LASK Linz – Sturm Graz Prediction & Picks (24.04.2019)

soccer-predictions

LASK Linz – Sturm Graz SOCCER PICKS

On the 5th match day of the Austrian Bundesliga championship round, the duel between the Linz ASK and Sturm Graz will take place on Wednesday evening in the TGW Arena in Pasching. This duel will take place twice within five days. On Sunday, the Upper Austrians drive to Graz. The Linzer are still the surprise team in the league as a clear runner-up. But with four competitive matches without a victory, LASK has recently gotten a bit of a beating. The plans for the future of Coach Oliver Glasner, who will probably leave the club towards the German Bundesliga at the end of the season, cause concern. On Tuesday, however, the change to VfL Wolfsburg was fixed.

Sturm Graz also does not get going in the championship round. After the 1: 2 home defeat on Sunday against the Wolfsberg AC of SK has lost three of the four games of the champion group. Thus, the club from Styria is only on the fifth place in the table. Sturm Graz is currently missing four points in the coveted third place. If you take the game Lask Vs. Sturm Graz the odds of the bookmakers to help, the guests on Wednesday probably can not shorten the gap. The home side will go into the match as clear favorites.

Lask:

Since the 2015/16 season, the Linz ASK is coached by Oliver Glasner. In the preseason, the coach led the Upper Austrians as a starter in the first league equal to a great fourth place. This season, the runner-up title is the big goal. But from the next season, the Linzer have to look for a new head coach. At Glasner negotiations with Wolfsburg were successfully completed on Tuesday. If you look at the results of the LASK in recent weeks, the coaching plans could have an impact on the performance of the team. Already eleven years ago, Linz had undergone a similar situation. At that time it was about the change from coach Karl Daxbacher to Austria Vienna. The newcomer LASK had long been involved even in the title race, but missed with only five points from the last eight games even the European Cup.

Even Glasner himself had to admit that currently “only” 95 percent of his time belong to the Linzer ASK. With the 2: 2 against Austria on Sunday evening, Linz could not finish his winless series. Although the Athletik-Sport-Club had twice taken the lead in Vienna, they could not conquer the victory. In the usual 3-4-3, the guests hardly got into long ball possession phases due to the effective pressing of the Austria and had to try it early in the game build-up with high balls. Due to the draw against Austria the lead on Wolfsberg melted to six points. The best man of the guests in Vienna was Joao Klauss. The loan from Hoffenheim brought his team twice in front with his two goals. On the other side one noticed with the black-whites also the absence of defending boss Gernot Trauner and Philipp Wiesinger. Both return against Graz back into the squad. The only thing missing is the South Korean In-Pyo Oh.

Sturm Graz:

The SK Sturm Graz had finished the regular season of the Austrian Bundesliga still on a good third place behind Salzburg and Linz. But in the championship round things are not going so well for the Styrians. The only points were in the 1-0 victory at the Austria. The goal was “third place” spent. If Salzburg wins the trophy, the club would qualify in third place directly for the Europa League group stage. In the preseason Graz had to celebrate the Cup victory and the runner-up. With the current fifth place, the black and white can hardly be satisfied. On Sunday, there was a bitter 1: 2 home defeat against Wolfsberg for the Grazer. The home side had taken the lead by penalty, but gave the game completely out of hand.

Although coach Roman Mählich many criticisms such as the “playing out of opportunities,” the “order and security,” the “creativity”, the “last pass” or “good flanks”, the coach continued to woo for leniency. Sporting director Günter Kreissl, however, slowly seems to lose patience and went to the team hard to court. The coach gets but further backing. Third place is still within reach with a gap of four points. To reach this, the club from Styria has to increase as fast as possible. Markus Lackner and Philipp Huspek are questionable against Linz.


© Andrey