Rangnick prescribed his team active, powerful play against the ball. In addition, everything indicates that the 63-year-old German prefers a three-man defense when he takes office.
Rangnick had 20 field players and his three goalkeepers available. In addition to Champions League winner David Alaba, who is not due to join the team until the end of the week after the celebrations at Real Madrid, only the sick Philipp Lienhart was missing. Like Martin Hinteregger, who was not nominated due to injury, both are long-term candidates for regular positions in central defence. In her absence, team returnee Gernot Trauner has legitimate hopes of being the chief of defense on Rangnick’s debut in the Nations League in Croatia on Friday.
In addition to the Feyenoord-Rotterdam legionnaire, Salzburg’s Maximilian Wöber, Stefan Posch and Kevin Danso are candidates for the starting lineup. In the final 11-a-side training game, both teams defended with a back three. Stefan Lainer seems to be seated to the right. The position of the left offensive defender, on the other hand, forces Rangnick to improvise, as he admitted during his presentation on Sunday. His options are Hannes Wolf and Valentino Lazaro – neither of whom are trained players in this role.
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Pressing and fast forms of play
Konrad Laimer scored the first goal in an ÖFB training game under Rangnick. Marco Friedl then hit his own net, Andreas Weimann into the right one – final score 2:1 for the supposed A-set, which also included Marko Arnautovic, Christoph Baumgartner and Marcel Sabitzer. Nicolas Seiwald and Xaver Schlager, who were courted by Rangnick’s ex-club RB Leipzig, seem to be suitable for the free space in midfield center next to Sabitzer and Laimer.
The training intensity was high right from the start, especially when playing against the ball. In the training game, two-meter strikers Sasa Kalajdzic and Michael Gregoritsch ran up to the opponent, just as Rangnick had demanded.
Lots of time for selfies and autographs
At 10:34 a.m., a quarter of an hour before the start of practice, Rangnick entered the field for the first time. The previous Manchester United coach first discussed in detail with his three assistant coaches Lars Kornetka, Peter Perchtold and Onur Cinel in comparatively cool conditions in southern Burgenland. The trio also intervened heavily in training. Rangnick often found himself in an observer role, but then gave the crucial clues. His speeches – the first in front of the team Rangnick had held on Sunday evening in the hotel – were very clear from the start, could be heard from the ÖFB.
The numerous schoolchildren present, who were allowed to use the Monday morning for an excursion to the soccer field, were more impressed by the autographs after the end of training. Despite the many upcoming discussions, Rangnick also took a few minutes to sign and take selfies. The ÖFB team is training in Bad Tatzmannsdorf until Thursday, in the evening the flight to Osijek will take place. From Saturday, the Austrians will then prepare in Vienna for the Nations League home games against Denmark (June 6) and world champions France (June 10).
Source: Nachrichten
