Marked for Raphael Junuzovic
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Aug 2040
Altach march on in the cup
Mattersburg are out and Altach go through, 4‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad3 Sep 2040
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings3 Sep 2040
A brace, and Valentino Sabitzer takes the afternoon — 9.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Valentino Sabitzer provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match3 Sep 2040
Altach are in real trouble now
Position 8, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market3 Sep 2040
Only the photograph left for Peter Sabitzer
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Peter Sabitzer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Altach the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings3 Sep 2040
Konrad Schlager, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match1 Sep 2040
Nobody wins at Altach
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad3 Sep 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Altach this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Sep 2040
Words at Altach training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gatis Gabovs is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Oct 2039
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings10 Oct 2039
Sebastian Laimer, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings10 Oct 2039
Nobody could get near Kevin Doku
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match8 Oct 2039
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Oct 2039
Words at Altach training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vesel Demaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad10 Oct 2039
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kevin Doku and Altach agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Oct 2039
Tempers go at Altach
Kevin Doku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces10 Oct 2039
Everybody has an opinion about Elias Lorenz
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market10 Oct 2039
The Elias Lorenz talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Altach know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
-
Boardroom
The Altach production line keeps running
-
Player ratings
The pass was always on for Tristan Podobas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Jun 2039
Altach are in real trouble now
Position 8, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad13 Jun 2039
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad13 Jun 2039
Vesel Demaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.