Austria Vienna is coming

Stable! There are four “trees” in the WAC headquarters

Captain Dominik Baumgartner and the WAC want to stop Austria Vienna's run on Saturday.

(Bild: f. pessentheiner)

The team of the moment comes to Lavanttal! WAC welcome Austria Vienna, who have won four games in a row, to the Bundesliga this Saturday. The team will be looking to stop the Violet Express with a strong fight and heart. Coach Didi Kühbauer could once again fall back on the recently successful back three.

As is well known, there were 299 trees at the Klagenfurt soccer stadium in 2019 as part of the "For Forest" art project. As a result, the WAC was unable to play its Europa League group games in Carinthia's capital. But now the "Wolves" themselves have four "trees" in the defensive center, which provide a lot of stability. 

• Dominik Baumgartner: The Wolfsburg captain is 1.88 meters tall and has won 69 percent of his duels, the fourth most in the entire Bundesliga.
• Nicolas Wimmer: 1.90 meters tall and very strong with his header! With 70% of tackles won, he is third in the league behind Cvetkovic (Rapid) and Mitrovic (BW Linz).
• Simon Piesinger: At 1.96 meters, the giant in front of the defense - nicknamed "Maypole". He has a tackle rate of 58 percent. 
• Chibuike Nwaiwu: The new fighting machine (has won 60 percent of all duels) is set, 1.93 m tall and can play variably in defense and midfield. 

At 1.96 meters, Simon Piesinger has air superiority.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Strong duel ratio
Thanks in part to these four mainstays, the WAC leads the Bundesliga duel statistics together with LASK with 53 percent. "We're really strong in duels and in the air, no question about it," says captain Baumgartner. "Defensively, the system is now more compact than before. But we need to create more chances in attack. That was the shortcoming recently." Coach Didi Kühbauer sees it similarly: "We wanted to have a presence on the pitch, even with headers - that's why we brought in Wimmer, for example. However, the work at the back of the attack doesn't work perfectly at times - but once Atanga and Kojzek are back from injury, that will also improve."

Dominant in duels: Wolfsberg's giants Wimmer (left) and Nwaiwu!

(Bild: f. pessentheiner)

"Keep your heart on the pitch!"
The fact is: Because they conceded two goals from penalties in the 2-1 defeat in the derby in Klagenfurt, the Lavanttaler have not conceded a goal from the game in three matches (previously 1-0 against BW Linz and 0-0 against Salzburg). Austria Vienna, however, are the most in-form team in the league this Saturday - the Violets have won four games in a row. "They don't play from a single mold, but they get the points. They are stable, have a lot of experience in the squad with Dragovic and co. - we have to leave our hearts on the pitch," says coach Kühbauer, who will not be replacing the suspended "co" Jochum on the bench.

Back three as an option
Against Salzburg and in the second half of the derby, the WAC played with a back three, with Nwaiwu slotting in at the back between Baumgartner and Wimmer - it worked well both times. This variant could therefore also be used against Austria Vienna - "Küh" had played with a 4-2-3-1 for a long time. Kühbauer: "Many teams now play with a back three, it simply makes their own system more secure. It's good for us to be variable - we can change it spontaneously in the game."