Austria's tenth place in the penultimate of the Armenian league, Alashkert.
The table comparison makes sure: Both LASK and his Conference League opponent Alashkert are lagging behind their claims. On Thursday (6.45pm / live Sky ) the penultimate of the Armenian championship will receive the tenth of the Austrian Bundesliga in Yerevan, but the slogan “Not gegen Elend” should not do justice to the duel. In any case, LASK wants to follow up on its good away European Cup games and take a step out of the crisis.
Fourth trick?
Three to zero victories in Novi Sad, St. Johnstone (qualification) and Helsinki (1st group game) are on the credit side of the Linz team. In Alashkert's alternative stadium, a 14,000-meter oval named after the former Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, the fourth trick is now to follow. “We have played our best games in previous international appearances,” said LASK trainer Andreas Wieland before departure on Wednesday. “If we find our way back to our game, put our behaviors on the pitch for more than 25 minutes, we can certainly take something countable with us.”
Most recently, they struggled not only with offensive inefficiency, but also with a drop in performance after a committed start, as after the 0: 1 against the WAC on Sunday. “We have to keep up the pace for the entire season,” demanded Wieland, who, as he did against WAC, had to do without the ailing center forward Marko Raguz on the offensive. Instead, Mamoudou Karamoko returns on the central offensive. “One or the other position will be rotated,” announced Wieland. After all, he has to think about the upcoming league game on Sunday: Against table neighbor Altach, a so-called mandatory win is pending.
“Play through the game”
For central defender Jan Boller, the matter is clear before the duel with the last of ECL group A. “We have come back to our basics in the past few weeks. We just have to go through with our game,” said the 21-year-old. “We just have to stick with it and go a step further. We definitely don't lack the quality. If the knot bursts, we will win the games that we supposedly have to win,” emphasized the German.
A “threesome” would keep LASK, who is currently tied with leader Maccabi Tel Aviv (4 each) in second place, on the way up. It is only the second meeting of an Austrian and Armenian troop in the European Cup: In 2008, Salzburg shot Banants Yerevan 10-0 overall in the UEFA Cup qualification, and Alashkert also lost 4-1 at Tel Aviv and 4-2 Helsinki did not send a letter of recommendation.
In addition, Armenia's champions, who set a new coaching impulse with the Serb Milan Milanovic (58) at the end of September, the red-banned captain Artak Grigoryan in defensive midfield is missing. Nevertheless, Wieland attested that the debutants in a European group stage had “high quality play, sometimes also aggressive play against the ball”.
