Wolfsberger AC

Wolfsberger had turbulent season that ended in disaster with the Wolves missing out on Europe at the last possible minute. The signs of a difficult campaign were there from the start as 4 defeats were suffered in the first 5 rounds, with 3 goals or more conceded in each of those. All season Wolfsberger’s awful defensive displays were the main reason why they suffered. Things were much better going forward where top scorer Jovjelic was prolific and captain Liendl created tons of big chances. Form improved between November and late January (W4 D3 L1) and this enough to move the Wolves in the top 6. Also during this period some good results achieved in Europe, with Wolfsberger happy to reach the knockouts of Europa League for the first time in their history. However, things started to go wrong near the end of February when for an Austrian Cup game coach Feldhofer left out captain Liendl and a few other senior players after falling out with them, but this resulted in the Board siding with the players and sacking the coach straight away. To defuse the tensions in the dressing room experienced Dutt was appointed in charge and 5 wins in the last 8 rounds of the regular season were enough to see Wolfsberger qualifying for Play-off I. The Wolves started the play-offs with embarrassing 1:8 home loss vs. Rapid, biggest ever defeat for the team, and they never properly recovered from that so missed out on direct qualification for Europe (top 4 finish). The season still could have been saved as decisive play-off vs. Austria Vienna was to distribute the last European visa, but in that the Wolves lost 1:5 on aggregate. Considering that superstar Liendl will be 36-years-old come next season + several other important players will be 33 or more Wolfsberger might be considering serious changes to their personnel this summer, especially after missing out on Europe.

Player of the Season: Michael Liendl