Jagd auf den Red Bull

Austria Claim Wiener Bragging Rights

In the second meeting between the two Wien giants in this season’s Bundesliga, a goal from Maximilian Sax in the 50th minute was enough for Austria Wien to beat eternal rivals Rapid 1-0 at the Generali Arena and continue their growing bid for the league title. Having been held at the Allianz Stadion earlier on in the season, the tide was turned at the Generali Arena with the home crowd roaring their side to victory and Christopher Steegmann masterminding an important victory over a Rapid side that are fast sliding down the table after a positive start to the campaign.

Austria were plagued by injuries, which meant their first choice eleven that has fired them towards the summit of the Bundesliga was absent and a rotated side had to come together as a unit. Players such as David Cancola, stepped up over the 90 minutes though and gave their own chances of claiming a starting XI spot a boost with fine performances. In a tense and turgid first half, it looked like neither side would break the deadlock with the scores being level at 0-0 at the break with neither side really creating many chances. Rapid though, with the firepower they possess were disappointing and highlighted why they are slipping down the table.

After the break, Sax took his goal extremely well, being slipped into space just inside the Rapid penalty area before firing a powerful effort into the top corner to send the home fans wild. Defensively Austria looked extremely strong and Rapid, when they did manage to test the home defence, didn’t ever really look like claiming the victory and come the full time whistle, it was Austria Wien and Christopher Steegmann who celebrated an important victory as Die Vielchen extended their unbeaten run in the league to 13 games and kept another clean sheet in the league.

It is a result that means for the time being that it is Austria Wien and their fans who will no doubt have the bragging rights in the city. Their fans will no doubt also hope that come the end of May they will have another league title to celebrate, much to the despair of the Rapid Wien fans who themselves will be hoping that their side can turn around their poor run of form that has seen them slide closer to the relegation zone than to the Championship title.

Comments

Justice: I really hope not!

ScottT: Very tight indeed, it’s turning into a really interesting league campaign, hoping Salzburg can stay one step behind for a little while yet!

Last Update: #15 Month In Focus: October
Next Update: #17 Edomwonyi Saves Austria Wien From Comeback Defeat

Great result and one the fans will definitely enjoy, as you say. It shows that the desire is there, that even though you had to rotate your side, you were still able to pull off a result over your rivals. An unbeaten run of 13 is very impressive and is pulling you even closer to the title.

I guess your side is the biggest Wiener now.

Edomwonyi Saves Austria Wien From Comeback Defeat

Bright Edomwonyi’s 7th Bundesliga goal of the season in the 90th minute was enough to save Austria Wien’s blushes as they salvaged a 3-3 draw with bottom side Wolfsberger at the Generali Arena on Matchday 14 of the Bundesliga campaign. Despite having led 2-0 at half time after a fast start to the game, Wolfsberger clawed the game back in the second half and looked set to inflict a first defeat of the season on Austria Wien and Christopher Steegmann, however the Nigerian forward, signed from Sturm Graz in the summer, earned Die Vielchen a big point to move the home side a point clear at the top of the Bundesliga table.

Early goals from James Jeggo, the Australian scoring his third goal of the season, and the previously mentioned Edomwonyi, inside the first fifteen minutes gave Austria Wien a 2-0 lead early on as the home side were dominant. With returning faces such as Venuto and Dominik Prokop, Austria looked a lot more like their usual fluent attacking selves going forward and it was this attacking prowess that terrified the visitors as they soared into the lead, making it look like a long afternoon was ahead of Wolfsberger. However, Austria failed to make their dominance count as the first half wore on and Michael Liendl’s goal in the 35th minute from a free kick, set the path to comeback for Wolfsberger.

Austria again came out of the blocks on the ascendancy after the break but on the 55th minute mark the momentum turned as Edomwonyi blazed over from inside the area. Wolfsberger were level within ten minutes as Nemanja Rnic struck a very well hit effort to give the side sitting bottom of the Bundesliga hopes of picking up only their second three points of the season. When Sasa Jovanovic then put the visitors in front with only nine minutes of normal time remaining it looked like Wolfsberger were on their way to picking up a big victory but Bright Edomwonyi was the savior for Austria.

The Nigerian was slipped clean through on goal with two minutes of stoppage time left before slotting home, past Wolfsberger goalkeeper Alexander Kofler. The heads of the Wolfsberger defence were immediately dropped as the home fans roared their elation with Edomwonyi swamped as he ran towards the stands in jubiliation as his side moved top of the Bundesliga by a single point ahead of the game against St. Polten on Matchday 15.

Christopher Steegmann was visibly delighted by the late equaliser as his unbeaten start to life as Austria Wien manager continued as his Vielchen side took another big step towards the title.

Comments

ScottT: Would have loved to have blown them away but I’ll take a 1-0 victory and a clean sheet against them any day of the week! The rotation players are doing well at the moment and it’s pleasing and is going to make recruitment further down the line that little bit more difficult.

Justice: I’ve been waiting for someone to make that joke for a loong time now

Last Update: #16 Austria Claim Wiener Bragging Rights
Next Update: #18 Month In Focus: November

Two points or dropped or one point won? We won't know until the season's end but scoring a late equaliser will always be some sort of confidence boost for your players!

Not an ideal result, but thankfully the players had the quality and character to pull it back, despite surrendering their lead. A point is certainly better than none, but fingers crossed it won't come back to bite you at the end of the season.

Seems like you need work on reducing complacency after going from 2-0 up to 3-2 down, mate. That said, in the circumstances I think that this was a point gained

01.12.18, Christopher Steegmann ”15 games into the season, over half way through the initial stage of this Bundesliga season and all in all we have to be very pleased. We’re sitting top of the table despite having only won one of our three games this month but we were always going to have a little blip in our campaign somewhere along the line. Beating Rapid Wien in the first game of the month was a huge positive though and will have given our fans a bit of an extra skip in their step after the full time whistle which is always pleasing. To throw the lead away against Wolfsberger the way we did was disappointing but the lads showed great character and spirit to come back from 3-2 down in the closing exchanges of the game and then pick up a point that did actually put us top of the table. Bright Edomwonyi is slowly growing more and more into this season and scoring more goals and he will be crucial to our campaign if we are going to go on and win silverware this season. The defeat to St. Polten, our first this season was bitterly disappointing, considering they scored twice from six shots on target yet we had lots more and struggled in front of goal. Still, December will be another important month for us, heading into a long winter break and if we can end 2018 top of the league then everyone can be happy going in to Christmas.”

Comments

Justice: Considering the lateness of the equaliser I’m going to go with one point gained because we so very nearly threw it away against a team that we should have brushed aside given recent form!

ScottT: One point is definitely better than none although considering the strength of the opposition, the team need to make sure that similar results don’t happen again!

Jack: It is one of my biggest bug bears in football, when you throw away a 2 goal lead and draw or lose so there will be a few choice words in the changing room that’s for sure!

Last Update: #17 Edomwonyi Saves Austria Wien From Comeback Defeat
Next Update: #19 Grunwald Signs New Deal At Generali Arena

Firstly, I still can't get over how good the presentation of this story is. What you produce in terms of graphics and style is absolutely flawless and so easy on the eye.

Secondly, about your month in terms of results, looks a bit shaky in terms of form especially with your first loss of the season coming against a team who seems to be much more inferior in terms of quality added onto the slip up against Wolfsberger. You need to avoid falling into a bad patch of form at the mid-point of the season after the Wolfsberger draw as Sturm Graz look ready to pounce at the first opportunity.

You've got a tough month ahead of you with Wacker Innsbruck and I'm sure Linz will be looking to push up the table and toppling the league leaders would be an ideal way to do that. Aside from that, you're doing a great job with Austria Wien and keeping Red Bull out of the equation. And again, excellent work on the presentation, you make it so easy on the eye and a great read.

Top of the league, no complaints from me! A sore loss at the end of the month but let's put that down to you giving the rest of the league a chance

Christ Jack went a bit overboard on his comment...

Not the best of months in terms of results, but you're still sat top of the league and that's all that matters. It just makes next month even more important in terms of getting the points and cementing first position. Surprised to see Salzburg falling away and your nearest challengers being Graz.

Grunwald Signs New Deal At Generali Arena

Having enjoyed a fruitful start to the Bundesliga campaign, Austria Wien have today confirmed that club captain Alexander Grunwald has extended his contract at the Generali Arena until June 2022, taking the midfielder up to his 33rd birthday. Having spent the main part of his career at Austria Wien, Grunwald looks set to all but see out his playing career at the club, and will hope to continue to be a pivotal cog in Christopher Steegmann’s title chasing team and into next season too with the prospect of European football looming large for Die Vielchen.

Grunwald has started the season in flying form scoring six goals in the Bundesliga and a further three in Austria’s run to the Quarter Finals of the OFB-Cup, and played a pivotal role in Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Wacker Innsbruck in another important Bundesliga match. The attacking midfielder, has often been deployed just behind the striker and should the 29 year old remain injury free for the rest of the season, should better his best ever goal tally for Die Vielchen.

