SC Freiburg’s success has been one of the stories of the season in the Bundesliga. They are in the second position with 30 points from 15 matches. Freiburg has scored 17 goals this season. Their new signing from Augsburg, Michael Gregoritsch, has repaid the faith by scoring a third of their goals. He is their top scorer this season with ten goals in all competitions. The Austrian forward has six goals and three assists this season. His contributions have helped them climb up to the second position in the Bundesliga. Therefore, we look at his stats to further understand Gregoristch’s dream debut season for Freiburg.
Michael Gregoritsch has been a regular starter for Freiburg and has started all the matches. He has scored six goals and assisted three more in the Bundesliga. Gregoritsch has also scored three times in the Europa League and once in the DFB Pokal.
The above visual shows the percentile rank of Michael Gregoritsch compared to other centre-forwards in the Bundesliga. He has a good attacking stat and is ranked in the top 87.7 percentile for shots per game. He is also ranked in the top 77.5 percentile for goal contributions per game. His passing stats are rather average. Another area where Gregoritsch has done well is in aerial duels. Standing tall at 1.93 meters, Gregoritsch wins a lot of aerial duels and is ranked in the top 93.8 percentile for aerial duels per 90 minutes.
The above visual shows the touch map of Michael Gregoritsch in the Bundesliga this season. He has played both as a winger and as a centre forward and therefore has occupied both central and wide positions. Being a natural striker, he likes to stay centrally and wait for the ball to be played to him. Gregoritsch enjoys an average of 3.74 touches in the penalty area and has proven dangerous in front of the goal.
Another way in which Gregoritsch contributes to Freiburg’s attack and defence is through his high regains. His regains, although not as high a number as some other players in the league have helped them regain possession in attacking areas. The Austrian forward has made 11 counter-pressing recoveries and three dangerous recoveries, some just outside the penalty box. He makes an average of 2.03 recoveries per game, with almost 81% of them in the attacking half.
The two visuals above show the xG map of Michael Gregoritsch from this season and last season. Gregoritsch had nine goals to his name last season from 36 attempts. Out of the 36 shots, 17 were on target. He has already attempted one shot more this season and scored almost as many goals. His shots per game have improved from 2.24 shots per game to 2.89 shots per game. However, his goals per game have fallen a bit from 0.54 goals per game last season to 0.47 goals per game this season.
The above visual compares the radars of Michael Gregoritsch and Borussia Monchengladbach forward Marcus Thuram. Thuram, who is second on the list of goals this season, has better stats in almost all the attacking stats. The Frenchman has done better in shots, dribbles, goal contributions, and entry into the opposition penalty area. In addition, Thuram has better stats in passing too, except in the number of passes per game, where Gregoritsch takes the lead. Michael Gregoritsch, on the other hand, has better stats in duels and positioning and wins more aerial duels than Thuram.
Michael Gregoritsch has been an incredible signing for Freiburg and has often been the difference. He has made an impression in every competition in which he has appeared for Freiburg and has consistently found the back of the net. Freiburg manager Christian Streich will be hoping Gregoritsch continues his rich vein of form in the second half of the season too.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
