Formation with a back four or three? In the Freiburg system question, the regular keeper formulated a clear wish. Coach Christian Streich sets clear conditions for the fulfillment.
“That’s what made us so strong before the World Cup, in the league and in the Europa League”: Mark Flekken.
IMAGO/Passion2Press
After the two close duels with Bayern Munich, Mark Flekken formulated a clear wish in a refreshingly open way: “Hopefully we’ll stick to one system again and build on the performances against Bayern Munich so that we can get into the flow that we had before the World Cup had.”
The regular keeper means the 4-4-2, which is sometimes interpreted with a slightly different accent than 4-2-3-1 at SC, and names the advantages of the formation with a four-man defense chain: “You saw twice against Bayern that the Maybe the boys feel a little more comfortable in this system. On offense too, you’re more up front. That’s what made us so strong before the World Cup, in the league and in the Europa League.”
In the first 23 competitive games of this round, after which SC was historically successful in second place and among the top 16 in the DFB Cup and in the Europa League, the back four was set – except for four games with a row of three.
Since the SC always aligns itself to some extent with the opponent in order to create the best possible access and assignments, it is remarkable that in this phase he stayed in a row of four against the three-man chain systems of Augsburg, Stuttgart, Hoffenheim, Mainz and St. Pauli . With success, in these games he got four wins and one draw.
Since the restart, however, there has been a different picture: in the 16 compulsory games in 2023, Streich relied eight times on a chain of four or three. With four defenders in the back line, there were five wins, one draw and two losses – with three only one win, four draws and three losses. However, the SC experienced these three zero rounds against clearly favored opponents, in Dortmund and twice against Juventus Turin.
“It’s always about balance and consideration”
The three-man chain has been a constant alternative at SC, especially since the inspiring performances of the Italians at the EM 2016. In the 2017/18, 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, Streich even relied on this variant for the majority of the 34 league games, and also formed the back three 13 times in the successful previous season (6th place) in the Bundesliga. The standard system is a 3-4-3, but the SC has also acted in different variants of a 3-5-2.
How does Streich, who often emphasizes that the chain question is discussed in the coach’s office before every game, think of his number 1’s clear wish? “Then we’ll see if we can implement Mark’s wish,” said the 57-year-old with a laugh and, smiling a little more seriously, formulated clear conditions before the game on Sunday in Bremen.
“If we can do it so well in 4-4-2 against an opponent’s 3-5-2 that we defend well against the wing players, that we’re still well-manned when we push in, if we have all that, I’ll leave it definitely play in 4-4-2”, said Streich. The basic maxim in this question: “It’s always about balance and weighing things up: what helps us the most.”
Your own orientation, which will become much more active after the defensive-waiting game against Bayern, and that of the opponent always play a role. Werder stands for a clear 3-5-2. Still, it wouldn’t have been a surprise before the first leg if Streich had stuck to the 4-2-3-1. Instead, he formed a 3-4-3 for only the second time in his 17th competitive game. However, Marco Friedl’s early dismissal was primarily responsible for the 2-0 win, not the formation at kick-off.
Because of his good connection to the professionals, he discusses the system issue with them. On the evening before the cup triumph in Munich, everyone was assuming a back three, said Streich, before committing to a 4-4-2 the next morning. So it will be interesting to see whether Flekken’s wish will be implemented on Sunday afternoon at the Weser Stadium.