The signing of a new contract will also deter interest that was gathering in Grunwald from clubs around Europe with a number of clubs in both Germany and France being heavily linked with a move for the skipper in the upcoming January transfer window. However with the skipper playing such a pivotal part in Austria’s charge up the table and ongoing title charge a move away from the club never seemed likely, certainly not at this stage of the season.

Grunwald will be hoping that his fine form for Die Vielchen and prospective role played in a potential title winning campaign will earn him a place in the Austria national team. The 29 year old is, as yet, uncapped at senior international level, however Grunwald did make 7 appearances for Austria’s under 21’s, scoring 3 goals in his limited appearances for the club.

Alexander Grunwald’s first interview with the club since signing his contract extension will arrive online shortly, meanwhile the skipper will no doubt now be concentrating solely on the weekend’s trip to LASK Linz on Matchday 17 of the Bundesliga.

Comments

Jack: Wow, thanks for the reply man Like I’ve said on your story mate, your presentation is a damn sight lot better than mine so it means a lot you’re praising mine so highly Yeah the morale seems to have dropped a little bit and defences seem to have shored up against us a bit, but we’ve got enough quality in the squad that we can overcome difficulties like this. The Wolfsberger result was a kick in the teeth but it provided us with valuable lessons to learn from and move forward with and hopefully we can make sure blips like this don’t happen too often.

Justice: Top of the league, and we’ll be heading into an almost three month long winter break soon so would be great if we could keep that up till the end of December and into the new year!

ScottT: Salzburg are being really weird, they’re not losing many games, but they don’t seem to be able to catch us! I have a horrible feeling they’re going to make me regret saying that though!

Last Update: #18 Month In Focus: November
Next Update: #20 Grunwald: "This Club Is Everything To Me"

Grunwald: This Club Is Everything To Me

Having broken the news earlier today that club captain Alexander Grunwald had signed a new contract at Austria Wien, fk-austria.at had the chance to catch up with the 29 year old for his first interview since extending his stay at the club until 2022. The skipper, fresh from scoring in the 4-2 victory over 4th placed Wacker Innsbruck, spoke about his love for the club, his career at the Generali Arena to date, life at the club under Christopher Steegmann and what he hopes to achieve with Austria between now and June 2022.

fk-austria.at

Alexander Grunwald

Alexander, congratulations on the new deal. How does it feel knowing that you have extended your stay at the club until 2022?
It feels brilliant and it’s nice to have the negotiations out of the way and be able to focus solely on the football from this point onwards. The manager made it clear he wanted me to stay right from the minute go, so to have the contract signed and my future set in concrete now is great and I’m just looking forward to getting my head down and continuing playing in this exciting team.

Apart from two seasons spent at Wiener Neustadt, you’ve spent your entire career at Austria Wien, what is it about this club that has made you want to stay here for so long?
For me, this club is my lifeblood. I was born in Klagenfurt but I was raised as an Austria Wien fan and I followed this club almost religiously when I was growing up. To then be given the opportunity to play for this team, and to play for this team for as long as I have done, it is an incredible honour and a dream come true. This club is everything to me, I love everything about it, the fans, the stadium, the history and when I retire, I will be honoured until the day I die that I got to represent this club and captain it.

You’ve started this season extremely well, scoring 6 goals in 16 league games, what has made you as prolific as you have been for Die Vielchen this season?
The team has started the season really well so by working as a collective I think it has helped my tallies for this season. We’re scoring goals and by playing up the pitch like I do I think it’s natural that I’m going to get chances. Obviously, I’ve taken a few penalties and scored some and missed some, so my tally could have been bigger, but when the team creates as many chances as we do and play as much football in and around the opposition penalty area, we’re going to win set pieces because the defences are struggling to deal with us.

Is this amongst the best Austria Wien teams you have been apart of? Things are going very well this season.
I think at this moment in time, in the middle of December, it is probably too early to say but if we’re having a bit of fun, I’m going to say yes. Obviously the team that won the title(in 2012/13) was special and that was a big achievement, winning the league ahead of the likes of Rapid and Red Bull Salzburg, but this team is playing some very exciting football, getting the ball quickly and we’re challenging for the title when people really didn’t expect us to, just a few months into the new managers regime.

If you go on to win the league this season, would that be the biggest achievement of your career to date and trump the 2012/13 league winning season?
Oh, definitely. Coming off the back of a 7th placed finish last season and not having European football this year, alongside the challenges a new manager faces and the team faces when a new manager comes in and tries to introduce his own style, if we do win the title this year, it is definitely going to be the biggest achievement of my career to date.

