Despite the anger at the referee, Freiburg’s professionals have themselves to blame for the 1:2 against Hoffenheim, the fourth defeat in the last five games. A mix of poor chance-taking and unfortunate to poor behaviour when conceding goals cost them at least five points.
Christian Streich was understandably annoyed that Frank Willenborg had not penalised a clear shirt infringement by Kevin Vogt on Lucas Höler in the creation of Hoffenheim’s winning goal in injury time.
However, to blame the 2-1 defeat solely on the referee would be a clear mistake. After Willenborg’s refusal to blow the whistle, a Hoffenheim free kick and the winning corner kick had to be defended. Even if the winning goal scorer Chris Richards went to the limit of what was allowed with his hooked effort against Haberer before his header, the Freiburg player should have positioned himself better at the start of the scene and been more robust against it.
Bad positional play at the early deficit
Lukas Kübler, Kevin Schade and Philipp Lienhart were all guilty of poor positioning and decision-making (Lienhart) when David Raum went behind early. In addition to Vincenzo Grifo’s missed penalty at 1-1, Schade (twice) and Kübler also missed good scoring opportunities. “When you lose, you always have to blame yourself, even if it’s just for preventing the goals against,” Maximilian Eggestein clarifies.
The fatal and by now well-known mix of poor chance-taking and unfortunate to poor behaviour when conceding goals cost at least five points against Frankfurt (0:2, unfortunate goals conceded), in Bochum (1:2, in each case individual mistakes before the goals conceded) and now against Hoffenheim. So even with all the anger about Willenborg, Streich demands: “We have to look at our own nose. We mustn’t always give away the close games like that. We have to work hard to ensure that these close games are not constantly won by the opponent. It’s extremely disappointing because there’s no reason for that, you have to at least play for a draw. “
On Wednesday awaits Union
On Wednesday evening, the next test is at Union Berlin. “We have to keep going, go to Berlin and continue what has actually been a good season in terms of games, “, said Streich, setting the agenda for his players, who, according to Eggestein, are expecting “a different game”: “Union tend to operate with long balls and go for the second balls, Hoffenheim are a team that tend to try to play out from the back. ” The six-man’s clear goal: “It’s a league rival again. That’s why we definitely want to
there.
Whether Nico Schlotterbeck will be able to compete on turf at his loan employer from last season is to be clarified after further examinations on Monday. On Sunday, there was at least hope at Sport-Club that the ankle injury might not be so serious after all.
