How does coach Senft fill the hole in Ried’s midfield?

One thing is certain before the away game of SV Guntamatic Ried in Altach on Sunday: the midfield of the bottom team in the Bundesliga has never played together in this composition. Marcel Ziegl, Nikola Stosic and Denizcan Cosgun are among Ried’s long-term injuries – due to David Ungar’s red card in the most recent game against Austria and Michael Martin’s yellow card suspension, two other central midfielders have to watch against Vorarlberg. Coach Maximilian Senft is forced to improvise on the sideline in his second game – these are the possible alternatives:

The fixed starter: Kingsley Michael will almost certainly take a place in the center. The 23-year-old Nigerian arrived on loan from Italian Serie A club Bologna in mid-August to solve problems in the centre. His quality is undisputed, but due to recurring aches and pains he only made six start-up appearances. “Kingsley knows what we’re asking of him on the six,” says Senft. Against Altach he should show how important he can be.

The experiments: Who plays the more offensive part in the center next to Michael? With Markus Lackner there is a veteran who has played in midfield for years. Ried doesn’t see him in this position – rather, players for whom the seat in the middle is not the actual regular position could take over the part: Julian Wießmeier, who knows the position but hasn’t played for a long time, or Philipp Pomer.

The youngsters: It would not be a surprise if Senft, as a former amateur coach, did not also consider one or two youngsters: 18-year-old Jonas Mayer, for example, made his Bundesliga debut under ex-Ried coach Christian Heinle in the autumn and also counted in the second Team under Senft to the fixed starters, as well as U18 team player Diego Madritsch. The 17-year-old son of Gurten coach Peter Madritsch has a good chance of at least being in the squad.

End of season for Stosic?

The selection won’t get much bigger in the coming weeks either. Only Martin is coming back after his suspension, Ungar will miss two more games after the Altach game. At Ziegl, the club is hoping for a comeback in the qualifying round, Stosic may not be used at all this season: the 23-year-old recently had a minor knee operation (arthroscopy) and the club doesn’t want to rush anything anymore. Cosgun is no longer an issue for this season anyway after his cruciate ligament tear.

Fiala has to step in again

A busy man at SV Ried is currently Wolfgang Fiala: At tomorrow’s regional football league derby against Vöcklamarkt (7 p.m.), the sports director will step in for a second time as interim coach of the Junge Vikings because Maximilian Senft has been promoted to professional coach is.

“It’s fun working with the boys,” said Fiala, who is responsible for the academy alongside the professionals and amateurs. Soon he wants to present a trainer for the Young Vikings. “The talks are ongoing.”