Seven defeats for Hertha

Seven defeats for Hertha

Friedhelm Funkel was shown precisely how big a task he has on his hands as he witnessed his Hertha Berlin side collapse to their seventh straight league defeat in their clash against Hamburg.

Funkel was appointed as Hertha coach just 24 hours ago and was unable to eliminate the kind of errors which had ultimately cost predecessor Lucien Favre his job.

Hertha actually led when Arne Friedrich headed them in front in the ninth minute, but that proved to be a false dawn as a Kaka own goal and two carbon-copy strikes from David Jarolim and Ze Roberto sent Hamburg back to the top of the table and left Hertha rooted to the bottom.

Friedrich was unmarked at the far post to head in a corner from Patrick Ebert which had been flicked on by Adrian Ramos.

But the home side's joy was short lived as a comedy of errors allowed Hamburg to turn the game on its head.

Kaka headed a speculative long ball forward from Jerome Boateng past his own goalkeeper to bring Hamburg level in the 24th minute.

Calamitous defending then gifted Hamburg two goals in as many minutes as substitute goalkeeper Sascha Burchert experienced a recurring nightmare.

The 19-year-old was in goal for his side's 4-0 defeat to Freiburg a fortnight ago and this, his second appearance in the first team, was equally forgettable.

Only moments after taking the field for the injured Timo Ochs, he was called into action as he raced outside of his penalty area to clear the danger with his head.

The ball landed at the feet of Jarolim, who lobbed the ball back over Burchert and the covering defender Kaka into the back of the net from 40 yards out in the 38th minute.

There was a sense of dj vu about the third Hamburg goal moments later as Burchert again came scampering out of his area to head the ball clear.

Once again the ball fell to the feet of a Hamburg player, this time Ze Roberto, and he replicated Jarolim's lob by striking the ball into the empty net from just inside the Hertha half.