Julian Schuster does not mind being spoilt for choice. SCF’s head coach described the current squad situation as a “luxury problem” in Friday’s press conference before his side’s encounter with FC Bayern. Manuel Gulde and Maximilian Philipp missed training with back complaints, while Michael Gregoritsch is still out due to a muscle strain. 

Aside from that, Freiburg’s coaching staff have the rest of the squad at their disposal. “We’ve got a lot of options, including in terms of formations,” explained Schuster. He noted, however, that he wants to wait until Saturday to decide on his starting XI along with the other coaches. Florian Müller will start between the sticks. “If everything goes to plan, Noah will start against Bochum,” revealed Schuster.

Several members of the senior squad were in action for the U23s as they played in the Regionalliga clash last Sunday. “It doesn’t mean that any of them are further away from a place in the starting XI than anyone else,” emphasised Schuster. “It’s all about getting them back in the swing of things.”

An incredible record in Munich for Bayern

SC will need to be at the top of their game if they are to succeed in perhaps the toughest away test of the campaign on Sunday. FC Bayern were victorious in 14 of their 17 home matches last season and only lost on two occasions.

“It’s incredibly important psychologically that we stay stable. There are always going to be moments where you’re pushed back and the mental pressure increases,” stated Schuster. 4,000 SCF fans will make the trip to the Allianz Arena on Sunday to cheer their side on.

SCF’s head coach was reluctant to say whether facing off against such strong opposition at this early stage of the campaign is a positive or a negative: “When you have a new coach, things have got to fall into place. Regardless of that, however, the team has a lot of quality. It’s going to be a huge challenge, but we’re looking forward to it and we’ll take it in our stride.” 

A perfect start

The atmosphere at Achim-Stocker-Straße has been buoyant after last weekend’s successful curtain-raiser against VfB Stuttgart, which has been reflected in the quality of this week’s training sessions. “It’s been intense this week. The boys have put in a shift and were pushing themselves to the limit yesterday. It’s what we want to see,” noted Schuster.

Among other things, SCF’s head coach was pleased with his side’s work off the ball in the win against last season’s runners up. “We didn’t give them much of a sniff after we went 3-1 up. Our aim is to try and control the game, even when we don’t have the ball.”

This will have to be the case on Sunday, as SC are sure to be out of possession for long stretches of the game. Nevertheless, Schuster has the chance to break a club record, as well as come away with an unlikely victory on Sunday - no SC Freiburg head coach has ever had an unbeaten record after their first two Bundesliga matches.
 

Photo: Achim Keller