How LASK prepared for the friendly against Entrup

40 minutes after LASK confirmed the transfer of Maximilan Entrup, the athletes were already testing how they could play with the ÖFB team striker: While in a 4-2-3-1 formation like at the end of last season only one centre forward would have had a shirt, coach Thomas Darazs made room for a second striker – although there was a lot of movement in the LASK offense: Adil Taoui played around centre forward Marin Ljubicic before the break, and the Linz team attacked with a three-man attack, which Robert Zulj completed. The captain also scored the 1-0 (9th minute). Assist provider Florian Flecker scored himself to make it 2-1 (30th minute).

In defence, however, everything was clear with a three-man/five-man chain. On the right side, Kevin Lebersorger, originally intended as a signing for the amateurs, impressed again. Branko Jovicic and Valon Berisha shared the running lanes in defensive midfield.

Sascha Horvath and George Bello were absent due to injuries. After the break, amateur players gradually came into the game, but left defender Batuham Peker’s chance to prove himself was over after just a quarter of an hour due to an injury. Jakob Wanker came into the game in his place – it was the 16-year-old’s second appearance in the pre-season.

“I was particularly pleased with the first half, that’s how I imagine our game this season. We spent a lot of time in the opponent’s half and quickly won the ball back after losing it,” said Darazs. “In the second half, we briefly lost the thread after the substitutions. The many young players then turned the game back in our direction and brought stability.”

The preparation of LASK

Wednesday, 19 June, 11 a.m. | Training field Raiffeisen-Arena: start of training
Thursday, June 20: Performance tests
Friday, June 28, 7 p.m.: Oedt – SHOT 1:7 (1:1)
Goals: Karatas (31’/penalty); Copado (26′), Flecker (52′), Ljubicic (54′), Smolcic (68′), Taoui (83′, 87′), Pintor (90′)
1st half: Siebenhandl; Stojkovic, Ziereis, Peric, Mohammad; Horvath, Jovicic; Usor, Zulj, Copado; Kone
2nd half: Polster; Lebersorger, Wimhofer, Smolcic, Bello; Bogarde, Berisha; Pintor, Taoui, Flecker; Ljubicic (80. Wanker)
Tuesday, July 2nd, 5pm | Pasching: LASK – CFR Cluj (Rom) 1:1 (0:1)
Tore: Safin (84.), Ilie (41.)
1. Halbzeit: Lawal; Bogarde, Stojkovic, Smolcic, Lebersorger; Horvath, Jovicic; Usor, Zulj, Flecker, Ljubicic
2nd half: Polster, Bogarde (63. Wimhofer), Stojkovic (63. Ziereis), Smolcic (63. Pursall), Lebersorger (63. Peker); Horvath (63. Safin), Berisha; Usor (63. Pintor), Taoui, Flecker (63. Copado); Kone
Friday, July 5, 4 p.m. | Pasching: LASK – Dynamo Budweis (Jun) 2:2 (2:1)
Tore: Zulj (9.), Flecker (30.); Cermak (12.), Sigut (57.)
LASK: Lawal (59. Polster); Lebersorger (46. Bogarde), Wimhofer (59. Stojkovic), Ziereis (59. Pursall), Smolcic (46. Peric), Flecker (46. Peker/63. Wanker); Jovicic (59. Usor), Zulj (59. Copado), Berisha (59. Safin); Ljubicic (59. Kone), Taoui (46. Pintor)
Thursday, July 11, 7.30 p.m.: | Raiffeisen-Arena: LASK – Galatasaray Istanbul (Should)
Saturday, July 20, 3 p.m. | Raiffeisen Arena: LASK – St. Pölten

First competitive matches:

Friday, July 26, 6 p.m. | ÖFB Cup, 1st round, Ried, Klaus-Roitinger-Stadion: Belts – LASK
Saturday, August 3, 5 p.m.: Bundesliga, 1st round, Profertil Arena: Hartberg – LASK

Previous transfers

Access: Maximilian Entrup (Hartberg), Jerome Boateng (D, Salernitana), Hrvoje Smolcic (Cro, Frankfurt, loan), Melayro Bogarde (Ned, Hoffenheim II), Nikolas Polster (Horn, after loan), Luca Wimhofer (Horn, after loan), Moussa Kone (Sen, Streda, after loan)
Departures: Elias Havel (Hartberg, loan), Sanoussy Ba (D, Leipzig, after loan, to Braunschweig), Lukas Jungwirth (Admira, loan), Filip Twardzik (Cze, Trnava), Felix Luckeneder, Michorl, Wiesinger, Letard (Fra)