On the day of the marathon, LASK has the long-distance runners in the Bundesliga as guests: Wiener Austria is playing the 24th game of the season in Pasching on Sunday (5 p.m.). This is one of the reasons why LASK wants to pick up the pace from the first minute.
The Viennese had to pay tribute to the program including the European Cup on Thursday: In the 1: 3 against regional league club Wiener Sport-Club they not only dropped out of the ÖFB Cup, but also lost Andreas Gruber due to a muscle injury. Of the three players who switched from LASK to Austria in the summer, only James Holland is fit when he returns to Pasching for the first time. The transfers paid off financially for LASK – and the departures have also been more than compensated for in sporting terms so far.
Marco Raguz: LASK received 1.7 million euros for the striker in the summer. Austria coach Manfred Schmid has already ruled out that the Eferdinger, who is currently working on his comeback in Germany, will still be used in the autumn. LASK did not have to wait for goals for successor Marin Ljubicic: The Hajduk split loan leads the scorer list with nine goals, and four more in the cup.
James Holland: Austria’s sports director Manuel Ortlechner arranged his friend’s return to the Viennese early on. The 33-year-old should bring experience to the Austria game. The Australian was seeded in the European Cup and the ÖFB Cup, in the Bundesliga he was only in one of the last six games in the starting XI. At LASK, Branko Jovicic took over his position as a six, Peter Michorl blossomed again in a somewhat more offensive role, and Nemanja Celic is waiting for his chances. Holland’s departure did not leave a large gap in terms of personnel.
Andrew Gruber: LASK actually wanted to keep the winger – but the 27-year-old pushed for Austria because he saw greater chances of playing time with the Viennese. He managed six goals and seven assists in 17 appearances before his injury in the Cup. At LASK he should have lined up behind Keito Nakamura and Thomas Goiginger. Nakamura is the top scorer with ten goals and six assists in 15 games, Goiginger has scored six times in 14 appearances and provided six assists. Nevertheless: Gruber would have been valuable at LASK because no player has yet come up as an alternative behind the wing tongs.
“Not our business”
In addition to the trio, which switched to Austria in the summer, there are three more players in the Vienna squad who the current Austria investor Jürgen Werner once signed for LASK. After his role as a spectator at Schalke, Reinhold Ranftl is again the long-running hit with the most minutes played, Nikola Dovedan (2014 to 2016 at LASK) has only played a supporting role so far. Ibrahima Drame made the leap in development that was denied to him after his cruciate ligament rupture as a LASK cooperation player at FC Juniors Upper Austria: For his six goals with the Young Violets he was rewarded with a short appearance in the Europa Conference League against Villarreal (0:1).
The return of former colleagues is “not an issue at all at LASK. Whoever plays for Austria is not our thing,” says Thomas Goiginger. LASK was last without a win at home three times in a row. Although Austria lost two of their last three league games, they were also the only defeats in the past nine league games.
Source: Nachrichten
