English speakers? Need help! (Polish fan)

[Dj Domino]

Hello there. First off this is a really nice site, even if I can't read anything! It's very well put together, better even than our site, www.polishsoccer.com. That's why I'm here actually. We are overhauling the site and my job is to come up with scouting reports on the teams in our group. I figure a good way to do this is to go to an Austrian football forum and I found you guys. I've seen so many times where magazine and websites give previews of the Polish national team and they include players that won't even be on the team! I want to make sure that doesn't happen to our site, so I'm here to ask for some info and maybe some links. If any of you know where I can watch or download some recent games involving Austria that'd be great, but also I wanted to ask you guys about your team. More specifically, I want to make sure of the formation you usually employ, what your probably starting XI will be (although it may be too early for that) and as well I want to know your best kept secret -- who is the one Austrian player no one has ever really paid attention to but has potential or is a key part of your squad? We all know about Ivanschitz and Linz, but who should else should we be scared of?

Thanks in advance.

[schooontn]

I want to make sure of the formation you usually employ

Our Coach has used a quite defensive 4-5-1 Formation with two defensive Midfielders over the last few games and i think that he will stick with this formation, allthough we don`t have a quality striker who is really able to play as a lone striker.

what your probably starting XI will be (although it may be too early for that)

Macho/Manninger/Payer

Garics - Pogatetz - Prödl/Stranzl - Gercaliu/(Pogatetz)/Ibertsberger

Aufhauser/(maybe Scharner) - Säumel/(Stranzl)

Right Winger (to be honest..we don`t have a good one) - Ivanschitz - Leitgeb

Linz/Kuljic

who is the one Austrian player no one has ever really paid attention to but has potential or is a key part of your squad?

Some of our u20 Players have got a lot of potential (Proedl, Kavlak, Junuzovic, Okotie, Harnik) but i don´t think that they will be key parts of our squad. (except Proedl, of course.) Hickersberger prefers Ivanschitz/Leitgeb as Attacking Midfielders/Left Wing, so Kavlak/Junuzovic won´t be more than back ups for them. - and Okotie/Harnik won´t play much professional football over the next few months, so i think that they shouldn`t be in our squad. (well, Harnik is quite overhyped in Austria and Hickersberger could pick him and maybe even start him on the right)

We all know about Ivanschitz and Linz, but who should else should we be scared of?

Who you should be scared of ? Well, i guess that the only thing that you (maybe) should be scared of are set pieces. Pogatetz, Prödl, Aufhauser, (Scharner),maybe Janko have the (heading) abilities to bring your defence in to a lot of trouble...and maybe Hoffer finally made the transition from being a sprinter to become a footballer..but apart from that i think that there won´t be much that you should really scared of..

[+[Jogi]+]

Well, due to the late time, I keep my answer quite short. Honestly, I would not be worried to much about the game against our squad. Unfortunately, we did not succeed in building up a competitive team, which I personally blame on our coach and some internal struggles. (though I have to admit, half of the fans might have another point of view) Anyway, regarding the players - you should not be worried about Ivanschitz - although he is/was seen as leading figure in our squad he never came close to that. Pogatetz (Middlesbrough), Stranzl (Spartak Moscow) are definitely defensive players worth to mention.

I still believe we are missing two of our best players - Scharner (Wigan Athletic) and Vastic (Linz ASK) - but as I said, it is very unlikely that you will ever see them in our squad. Moreover, the current top-scorer of our league M. Haas (Sturm Graz) will probably ignored as well by our coach. God knows why. It seems that players of the second Norwegian league are much better :hää?deppat?: As you can easily see, many Austrians are more than dissatisfied with our performance and our coach, thus the current support for the European championship seriously sucks! it's a shame because we would have much more capacity and would definitely be able to get a promising squad on the pitch.

If you find some pages where you can download recent games of our national team, please tell me

However, you should be reminded that watching those games may cause serious side-effects as headache and vomiting. So in case of those adverse effects or depression please contact a health profession immediately or just switch to another national team.

cheers!

[Gorer]

the next time where you can see our "glorious" squad is against Germany on the 6.Feb

i think you can watch it on myp2p.eu

[Dj Domino]

And I thought Polish fans were pessimistic! You never know with a host nation though. Thanks a lot for the info guys, it has been really helpful. The match next week will be very informative. I'm guessing Austria will be going all out? Should be a good match to gauge who will go to Euro. I'll be back after that match and maybe talk about it and break it down tactically with you guys.

Btw, was the match announced before the draw for the tournament was held? Very odd for two sides in the same group to face each other before the tournament although I know Poland did it with Ecuador before the World Cup, but that was announced beforehand.

[sundaydriver]

Btw, was the match announced before the draw for the tournament was held?

yes it was.

[+[Jogi]+]

there was a lot of discussion going on, whether to cancel the game or not. I am quite glad they did not, will be interesting to watch. Still it is just a friendly game.

[valderama]

+' date='01 Feb 2008, 16:03 ' post='1838918']

Still it is just a friendly game.

:hää?deppat?: