LASK Linz

LASK took major gamble last summer in appointing Dominik Thalhammer as their head coach after he spent the last 10 years in charge of women’s football teams. The new boss had new vision too and he introduced 3-4-2-1 shape, with LASK needing time in the early months to get used to it and the manager’s requirements. It wasn’t bad start to the season though (W7 D2 L1), but luck soon started abandoning LASK. The main centre forward Raguz suffered season-ending injury as early as October, while signed to replace him Karamoko had the same fate a month later after just 2 appearances. When Gruber also suffered season-ending injury in round 18 LASK found themselves without typical centre forward available for the rest of the season. Added to that constant minor problems with one or other of the 3 main centre-backs and it wasn’t huge surprise that LASK lost touch with the top 2 come the end of the regular season. The play-off campaign was not very successful too and in the end LASK had to settle only for fourth place. The other major disappointment from spring was the lost Austrian Cup final against Salzburg. Winger Eggestein deserve special mentioning as he became LASK’s top scorer after fitting very nicely in the false nine role once all the main strikers got injured. The German worked very hard in every match and was certainly doing his best to compensate for the absence of 3 important strikers. Thalhammer did much better than many expected in his first year in charge of a men’s team in a decade and predictions are that in his second year in charge LASK will play even better. If the health of the squad is better too Black and Whites could be the surprised package next term as when everyone is fit they even have enough quality in their ranks to be considered title-contenders.

Player of the Season: Johannes Eggestein