In an interview, Marvin Friedrich spoke about Borussia’s start to the second half of the season, the record he set in Leverkusen and his personal situation at the Foals.
Marvin, you’ve picked up four points in the first three Bundesliga games of the year. What do you make of your start to the second part of the season?
Friedrich: I think that we’ve started 2024 well. We put in a good performance at home in the win against Stuttgart. Then, it wasn’t good enough against Augsburg. We should be winning home games against teams who are at the same level as us – unfortunately, we didn’t manage that. However, hardly anyone would have expected us to get a point in Leverkusen.
You did well against the top teams, but lost against rivals in the table Augsburg. How do you explain these fluctuations in performance, which were also sometimes a theme of the first half of the season?
Friedrich: That’s difficult to explain. We’ve been lacking consistency all season, and we certainly need to work on bringing more stability to our performances.
You’re currently seven points off seventh place and nine points ahead of 16th place. Are you currently looking up or down in the table?
Friedrich: I can honestly say that I don’t really look at the table much. I’ve learnt from the past to take each game as it comes. That’s always been a good strategy for me personally and I think that it’s something we should be doing as a team. We should just make sure that we perform on the pitch every weekend and try to pick up as many points as possible. We should only look at the table more regularly when it’s coming towards the end of the season in order to see what we can still achieve.
You’ve played 90 minutes in each of the last three Bundesliga games. How much does the rhythm that you’ve gained from the past few appearances help you?
Friedrich: Of course it helps a lot and benefits every player. Gaining the coach’s trust and playing regularly just helps to get into a flow. I always try to give my best and hope every week that I’ll get selected again.
You made 16 clearances in the 0-0 draw away at Leverkusen – that’s the most in one game this season. How did you feel about the whole thing on the pitch?
Friedrich: They’re just numbers to me. We knew what was awaiting us – we knew that we would have to do a lot of defending and that all eleven of us, starting from the striker, would have to run a lot. We did really well over the course of 90 minutes and we definitely deserved the point.
Leverkusen had previously scored in all of their Bundesliga games. How good does it feel as a defender to keep a clean sheet against a team like that?
Friedrich: As a defender, you’re always pleased to keep a clean sheet. However, it feels especially good to keep a clean sheet against such a strong attacking side such as Leverkusen. There’s no need to deny that we also had some luck, but that’s part of such a clash.
