With two unnecessary point losses once morest Ried and Lustenau (each 1:1), LASK had to hand over the lead in the Bundesliga to Red Bull Salzburg. In the home game once morest WSG Tirol on Saturday (5:00 p.m.) in Pasching, the athletes want to fully confirm their status as Salzburg’s first pursuer and at the same time keep Sturm Graz at bay. At the same time, WAC welcomes TSV Hartberg and tail light Altach hosts Austria Klagenfurt.
Didi Kühbauer is aware that an increase is necessary for this. “We will meet an opponent once more where we are favorites and we have to play better than last week,” demanded the LASK coach. He is convinced that his team will show the required reaction. Even if it didn’t work out as desired twice recently, Kühbauer emphasized that “a lot of things that happened in the last few weeks were very good”. His record also speaks for it. The Linz team is the only team without a defeat this season, following twelve championship games as a LASK coach, Kühbauer has six wins, five draws and one defeat – that happened in the European Cup play-off once morest the WSG.
The WSG has only got one point from the last three games and is aware of the outsider role. “A Herculean task,” said coach Thomas Silberberger. “Didi Kühbauer brought in new structures”, but “if we can call up everything, something is possible for us.”
Wolfsberger AC is looking forward once more in the Bundesliga following a poor start to the season. Two victories from the past three rounds have awakened the desire for more among the “wolves” from the Lavanttal. Opponent Hartberg, who currently has some problems, has often played quite well in Wolfsberg, at least in the past. The Hartbergers won 3:1 in the previous season.
The WAC is currently plagued with a home misery. In four appearances this season, the Carinthians only got a point in the opening game once morest Sturm Graz (1-1). Coach Robin Dutt still saw his still fickle team on the right track. With the 3-1 win at Rapid in their luggage, the previous week was easier to analyze. “There will always be ups and downs. I don’t think we’ve been in a bad mood in the last few weeks. We didn’t let ourselves be talked down, but continued to work consistently,” said the German.
Hartberg’s games are currently minimalist. Six goals scored in seven games – only Ried has less with four – is a manageable number. It was 3-0 at home once morest Austria, Hartberg is currently only tenth. Coach Klaus Schmidt said: “We definitely have something to make up for in Wolfsberg. It’s time we got more consistency in our game. It’s hard to play a good game and then a week later like we did on Sunday (vs Austria) to present.” Goalie Rene Swete is expected back at Hartberg.
In its first two Bundesliga duels once morest Austria Klagenfurt, SCR Altach went without a point and even a goal. In the third attempt on Saturday, the first win and thus the next step in the right direction should succeed with a home advantage. “If you look at the number of points, that would be three points,” said coach Miroslav Klose on Friday. The Carinthians arrived in the Bundesliga in a difficult second year. Altach has only brought one win to the credit side. The 0-0 away draw once morest WSG Tirol last weekend interrupted a series of five defeats (including the Cup loss once morest Admira). “The small step was that we managed to keep a clean sheet. Now we hope that we can take the next step and the bigger step,” said Klose.
Austria lost 2-0 to Sturm Graz, their fourth defeat of the season. After the much-celebrated 4:3 win in the Carinthian Derby, coach Peter Pacult recognized his team’s passive, hesitant performance. Physically, the Waidmannsdorfer were not up to par. “Graz was in action in the Europa League on Thursday and we had enough breaks, should have been much fresher,” said the Viennese. During the week it was important to address the mistakes relentlessly and show the reasons “why we mightn’t build on what made us strong in the games before and brought us points”. In any case, a lack of aggressiveness should not be an issue in the “Ländle”.
