With a slightly different line-up and tactics, SC Freiburg earned a goalless draw at Union Berlin. The Sport-Club would have been happier with the point if they had collected more of them in the past weeks.
When the results and performances aren’t right, coach Christian Streich is willing to try something different, both in terms of personnel and tactics. That was the case after the last-minute defeat against Hoffenheim. Even though he was satisfied with the style of play against TSG, he changed it for the away game at 1. FC Union Berlin, against whom Freiburg have mostly struggled recently.
On the one hand, he had both Schlotterbeck brothers defend side by side for the first time this season, “because it was simply Keven’s turn – and then I also thought, at Union Berlin the two of them together, that’s cool for the boys,” explained Streich. After all, both were loaned out to the Eisernen for one year each. He would have nominated the 24-year-old Keven alongside Nico, who is two years younger, if Manuel Gulde had not been out with muscular problems, he clarified. The coaching team had already agreed on this after the Hoffenheim match.
In addition, Streich opted for a 3-5-2 for the first time, although “we were only able to practise it very briefly because of the English week”. “We didn’t want to run into the knife. We knew that if we go for it up front, the long balls will come and then Becker and Awoniyi will go.” SC had Woo-Yeong Jeong and Lucas Höler lurking up front, but they did not go into the early pressing as usual, Vincenzo Grifo started somewhat withdrawn in midfield. According to Streich, the fact that it did not work as well as hoped was not due to the tactics, but to the lack of ball security after winning the ball. “In the break we corrected it, Vince then went out higher, which then worked well. “
We’re not scoring enough from our opportunities the last few weeks.
In the more familiar 3-4-3, Sport-Club had more access to the game and also more chances. However, as in the weeks before, they used too few – with the exception of the 6:0 against Gladbach. At the Alte Försterei, Grifo, Lukas Kübler and Philipp Lienhart missed the best opportunities. But since saves were also necessary on the other side, including a three-ping-pong chance after a corner, everyone thought the draw was fair. Streich, however, would have been pleased with a perhaps not quite so well-deserved three-goal win after several unfortunate defeats, because “we don’t score enough goals from our opportunities in recent weeks, that’s a shame”. Although Freiburg are still in a good position in fifth place in the table and, thanks to the draw, also ahead of Union, the once large cushion at the bottom has melted away.
After the record series of ten unbeaten games at the start, he secretly imagined “that we might even have one or two points more after 16 matchdays – the expectations and hopes are rising for me too, but they are not realistic,” Streich admitted. Apart from Bayern, who are once again far away, he said things are very even in the Bundesliga. “We have 26 points, which is great, but everything has become brutally close,” the SC coach said.
Schlotterbeck duo? “Always an option “
At the end of the first half of the season, his team could still secure a Champions League spot, because Leverkusen visit Freiburg on Sunday, and they are only two points ahead in third place. Possibly then the Schlotterbecks will defend together again. “I gave a good account of myself today,” Keven Schlotterbeck said confidently on the Sky microphone after his first 90 minutes in the Bundesliga this season. And for Streich, this combination is “always an option”.