The traditional strength on stationary balls earns Freiburg their next victory. Coach Christian Streich is annoyed by the inaccuracy in his own game, but praises the commitment of the runners.
SC Freiburg greets from the top: After 15 points from seven games, the Breisgauer have at least secured 4th place after this matchday, which would entitle them to take part in Champions League qualification at the end of the season. It’s all pie in the sky, but it proves that things are going well in Freiburg, and nobody at Sport-Club wants to give up this ranking so easily. Although the ultimate goal is of course still 40 points and staying in the league.
After the 2-1 win at Hertha BSC, however, coach Christian Streich’s team has every right to be confident, because the South Baden side has demonstrated new qualities this season. “We wanted to play forward and find spaces. We did that partly well and partly sloppily,” said Streich, summing up a rather “average” footballing performance by his players. A couple of times he even got really angry about it before the half-time break.
Recipe for success is calmness and cohesion
But Freiburg can now score even on not-so-good days. “We score a standard goal. You need that then,” Streich said. In addition, he attested to his team running “like salt men”. Striker Lucas Höler also saw a “compact team performance” and described the recipe for success of calmness and cohesion: “We defend together and attack together. We also don’t let ourselves get rattled by the equaliser.”
The standard goals by defender Philipp Lienhart and wild card Nils Petersen, each after a corner kick by captain Christian Günter, came “at exactly the right time”. “We analyse videos every week and train it almost every week,” says Höler. Corners, free kicks and co. have been among the great qualities of Streich’s eleven for years.
In Berlin, SC scored standard goals number four and five this season – only Leipzig (9) and FC Bayern (6) have more. On Saturday, the goals ensured that SC Freiburg remained in the top flight. “We are the luckier ones right now,” found Streich, who saw various good opportunities for Hertha. That’s why he is relaxed about the record start with seven games without defeat: “There will be other times too.”