Position
The relief was clear to see on Christian Streich 's face after the final whistle but he certainly kept his joy in check – once again. Albeit, he had just celebrated his biggest ever win in the Bundesliga as a coach. His team beat FC Augsburg 5-1 last Saturday, which not only was a convincing victory but also extended the gap between the two sides in the table. "That was a big step towards staying up," said double goalscorer Nils Peterson to Sky after the game. The team from Baden are now eleven points above the play-off spot. A comfortable position they have earned through recent performances. Freiburg are unbeaten in four games and their attack is really hitting home in the second half of the season. Peterson & Co. have scored 13 goals in 2019 with only Bayer 04 and FC Bayern (both 15 goals) finding the back of the net more often in the Bundesliga at the moment.
Personnel
One of the reason for the upturn the Freiburg attack came in the winter – with the return of a familiar face to Breisgau. Midfielder Vincenzo Grifo (pictured above), who probably had the best phase of his career at SC between 2015 and 2017, returned to Freiburg from Hoffenheim on a six-month loan deal and he has already scored twice and provided two assists in the second half of the season – more than in the whole of the first half of the season at TSG. Grifo's great strength: set-pieces. Three of the four goals he has been involved in for Freiburg came from dead balls with the 25-year-old making it 2-0 against Augsburg with a brilliant free kick. "We're very good with set-pieces at the moment," said Peterson after the Augsburg game. Freiburg pose a new threat with Grifo – but that is not the only one in their attack. With the stalwart Petersen plus Luca Waldschmidt and Florian Niederlechner, Streich has three central strikers who would be the envy of several other Bundesliga coaches. The Freiburg coach is also able to call on an established player in defence for the game against the Werkself: Left-back Christian Günter, who played every minute in the Bundesliga last season, returns to the team after serving a one-match ban.
Problems
Günter's return slightly eases the situation in defence but Streich currently does not have a lot of cover in central defence. Both Robin Koch (torn medial ligament) and Manuel Gulde (torn hamstring) are both missing from the central defence – probably against Bayer 04 too. That leaves Dominique Heintz and Philipp Lienhart plus the alternative of the inexperienced Keven Schlotterbeck who normally plays for the reserve team. The defence is the Achilles heel of the team. Freiburg have scored an impressive 13 goals after the winter break but have also conceded exactly the same number of goals – only four teams in the league of conceded more. And SC do not shine either in terms of chances on goal conceded.
Potential
As the alternatives ran out in central defence, the 21-year-old Schlotterbeck made his debut in the game at Stuttgart; when Günter was recently suspended, the also 21-year-old Chima Okoroji filled in on the left side the defence against Augsburg – also his first start in the Bundesliga. Both Schlotterbeck and Okoroji usually play for the reserves but certainly did their jobs for the first team without any evidence of a reduction in quality. That demonstrates the value placed by Freiburg now, as in the past, on the close link between the first team squad, the reserves and youth teams. That has born fruit: Günter and goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow are two current key players who have come through the ranks following on from players like Matthias Ginter, Oliver Baumann, Maximilian Philipp, Dennis Aogo and the former Werkself defender Werkself Ömer Toprak in recent years. Combined with Streich as a role model, this philosophy provides a sustainable concept that will keep Freiburg amongst the top 20 teams in Germany over the long term.
Prediction
The win against Augsburg was worth its weight in gold and also made clear: With this Freiburg team, just too much is going right to have any serious fear of dropping into the relegation battle. And improving on the current thirteenth place in the table does not appear unrealistic either. A finish between eleventh and fourteenth would mean SC have once again achieved the target of staying in the top flight.
