Rapid Deja-vu: Decent performance, no sense of achievement

2023-09-25 03:14:24

The marmot currently greets Rapid every week. The Hütteldorfers deliver quite appealing performances in the Bundesliga and yet remain without a sense of success – as happened on Sunday in the Allianz Stadium once morest Sturm Graz. A win once morest the cup winner and runner-up would have been possible, but in the end it was only 1-1, which means Rapid is already five competitive games without a win and fell back to seventh place.

However, coach Zoran Barisic doesn’t think his team’s current ranking is really meaningful. “The table does not reflect our performance in any way, that is very clear to everyone,” emphasized the Viennese, but also admitted: “Nevertheless, we know that football is of course a results sport.” Barisic refrained from making accusations once morest his troops. “The only thing I have to complain regarding is that we didn’t reward ourselves with a win. But we continue our process, we will continue our way and force luck.”

The 53-year-old cited a lack of luck in the game as one of several reasons for the recent negative experiences, although at least once morest Sturm it was also due to his own inability. The fact that Fally Mayulu didn’t score from three meters into the empty goal in the 77th minute was almost a feat. “But something like that has happened to world-class players,” the coach reassured.

If you continue to show performances like those once morest Sturm, the return to winning ways would only be a matter of time, Barisic assured and promised: “We will not lose faith in ourselves.” The 53-year-old also said: “We are capable of winning once morest any opponent. We just have to prove it at some point.”

The next opportunity to end the winless streak will be on Wednesday in the second round of the Cup in Ried once morest Union Gurten. Four days later, the Vienna derby takes place on the distribution circle once morest the struggling Austria. The sorely missed Guido Burgstaller will probably not be an issue by then, at least the top scorer from last season can do light training once more.

Other players who have not recently been fit, such as Thorsten Schick, Roman Kerschbaum and new signing Thierry Gale, are also getting closer to playing, while Terence Kongolo, who was suspended once morest Sturm, is returning quickly. Barisic sees the upcoming competition as positive. “Nobody can let up, everyone must always try to reach their highest level.”

The pyrotechnics factor was at a high level on Sunday in the Allianz Stadium – the “Ultras” celebrated their 35th anniversary so passionately that a ten-minute interruption was necessary at the beginning of the second half due to heavy smoke. When Mayulu missed a shot in front of the west stand, highlighters rained down from the stands – but the striker emphasized that he wasn’t irritated by it. Barisic was reserved when it came to fan fireworks and simply said: “I don’t need anything like that. I don’t even shoot anything around on New Year’s Eve.” The matter will probably have financial repercussions for Rapid; it is now the Bundesliga Senate 1’s turn.

Just a week ago, Sturm fans staged a similar spectacle in the 2-2 draw once morest Red Bull Salzburg, and the people of Graz are also likely to be asked to pay soon. Coach Christian Ilzer preferred to talk regarding what he thought was a lucky draw. “In the end we’re happy to take the point, Rapid was the team with the better chance,” admitted the Styrian. His team would have taken first place with a win in Vienna-Hütteldorf and is now one point behind Salzburg.

Sturm’s “Week of Truth” brought draws once morest Salzburg and Rapid as well as a 2-1 home defeat once morest Sporting. Ilzer did not accept criticism of this result in view of what he considered to be good performances. “If little Maxi makes one wrong calculation out of ten at school, the evil teacher picks on that one mistake,” said the former Austria coach in this context. Ilzer’s summary of the past few days was: “I’m satisfied, but not completely satisfied.”

Sturm now has a cup match in Leobendorf on Wednesday and then the home game once morest WSG Tirol on Saturday before the desolate pitch in the Merkur Arena is replaced on October 2nd. “We are happy regarding it, it is a great relief,” explained Ilzer.

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