimately, however, his own uncontrollability came between him, the resulting judicial proceedings for serious bodily harm – and the naturalness, with which seriousness, despite his youthful age, filled out the role as number one.

It was only its shape fluctuations that Gersbeck opened a new chance of the regular place in the goal. “What did Marius spoke? Simply experience, ”says Fiél about the change. “That’s one hundred percent.”

Hertha’s tabular constellation is complicated, the pressure – in view of the distance up – is so high that the team should no longer be bare: it may not hurt to have someone in the goal, radiate calm and do his job as calmly as possible .

Nevertheless, Fiél took a risk with the change on the goalkeeper position. Many wonder whether his decision does not cause the opposite of what is actually intended and only triggers further unrest.

In any case, Ernst’s consultant has sharply criticized the degradation of his client. “It’s not okay. The number is just too hard, ”said Jürgen Schwab of the“ Bild ”newspaper. “We cannot simply go to the agenda, Tjark didn’t deserve that.” Seriously, he has to play because he has the U-21 European Championship in front of the summer as a fixed goal.

Cristian Fiél has registered the statements. But not more either. “Imagine I would have to take care of the consultants. No, I don’t feel like it, ”said Hertha’s coach. “I’m talking to the boy when there is something to discuss.”

There is.