David Wagner: Go as far as we possibly can with the support of the fans

Alexander Nübel will be able to take part in the game in the Olympiastadion for the first time in the New Year after serving his suspension. The goalkeeper received a red card against Eintracht Frankfurt in mid-December and had to sit out for four games. The 23-year-old moves into the goal for Markus Schubert, who cannot participate due to injury. “Schubi has had problems with the patella tendon since the training camp. He had an injection after the Bayern game and will be out for the game against Hertha BSC,” explained head coach David Wagner. “We will see how long he’ll be out of training. It was necessary to take him out of training at the right time and obviously we couldn’t do it in the past few weeks because Alex Nübel was missing,” continued the 48-year-old.

Most recently, Schubert has impressively demonstrated that he is a talented goalkeeper, as Wagner emphasised. “He could really prove himself in these games. We couldn’t have known before the season that he would have this sort of opportunity, but we have now been able to get a much better picture of his talent,” said the Royal Blue coach, who also emphasised that he had given no thought to the goalkeeping discussion, which was held primarily in the media. „We have two really good goalkeepers,“ Wagner says clearly.

Kenny missing, Kabak and Nastasic are ready for action

In addition to Schubert and the long-term injured Salif Sané and Benjamin Stambouli, Jonjoe Kenny will be out for the upcoming game in Berlin, with the Englishman suffering from an infection. There is also a question mark over Nassim Boujellab as the midfielder is having back problems. Ozan Kabak and Matija Nastasic, on the other hand, have reported fit and are likely to be part of the squad in Berlin.

Wagner spoke about the upcoming opponent from the capital, saying that whilst Hertha don’t play the most beautiful football, they’re incredibly pragmatic. „They’re not a team who control possession a lot,“ said the coach. „We know what we have to prepare for, but we don’t really care about the opponents. We have to see that we play football as well as I know we can.“

Wagner says the team will rely heavily on the fans if they’re to gain further success this season. The coach is certain that the Royal Blue supporters will fully support the entire team in the upcoming games. “You know how important it is to support everyone in the team. It would be insane to move away from this path,” said Wagner, because: “The only I can ask is that we go as far as we possibly can as a group this season. To do that, we have to stick together and play with the support of the fans.”