Hertha Berlin are done. The only question is how much worse it gets

“Maybe it was my mistake,” pondered Pal Dardai, the Hertha coach, “that we were too busy working on the offensive side [of the game] during the week. Because defensively, there was nothing at all.”

Dardai, a club legend, is too hard on himself. Nobody blames him, parachuted in during the last knockings of this shambolic season as a hopeful punt, as was evidenced by the standing ovation he received from members when taking the stage at Sunday morning’s club AGM.

That very reasonable point of view notwithstanding, Dardai is left holding a team in name only, with a first relegation in 11 years looming after Friday night’s 5-2 hammering at Köln which could, and should, have been so much worse. “Without meaning to offend anyone,” said Steffen Baumgart, Köln’s coach, “5-2 is not a good result for the chances we had.” He went on to describe Oliver Christensen – the Hertha goalkeeper who was an overworked, furious ball of energy by the end – as “the best player on the pitch.”

From the eighth minute when Davie Selke – who joined in January from Hertha, naturally – soared imperiously to head home the opener, the visitors were in a spin. Remarkably, they recovered to lead against the run of play via goals from Lucas Tousart and Stevan Jovetic, both relics of a more ambitious, hopeful time. Yet they were losing again by half-time and Köln’s two second-half goals from Timo Hübers and Denis Huseinbasic gave them relatively little to show for their avalanche of attacks. “We left some gaps defensively,” Marvin Plattenhardt, the Hertha captain, told DAZN, with a lorryload of understatement. Florian Niederlechner’s summation that “Köln overran us in the second half” was nearer the mark. Overall, Baumgart’s men had 15 shots on target and