Augsburg's Leaky Defence Faces a Freiburg Side With Goals in Them
SportSignals Match Desk · Football analysis desk ·
Saturday's early kick-off brings us FC Augsburg versus SC Freiburg, and the thing is, this is exactly the kind of fixture that tells you everything about a side's character. Can you compete when the pressure is on? Can you hold a shape when things go against you? Augsburg, right now, cannot answer either of those questions convincingly.
Augsburg's Form: One Win and Zero Clean Sheets
Listen, one win from five in the Bundesliga is not a form crisis yet, but it is the beginning of one. Augsburg have drawn twice and lost twice in that run, conceding twelve goals in five matches. Twelve. And not a single clean sheet to show for any of it. That is a defensive record built on bad habits and a lack of accountability at the back.
Their solitary win in that sample came against Eintracht Frankfurt, a 4-1 result that flattered no one because Augsburg immediately followed it up with a 2-3 defeat to Werder Bremen and then a 3-4 loss at home to Elversberg. Elversberg. That result tells you everything you need to know about the standards right now. End of.
Freiburg's Form: Solid Enough, But Not Without Cracks
Freiburg come into this in considerably better shape. Three wins, one draw, one defeat from their last five Bundesliga matches. They beat Schalke 04 2-1 in their most recent outing and put five past Borussia Mönchengladbach without reply before that. That is a side that knows how to compete.
The one blemish is a 1-2 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, which is no disgrace. They also drew 2-2 with Eintracht Frankfurt. The point is Freiburg have kept two clean sheets in this five-match sample. Augsburg have kept none. That contrast matters.
Freiburg do arrive with injury concerns. The data shows five players out with moderate or major injuries, plus a suspended player. That is a significant number. It does create uncertainty around their depth, and any manager with half a brain will be monitoring that squad list closely.
Head-to-Head: Both Teams Have Scored Every Time
The head-to-head record between these two sides in the supplied data covers two meetings. Augsburg have one win and one draw. Both games produced goals at both ends, and the average sits at four goals per game. This is not a fixture that tends to shut down. It tends to open up.
What to Expect on Saturday
Augsburg are a side that has been scoring goals. Thirteen in five matches is not nothing. But they are conceding at almost the same rate, and that is not a sustainable way to play football. The thing is, desire and organisation are not the same thing. You can want to win and still leave gaps that any decent side will punish.
Freiburg, even with their injury list, are the more composed outfit right now. They have shown they can win ugly when they need to. The 1-0 against Paderborn earlier in this sample is evidence of that. They know how to grind. Augsburg, at the moment, do not seem to know what they are.