After the first two games after the restart of the Austrian Bundesliga, we saw that LASK Linz and Rapid Vienna are already on a quite decent level, but not there where they want to be. Rapid have huge problems with injuries while LASK aren’t yet able to show the amazing performances they did in the 22 matches ahead of the break.
Ahead of this direct clash between these two teams, Rapid Vienna sat with 23 points in the third position behind Wolfsberger AC and RB Salzburg. The team of Valérien Ismaël were one point behind them in the fourth position.
In this tactical analysis, we will talk about the tactics of both teams in this game and the reasons for this 1-0 victory of Rapid against LASK Linz.
Lineups
Linz went with their typical 3-4-3 formation as they always do with two little adjustments compared to their draw against Wolfsberger AC. Alexander Schlager was in goal and the back three in front of him was made out of Philipp Wiesinger, Gernot Trauner and Petar Filipovic who got into the team for Christian Ramsebner. Peter Michorl and James Holland occupied the centre while Reinhold Ranftl and Andrés Andrade. Usually, René Renner is the left-wing-back, but this time Ismaël gave him a break and Andrade got the chance to play in his third game in this season for LASK in the Bundesliga (usually plays for their second team). Upfront we had the usual front three with Husein Balić, Dominik Frieser and Marko Raguž.
On the other side, Dietmar Kühbauer also went with a 3-4-3 formation as he mainly did in this season in the games against RB Salzburg and LASK Linz. Tobias Knoflach replaced the injured Richard Strebinger in goal. Leo Greiml, Dejan Ljubicic (who is usually defensive midfielder) and Maximilian Hofmann were the three defenders. Since three of their best central defenders are out due to injuries, they had to play with Ljubicic and Greiml who is just 18 years old. Dejan Petrovič and Srdjan Grahovac played in the central midfield while Maximilian Ullmann and Stephan Auer were the wing-backs. In attack, Kühbauer put Ercan Kara into the starting eleven while their top striker Taxiarchis Fountas was on the bench. Kelvin Arase and Stefan Schwab supported him upfront.
LASK’s flexibility
Before we look at the tactics of both teams in this tactical analysis, I have to note that both teams had similar plans in this game. LASK Linz and Rapid Vienna wanted to give the opposition no chance on the ball, pressed quite high up the pitch and had as a main offensive principle long balls to then win the second ball. This can also be seen when we look at the following stats: 6% of LASK’s 143 possession phases reached the opposition’s penalty area while 1% of Rapid Vienna’s 135 attacks reached the penalty box of the opponent. 14% of the passes of Linz were long balls while Rapid Vienna has a value of 26% for this category – both quite high.
However, still, there were some interesting tactical concepts and even though overall both teams neutralised each other quite well, there were some moments in which you saw that both sides slightly adjusted their offensive tactics to have more chances when it comes to the progression of the ball.
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