A higher success would have been possible against the tired Hütteldorfer, the coach suspected. “We should have been more dynamic and scored more goals, we have to improve on that. We’re doing well in the process, we know our strengths, but we still have to improve. The automatisms have to get better,” demanded Struber.
The 46-year-old can work on that in the forthcoming international break, although some players will be absent due to national team call-ups. “This is an important time. We want to give the guys who are there full energy and I also want to get to know some of the guys from Liefering,” announced Struber. “After the international break we want to go ‘all in’ again.”
Salzburg remains without a loss of points
League leaders Red Bull Salzburg celebrated their sixth win in six games with a 2-0 win over Rapid.
The first competitive game after the break will take place on September 16 against the toughest national opponent, Sturm. “It will be a good way of determining where we stand before the Champions League,” said midfielder Mads Bistrup. In the premier class, the “Bulls” will start on September 20th with the away match against Benfica Lisbon. By then, according to Struber, some of the twelve players who were not available against Rapid should come back.
Simic reaps rewards for hard work
Roko Simic is currently in top form, as the Croatian U21 international proved with a brace against Grün-Weiss, which was also his first goals in the Bundesliga. “We now have one more who can score goals. He knows where the goal is, has always worked hard on himself and was able to implement that today,” said Struber of the striker, who was somewhat surprisingly preferred to Sekou Koita. “He did really well in training and was incredibly committed, so he deserved a place in the starting XI.”
Simic spoke of an “extremely good feeling” after the game. I can still get better and I will continue to work hard because the competition here is very fierce. I may be on the bench a few times, but if I’m needed, I have to be there.”
The 19-year-old was last loaned out to FC Zurich, and another loan didn’t seem out of the question in the past few weeks before the club decided to keep Simic. “Now I can concentrate 100 percent on Salzburg,” promised the son of former Inter and Milan pro Dario Simic. He never thought of a financially lucrative transfer to Saudi Arabia in the summer. “I play football out of passion and not for money.”
At Rapid “the tank was quickly empty”
Rapid also showed passion – but in the end that was not enough to be able to challenge Salzburg. According to coach Zoran Barisic, this was also due to the fact that the loss of strength in the 0: 2 at Fiorentina was too great. “Some players’ tanks were empty relatively quickly. The intensity against the ball wasn’t as we had imagined, we weren’t fast enough in the duels and our heads weren’t fresh enough. Despite this, my team gave everything,” said the Viennese.
Director Matthias Seidl was self-critical: “It’s definitely not the Thursday game. Salzburg simply have great quality, every opponent has a hard time here. We didn’t deserve the win with this performance.” Barisic was less harsh on his pros. “The game wasn’t as bad as the result suggests,” said the 53-year-old, drawing a positive interim summary despite being ten points behind Salzburg. “In terms of sport, the season so far has been as desired, especially as far as the game is concerned. Only the efficiency in front of the generic goal needs to get better. We will work hard on that.”
In addition, Barisic wants to integrate the newcomers as quickly as possible during the break and hopes that some of the injured will recover. Maximilian Hofmann was added on Sunday due to an ankle injury, Thorsten Schick was absent due to calf problems. Top scorer Guido Burgstaller was particularly badly missed – according to Barisic, the Carinthian is suffering from pubic problems, when he can play again is unclear.