Hartenbach praises veteran Freiburg defensive line: "Experience, quality, and identification with the club."
Though the final call on this week's starters against FC St. Pauli rests with trainer Julian Schuster, Hartenbach's words appeared to suggest that Matthias Ginter might retain his starting slot above young Germany U21 international Max Rosenfelder.
An injury to young German central defender Max Rosenfelder forced the 21-year-old to withdraw from SC Freiburg trainer Julian Schuster's lineup on short-notice last week. Rosenfelder's unavailability opened the door back up for former German international Matthias Ginter, who made his first start of the season. Ginter worked alongside fellow veterans club Lukas Kübler, Matthias Ginter, and Philipp Lienhart.
As it turned out, the new-look SC Freiburg back-four performed admirably by keeping a clean sheet against Frank Schmidt's Albogen club. In an interview with German footballing journalist Carsten Schröter-Lorenz of Germany's Kicker Magazine, SCF personnel boss Klemens Hartenbach seemed to suggest that the veterans might stick together this week. Rosenfelder could be left out.
“You could write a book about each of the guys' stories and it would be interesting,” Hartenbach noted in an interview published in Kicker's Thursday print edition, “Now the four of them are playing together again and keeping a clean sheet in Heidenheim, partly because they know each other well from an incredible number of games, which is great.”
“Experience, quality and identification with the club – what more could you want?" Hartenbach continued, "I'd feel comfortable traveling anywhere with this back-four. They put in a good defensive performance from the start."
The quartet Hartenbach was referring to - along with 33-year-old veteran Manuel Guide - have amassed well over 1,000 combined appearances for the Breisguaer. The next generation (Rosenfelder, Kenneth Schmidt, Jordy Makengo, Kiliann Sildillia and Bruno Ogbus) may all find themselves firmly in the back seat for the time being.
"We produce a lot of defenders," Hartenbach noted, "We're a solid support and training club for them. Many lads in [defensive] positions feel well guided and in good developmental hands with us."
"Despite the big appetite for change," Hartenbach concluded, "It is often just as big a success for us, or even bigger, to keep the team together for another year rather than to acquire six exciting new players."