SC Freiburg is mostly having a hard time playing in 2023. Captain Christian Günter also attributes this to differences in the part of the season up to the World Cup break and in the more recent past.
Christian Günter and SC Freiburg prevailed against VfB Stuttgart.
IMAGO/sport photo pack
Sustained success comes at a price. “No one drives here anymore and underestimates us in the slightest,” said Christian Günter after the recent 2-1 draw against Stuttgart. VfB let the SC do more of the game at the beginning, speculating – sometimes successfully – on the hosts losing the ball in order to switch dangerously.
In addition, the Stuttgart defense was largely stable for a long time. “VfB shows a different face under Bruno Labbadia and defends extremely well,” praised Günter: “They made sure the game was open in Leipzig, you have to do that there first.” Freiburg itself has rarely managed to do that in the Saxon metropolis.
A tad too little
It was therefore difficult to create chances against the Swabians. That was only possible once in the first quarter of an hour at Roland Sallais’ opportunity. After that it was a “tick too little” in terms of aggressiveness and starting up, according to Günter, who, however, saw an increased intensity of his team after the half-time break and a victory forced by two penalties.
In terms of the number of points – seven out of five league games in the new year – one can be satisfied, says the captain, but, like assistant coach Lars Voßler, emphasized the need for hard training work: “We have to see where we can still get one or two meters better, where does the ball have to come more precisely, where do we lure.”
Despite all the need for improvement, Günter emphasized: “Basically, we didn’t lose our game.” The fact that it is now apparently more difficult to bring your own strengths onto the pitch is also related to a difference to the part of the season before the World Cup: “In the first half of the season we often took the lead, which opens up the spaces and of course makes the games easier. ”
In fact, SC made it 1-0 in 15 of the first 23 competitive games and then only lost once unluckily 3-1 against Dortmund, but won twelve of these games under their own management. In the new year, the Streich team didn’t take the lead four out of six times, only turned the most recent duel with Stuttgart and drew 1-1 against Frankfurt.
Respect for Bochum
In Bochum on Saturday, Günter and Co. of course want to avoid falling behind, but against a very strong opponent at home, who arouses great respect from the captain: “Anyone who has seen Bochum against Dortmund knows what a fight we are going to face. But that’s exactly what we’re going to do we want to, these games take you further. We have to put up a fight.” And pack a shovel on it as playfully as possible.
