Ilzer: ‘All of us long for competition’

The focus of the current small group training is to get Austria Wien players fit for games. Coach Christian Ilzer appreciates the individual work with Klein, Madl & Co and hopes for the next step in the interest of the players. ‘We are absolutely ready to train as a team again. I think we’re very close to being fit for games by the end of this week.’

Because of numerous measures by the violet medical team Austria Wien’s training will minimize the likelihood of a new infection with the corona virus. ‘Everyone is extremely responsible during this situation. The players were thrilled to be able to work with the ball again,’ emphasizes Ilzer, who is excited about the continuation of the Bundesliga:

‘Each of us longs for competition, for measuring with other teams. None of us are big fans of ghost games, but if we have to, we should definitely finish the season this way. We definitely want to play in front of our fans again.’

The next step back to the competition would be the team training. ‘We are longing for it and are hoping that we can start with team training on Monday to give the players a perspective,’ says Christian Ilzer. What would be the first focus? ‘Finding the right coordination and to act quickly: The players have to make decisions, recognize spaces and use them.’

Young players are key, but how much rotation would it take?

One scenario is that the Bundesliga will be played with English weeks until the end of June. How dense does the squad have to be? ‘I think we will need a balanced squad, but also a clear starting line-up to be able to rotate step by step. It is certainly not necessary to always replace all eleven players,’ says the Austria Wien coach, who wants to continue betting on the violet youth:

‘During the winter we focused on our own resources and introducing more players to the level of our starting line-up - we managed to do that with many young talents. This means we are better positioned in terms of width than at the beginning of the season.’

Versatile trainer team divides according to positions

In the current training routine, Austria Wien is divided into groups: goalkeepers, defenders, strikers, wingers and central midfielders each train separately. ‘We chose this path because we can train tactical elements well in these groups of six,’ explains Christian Ilzer who coaches the defensive players on the main field in the stadium.

The trainer team plans the content together, the implementation is the responsibility of the respective co-trainer, who is supported by a sports or physiotherapist. ‘Our trainer team is diverse, some have experience in athletic training, which benefits us now. I trust everyone, so I don't have to go from group to group to make sure that everything is working the way it should be.’

Profitable steps on the way back to strong 90 minutes

Christian Ilzer and sports therapist Christian Hold, who has worked for Austria Wien for 19 years, form a team and are looking after Florian Klein, Michael Madl, Erik Palmer-Brown, Alexandar Borkovic, Andreas Poulsen & Jimmy Jeggo. ‘With Holdi, I have an outstanding assistant coach who supports me in every way. We can deal with the individual player much more intensively, which is profitable for everyone involved.’

Creativity is also required during the training in small groups, and many new exercises have been created: ‘For us, team training consists of more than two thirds of game forms. Now we are working on basics on an individual level: physically, technically and tactically. We try to cover the entire spectrum of football.’

Step by step, the “Violets” are prepared for the full 90 minutes. ‘Small group training is a good next step after the five weeks of home training. For the next step, the team training, we have prepared a lot of videos to introduce the team to the big idea of our game.’