Mark Flek can look back on an excellent first half of the season with SC Freiburg. The Dutch goalkeeper not only became the undisputed number one at the Bundesliga club, he made a big impression in Germany and earned a call-up for the Dutch national team. His good performances are confirmed by the statistics.
Fleks did not miss a minute in the Bundesliga this season, in which he conceded sixteen goals in seventeen games and kept six zeros. Freiburg meanwhile is doing surprisingly well with a third place as a result. It was reason for national coach Louis van Gaal to call up Fleks for the Orange squad in October , where the keeper has now been on the bench for four international matches. However, after Justin Bijlow dropped out injured, the elector did not dare to bring in Fleks. Jasper Cillessen then returned to the team.
Van Gaal may dare to do so in 2022. In any case, Fleks did his best to convince the national coach. The keeper is not only someone who occasionally stops a ball, Flek is of great value to Freiburg. Statistics agency Opta Sports calculated that, looking at the Expected Goals and the actual number of goals conceded, Fleks prevented no less than 5.4 goals. Manuel Riemann of VfL Bochum comes closest to Flek with 4.5.
Earlier this season we also looked at the rescue percentage of Fleks in the Bundesliga. A save percentage doesn’t say everything, of course, as goalkeepers from lower-ranked clubs generally have more to do and therefore have to make more saves. Nevertheless, Fleks still records the highest save percentage of all goalkeepers who played more than one game in the Bundesliga.
BUNDESLIGA TOP FIVE SAVE PERCENTAGE:
| goalkeeper | Club | Rescue rate |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Flek | SC Freiburg | 79.5 |
| Manuel Riemann | VfL Bochum | 73.0 |
| Stefan Ortega | Arminia Bielefeld | 72.2 |
| Fabian Bredlow | VfB Stuttgart | 70.8 |
| Kevin Trapp | Eintracht Frankfurt | 70.4 |