Coach Dietmar Kühbauer, who took over in the league final, promised improvement. With a squad that has also been changed in terms of personnel, but for the time being without a king transfer from Robert Zulj, the top six are the clear goal. The climber from Carinthia had surprisingly landed there. For Kühbauer, Klagenfurt is no less serious than last season. “It wouldn’t be helpful to say, ‘They lost good players,'” said Kühbauer. “We also lost good players,” said the Burgenlander with regard to the departures of Andreas Gruber, James Holland, Petar Filipovic or Marko Raguz, who of course has hardly played recently.
The recent 9-1 cup victory over third division Schwaz showed that the new signings were not bad. Striker Marin Ljubicic tied up a triple pack, indicating that the recent virulent storm calm could be over. Ex-Rapid full-back Filip Stojkovic also netted against Schwaz. And in central defense, the German Philipp Ziereis already seems set. “We have good new signings, the atmosphere is very good,” said a happy Kühbauer before the start.
“Zulj is not in the squad yet”
The coach has other aces up his sleeve in midfielder Nemanja Celic and the two strikers, the Greek Efthymios Koulouris and king transfer Robert Zulj, but they probably won’t play a role on Saturday. Koulouris still needs some time, the same applies to the long-standing Germany legionnaire Zulj. “In terms of quality, he could play on Saturday. But he’s not in the squad yet. It’s still too early,” emphasized Kühbauer. “We’ll be very careful about that.”
For LASK it is also the starting signal for a kind of farewell tour. There are still nine home games to be played in Pasching, then they will move to the new stadium on the Linzer Gugl – as planned in the championship group. Statistically speaking, the athletes can go into the game with the greatest of ease. After all, the last five home openings were all won without conceding a goal.
Klagenfurt arrives with the recommendation of an 8:1 cup victory over third division Admira Dornbirn. The departures of the pillars Patrick Greil, Turgay Gemicibasi and Alex Timossi Andersson seem to be able to be absorbed. “We were present from the first minute,” said coach Peter Pacult, whose team drew 0-0 against Southampton on Monday. “We had very, very good transition moments, the spaces that were available to us were used very well and used very well.”
A kind of initial euphoria would not be a disadvantage in view of the notorious “second year”. “We have to classify everything correctly,” Pacult nevertheless warned. It remains to be seen which of the newcomers Christopher Wernitznig, Jonas Arweiler, Simon Stradi and Sinan Karweina will start. In any case, striker Andrew Irving is also an option against LASK, and the Scot’s work permit arrived on Friday. “We’re definitely going into the season with a positive feeling,” said Pacult.
Source: Nachrichten
