It is precisely in this phase that the people of Salzburg are plagued by severe personnel problems. Six players are out due to injuries, and Hartberg Mohamed Camara is suspended. There is a question mark behind Noah Okafor’s work due to a thigh injury. Coach Matthias Jaissle was still calm. “Of course, a coach always wants to draw from the full band, but complaining does not help. That is not our attitude, we deal with it in the best possible way. “
You are strong enough to cope with many failures. “We knew at the beginning of the season that we had a very good squad, both in terms of quality and breadth. That way we can compensate for the long list of injuries, ”explained Jaissle.
“Hartberg very unpleasant opponent”
The latest results tend to speak against this thesis. After an outstanding start to the season, the “Bulls” only saw one win out of the last six games, most recently the first league defeat of the current season with a 2-1 defeat at Austria Klagenfurt. Andreas Ulmer therefore warned: “We have to call up our basics correctly, which were not 100 percent there in the last few games. We have to bring that to the field. “
Bundesliga, 17th round
Saturday, 5 p.m .:
Salzburg – Hartberg
Wals-Siezenheim, Red Bull Arena, SR Muckenhammer
Possible setups:
Salzburg: Köhn – Kristensen, Solet, Piatkowski, Guindo – Bernede – N. Seiwald, Capaldo – Aaronson – Sesko, Adamu
Hartberg: Swete – Schantl, Sonnleitner, Steinwender, Gollner – Kainz, Horvat – Niemann, Heil, Avdijaj – Tadic
The first duel with Hartberg ended with a difficult 1-0 away win for Salzburg. “Hartberg is a very unpleasant opponent, we know that from the first leg. They presented us with problems, it was a close game. We will have to call everything up, ”emphasized Jaissle and pointed out that the Hartbergers have already defeated“ big teams ”like Sturm Graz and the WAC this season.
Troubled Salzburgers even more dangerous
In addition, the Hartberger drove three pointers against Rapid and most recently against LASK. Now coach Kurt Russ would like to put Salzburg on the hit list. In this context, the upcoming Sevilla match could be an advantage. “That will definitely be in the back of the mind of the players. I’ve been a player myself long enough, you can’t ignore something like that, ”said Russ.
Nevertheless, the Salzburgers are clearly to be favored. “Because everyone writes that they are battered, they will tackle it even more intensely. I think they are more dangerous now than they were before, ”assumed the Styrian, who kept his fingers crossed for the defending champion for Wednesday. “I wish them that they stay in the Champions League, that would be good for all of Austrian football.”
However, Russ would have no objection to a Salzburg defeat on Saturday – it would be the first ever against Hartberg in Bundesliga history. “There is no question that they will become champions. They are above all others. ”After 16 laps, the“ Bulls ”lead twelve points ahead of Sturm and WAC. Hartberg is sixth 19 points behind Salzburg. “For me, only Salzburg, Sturm and WAC are fixed in the championship group. The rest are fighting for the other three places, anything is possible, ”said Russ.
Klagenfurt is aiming for victory in Tyrol
What Hartberg is hoping for, Klagenfurt has already done on the last lap. After the win against Salzburg, the newcomer is aiming for the next win in Innsbruck against WSG Tirol in order to get one step closer to participating in the championship round. The Carinthians are currently in fourth place, but the Seventh Austria and the Eighth Rapid are only two points away.
Bundesliga, 17th round
Start 5 p.m .:
WSG Tirol – Klagenfurt
Tivoli Stadion Tirol, SR Ciochirca
Possible setups:
WSG: Oswald – Koch, Bacher, Behounek, Klassen – Rogelj, Müller, Petsos, Blume – Sabitzer, Vrioni
Klagenfurt: Menzel – Saravanja, Mahrer, N. Wimmer, Schumacher – Cvetko, Gemicibasi, Timossi Andersson, Greil, Rieder – Pink
In view of this table constellation, coach Peter Pacult warned against excessive euphoria. “The win against Salzburg only earned us three points. That’s why we can’t stop with the championship. “You have to continue to work hard – dreaming of a top six place at the end of the regular season is currently not appropriate, said the Viennese. “When you look at how close everything is, we don’t need to talk about things that are far away.”
Pacult does not speak strongly to opponents
But Pacult didn’t want to put too much on the euphoria brake either. “Fourth place is a wonderful snapshot. I’ll just keep asking the players to continue to work as hard as before, but I definitely won’t slow them down. ”As a result, the coach also refrained from excessive praise for the upcoming opponent. “I will not speak strongly to an opponent who had big problems two weeks ago.”
His squad got seven points from the last few laps, one point more than the WSG, which recently achieved two wins in a row. The game at Tivoli is a duel between the two teams against which Salzburg last lost in the league. The last time the Watteners succeeded in doing this was in April. “It will be an extremely casual match,” predicted coach Thomas Silberberger.
With a victory over the Carinthians, the current ninth could orientate itself further upwards. “If we win against Klagenfurt, we will overtake the table, even though everything was great with them from the start and we were in a great position until two weeks ago. The third win in a row would be a cool story for us, ”said Silberberger. The Tyrolean showed respect. “They are extremely difficult to play on because they are very disciplined defensively and appear very compact. We have to be extremely careful when switching. “
Bundesliga, 17th round
Start 5 p.m .:
Sturm Graz – Admira
Graz, Merkur-Arena, SR Weinberger
Possible setups:
Sturm: Siebenhandl – Jäger, Affengruber, Wüthrich, Dante – Gorenc-Stankovic – Kuen, Sarkaria, Prass – Yeboah, Jantscher
Admire: Leitner – Zwierschitz, Datkovic, Bauer, Lukacevic – Malicsek, Ebner – Ganda, Kerschbaum, Kronberger – Mustapha
Sturm wants to improve against Admira
Puntigamer Sturm Graz, meanwhile, hopes to follow up after the 1-0 success in the supplement at Altach – the first win since October 17th. The Styrians receive Flyeralarm Admira in the home game. “At the moment we play anything but fireworks, they are real fighting games,” said Ilzer. “We waited for weeks for a sense of achievement. We noticed the uncertainty. The relief can be felt by the whole team. “
The preparation time for the Admira was short due to the game on Wednesday. “We don’t have much time in weeks like this, we have to regenerate as best as possible, focus on the Admira game, gather strength, take our self-confidence with us and go into the next game,” said Ilzer, who has a clear goal for the duel against Admira issues – “to make the starting position favorable for the master group”.
Admira since six league games without a win
Statistically speaking, Admira recently had little to order against Graz. In the league they have been without a win for ten games, and since the last victory of the Lower Austrians in Graz, 2-0 on November 30, 2016, the home side have won six times in the Merkur Arena with a total of 20: 3 goals.
Admira could prove to be a grateful opponent, the Südstädter are six games without a win (three draws). Coach Andreas Herzog recently missed courage and shrewdness as well as a good development game. But against Sturm, Herzog also relies on the stresses of the opponent: “While Sturm had to contest a difficult match during the week in Altach, we were able to regenerate and prepare for the duel. I expect that we can match the intensity and the force of Graz or even overpower a bit. “