A few months ago there were rumours that your relationship with Christopher Steegmann wasn’t the best, can you confirm or deny those rumours and just what is that relationship like?
No I can categorically deny those rumours. The relationship has never been sour, the manager has always been really open with me and I’ve always felt like a key part of his set up, especially since he named me captain. There’s been a constant dialogue between the two of us which makes my life as captain a lot easier I can tell you that. We’re going places under Christopher and I’m really looking forward to seeing where we can go.

That is interesting and good to hear. Do you think the new manager is bringing an improved cohesiveness to this team and the dressing room?
Definitely. The atmosphere around the club has been brilliant over the last few weeks. The results we’ve been getting will definitely be helping with that but the manager has put an emphasis on maintaining morale around the club, making sure nobodies unhappy, including backroom staff and making sure that as a team we really grow both on the pitch and off the pitch. This is a great group of lads with a good young manager who really understands what it’s like to be a footballer in 2018 at the helm and things are really good here.

Just how much has Christopher Steegmann changed at Austria Wien this season?
I think I have to be honest and say he’s changed loads. The work we’ve been doing on the training ground has been extremely hard, because he’s been working us a lot harder than I’ve been worked in a while so I’m hoping the other lads are feeling it too. Obviously the results on the pitch have been great and are a big improvement on last season where we finished 7th, whilst now we’re challenging on the pitch but off the pitch there is a real cohesiveness about this team which I don’t think has been there for a while. There is a special feeling around the club at the moment which I think has been introduced by the new manager and long may it continue.

Has the new manager subsequently improved your game?
I think my goal and assist stats would suggest that he has helped me to improve my game. Scoring 6 goals in 16 games in the league and having three goals in the cup to my name is obviously a big achievement and I am thrilled with my form. I feel like the manager has given me a very specific role to play in this team with some detailed instructions that I have to follow game in game out, which is excellent because, although it’s working me hard, I feel like I’m filling a role in the team that is vitally important and that’s highlighted in the impact I’m having in this team this season.

Going back to you and this new contract, what do you hope or even expect to achieve in the remaining years of your contract?
Honestly, winning some more silverware would be a dream come true. This is a huge club that is built on winning trophies so to have only won one major trophy in my career here, which was the league title in 2012/13, is something that I definitely want to improve on. There are four huge years to come on my current contract and hopefully this team can go on to win trophies especially with the work we’re doing under Christopher Steegmann and the progress we’ve already made and will continue to make.

There were rumours of clubs such as Girondins de Bordeaux and Lille OSC being interested in your services. Were those clubs and a transfer to Ligue 1 ever amongst your interests or were you solely interested in staying at Austria Wien?
I know there was interest. The manager told me there was interest and wanted to talk to me about whether I wanted to leave to join one of them. I know Bordeaux were definitely very interested. However the moment the manager told me they were interested but that he wanted to offer me a new contract, my decision was made and I knew I was going to stay here. Like I said earlier, this club is absolutely everything to me, I love it, I always will and we’re on course to achieve something special this year and hopefully we’ll be lifting some silverware at the end of this season.

You’re 29 years old now and although you’ve got a fair few years left in your career yet, do you still hope to be a part of an Austrian national team squad at some point? Do you feel that you have done enough to earn that call up?
Absolutely. To represent the national team would be a huge honour for me. There are some very good players in the national team at the moment though so it would mean I have played some excellent football over the last few months if I was to earn a call up meaning the honour would be even bigger because of the quality of player I would be called up instead of.

Finally Alexander, do you set yourself personal goals for the season and if so what is the aim for this season, heading into the final stages of the campaign and the run in for the title?
You do and you don’t if that makes sense. You set the goals, but you never really seem to take them too seriously. For me I would love to make this my best season of my career with the amount of goals and assists I get but if I don’t score again or assist another goal between now and the end of the season but the team goes on to win the league and achieve something very special I would be more than delighted with that and would consider myself very lucky to be a part of another title winning team.

Awesome, thanks for taking the time out to join us today, good luck for the rest of the season!
It’s been an pleasure, thank you!

Last Update: #19 Grunwald Signs New Deal At Generali Arena
Next Update: #21 Month In Focus: December

That seems to be a very important piece of business in my eyes, almost like a new signing. A new contract being signed will certainly deter the interest from those clubs in France and Germany that you mentioned and allow you to keep hold of such an important player. Having interest from the likes of Bordeaux and Lille just show the quality he has. Hopefully Austria will recognise that and allow him an opportunity on the international stage soon.

A happy captain is everything when you're top of the league and trying to maintain morale to stay there! I'm sure once you get back into Europe then Grunwald's homegrown at club status will be valuable in the registration, not to mention his apparent quality in the squad. His spell at the clubs should make him a fan favourite regardless of ability so a new contract was a good decision in my opinion... Now go win that title for him!