Christian Streich was particularly unhappy with the first-half performance in the 1-1 draw against Mainz. In the week of training before the match against Augsburg, SC Freiburg will therefore be working intensively on the basics.
After only the fifth point in the fifth second-round match, the SC coach addressed fundamental issues: “We have to practice basics and processes again.” Followed by a shot of self-criticism: “Maybe I haven’t put enough emphasis on that lately …” What the 56-year-old means in concrete terms: “Game structure, game rhythm, positioning, depending on how the opponent is positioned, run-up behaviour – we have to work on all of that again. “
Before the break, the SC pros played too ponderously, with too little sharpness and pace in their passing game, occupied the promising spaces too seldom and therefore produced avoidable mistakes. Mainz had a good grip on the ball, leaving Freiburg with a total of 61% possession and benefiting from the fact that their opponents were unable to do much with it for a long time.
Nico Schlotterbeck: “I don’t know what happened in the first half.
Nico Schlotterbeck was also not happy with the performance in the first 45 minutes: “It was not good. We hardly won any second balls, every header duel felt like it went to Mainz, no idea what was going on in the first half,” said the centre-back. “We hardly got into the game, with the ball it was really okay in parts, but in the front third just too weak at times. “
That was largely due to the deficits criticised by Streich. Playing off an opponent who is more of a wait-and-see, lurking for switching moments, is the supreme discipline in modern football, but one that only a few top teams master consistently and well; Streich, however, wants to at least get better in this area. “Maybe we also have to do a training session again that is not quite as much fun. Now it’s work, work, work. “
After the Monday off, it’s off to intensive groundwork this Tuesday. After overcoming the COVID-19 infection, Keven Schlotterbeck will be back. He and his colleagues can look forward to two training sessions and a video analysis session on Wednesday.