“Something we can build on” - #BMGSCF reaction

We gathered the thoughts of the players, coaches and Borussia’s sporting director after the 0-0 draw with SC Freiburg on Saturday.

Tobias Sippel: After having shipped quite a few goals in recent weeks, it’s good for the defence to have kept a clean sheet. That’s something that we can build on. On the other hand, we know that we failed to take advantage of our chances today. On a personal level, it was important to get the clean sheet because it’s been such an up and down season. I’m really happy to have the support of everyone here at the club, and I’m glad that I could repay that today. Our work rate has been criticised a lot lately – I haven’t seen the stats, but we did a lot of running today. That’s exactly what we were after and I’m really proud of the team.

Nico Elvedi: It’s frustrating not to have gotten the win. We had the better chances and ought to have scored at least once. Still, we defended well as a team and kept a clean sheet. Everyone tracked back and held their position well, which is something we need to reproduce in the next game. The fans really pushed us on towards the end of the game and that upped the intensity; we had more energy and were able to create a number of chances. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to get the three points.

Jonas Hofmann: We didn’t allow them many chances at all, we were dominant in terms of possession and we managed to curb Freiburg’s strengths. However, we weren’t able to get the win despite having good chances. I think it was a decent home perforce over the 90 minutes, and that we would have deserved to win 1-0. There are positives we can take, as that’s the kind of stability we want to have every week.

Roland Virkus: We defended well and with passion, and I believe we ought to have won the game having had the better chances overall. Things got a little hectic in the closing stages because it felt like there were some niggly decisions that went against us. Ramy Bensebaini’s red card was justified, but it was still unnecessary, as a very fair game up to that point didn’t need to be riled up the way it was.

Daniel Farke: I paid compliment to the boys in the changing room. It was a good performance against a strong Bundesliga side. We’re very happy with the reaction following the defeat in Mainz. Nevertheless, we’re still a little disappointed only to have picked up a point, because we didn’t allow our opponents a single chance in the first half. Freiburg played with a lot of patience. We were very compact, defended well and pressed effectively. The chances we had in the first half should have been enough for a goal. Mark Flekken made two great saves. We only had to deal with one dangerous shot in the second half until the red card. We didn’t create as much as we did in the first 45, but we had the far better chances on the whole. If you don’t take those chances, you have to at least defend well and keep them out at the other end, and we managed that today.

SC Freiburg head coach Christian Streich: We were too slow on the ball in the first half, so we struggled to get into dangerous positions. We improved in the first 20 minutes after the break and perhaps could have grabbed a goal. After the penalty incident, things got a little hectic and we lost control a little. We have to thank Mark Flekken for keeping us in the game at times. All in all, we can be happy with a 0-0.