Relief in Breisgau: SC Freiburg has dealt with the recent negative experiences and, after the victory in Piraeus, also passed in Frankfurt. However, there is a problem that concerns the club in the long term.
Satisfied with the performance of his defense: SC coach Christian Streich. IMAGO/osnapix
SC Freiburg is on a rollercoaster. At least the most recent games give this appearance. A disappointing 0:5 in Stuttgart was followed by a good performance against Dortmund – but the reward was not met with a 2:4 defeat. In the Europa League, the team was unusually error-prone, but somehow still won 3-2 at Olympiacos Piraeus. The performance in the 0-0 draw in Frankfurt was completely different again. Finally there is zero again at the back, the point is okay.
Last Friday, on the day of the trip home from Greece, the roller coaster was in free fall again, at least in terms of mood. The SC made a message public that caused distress internally: “Christian Günter needs long-term medical and surgical treatment due to an infection of the open forearm fracture he originally suffered.” A hard blow. With 303 Bundesliga games, he is the SC record player. And his 134 league starting eleven appearances in a row from 2018/19 to 2022/23 are by far the top value among current Bundesliga professionals.
Günter’s absence remains a challenge
The long-term absence of the captain is now shaking the statics of this grown team. Streich and Co. have to deal with the curse of Günter’s good deeds. Since he had hardly missed a minute for years, at some point no backup could be found for this thankless role. Streich will have to improvise over many weeks.
Against Piraeus, trained central defender Kenneth Schmidt was positioned on the edge of the back four, but revealed some insecurities and was rotated back onto the bench. In the first game after the latest diagnosis at Eintracht, Streich ordered right-back Lukas Kübler to the other side, as he has almost always done this season, and positioned a three-man chain. However, Eintracht were often dangerous from Kübler’s side, especially at the beginning, and Günter’s depth runs were missing in the offensive.
For now, everyone involved in Frankfurt was relieved that after the flood of goals conceded, the defense was back on the way to its usual stability. Admittedly, the Hessians, who were admittedly not particularly effective, only managed three notable shots in 90 minutes. “It was a collective, hard work. Overall, we were more stable, more compact, the gaps weren’t so big, the chain pushed out better. We put everything in the tank. That made me very, very happy,” said a visibly relieved Christian Streich.
Atubolu shows his skills
The clean slate should also give a boost to goalkeeper Noah Atubolu, who hasn’t always been up to speed recently. The 21-year-old was the support in Freiburg’s point win and in Fares Chaibi’s long-range shot in the first half, as well as against Omar Marmoush shortly after the break.
In general, the team corrected the unusually blatant individual mistakes shown in Piraeus. “We had video meetings straight on Friday after we came back and discussed it intensively. It was very important for us to survive in Piraeus and here…” emphasized Streich, who is still haunted by a game from the last few weeks. ” … after the shitty game against Dortmund, that you can’t lose under any circumstances, but you get four goals.”
Sallai is more disciplined than ever
The fact that the roller coaster came to a standstill on Sunday was also due to the defensive unity. The stability wasn’t just thanks to the three-man chain. Streich deliberately singled out Roland Sallai. In Piraeus, the Hungarian still acted as an offensive player in the 4-2-3-1, but in the 3-4-3 he was entrusted with much more defensive tasks on Sunday.
“He played a very disciplined and strong duel game. That was the most disciplined game Roland has played in the position since he’s been with us,” emphasizes the coach. How stupid that the 26-year-old is not left-footed and can at least plow Günter’s position on the left rail on days with a three-man chain. Because representing the captain remains a challenge.
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