Bundesliga: RB Leipzig, Freiburg Look to Get Back on Track

SC Freiburg vs RB Leipzig

The Bundesliga is about to resume action with its ninth match day as SC Freiburg will get to face RB Leipzig on Saturday at the Dreisamstadion.

Things have changed a lot since this SBOBET writer wrote about the league. For a while, it was RB Leipzig who were looking to break away from the pack after holding a sizeable advantage in terms of points.

One month later, RB Leipzig sank to the fifth at the standings with 15 points and other teams such as Dortmund, Bayern, Wolfsburg, and Monchengladbach have zoomed ahead to get the top four spots.

Behind them at the sixth spot is SC Freiburg, who is also experiencing a similar fate with the Red Bulls. The Christian Streich-mentored squad has had a surprising start in this campaign but a few fixtures here and there have brought them back to Earth.

It’s a battle between middling teams in the Bundesliga and these two clubs have the capability to be one of the top contenders even if the Bundesliga 2019 odds heavily favour the likes of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

Talking Points

RB Leipzig’s inconsistency is showing

It’s fair to say that the law of averages has caught up with the Red Bulls as their recent form was a far cry to their otherworldly form at the start of the 2019/20 campaign.

Timo Werner helped RB Leipzig end their Bundesliga match against Wolfsburg in a draw — Timo Werner in action playing for RB Leipzig against Olympique Lyonnais

After big wins against Union Berlin, Eintracht, and Monchengladbach, Julian Nagelsmann’s side drew level against Bayern in what was a thrilling come-from-behind effort.

Towards the end of September, inconsistency started to haunt RB Leipzig. Schalke 04 dealt them one of their humiliating losses of the season with a 3-1 tally and they failed to put away the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg.

You could probably point out to their relative inexperience as to why they’re having some trouble, as the team’s average age is at 22.7 years old. And as much as Nagelsmann would like to shrug off that idea, it’s showing particularly on their defence.

Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konte have had their share of mistakes particularly in their game against Olympique Lyonnais as they were caught out of position a few times. From that point on, Nagelsmann veered away from their usual 3-4-1-2 formation and they put more men at the back for a 4-4-2.

It is perhaps a necessary adjustment for the young manager of the Red Bulls. But other than that, it is also worth noting that they still have the attacking trio of Marcel Sabitzer, Timo Werner, and Yussuf Poulsen who will continue to produce some of the best Bundesliga 2019 highlights.

If there’s a game that could cure RB Leipzig’s ills, this is it. They have all the firepower that they need to overwhelm their counterparts in SC Freiburg.

SC Freiburg look to improve

The youth-oriented SC Freiburg has made an unlikely rise to the table’s top-six, and that’s a good story to tell as they’ve been maddeningly inconsistent over the past few seasons since their re-entry to top-flight status.

Luca Waldschmidt is currently having a superb performance at SC Freiburg — Luca Waldschmidt celebrates scoring first goal of SC Freiburg against Borussia Dortmund

While most fans and pundits would take notice of RB Leipzig’s resurgence and Bayern Munich’s ho-hum campaign, little did they know that Freiburg is slowly becoming a force to be reckoned with.

The quartet of Jonathan Schmid, Luca Waldschmidt, Lucas Holer, and Nils Petersen has been superb for this term as they’ve accounted for 10 of their 15 goals so far. They are expected to do well and to provide the versatility for Christian Streich.

Like RB Leipzig, however, they need to improve their efficiency on their backline to consider themselves as one of Bundesliga’s elite. After conceding only five goals in six matches, they’ve already given up four in the last two against Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund.

I’ve already said it before that Christian Streich’s side may have had it easy back then, and for sure things will get even harder for these young boys moving forward.

RB Leipzig is expected to give SC Freiburg all they could handle in this upcoming match. And whatever happens in the game, I’m pretty sure that the home team will take in some valuable lessons along the way.

History

Matches between these two teams only came few and far between. RB Leipzig so far have won in four matches and SC Freiburg won in three along with one draw.

Their last match against each other was a thriller back in April where the Red Bulls escaped with a 2-1 victory in their home pitch. Emil Forsberg was able to shatter the deadlock with a crucial penalty kick at the 78^th minute.

Betting Tip

	SC Freiburg vs RB Leipzig	RB Leipzig Asian Handicap -0.50 @ 1.77
	October 26, 21:30

RB Leipzig are the hot favourites in this one as they were pegged at 1.77 odds for a win while SC Freiburg are at 4.30 and a draw is at 3.70 in the 1×2 market.

While it’s obvious that I’m picking the road team for a win here, I’m expecting SC Freiburg to give the Red Bulls a run for their money on this one.

A safe bet here is a 2-1 victory for the Red Bulls.