Can Arıcı and Chiriac turn six defeats into a partnership?
Fussballklub Austria Vienna have lost all six games with both young players on the left flank; without one of them, the season’s figures are markedly kinder.
**Six games, six defeats.** Fussballklub Austria Vienna have scored 0.3 goals and conceded 2.3 per game when Mustafa Arıcı and Gigi Chiriac have shared the left flank this season. In the 10 games without one of the pair, they have won seven, drawn two and lost one, scoring 1.8 and conceding 1.0 per game.
That is not a marginal difference. With both together, Austria Vienna have taken nothing from six matches and allowed more than twice as many goals per game as they have without one of them. The partnership has yet to supply a point.
The figures do not say that either player, on his own, is the cause. They do say that the combination has not worked so far. Six matches is a small sample for a verdict on two players, but a complete sample for a verdict on those six results: defeats all round, with the attack offering little and the defence conceding freely.
Both came through Austria Vienna’s youth intake on 10 March 2063. Each has 11 club games across 2062/63 and 2063/64; Chiriac has scored twice, while Arıcı has yet to score. Their individual totals do not explain the contrast between the team’s records, but they leave little evidence of a partnership already changing matches in its favour.
Neither is enjoying the season’s arrangement. Both are unhappy, and both have very poor morale. Arıcı appears to take defeat personally; Chiriac, who is close to manager Nico Cordes, has reason to hear a familiar voice in the response. There is no need to make the numbers harsher than they are. Six defeats will manage that unaided.
Austria Vienna have won the Austrian Premier Division 23 times, most recently in 2012/13. The club’s history does not alter the arithmetic of this season, and it cannot make the six games with Arıcı and Chiriac look like anything but a struggle. Nor does the better return without one of them prove which change would help: the figures distinguish the combinations, not the player responsible.
For now, the comparison is the story. Austria Vienna have been a different side when the pair have not shared the flank: more goals, fewer conceded and points on the board. The partnership has six matches in which to find a different answer.