SC Freiburg – Guaranteed goals

After a poor start to the season with just a point from three games, SC Freiburg showed what they are all about on Saturday. Christian Streich’s side beat Wolfsburg 3-1 and in doing so, they got their first victory of the campaign. “Everything went well today – the gameplan worked and that’s why we’ve come away with the win,” Streich summed up after the win in Lower Saxony. He was delighted with his team’s “gritty performance”.

After four games, the team from Breisgau are in 14th position. But they are a team to be wary of – no team in the bottom half of the table has scored more goals than Freiburg this season (seven goals). They have, however, conceded more goals than anyone else in the Bundesliga this season too (nine goals). On average, games which Freiburg have been involved in have had four goals – the highest average in the league.

Squad depth improved

One of the best players on the pitch in the win at Wolfsburg was new signing Roland Sallai, who scored after seven minutes and then won a penalty after 21 minutes, which striker Nils Petersen converted. However, Sallai picked up an injury just before half time and had to be brought off. Up front, things have been going well for Freiburg, however the same cannot be said for their defence. In Caglar Söyüncü, Freiburg sold their most promising defensive talent to Leicester City in the summer for a club record fee of more than 20 million euros. That money was invested back into the squad, with Luca Waldschmidt, Dominique Heintz and Jerome Gondorf as well as Sallai all being brought in cheaply.

Little by little, Streich’s team have been improving and the win in Wolfsburg was a result of the work that they put in in previous weeks. After a laborious win on penalties against third-division side Energie Cottbus in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, they lost twice to Frankfurt and Hoffenheim before drawing against Stuttgart. However, with a bit of luck, Freiburg could’ve come away with three points from any of their first three Bundesliga games. Those results meant captain Mike Franz was even more relieved after the win against Wolfsburg. “That is the reward that you reap, when you work hard,” the 31-year-old said. “I am just delighted that we have finally got what our efforts deserve.”