Prass: “We have to make sure that we stay close to Salzburg for as long as possible”
Alexander Prass has been an absolute top performer at Sturm Graz since his move in summer 2021. In the kicker interview, the midfielder talks about upcoming tasks with the Bundesliga second.
Alexander Prass is preparing for the season with Sturm Graz in Turkey.
GEPA images
Storm Graz can look back on a successful autumn season. In the league they are six points behind in second place behind series champions Salzburg and in the ÖFB Cup they are in the quarter-finals. The Grazers were also able to convince internationally with strong performances, but with a historically close result, they bowed out.
Alexander Prass stands out as an absolute top performer. The 21-year-old played every competitive game for Graz this season, mostly in the starting line-up. The Austrian spoke to kicker about the preparations for spring, the newcomers Teixeira and Okonkwo and the bitter end of the Europa League.
Mr Prass, how is the training camp in Turkey going?
We have great conditions here – the weather is great and the training ground is in great condition. We now have three friendlies behind us and feel very good. On Thursday there will be a test match doubles at the end.
What are the first impressions of the two newcomers Bryan Teixeira and Arthur Okonkwo?
I have a very good impression of both of them. I think it’s a bit harder for Bryan because of the position. As a goalkeeper, you can get involved in the game a little faster and easier than an offensive player. You definitely have both top plants. Bryan is a technically very good player with a great pace who can definitely help us. And Arthur has already shown in the friendlies that he has a lot of potential. He’s really good on the line, comes out well on high balls and has really good foot play too.
Things have been going uphill for you in the last year and a half. Since joining Sturm, you’ve become a regular, two Europa League seasons under your belt and your national team debut. During the long winter break, did you have time to review the whole thing?
Of course you always have a few thoughts, but I think it would be wrong to rack your brains about how good or bad something was. You have to look ahead anyway, or mainly be in the moment. It currently looks like we all have to keep working hard together so that we can bring a really good level back to the pitch. When the team works, the player works, and that’s the way it should be.
The only thing that doesn’t want to work out quite so well is with scoring goals. You scored your debut goal for Sturm Graz in September, but you’ve been waiting for your second since then. What else fails?
These are just little things – I get to my opportunities, there is often a lack of coolness at the end. Maybe sometimes I should have shot with less power and more precision, but I’m working on that. The knot hasn’t really come together yet, not even after my debut goal, but it will all come, so I’m not stressing about it.
Are these individual points that you work on specifically during training, or do you just let them come to you?
Of course you’re working on it. You have to, otherwise you won’t improve. But you shouldn’t cramp either.
There was a bitter end in the Europa League. In the end, all four teams in your group were tied on points, only because of the worse goal difference did Sturm end up in last place and left international business. Have you already processed or ticked that off?
It’s definitely ticked off. It’s no use looking back anyway, even if it was a great Europa League season, but in the end we didn’t take anything that counted with us. Accordingly, we ticked that off quickly. But of course we analyzed what was the reason – what opponents did better than us, but also what we did better than last season. With that, we have processed and completed the whole thing.
We may be from the outside, but we dare to do anything
Prass about the ÖFB Cup quarterfinals against Salzburg
Your spring season starts with a bang – in the cup quarter-finals you meet defending champion Salzburg. How do you see the opportunities?
I think the chances are definitely there. Of course we know that it’s never easy to play against Salzburg, especially not in a knockout game, but we’ve proven a number of times that we can hurt them and beat them too. Our focus now is absolutely on this game. Of course we need a performance that’s on point to give us a chance. We may be from the outside, but we dare to do anything.
Sturm have continued to develop in recent years and are currently six points behind Salzburg in second place in the table. What are the goals with the Grazers?
It is important that we know our goals internally and that the trumpets do not go too far. It’s clear that we want to get as far as possible in the cup and that ultimately means that we want to win the cup. But that’s still a long way off. Now we have the strongest opponents in the league in front of us. But if you want to win the cup, you usually have to win against Salzburg anyway, it doesn’t really matter when that happens. The same applies to the league – we have to make sure that we stick with Salzburg for as long as possible. But that’s still a long way to go. We have to make sure that we keep to ourselves and think from game to game, always do our best and collect points and then you’ll see where you stand.