SC Freiburg: Christian Streich praises Nils Petersen’s attitude to the joker role

Without a league start this season

Nils Petersen is mostly behind at SC Freiburg this season. The 34-year-old made 15 appearances in the Bundesliga, but he didn’t start any of them. Instead of complaining about his situation, he could “assess it very well”, as he said during the week after the cup game at SV Sandhausen (2-0), in which he marked the final score as a joker in injury time. For this attitude there was now praise from coach Christian Streich.

“This attitude honors him. If Nils didn’t have this character trait, I don’t know if we could work together for so long. He can assess himself well and is an absolute team player,” said the coach in an interview with the “Picture“. Petersen was also “sour, that’s clear. But basically we always talk openly. And we’re happy to be able to bring him back again and again.” Before the duel with VfB Stuttgart on Saturday (3.30 p.m.), Petersen has made 24 appearances (two goals/one assist) in all competitions, who has been substituted on a total of 20 times and 608 minutes collected. This situation is not new for the former national player, after all he was also mainly a backup in the two previous seasons.

Petersen knows that if he doesn’t score for a long period of time, he doesn’t have any arguments “to demand more playing time,” he said after the appearance in Sandhausen. He also said: “Especially because Michael Gregoritsch is playing a great season, he can allow himself a worse game and still play right the next time. Lucas Höler is also on the rise again.”

While Gregoritsch is the second-best scorer in the squad thanks to his 14 goals in all competitions, Höler, who can also play on the flanks, has had more playing time after breaking his metatarsal at the beginning of the season and was part of the starting lineup in the last three league games. So there is little room on the offensive for Petersen, who has been with the SCF since the beginning of 2015 and with 104 goals in 263 games is the club’s record goalscorer.

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