by Bulldog Drummond
Tonight we are away to Rapid Wien, kick off at the singularly bizarre time of 1755 GMT.
It is normal with these previews for newspapers and websites imperiously to headline that “All you need to know” and then tell you the date, time and TV channel. I would never wish it to be thought that I have any idea what you personally need to know hence the title of this little piece. I’ll try and put down in a couple of articles what I’ve found out in the hope that it is of interest.
As far as I can tell the Austrian League had no summer break at all, and once the league last season had been resumed they finished off those games and moved straight into the new season.
The League in Austria plays 22 games at which point Rapid were third, eight points behind Red Bull Salzburg who under the constitution have to win stuff each year because otherwise the trophy engraver would get confused.
At that point the league is re-arranged the points obtained during the first part of the season are halved (and rounded down) before the start of the playoff league. (Honest I am not making that up). Rapid Wien started third with 20 points, and off they went again the final table reading
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Bull Salzburg | 32 | 22 | 8 | 2 | 110 | 34 | +76 | 50 |
| 2 | Rapid Wien | 32 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 64 | 43 | +21 | 38 |
| 3 | Wolfsberger AC | 32 | 15 | 9 | 8 | 69 | 43 | +26 | 35 |
| 4 | LASK | 32 | 20 | 4 | 8 | 67 | 37 | +30 | 33 |
| 5 | Hartberg | 32 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 52 | 74 | −22 | 27 |
As a result of that all the clubs qualified for something European ranging from Red Bull qualifying for the Champions League play off round, down to Hertberg qualifying for the Europa League play off final.
OK I’m glad that is now clear. Now please pay close attention.
Rapid Wien qualified for the Champions League second qualifying round, where they lost to Gent and so dropped into the Europa.
Here are their last six games
| Date | Competition | Home team | Score | Away team |
| 11/09/20 | League | Rapid Wien | 4 – 1 | Admira |
| 15/09/20 | Champions League | Gent | 2 – 1 | Rapid Wien |
| 19/09/20 | League | Sturm Graz | 1 – 1 | Rapid Wien |
| 26/09/20 | League | St. Pölten | 1 – 2 | Rapid Wien |
| 04/10/20 | League | Rapid Wien | 3 – 0 | LASK |
| 17/10/20 | Cup | Wiener Neustadt | 1 – 5 | Rapid Wien |
Two home games played and both won easily.
The Austrian League is one of those many leagues in Europe, like Italy and Germany where it is set down in legislation that the same team has to win every year, and the latest league tables confirms that all is in order…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Bull Salzburg | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 13 | 12 |
| 2 | Rapid Wien | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| 3 | SKN St. Pölten | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
| 4 | Austria Vienna | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
This is all pretty much as expected and the league will undoubtedly follow its correct pre-ordained course.
What I don’t have is enough data to know if the Austrian League has been following the trend of home and away bias changing as a result of the lack of crowds. Hopefully yes, to give us a bigger chance tonight, but as noted it hasn’t happened in the opening games this season.
Last season as you may recall we started off well with a 4-0 and 3-0 victory but then it went a bit wrong, and the match on 24 October against Vitória Guimarães most certainly did not go according to expectations. Then it got worse…
| Date | Game | Res | Score | Europa League |
| 19 Sep 2019 | Eintracht Frankfurt v Arsenal | W | 0-3 | Group stage 1 |
| 03 Oct 2019 | Arsenal v Standard Liège | W | 4-0 | Group stage 2 |
| 24 Oct 2019 | Arsenal v Vitória Guimarães | W | 3-2 | Group stage 3 |
| 06 Nov 2019 | Vitória Guimarães v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Group stage 4 |
| 28 Nov 2019 | Arsenal v Eintracht Frankfurt | L | 1-2 | Group stage 5 |
| 12 Dec 2019 | Standard Liège v Arsenal | D | 2-2 | Group stage 6 |
| 20 Feb 2020 | Olympiakos v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Knock out 32 |
| 27 Feb 2020 | Arsenal v Olympiakos | L | 1-2 | Knock out 32 |
At the end of the group games the table read…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 7 | +7 | 11 |
| 2 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 9 |
| 3 | Standard Liège | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 8 |
| 4 | Vitória de Guimarães | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 5 |
Now of course we are under new management and this is the new team’s chance to shine.
