Speaking at the press conference ahead of the Freiburg game, Heiko Herrlich shared his views on…
…possible absentees against SC Freiburg: "The players came through yesterday's game against Larnaca fit and well. As it stands today, everybody's available for Sunday (apart from long-term injuries Charles Aranguiz, Julian Baumgartlinger, Panagiotis Retsos and Joel Pohjanpalo, ed.)."
… the expected tactical approach from SC Freiburg: "They've played with three different systems this season – and they'll definitely use one of them on Sunday. I can well imagine they will want to play against us like they did at home to Schalke 04 (1-0; matchday 5, ed.) .“
…the last meeting in the Breisgau: "I'm expecting a similarly tough game as last season (0-0, ed.). SC Freiburg play a pressing game and there's a method to it – they have an absolutely passionate coach in Christian Streich and they play like that too. I'm an absolute fan of his."
…a solid defence: "In every game, we aim to defend as well as we can and keep a clean sheet. Not letting in goals is a positive sign – especially for the defence which involves, and places demands on, all the players. We didn't manage it against Larnaca yesterday but we're travelling to Freiburg with the intention of keeping a clean sheet there."
…the number of goals conceded this season: "The goals we've let in this season were mostly due to individual errors in the build-up to them. For example, if you look at the two goals we let in yesterday, the first came from a set-piece that we should have defended better – the ball was passed on and we were just too late getting to it and then the goal's conceded. The goal to make it 3-2 was simply due to a communication error between Tin Jedvaj and Mitchell Weiser and it shouldn't have happened. We definitely need to improve here and there."
…the return of Panagiotis Retsos: "We hope he can return to full training during the international break – and the same goes for Julian Baumgartlinger and Charles Aránguiz. The plan is to bring them back one-by-one but it obviously depends on whether they come through their individual training sessions."
Around 750 Leverkusen fans are expected to be at the Schwarzwald Stadium on Sunday to support the Werkself at Freiburg.
Bayer 04 have agreed a loan move for U19s striker Ken Izekor to join Bundesliga 2 club Eintracht Braunschweig on loan for the rest of the 2025/26 season.
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The Werkself were impressive in the 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt with clinical finishing and a first half "at a high level" that head coach Kasper Hjulmand draws a lot of positives from. The same should apply to Arthur, who scored for the first time in the Bundesliga. Edmond Tapsoba, for his part, was happy about his 250th appearance in a Bayer 04 jersey. "I think we're slowly finding our feet again," said goalscorer Malik Tillman, summing up the performance. The Werkself review.
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