Rapid had to work hard: "Perhaps it was the concentration"

Rapid, Hohe Warte and the UNIQA ÖFB-Cup - that was once a tragic combination in the past. Not this time.

It was no masterpiece from the favourites, even if the 3-0 score against Vienna roughly reflects the balance of power on paper: The Hütteldorf team did not dominate their Döbling rivals.

After taking the lead through Yusuf Demir, the second-division team found enough opportunities to get back into the game. Their quality wasn't enough for that, but on another day, from a West-Viennese perspective, that could have gone wrong.

Johannes Hoff Thorup offered a mix of compliment for the opponent and awareness of his team's own shortcomings: "That's the beauty of the Cup, which sometimes feels completely different from a league match. They did what they could, defended well in the first half. We had difficulties opening them up and creating clear chances."

The Rapid coach attributed that equally to a lack of quality in his team's own play: "Perhaps it was the concentration. And small things in our positioning that weren't tight enough, and these mistakes were almost punished."

Seidl searches for the reason

Captain Matthias Seidl also looked a little lost for an explanation as to why the duel seemed evenly matched, at least in the first half hour: "We invited the opponent to a few half-chances, didn't really become dangerous ourselves very often and had a hard time from the start."

He already felt that the team would have been ready for the match: "I can't say exactly. Perhaps it was a touch wetter than in recent weeks, we first had to get used to it. But so many mistakes shouldn't happen, no matter the circumstances."

Mixed conclusion for the new arrivals

Rapid also benefited later in the game from the fact that the rotations - contrary to announcements - remained within limits.

Only three new players, Eaden Roka, Moulaye Haidara and Claudy Mbuyi, supplemented the starting lineup. After half an hour, Roka switched sides with Bendegúz Bolla, leaving his usual right side to the Hungarian, which improved the attacking play. Haidara was substituted at half-time.

Mbuyi struggled for a long time to get into the game, but in the final analysis, with a brace, he rose above the doubts of the first 60 minutes.

"Roka did well, he hasn't played much in the last month and then to come in and play 90 minutes - he did that well. I wasn't 100 percent satisfied with Haidara because I wanted him to create more one-on-one situations. But it's hard: You're young and want to make few mistakes, but actually I want him to take risks," demanded the Rapid coach.

JHT already saw some Uhlig play

In the end, these are minor details that will be clarified in the review. That won't take too much time, after all, there are only four days of preparation before Wiener Austria awaits.

Although the "Violets" suffered another setback on Tuesday evening, it is also four days in which Maximilian Uhlig can perhaps implement one or two more ideas.

And Hoff Thorup and his team will be prepared for that - because he even took the time before the Vienna match to familiarize himself a little with the Young Violets.