SV Ried wants to pull another team into the relegation swamp

“We’re going to Tyrol hungry for victory,” says Maximilian Senft, coach of SV Guntamatic Ried, before today’s away game in the Bundesliga at WSG Tirol (5 p.m.). The Innviertler have been waiting for a complete success for seven league games and are still without a win in the qualifying group. Three points would also put pressure on SCR Altach, Rieder’s direct competitor, in the fight to stay up in the league before their duel against Hartberg on Saturday.

And much more important: With a win, you could probably drag today’s opponent into the relegation swamp. “It is of course our goal to get them closer,” says Senft. His team is facing an unpleasant task: in the last round, the Tyroleans clearly lost 5-0 in Hartberg – coach Thomas Silberberger’s team want to show a different face against Ried. Especially since the kickers from the holy land could fix the league with a win. Senft: “Anyone who knows Thomas Silberberger knows that they want to eradicate this defeat against us. I expect a Tyrolean team that will play against us with foam at the mouth.”

The statistics also speak for the Tyroleans: In the last five competitive matches against the Innviertler, the WSG won four times. The last Rieder away win in Innsbruck was two and a half years ago.

Ziegl before starting eleven comeback?

In the 3-1 win at that time, the Vikings were set up by Gerhard Schweitzer on an interim basis on December 20, 2020. Ried’s neo-coach Senft still relies on the experience of the 59-year-old today. When the Viennese was promoted from amateur coach to head coach at the Bundesliga club, one of his conditions was that Schweitzer’s expertise should be used more with the squad. “We talk on the phone and meet up regularly. We both have a good eye for football, but it’s still an absolute plus.”

Perhaps the veteran coach, who is particularly involved in analyzing opponents, gave him one or two tips on how to win away at the Tivoli Stadium. Someone who was in the starting eleven under Schweitzer in Tirol could make his comeback from the start today: Ried captain Marcel Ziegl is likely to start in defense of the Innviertler for the first time since September 2022 after his knee injury.