No Berliners In The Bundesliga?

as seen on Sports Pundit

German capital club Hertha Berlin are in the midst of a crisis following their midweek DFB Pokal elimination by second-tier 1860 Munich and last weekend’s 4-0 home loss to newly promoted SC Freiburg which has left them bottom of the Bundesliga. So can the cash-strapped club survive?

Hertha, who are currently coached by Swiss Lucien Favre, go into Sunday’s Bundesliga clash with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim under plenty of pressure having lost 5 league matches in a row.

Indeed, Favre’s job has been called into question during the week but the Swiss boss is adamant he’ll stay.

Favre was asked if he’d quit at Hertha but he responded defiantly, "Why should I? A lot of the fans still like me."

And he is right, having taken Hertha to within a whisker of the UEFA Champions League football last season. In fact, Favre’s side were still in the running for the Bundesliga title last season until the penultimate round of fixtures and there’s no doubt that got the fans onside.

But the fall from grace has been sudden but not all Favre’s fault. Hertha have experienced major financial difficulties recently and were faced with a difficult decision in the off-season, which saw manager Dieter Hoeness axed.

The club was also unable to retain stars like Andrij Voronin, Marko Pantelic and Josip Simunic and their major arrival in the close season, Artur Wichniarek, is struggling to fire with no goals yet to his name.

Polish international Wichniarek arrived at the Olympiastadion from relegated Arminia Bielefeld in the European summer, having previously endured an ill-fated stint in the capital with Hertha.

Wichniarek spent two seasons with Hertha from 2003 to 2006 and produced just 4 goals in that stint. There is a fear he may be heading down a similar path in this stint, despite scoring plenty of goals whilst at Bielefeld.

But last weekend’s 4-0 loss to Freiburg showed Wichniarek wasn’t the root of the problem. Hertha simply lacked the creativity required to trouble Bundesliga defences.

Freiburg went two up early and from then on Hertha heads dropped and the players showed little fight.

But there is hope for Hertha, with players like Cicero, Gojko Kacar and Patrick Ebert all capable of producing the goods.

And Favre, who coached FC Zurich to a couple of titles in his native Switzerland, proved himself a shrewd manager last season and Hertha should persist with him, for a few more weeks at least.

Unfortunately for Hertha, they don’t have two crucial things. Time and money. Those at the top know their hands are tied to some degree and they’ll need to have some faith.

But sooner or later, if things don’t improve, Hertha will have to cut their losses.

If they don't, could you imagine one of Europe's biggest cities, Berlin, with 3.4 million residents, not having a top flight football team?

Well Hertha's little brothers, Union Berlin, might have a say in that as they are currently leading the way in the second tier 2.Bundesliga, so perhaps the capital will have a new club to get behind next season.