For Freiburg’s right winger Kevin Schade, the working day was over after 45 minutes in the 0:1 in Cologne. The 20-year-old’s skills are impressive, but good and bad performances still alternate quickly.
At just 20 years of age, fluctuations in performance are quite normal. Even absolutely exceptional talents have a bad day now and then at the beginning of their career. It’s an experience that young footballers never enjoy, but it’s part of the maturing process. This is the case with Freiburg’s Kevin Schade. After a mediocre performance at the start of the year against Bielefeld (2:2), the winger in coach Christian Streich’s team recently strung together three impressive games (1:5 against Dortmund, 4:1 against Hoffenheim in the cup and 2:0 in Stuttgart). His skills are undisputed: The 1.83 metre tall native of Potsdam is fast, has a strong jump, is a goal-getter and can leave opponents unconcerned in one-on-one situations.
Last Saturday, however, he received a lesson of a more unpleasant kind. Cologne’s left-back Jonas Hector cooked up a thoroughly committed but completely hapless Schade by every trick in the book. Hector won 92 percent of his duels, his direct counterpart Schade only 12 percent. The young Freiburg player was inferior in every situation in his eighth starting appearance and did not score a goal. The 31-year-old Hector, on the other hand, even had the leisure to keep Schade and the right-back behind him, Lukas Kübler, busy in their own defensive third – and, in contrast to Schade, set up two shots on goal for his opponents.
Even Streich apparently saw that the use of his right-winger was ineffective this afternoon and took the U-21 international off the field at half-time. “There are players on the bench who are also good and want to play,” was the SC coach’s reasoning for his change, explaining, “If it’s not going well for one, then another comes in.” In this case Roland Sallai, who clearly exuded more danger and was only robbed of the equaliser by Nico Schlotterbeck’s offside position. The Hungarian and Schade are currently competing almost equally for the right midfield spot – it’s quite possible that Streich will now give Schade a break for the time being.
From young player to permanent part of the professional squad
His rapid ups and downs in the form curve are still a normal part of the development process, after all Schade is playing his first season in the Bundesliga. And he is already doing so in impressive fashion: Three goals and one assist in 18 appearances is something to be proud of. The native of Potsdam rose from junior player to a permanent part of the professional squad within half a year. It will probably take a while before his performances become more consistent. Hector could be a good example for him: When the future German international was Schade’s age, Hector was still playing for the 2nd team of 1. FC Köln in the Regionalliga West.