2023-11-24 15:49:24
Sturm Graz is facing a mandatory win on Saturday (5 p.m.). Bottom team Austria Lustenau comes second in the table badly hit, but Sturm coach Christian Ilzer still had warning words for his team following the international break. “Lustenau has a new coaching team, that’s a bit of a ‘blind flight’,” said the 46-year-old before the duel with the still winless Vorarlbergers. They actually have to hope for the trainer effect.
Despite the dreary situation, Lustenau’s interim coach and sports director Alexander Schneider are certainly able to spread “good energy and a spirit of optimism”, “new impulses and new effects” to the chronically unsuccessful Austria, said Ilzer. “It won’t be an easy game once morest an opponent who has quality thanks to the individual players and who acts very well on the counterattack. We have to be very sharp once morest the ball.” Statistically speaking, almost nothing can go wrong once morest Lustenau: there were 19 Sturm victories in 20 league and cup games. The only draw, a 1-1, was dated July 26, 1997.
In the long-distance duel with league leaders Salzburg, who are tied on points, you can’t afford any slip-ups. “As a team, we have to go into this game with top energy and a top attitude and bring our best possible quality onto the pitch,” demanded Ilzer. His team still has five games on the program before the winter break; following Lustenau, the decisive game in the fight for third place in the Europa League group awaits on Thursday once morest Rakow Czestochowa. “We still have five very important games. We can turn a good fall into a great fall.”
In terms of personnel, Ilzer can rely on all players apart from Seedy Jatta (torn thigh muscle), although William Böving (pubic bone) and midfielder Otar Kiteishvili (Achilles) are still “very, very questionable”. A decision on their use will be made on Saturday. “They have a difficult injury structure, which we mightn’t get under control during the international break,” Ilzer had to explain.
In Lustenau, coach Markus Mader’s almost two-and-a-half-year era came to an end at the beginning of the international break, and sports director Schneider also takes over as coach on an interim basis. “In addition to strenuous training sessions, it was important to us that we also worked a lot with our heads,” emphasized the German. “The players had to clear their heads and rekindle their desire to play football. The goal was to go out on the pitch with a certain amount of self-confidence despite the difficult situation and to give everything in themselves to get themselves out of the mess to pull.”
Lustenau is five points behind the eleventh-placed WSG Tirol, with three meager points. Recently they suffered three defeats en suite, and a fourth is on the horizon. “When you play once morest Sturm Graz, you know what to expect. They put you under pressure for 90 minutes, regardless of whether they have the ball or not,” said Schneider. “We have to have the courage to accept things and try to create opportunities. We need periods of relief. If we just wait and see, we have no chance.”
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