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Thursday, 28 March 2024

New Hertha coach Labbadia to prepare team for 'Day X'

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New Hertha coach Labbadia to prepare team for 'Day X'
New Hertha coach Labbadia to prepare team for 'Day X'

Hertha Berlin's fourth coach of the season Bruno Labbadia says that he will "prepare the team for Day X, as best as I possibly can".

SHOWS: BERLIN, GERMANY (APRIL 13, 2020) (HERTHA BERLIN HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL) 1.

VARIOUS OF HERTHA BERLIN NEW COACH BRUNO LABBADIA AT TRAINING 2.

VARIOUS OF MIDFIELDER VLADIMIR DARIDA AND DEFENDER MARVIN PLATTENHARDT AT TRAINING 3.

DEFENDER JORDAN TORUNARIGHA AT TRAINING 4.

PLAYERS TRAINING 5.

HERTHA COACH BRUNO LABBADIA ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE 6.

(SOUNDBITE) (German) HERTHA COACH, BRUNO LABBADIA, SAYING: "This is an extremely unusual situation and you have to think about how to deal with the team.

I cannot shake hands, not take someone by the arm to the side.

These are things that are quite unusual to us, as they are for everyone else." 7.

MIDFIELDER MARKO GRUJIC AT TRAINING 8.

LABBADIA AT TRAINING 9.

(SOUNDBITE) (German) HERTHA COACH, BRUNO LABBADIA, SAYING: "For me it is important to think of solutions.

We have to do the best we can in this situation and the goal for me is honestly to prepare the team for Day X, as best as I possibly can." 10.

VARIOUS OF LABBADIA COACHING PLAYERS 11.

(SOUNDBITE) (German) HERTHA COACH, BRUNO LABBADIA, SAYING: "I am looking forward to carrying out this duty and this challenge.

It is an unusual situation that needs special measures." 12.

LABBADIA WATCHING TRAINING 13.

PLAYERS AT TRAINING STORY: New Hertha Berlin coach Bruno Labbadia will prepare his team to be in peak shape for the day the Bundesliga resumes as the club battles to avoid relegation in a disastrous season.

Experienced Labbadia, who has also worked at VfL Wolfsburg, VfB Stuttgart and Hamburg SV among other, is Hertha's fourth manager this season.

He now has the task of saving Hertha, after the club had ambitiously declared in November the launch of their "big club" project with the arrival of coach Juergen Klinsmann.

The former Germany and United States coach boldly pledged to turn Hertha into a European contender within a few seasons but his project crashed before even taking off and he left after only eight weeks.

Hertha are currently in 13th place on 28 points, six above the relegation playoff spot.

"This is an extremely unusual situation and you have to think about how to deal with the team.

I cannot shake hands, not take someone by the arm to the side.

It is an unusual situation but we have to think of solutions," Labbadia told reporters.

"I have to best prepare the team for Day X, as best as I possibly can," he added.

Hertha will this week train in three groups of eight players while team discussions will be taking place in bigger indoor areas to keep safe distances between the players.

The Bundesliga has been suspended from mid-March to at least until April 30 as the virus has spread across Europe.

Germany has had more than 125,000 positive cases and more than 3,000 dead.

The German Football League (DFL) is set to meet at the end of the week to discuss a possible date for the season restart.

(Production: Elena Gyldenkerne)

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