During a virtual press conference ahead of Saturday’s game in Freiburg (15:30 CET), head coach Marco Rose and sporting director Max Eberl spoke about the personnel situation, the upcoming opponent and the Foals' recent lack of success in Freiburg.
Head coach Marco Rose on…
…the personnel situation: Nico Elvedi (muscle injury) will not play on the weekend. Tony Jantschke (knee problems) is a doubt. Ramy Bensebaini is making good progress after his quarantine period, but hasn’t returned to training yet, which is why he’s not available this weekend. Jonas Hofmann (muscle tear) is still sidelined with injury.
...Jordan Beyer: We see him every day and are happy that he’s finally back in training. He’s also made two cameos for the U23s. However, we cannot hide the fact that he’s had a tough go of it this season. Right now, we’re happy that he’s healthy. I can’t say for certain what that means in terms of tomorrow’s game. The fact is that he is not yet 100 per cent fit.
...the upcoming opponent: Freiburg cover a lot of ground and are a strong team, which makes them a tough opponent. We know that first-hand. Our philosophy is possession-based, which we won’t be changing in Freiburg. Our style of play also includes being dominant on the ball. We want to remain true to our style of play, as it’s what makes us strong and we can depend on it, despite the challenge we’re now faced with. We’re in good form at the moment and are heading to Freiburg with confidence. We want to win this game.
...Freiburg head coach Christian Streich: I hold all my fellow coaches in high regard, and Christian Streich in particular, because he’s a great guy. He’s been coaching Freiburg at a high level for a very long time, and I respect him greatly. He’s faced some tough situations, but has always been able to turn things around. He’s made Freiburg into a Bundesliga regular. He also makes strong statements on societal issues.
Max Eberl on…
...the recent lack of success in Freiburg: We can’t pretend that we haven’t struggled in Freiburg of late. Freiburg are simply a very good team. SCF might be a small club, something that head coach Christian Streich always mentions, but they’ve done well in the Bundesliga in recent years. They always managed an immediate return after being relegated. To sum it up, it’s not easy to play in Freiburg. In the last 13 years, we haven’t managed to win there once. We want to change that.
...Alassane Plea: Lasso is an excellent player, and we’re very happy to have him in our squad. He’s one of several talented players at the club. We’re a big club that are playing in the Champions League and have enough to offer so that players like him stay here.
...potential winter transfers: We worked hard over the summer to keep our squad together. We decided to bring in Hannes Wolf and Valentino Lazaro on loan, which we’re very happy with. We’re currently missing Elvedi, Jantschke and Bensebaini in defence which is putting us under some stress, but we also have players like Oscar Wendt who can fill in. Marco would of course like to be able to rotate more, but we’re not complaining about not being able to do that right now. We currently have several contracts that are set to run out in 2021 or 2022, which we can talk about. I will speak with the boys and do everything I can to make sure we’re well-equipped for next season.
...postponing the DFB-Pokal game: I was surprised that Bayern München and Bayer 04 Leverkusen were able to have their DFB-Pokal games postponed because of the heavy schedule. I have sympathy for Bayern München because the team played several games in August, and didn’t have time for a pre-season. We also discussed whether we should ask to have our game in Elversberg postponed, but decided against it.