The other two teams in our group are Molde and Dundalk. Molde is in pot 3 and Dundalk in pot 4, with Arsenal as ever in pot 1, meaning we are the top seeded team of the group. The top two teams from the group go through to the knock out rounds after Christmas as ever (but you knew that).
Certainly last season after that flying start beating Frankfurt and Standard Liege so easily there were hopes that we would fly through the whole process and have the group stage won after four straight wins in the opening four games, but it was then that everything seemed to go wrong for the club, leading of course to a temporary manager and another managerial change.
The other teams in pots one and two from England are, with their Uefa co-efficient…
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Was that all you need to know? If not, don’t worry, I’ve got some more for the next article…
- We must be clear; it is the referees who have been giving clubs the advantage
- Arsenal completely dominant: Women’s Super League – Weeks 4 and 5 Roundup
- Fifa, “Guilty As Charged.” This MUST be the turning point for Fifa and CAS
Nice preview Tony…..but i am getting fed up with the situation of Ozil vs The club and the way its going on and on.I dont know the real issue bt i supported Arsenal because of its values or rather Wenger’s values as it now shows.From the statements last night Ozil’s was issued with class bt Arteta’s response lacks clarity and honesty.
For a team that is lacking creativity i dont know why Ozil cant get in the 25 man squad……
To return to the winning ways once again after they’d narrowly lost at away to Man City in the PL late last Saturday, Arsenal MUST beat Rapid Vienna at away in today’s evening group stage opening match in this season Europa League Cup competition.
And use the win as a confidence booster to boost their confidence ahead of their hosting Leicester City next Sunday in the PL after having suffered a little bit of setback in their confidence with their Man City loss.
And I think Arsenal have the team capacity in Gunners for Mikel Arteta the Arsenal gaffer to select a strong team from that can beat Rapid Vienna this evening undoubtedly in Austria.
I therefore urged every Gunner that is selected to start or come on as a substitute in the match to tighten up his belt properly to not let it slack as he plays in the match. So that if the game becomes difficult he will not be caught loose in it. But be in a tight condition to cope with the rigour of playing the match and come out of it home and dry for Arsenal laughing and rejoicing as all the Gunners return back home.
For all the creativity he once known to have had for Arsenal but which has since run out disappearing on the field of play these days in his games for Arsenal when Ozil plays for the club dating back to some past season campaigns now.
And for his anti-Arsenal hierarchy bosses talks on the social media and also for his attempted coup plot against the owner of the club to cause a revolt in the rank of the Gunners against him which didn’t succeed but failed woefully.
For these reasons therefore, I don’t think Mesut Ozil will ever be returned to the club’s 25 man first team squad players next January by Arsenal when the squad is reshuffle for the 2nd half of the season campaign.
Ozil whose football at Arsenal has declined to the League one or two quality level and coupled with his very exorbitant high wages cost to Arsenal who are not getting value anymore for the much much money they are paying him are tired of seeing him at the club as their player. And want the monkey off their backs.
But Ozil who doesn’t want to get off the back of Arsenal because if he does, he knows that he’ll certainly lose the lucrative very high wages and match appearance bonuses he’s getting at Arsenal now, even if he doesn’t play for the club he still gets this money payments. But he has said that he won’t leave Arsenal until the last day of his contract with the club because according to him, he claims that he loves Arsenal and wants to fight injustice. But at where is he going to fight the injustice? In China? For, there is no injustice done at Arsenal. But If it is in China, it’s okay. But let him leave Arsenal now and go to China to fight his injustice battle there.
Samuel
I dont think you are being objective here because just two seasons ago Ozil was rewarded with a renewal contract and now you say his performance has declined to league two standards…well i blame the coach for that….if he can’t coach a world cup winner then thats his problem .. Ceballos is no match for Ozil..,.remember suarez got in ahead of Ozil vs Man city and where is he now… ..i think Ozil is being punished for supporting Muslims in china….
Given our obvious lack of creativity I find it very odd that Ozil is not playing let alone in the squad.
Ok in certain games I understand but some games are crying out for a player such as Ozil, and even if he isn’t the same player he was when he won German player of the year so often I simply don’t believe he’s lost his form to that degree (League 2 ? Really ? Have you been to the training ground then ?). He certainly hadn’t the last time I saw him play.
So given that, in my opinion and it is just my opinion, it just has to be something not football related.