Ilzer sermon instead of evidence of industry leadership in Styria: Sturm Graz said goodbye to the international break with two blows in the neck within a short time. If the 1: 4 in the Europa League was still due to the larger class of PSV Eindhoven, the Graz team classified Hartberg’s 2: 3 on Sunday as a classic self-fall. Christian Ilzer then made it unmistakably clear why so-called English weeks are no carte blanche for him to make excuses.
When the issue of fatigue was raised in the initial research into the causes, the Sturm trainer straddled verbally at his old place of work. “I will not sit here and use Thursday as an alibi. Because then nothing will go on,” said Ilzer at the press conference. “It’s a challenge for us coaches and the players, but one thing that you have to face.”
His team had just lost 3-2 after being 2-0 down in their seventh game within 22 days. And especially in the first half “missed everything”, as Ilzer complained. He had previously warned eagerly not to let up in terms of combat and presence, as Captain Stefan Hierländer admitted on his behalf.
Ilzer sees his professionals challenged when it comes to their professional approach. “We have to develop a faster cycle in our head.” Translated it means: Adjust even faster to the tight rhythm of the game, which is everyday life for top international teams. Everything else was “not an issue” on this game day, which marked the third Sturm defeat in only the fifth Hartberg guest appearance, said Ilzer. “Not an issue that we were bad today, that we weren’t present, that we make the wrong decisions at the back, that we’re too slow in our heads at the front to utilize our possibilities. Our topic is: How can we do it better? ” Ilzer is of the opinion: “Even with the small backpack that we have with us, it is absolutely manageable.”
There are plenty of opportunities for the “blackies” to find out in autumn. After the two-week league break, another seven matches will be played in a tight three / four-day rhythm. In Otar Kiteishvili, as in Hartberg, the big creative anchor will be missing. Ilzer: “With every team it happens once in the course of the season that key players fail. It is important to collect them as a collective.”
How this works best, Ilzer can work out in the coming days. For Hartberg, the break is “not at all convenient”, as Kurt Russ noted after the break at home (first home win of the season). “But we’ll try to take today’s euphoria with us.” Even without top scorer Dario Tadic, who is likely to be out for three weeks with a muscle injury, Mitja Horvat (19th) and Noel Niemann (21st) put in the “three” with Philipp Sturm (81st). Goals from Jakob Jantscher (48th / penalty) and Anderson Niangbo (87th) were too few for Sturm.
After that, it was surprisingly little topic that referee Manuel Schüttengruber refused to acknowledge the alleged earlier goal from attack defender Gregory Wüthrich for no apparent reason. The referee had called for a foul by David Affengruber – even before the ball was over the line – and thus deprived the video assistant referee of any opportunity to take corrective action.
–
