Austrian Bundesliga 2019/20: RB Salzburg vs SKN St. Pölten – tactical analysis

Ahead of this clash between RB Salzburg and SKN St. Pölten the winner already seemed to be clear. St. Pölten are the team with the worst offence among all teams of the Austrian Bundesliga with 14 goals in the first 14 matches. On the other side, the team of Jesse Marsch scored 56 in the opening 14 games. This means that the score on average four goals per 90 minutes.

Besides, St. Pölten has got the second-worst defence of the whole league as they conceded 36 goals in until now. Only Mattersburg has got more goals against them. However, Salzburg sit meanwhile in the first position and are until now unbeaten in the Austrian Bundesliga with 12 wins and two draws. But the most impressing statistic is clearly that Salzburg won 12 out of their 13 matches against St. Pölten in the Austrian Bundesliga – that’s a record in the highest league in Austria.

Considering all these factors it seemed as it would be an easy task for Marschs team and besides, they played at home. This tactical analysis will look at both teams’ tactics and how St. Pölten were able to get a 2:2 draw against RB Salzburg

Lineups

The home team started in a 4-4-2 formation. The goalkeeper was Carlos Coronel since the two first-choice keepers Alexander Walke and Cican Stankovic are currently injured. The back four was made of the captain Andreas Ulmer, Marin Pongračić, André Ramalho and Rasmus Kristensen. The two central midfielders were Zlatko Junuzović and the 19-years-old Mohamed Camara

Masaya Okugawa and Majeed Ashimeru were the wingers while Takumi Minamino and Hee-chan Hwang were upfront. The wingers and the strikers permanently changed their positions to find new and free spaces. The current shooting star of the team Erling Haaland is currently not available due to knee problems.

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