Salzburg was unspectacularly successful in the autumn: its players almost never showed the spectacle promised by Gerhard Struber in the autumn. 64, 54, 37, 37 and now 34 is the goal tally after 17 rounds over the years. With 3,921 spectators, the series champions recently recorded a negative record against Pellets WAC. In terms of results, the “Bulls” didn’t let themselves be thrown off track with twelve wins and three draws. They also have the chance to overwinter internationally.
Austria Lustenau was historically weak. The Vorarlbergers didn’t get a single point in nine home games in the fall. They also became the fourth team in league history after SC Neusiedl/See in 1983, Salzburger AK in 1985 and Vorwärts Steyr in 1995 not to win before the winter break. There are three meager points, the gap to the penultimate WSG Tirol is already eight points. The search for a new coach has been unsuccessful for weeks. The savior should be found by Christmas.
GEPA/Oliver Lerch With an average of 0.18 points per game, Lustenau will not be able to maintain the class
Red tide in the purple camp
There was a flood of red cards in the purple camp. Wiener Austria players had to leave the field involuntarily seven times in the fall at the behest of the referees. Marvin Martins saw two straight reds, Lucas Galvao saw two yellow-reds. Matthias Braunöder was also sent off once with a straight red, while James Holland had to go to yellow and red.
The purple flood of exclusions didn’t stop at the bench either: Austria’s co-coach Ahmet Koc was also sent to the stands with red once. Most of the boxes were thrown at Luca Kronberger from WSG Tirol and Mike Bähre from Altach. Both were shown yellow cards seven times each.
APA/Dietmar Stiplovsek A good face in a bad game: the referees pulled out the red card seven times against an Austrian
Clubs in financial difficulties
Half the league is financially in the red. In the last financial year, Salzburg generated 186.82 million euros, more than four times as much as its toughest (economic) pursuers Sturm and Rapid, and with a profit of 32 million euros, it was also in its own cosmos. After selling millions, Sturm Graz invested heavily, leaving two million left. Austria Lustenau, Altach, WAC and Rapid came in behind.
debate
Bundesliga: Who will be ahead in the end?
Austria again stood out negatively, with a loss of 6.85 million euros. In addition to the Violets, there were also millions in losses for LASK (-3.74 million euros), Austria Klagenfurt (-1.92 million) and Hartberg (-1.06 million). Newly promoted Blau-Weiß Linz and WSG Tirol also made losses.
Only three coaching changes in the fall
There was continuity on the support bench. There was no unconditional expulsion in the position of coach. Overall, as in the previous year, only three clubs have changed coaches since the start of the season. One day before the first game, Red Bull Salzburg showed consistency and released Matthias Jaissle. The master reacted to the apparently already advanced negotiations of the young German, who followed the call of the millions from Saudi Arabia to al-Ahli. Gerhard Struber took over.
Two more coaching changes followed in the fall. On November 13th, Markus Mader had to leave after a permanent negative run at the bottom team without a win, Austria Lustenau. Two days later, Rapid parted ways with Zoran Barisic after a crisis in results and hired the 39-year-old German Robert Klauß.
Fire and flames are followed by fines
Sturm’s supporters made it onto social media channels worldwide thanks to excessive fireworks in the cup final against Rapid at the end of April. In mid-September, the Graz fans caused a minute-long interruption against Salzburg with rockets and Bengali fire. At Rapid, just under a week later, the “Ultras” celebrated their existence so much that there was a ten-minute break.
GEPA/Hans Oberlaender The fans’ fiery fun had dire consequences for Sturm Graz’s club coffers
The league responded with high fines (100,000 or 50,000 euros), and Rapid has to fear that points will be deducted in the event of another incident. The pyro show in the cup home game against Salzburg also had an unpleasant aftermath for Austria Salzburg. The regional league team was fined over 34,000 euros. The fans want to pay for the majority of the amount.
Captain as LASK life insurance and “Ba-Ba-Bo”
Robert Zulj is the life and soul of LASK. In the last five games in the league without the offensive man, the Linzers have only scored a single point across the seasons. With the captain on board, however, things went brilliantly. In the fall, Zulj scored seven goals and five assists in 15 games. Only Sinan Karweina from Austria Klagenfurt has more scorer points (eight goals and six assists).
IMAGO/Daniel Scharinger O Captain! My Captain! Robert Zulj was the personality who dominated the game at LASK in the fall.
At WAC, however, an attacking trio caused a sensation. Thierno Ballo, Mohamed Bamba and Augustine Boakye scored 16 times in total, sharing their goals almost fraternally with a ratio of 5-6-5. It wasn’t until the 13th lap that the French-speaking trio were on the field together right from the start. Ballo, Bamba and Boakye accounted for 70 percent of the 23 WAC goals.
There is a risk of a crash in the five-year ranking
After years of highs, the Bundesliga is facing a crash in the five-year rankings of the European Football Association (UEFA). Points are missing, which were mainly won by the now Champions League team from Salzburg for years in the Europa League. LASK and Sturm missed out on highs one floor below, Rapid and Austria failed to qualify for the Conference League. In the annual ranking, Austria is only in 23rd place – behind Iceland and Azerbaijan.
Further data and facts
Favorite opponent: In the duels between Sturm Graz and Austria Lustenau, the Styrians are a bench. Sturm has won all 15 matches since October 1997; there has never been such a long winning streak between two clubs.
Defense as a trump card: In 68.6 percent of the games a team remained without a goal. Only in 1993/94 was there such a high proportion of clean sheets in an entire season, at 72.8 percent. For comparison: In the German Bundesliga the proportion is 40.8 percent.
Serial killer: On September 23rd, Blau-Weiß Linz ended three of the champions’ series with a 1-0 away win in Salzburg: The “Bulls” had to admit defeat for the first time after 45 home league games and a total of 37 BL games and conceded one for the first time in eight and a half years Defeat against a newcomer.
Accurate Legionnaires: 132 goals, more than half of the 254 goals excluding own goals (51.9 percent), were scored by foreign players. Of Salzburg’s 34 goals, only two were scored by an Austrian (Samson Baidoo). Rapid has the highest proportion of domestic goalscorers with 79 percent (22 out of 28 goals).
Successful pressing: League leaders Salzburg and their closest rival Sturm also have top pressing values. Salzburg only allowed 8.1 opposing passes outside of their own defensive third, Sturm had 166 high ball wins (40 m or less in front of the opponent’s goal).
Efficiency: The fact that newly promoted Blau-Weiß Linz survived the winter with 17 points from 17 games also has to do with their cold-bloodedness in front of the goal. The Linz team used 50 percent of their big chances.
Duel monsters: The value of Strahinja Pavlovic for league leaders Salzburg can also be seen in statistics. The Serbian central defender won 68.8 percent of his duels and 73.3 percent of his headers, both clear best values in the league.