Hoff Thorup responds to sharp Herzog criticism

SK Rapid remained flawless in their sixth competitive match of the young season. Against SV Ried, the Hütteldorfers continued their perfect start to the season with a 2-1 victory.

Head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup once again started his rotation machine, making six changes to his starting XI compared to the 4-1 victory in the Conference League qualification in Estonia. During the match, he used his full substitution quota.

For this approach, which the coach has consistently maintained since the start of the season, the Dane drew sharp criticism last week from "Sky" expert Andreas Herzog after the 1-0 win against SCR Altach.

"If after three or four games I say I have too many matches in my legs, then it's better to be eliminated in the Conference League qualifiers. I can't stand to hear that garbage anymore," the ex-Rapid player stated clearly.

"I get a lot of criticism when I say..."

After the victory in Innviertel, Hoff Thorup reacted indirectly to it: "I receive a lot of criticism from Austrian experts when I say that we are mentally tired because we have to travel so much."

"But I say it anyway, because while we were still on the plane, the Ried players were already sleeping and preparing for this game. That is a mental and character-based challenge that we have to overcome," said the 37-year-old.

Thorup elaborated: "I told the boys before the start of the game that this match would be won by the team that shows character and a strong mental attitude."

He immediately clarified that Ried had not done this. But: "I am really delighted that our team is currently building that up, because that's exactly what we needed."