The first four of five hits in SK Sturm Graz’s “Highlight February” were largely completed satisfactorily.
The second leg at Slovan Bratislava (Thursday, 9 p.m. in the LIVE ticker) will now be the crowning moment and, after the 4-1 triumph at home, the team will reach the round of 16 of the Conference League.
If this works as hoped and expected after the first leg, the Styrians would still be in the running in all three competitions.
This was logically the goal before the start of spring. Of course, achieving this was not a sure-fire success given the tight start program.
LAOLA1 analyzes the unusual features of the black and white spring so far using the following five questions.
Where is Sturm in terms of performance after four out of five highlight games?
Coach Christian Ilzer was satisfied with the performance in six of the eight halves so far – the Sturm coach only gave his thumbs down for the first two halves against Austria and in Salzburg.
The fact that the Graz team still went into the break with a 2-0 lead against the “Veilchen” was reminiscent of the skilful result football from the autumn, which on the one hand caused euphoria, on the other hand, brought numerous “football whiners” to the scene.
In Salzburg they also secured a satisfactory result (1:1) with a clear improvement after the break. In terms of results, they only didn’t get the maximum against Rapid (1:1) due to a lack of efficiency, but they were the better team in an attractive match.
Sturm may not be in the flow yet – strictly speaking, they are still winless in the 2024 Bundesliga. However, the 4-1 win in the first leg against Slovan Bratislava impressively showed what power this team can develop.
Already in the autumn they were more tactically flexible. The move with Dimitri Lavalée in the left-back position allows for further variations in this regard during the game as necessary.
Has Sturm found the right replacement in goal in Vitezslav Jaros?
An invitation to the shooter to place a direct free kick into the goalkeeper’s corner is not well received – you shouldn’t allow too many goals like the one from Christoph Lang against Rapid if you want to avoid a certain amount of grumbling.
At the same time, the Liverpool loanee already has some good scenes on his side, especially in Salzburg. He also exudes peace and quiet as much as possible.
Of course it is far too early to judge. However, the Czech still has a lot to do to reach Kjell Scherpen’s standing.
What do the rest of the staff notice?
Mika Biereth has left a good impression so far. Early goals for a new employer are always good, and the Arsenal loanee can certainly be expected to improve further if the Dane knows the attacking game even better.
Jusuf Gazibegovic wants to bite through despite his deep flesh wound. If he doesn’t start, Max Johnston will have the opportunity to show his skills in the right-back position. The Scot took a step forward in the winter and scored an assist in Salzburg. Now it’s time to take advantage of the opportunity and challenge Gazibegovic more seriously than before. If this succeeds, the Bosnian international is also a conceivable option on the left.
Many there suspected that David Schnegg would remain relatively unrivaled after Amadou Dante left on loan. This is not the case simply because of the Lavalée variant. The Tyrolean is faced with the task of having to reclaim his place.
Otherwise, it is noticeable in the tribe that Tomi Horvat is continuing the trend of his good autumn finish. So far, the Slovenian was seeded.
What stands out about the distribution of goal scorers?
This season, SK Sturm is once again a team in which the responsibility for scoring goals is spread across several shoulders. 17 different players have already scored competitive goals – including (former) players such as Jakob Jantscher, Mohammed Fuseini and derby match winner Bryan Teixeira.
At Graz, even a very harmless player like Lavalée was invited to score in front of the opposing goal during his career – see hit against Rapid.
At the same time, it would certainly not be a mistake if at least one goal guarantee emerged in the spring, ideally of course several. Sturm hasn’t had anything like this to offer so far.
Biereth is of course a hot candidate for this role. Szymon Wlodarczyk has nine goals in competitive games, but we are still waiting for the knot to finally burst. Manprit Sarkaria definitely has more goals in him than the previous three. William Böving can be relied on internationally; nothing has happened in the Bundesliga since the beginning of October 2022. Youngster Amady Camara is showing more and more. As for the convalescent Seedy Jatta, one has to wait and see.
There is no shortage of candidates. If, in the best case scenario, several of these guys find their personal flow, it could take the whole team to the next level.
How distracting are the rumors about Andreas Schicker?
It’s still okay. Sturm’s sports director not only has recognized skills when it comes to squad planning, but also has a talent for moderating unpleasant topics and smiling away when necessary.
With the standard sentence that he has always said that the German Bundesliga is his goal and that we have to wait and see which direction it will take, he is currently getting by, as long as things don’t become officially more concrete with Werder.
However, if the loss of the architect of Sturm’s success becomes public in a timely manner, there is of course a risk that this topic will become too distracting and impair sporting performance. Because if the sporting decision-maker moves on, this logically creates more uncertainty than, for example, the confirmed departure of a player.
Speaking of which: The ongoing issue of David Affengruber and Otar Kiteishvili’s expiring contracts has not yet been a disruptive factor. On the one hand, the performance is good, but on the other hand, Schicker cushions a lot with his calm communication. It can also be seen as industry standard if players want to use good performances in Sturm as a springboard.
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2024-02-21 23:24:27
#Sturm #Graz
