Centre back Marvin Friedrich speaks about the 0-0 draw away to SC Freiburg, his partnership with Christoph Kramer and Yvandro Borges Sanches’ debut.
Marvin, what do you make of yesterday’s draw?
Friedrich: It’s always difficult to play away against Freiburg, so we can live with a point. We played very well in the first half and had a lot of possession and some good chances to score. With a bit more luck we’d have gone ahead, which would have helped us. We also started the second half well but from around the 65th minute we started to make too many simple mistakes and allowed Freiburg to get into the game. Despite that, we defended well until the end and kept a clean sheet. Our goal has to be to perform well over the 90 minutes.
You were shouting a lot in the final minutes. What had got on your nerves?
Friedrich: When you invest so much into a game, you need to avoid making mistakes towards the end, as to avoid conceding a late goal and going home empty handed. Therefore, we shouldn’t be taking many more risks and should be trying to come away with the draw. Every point is important and can make the difference come the end of the season.
You partnered Christoph Kramer, who usually plays in central midfield, in defence. How did that partnership work?
Friedrich: Chris is a very experienced player who has done a lot in his career. We discussed some things ahead of the game, but we also communicated a lot on the pitch and I think everything worked well on the whole.
The defenders had the most touches of the ball yesterday. Is that due to your playing style?
Freidrich: I think so. We want to control the game and to do that we need the ball as much as possible. If that means we have to play it around at the back, that’s what we’ll do. We have to be patient at the back and not force the ball forward.
Yvandor Borges Sanches made his Bundesliga debut yesterday. As an experienced player, how would you rate him?
Friedrich: As a young player, you spend a lot of time working towards getting an appearance at some point and now he’s been rewarded for that. Yvandro has to carry on working hard on himself and when he gets another chance, he has to take it. Just because he’s played once now doesn’t mean that he should ease off now, but rather carry on giving his all. However, I’m sure that he will do exactly that.
The support in the stands from the Borussia fans was immense again yesterday. How do you pick up on that from the pitch?
Friedrich: You can see that the stands are full when you’re warming up before the game. That definitely gives you a push. During the game I’m very focused and don’t really pick up the songs and the shouting closely but you definitely take the noise on board, especially at the home games, and that brings even more energy.
You’ll come up against RB Leipzig on Saturday at 18:30 CEST. What kind of game are you expecting?
Friedrich: Leipzig are a good team and of course their new head coach is well known at Borussia. We have to do everything we can to make sure the three points stay in Mönchengladbach. Leipzig have a lot of quality players, are very aggressive and play with a lot of tempo. We have to be alert from the first minute, go into our duels willingly and try to keep a clean sheet for as long as possible. At the other end, we know we have goals in our team.
