Bundesliga: Rapid acts like a “school team”

Instead of having great self-confidence, coach Dietmar Kühbauer’s team now travels to defending champion Red Bull Salzburg with a lot of luggage problems for the knockout round of the ÖFB Cup on Wednesday.

“In the first half it was really one of the worst matches I have ever seen,” emphasized Kühbauer. He only excluded goalkeeper Paul Gartler from his criticism. “Everybody has to stick their nose out, that wasn’t enough from back to front, we let Wattens take control,” said the Burgenlander.

Again weaknesses in standard situations

Especially the story of the goals against David Schnegg (5th) and former Rapidler Thanos Petsos (29th) – Rapid fell asleep after briefly playing corners – crossed paths with the coach. “We behave so badly that I think it can’t be,” said Kühbauer annoyed. The second objective was also the “mirror image” of the first. “Two corners were played, goals conceded so cheap. We defended like a school team, ”goalie Gartler got angry.

The problem persists into the fall, having previously been susceptible to tall balls. “Our standard problem is really serious,” Kühbauer had to admit. Players are also aware of this. “Standards have been killing us all season,” outside player Thorsten Schick said.

“I didn’t bring him to the plaza”

But that was not the only problem that day, apart from a great opportunity from Taxiarchis Fountas (39th) before the break, nothing went up. That was probably also a consequence of the rotation. Six new forces were in the starting eleven compared to 2: 2 at the conclusion of the Europa League on Thursday against Molde.

“We still would have had enough quality to beat Wattens. I thought the boys would do well, but they didn’t take it to the field, ”Kühbauer said. It wasn’t spinning for joke and fun. “The problem is that some players are at the limit or above, they just have problems,” said the 49-year-old. For example, he didn’t want Kelvin Arase (from 46th place) or Srdjan Grahovac (from 63rd place) to play, but he changed it due to poor scoring. Top forwards Ercan Kara and Mateo Barac (each from 46th place) arrived ahead of schedule. Defense chief Maximilian Hofmann was not on the team.

“Heads have to be up now”

“I hope one or the other player will come back and then we will have a good game in Salzburg,” said Kühbauer. It’s also about revenge for the 1: 2 home loss in 2019 in the second round of the cup. “We all expected more, but now we have to lift our heads, even if it is difficult at the moment,” said the Rapid manager. An absolute top team awaits with Salzburg. “You really need all that is necessary.”

This is followed by the away game in Admira. “When you’re at a club like Rapid, you have to live with the fact that people quickly forget that the players have performed well for more than six months and that everything quickly drags into the mud. It is important that we remain calm at the club, ”said Kühbauer.

Silberberger, delighted with the “dream performance”

Wattens still has the home game against Ried ahead of him. As fifth, the Tyrolese are only four points behind Rapid and spend the winter in the top six. “The truth is that I think nine and a half out of ten experts saw us as the bottom of the table. We did a lot of things well, our place at the table is a reward for our work, ”said WSG coach Thomas Silberberger.

After the “highlight of the season so far” and a “dream performance”, it is important to stay on the ground. “I’m not going to do Purzigagel (Tyrolean for somersault, note) through Wattens now,” the 47-year-old emphasized. I just wanted to take a bottom line after Ried’s game: “The victory is only worth something if we face Ried on Sunday. Then it would be a strong fall. “