Red Bull Salzburg has once again landed on the hard ground of reality. However, coach Pepijn Lijnders does not want to accept the youth and inexperience of his team as the reason for the second serious defeat in the second Champions League game. “I’m tired of people calling us young, that’s no excuse,” emphasized the Dutchman after Tuesday’s 4-0 home debacle against Stade Brest. He thinks his squad is good enough. Salzburg. “We have enough quality to win games in the Champions League,” said Lijnders. “I’m very happy with the group I have here.” She revealed against the table 13th. the French Ligue 1, which surprised by finishing third in the league last season, but also their weaknesses. Despite numerous great chances, the Bulls failed to score, as was the case in the 3-0 defeat at Sparta Prague. There was a lack of coolness in the penalty area, coupled with major deficiencies in defense.
Lijnders stood in front of his team and took responsibility. “I’m nice on the outside, strict on the inside,” claimed Jürgen Klopp’s former assistant coach at Liverpool. “We won’t make excuses.” After the game ended, the 41-year-old gave a short speech in the dressing room. His team had not previously said goodbye to the disappointed home fans. “I was very clear in what I said. Football is like that, it happens very quickly,” explained Lijnders. “You have to learn.”
The chants for Alexander Schlager didn’t go unnoticed by the coach either. They echoed through the stadium long after the game was over. With the decision to demote the then injured ÖFB team goalkeeper to a reserve in the summer and to make new signing Janis Blaswich the starting goalkeeper and captain, Lijnders caused some incomprehension in the Salzburg environment. Blaswich fueled the goalkeeper discussion by once again allowing a ball to bounce forward against Brest, conceding the 3-0 defeat.
Lijnders expressed reservations about the situation and also the discontent of the fans. “First I have to deal with the relationships in the team. It’s always like this in football: if the board, the management, the team, the support team and the fans think in the same way and want the same thing, then good things can happen. ” At the moment this does not seem to be the case from all sides. “For me, the most important thing is that we win together and lose together,” emphasized the head coach.
He remained true to his rotation principle, the starting eleven was again changed in four positions. Attacking particularly far into the opponent’s half also seems to be the order of the day – even if it exposes his team on defense. Lijnders assured that the mistakes would be dealt with as after every game. His head is already against Sturm in the league hit on Sunday (5 p.m.) in Graz. “In four days we will play one of the most important games in this competition. You can’t complain or make excuses. It will be a big task to get everyone back in the right spirit.” Midfielder Mads Bidstrup put it this way: “We have to find a solution and show a reaction on Sunday.”
In the premier class, promotion after two of eight rounds of the new league phase seems almost illusory. The data service provider Opta puts the probability of ultimately being among the best 24 of 36 teams with nine points at 69 percent. At eight points it’s only 16 percent, below seven points you have no chance at all. In addition, Salzburg has a very poor goal difference of 0:7 – and the opponents are becoming increasingly difficult.
First there is a home game against Dinamo Zagreb on October 23rd. In November we go to Feyenoord Rotterdam and Bayer Leverkusen, before duels with the top clubs Paris Saint-Germain (home), Real Madrid (away) and Atletico Madrid (home) at the end of the winter. “It’s clear that it hasn’t gotten any easier,” said Lijnders about the chances of promotion. “It’s not impossible, nothing is impossible.” After the strong qualification, one would have expected a completely different start to the Champions League. “Now we’re at this point. We have to do more and do things better. That’s always the solution in life.”
