Our next opponents: Freiburg take early leads

Position

Last Saturday, three minutes again compromised the previous course of the game for SC Freiburg. In the away fixture at Union Berlin, SCF took the lead but were back on equal terms 111 seconds later. The final score was 1-1 – and that was for the third time in the first five Bundesliga matches. Freiburg went ahead in all three games but failed to pick up three points in the end. In spite of this record, the atmosphere in the Breisgau is not bad. “We’re happy to take the point,” said defender Dominique Heintz after the final whistle, and goalscorer Vincenzo Grifo believes his team are “on the right track.” Words which illustrate that nobody at Freiburg has set overambitious targets after finishing in an impressive eighth place last season. The current points haul of six from five games is not good but also not that bad – given that the only loss so far was a 4-0 defeat at Borussia Dortmund. In the DFB Cup, Freiburg negotiated a tricky hurdle in the first round with a 2-1 win against Waldhof Mannheim to give them a balanced return across all competitions – no more and no less.

Personnel

Freiburg’s coach Christian Streich has just fielded the same starting eleven twice in succession. But it could be that he turns away from the usual back four against the Werkself – as he did at Dortmund – and includes a third central defender. Streich does have to replace two regular starters at the moment: Goalkeeper Mark Flekken, who should now be the number one after the departure of Alexander Schwolow, suffered a serious elbow injury before the start of the season and is likely to be sidelined until well into the New Year. Freiburg reacted by taking Florian Müller in on loan from Mainz and he has performed well so far at SCF with several impressive saves to rescue one or the other point.

Freiburg continue to miss midfielder Janik Haberer, who suffered a broken leg and ankle ligament damage at the end of last season that has kept him out of action to date. Haberer’s role as a skilful midfield player now has to be taken over by others. Hope primarily rests on Baptiste Santamaria, who Freiburg signed from the French club SCO Angers in the summer. But other ‘new’ players could come into the reckoning for this position over the coming weeks. Homegrown talent Lino Tempelmann came off the bench for his second Bundesliga appearance in Berlin and the Dutchman Guus Til could be in the Freiburg squad for the first time against the Werkself. The attacking midfielder came in on loan from Spartak Moscow at the start of September but has not been in the SCF senior squad up to now due to a ligament injury.

Performers

Freiburg are a team who are wide-awake at the start of a match. The Werkself experienced that first hand last season in a 1-1 draw when Lucas Höler scored just five minutes into the game. And that has happened again this season: Streich’s team have scored three times in the opening 15 minutes of a game this term – they are joint top with FC Bayern with that statistic. SCF are also traditionally strong from set pieces and have two outstanding forwards in Christian Günter and Vincenzo Grifo and in Nils Petersen plus central defenders Philipp Lienhart, Dominique Heintz or Keven Schlotterbeck first-class outlets. Above all, Grifo is currently in impressive form and has been directly involved in three of the last four goals scored by Freiburg.

Problems

The many early leads for the team from South Baden are not being converted into many points. Freiburg have been in front in four out of five games this season but only one ended in victory – and that almost went wrong: In the opening match win at Stuttgart, SCF comfortably led 3-0 up to 70 minutes but they were on tenterhooks after two late VfB goals in the closing stages. But even with this win in the bag, six points lost from winning positions is the highest in the league along with bottom-of-the-table Mainz.

Prediction

It was foreseeable that SC Freiburg would find it harder going this season after the departure of the two Germany internationals Luca Waldschmidt and Robin Koch plus goalkeeper Schwolow. On the other hand – as with last season – nobody is expecting to be competing for a European finish at the end of the season. Streich can therefore work in peace and quiet. A big advantage along with having players like Günter, Grifo and Petersen in a high quality squad that should definitely guarantee staying up this season.