Augsburg vs Freiburg preview - Streich upbeat despite dismal run

Posted Friday, October 24, 2014 by PA

Freiburg coach Christian Streich believes his side remain upbeat despite their failure to win a game in the Bundesliga this season.

Streich leads his side to Augsburg on Saturday in the hope they will return with their first three-point haul of the campaign.

But even though they have struggled in the early part of the season, Streich insists the dressing room remains optimistic.

"Considering we haven't won for such a long time, it's astonishing how good the team spirit is, and I'm not making it up," Streich said at a press conference.

"My only hope is that the lads reach an even better physical condition.

"The pressure is not going to reduce so we've got to find footballing ways to resolve things."

Should they find those solutions at the Augsburg Arena, they can move to within a point of their hosts and drag them into the danger zone.

That will take some doing, though, with Streich insisting his side's opponents are better than their league position suggests.

"They're just a bit more stable than we are," he said. "They've won three games so far and they could even have beaten Wolfsburg and Mainz given the way they played in those games."

Streich has a full squad to choose from, apart from Marc-Oliver Kempf, who has muscular problems.

Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl has a few problems, on the other hand. Captain Paul Verhaegh and Ronny Phelp have both missed training sessions this week and are rated doubtful this Saturday.

With Verhaegh looking likely to miss out, Weinzierl tried experienced midfielder Markus Feulner out of position as right full-back in training.