Football: Sturm is looking for a way out of the swamp

Before a guest appearance at Spanish club Real Sociedad on Thursday (6.45pm), Sturm has lost in six of their last seven matches. “A reflection of the current situation,” Ilzer saw in Sunday’s 3-0 defeat, “as nothing is easy for us.” “There’s a lot of things coming together right now,” coach Sturm said. Something goes on in the head a lot. When I look in the face of my players, I don’t see determination but hesitation.”

There are symbolic bearers of this in Graz, where the self-image and conviction in the power of first-round football, currently in abundance, have disappeared. Defender Dante, who has been following his form for weeks, is the first to push himself – if only because of his goal to make it 2-0 – defender Dante. Or top scorer Kelvin Yeboah, who only wanted his head through thick defensive walls throughout seven games without a goal. Or Anderson Nyangbo, who suddenly had to replace playmaker Otar Kitishvili as the striker’s replacement. Or goalkeeper Jörg Siebenhandl, who failed several times after several months consistently and thus destabilized the entire defense network.

A team waiting in the Basque Country on Thursday has lost once in La Liga and tops the standings. On Sunday, the Whites lost the difference with another player in the derby match against Athletic Bilbao, and they drew only 1-1, but coach Emmanuel’s team leads by one point over Real Madrid at the top of the league. They also won the “first leg” of the European League in Graz 1-0. At that time, Sturm goalkeeper Siebenhandl helped a lot with the goal.

Storm stats with a big flaw

Ilzer hopes to elicit some kind of bold reaction from his players – and he immediately coined a tagline for the game in Spain: “I rebel against this giant and show that there is something completely different inside of me.” You want to ride the plane with confidence, said the storm coach. “I don’t expect perfection. But I want to see how we act in difficult times. I can see very precisely who is the absolute winner and who is ready for the big games.” Sunday evening, Ilzer immediately tried to embody the necessary (meaningful) optimism. “We’re getting out of there. . Our mission statement is to be strict with yourself.”

Puntigamer Sturm didn’t play badly against the RZ Pellets WAC and was dominant on most of the stages. 19:2 shots on goal, 10:1 corners, but 0:3 on goals were the stats. “It ultimately depends on how you shoot,” Sippenhandel corrected. The goalkeeper of Graz diagnosed a self-defeating team. Second in the table, it is still in good shape. “It’s only up to us to move forward now, because we are greedy and we don’t give the opponent any chances.” “We just need to feel a sense of accomplishment that will bring the self-confidence back,” Gregory Wutrich emphasized.

How to get maximum points from minimum chances was explained on Sunday by Wolfsberg. Because the Carinthians only needed a few chances to score to sit at Sturm’s neck in the stream. “I know the stats speak for Graz across the board, but we have been very effective. Our tenacity and self-confidence have helped us too,” said coach Robin Dutt. The 3-0 win was the fifth consecutive competitive win for Carinthians, who are only two points behind Sturm. “We’re reaching for the stars, very clearly,” said Michael Lendl, the match’s great scorer 1-0.