Straight talk from the coach

Brenner: “There will only be full throttle under me”

Austria coach Martin Brenner has clear expectations.(Bild: www.austria-lustenau.at)

Lustenau coach Martin Brenner was bitterly disappointed with the 2-2 draw in the last test match at VfB Hohenems. The ambitious coach would have expected much more against his former club. Not only from the result, but also from the way the team presented itself on the pitch.

 It is obvious that the relegated Bundesliga team still has a lot of coordination problems on the pitch. Running routes are not yet right, actions came to nothing. The defense with the center-back duo Matthias Maak and Leo Metzler "swam" at times against the lower-class opponent.

"We can't put in a performance like that"
And there was an almost complete lack of penetration up front. The motivated regional league runners-up under returning coach Werner Grabher were at least an equal opponent. "I had done a tough training session the day before, the players were tired and lacked energy. Some of them have only been here for a short time and need to acclimatize," the coach qualified. But he immediately added: "Nevertheless, we can't put in a performance like that."

Promise to the fans
In general, however, Brenner believes his team is on the right track. "The hard weeks of training were very good and the six test matches have also helped us progress." And he makes a promise to the fans: "I guarantee that the team will always go full throttle in every game, I won't tolerate anything else."

Light and even more shade
In order to put his concept of bold attacking soccer into practice, a lot more power is needed in attack. One bright spot in attack was the young academy player Mehmet Akbulut, who also scored a goal. The other newcomers remained pale. The new number ten, Abdellah Baallal, provided light and even more shade. The 19-year-old Moroccan scored a wonderful goal, but also made some insane mistakes and at times was unable to control his emotions.