In view of the mixed start to the season with three defeats and the penultimate place in the Bundesliga standings, LASK have parted ways with Dominik Thalhammer. The coach was dismissed from his post with immediate effect on Monday, the day after the 2-0 home draw against Vienna Austria. Former co-coach Andreas Wieland will act as head coach until the winter break, according to a Linz broadcast.

“You can’t deny Dominik that he gave everything for LASK and achieved something,” said LASK President Siegmund Gruber. The former ÖFB women’s team leader is undoubtedly an expert. “But we are not convinced that under the current pressure – triggered by recent results and poor performance – he will be able to get our team back into the form we need to achieve our goals for the season.”

Thalhammer, now 50, was signed in July 2020 as the successor to head coach of Valérien Ismael. Until then he had looked after the women of the ÖFB for almost a decade and more recently he was also responsible for coach education in the Football Association. At LASK, the Upper Austrian by choice also held the post of sports director, from which he is now also released.

LASK finished the 2020/21 Bundesliga season with Thalhammer on the command deck in third place behind champions Salzburg and Rapid. In the Europa League, the athletes scored ten points in the group stage, but narrowly missed promotion to the round of 16 behind Tottenham Hotspur and Royal Antwerp. In the Cup, they only failed in the final against Salzburg.

After the defeat against Austria, Thalhammer seemed lost. “You can say from the first rounds that the games were okay, but the performance was not good today,” he admitted. “I know what we can do, but we are not currently bringing him onto the pitch. After conceding the goal, after the last lack of success, the faith was gone.”

Wieland has a UEFA Pro license and was Ismael’s assistant coach in the 2019/20 season. During the summer vacation, he returned to LASK as Thalhammer’s assistant. René Gartler remains assistant coach. Wieland will make his LASK head coach debut in Thursday’s UEFA Conference League away game at HJK Helsinki.