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Red Bull Salzburg answers DEMANDED as Pep Lijnders' tenure falls apart

Red Bull Salzburg answers DEMANDED as Pep Lijnders' tenure falls apart

Sam Mandi-Ghomi 08 Oct 2024, 09:38 Last modified: 09 Oct 2024

When Jurgen Klopp left Liverpool at the end of last season, the future looked so bright for his assistant Pep Lijnders.

Whilst no one pretended Liverpool’s success was anything other than Jurgen Klopp’s achievement, there was rightful acknowledgement that the implementation of such a successful system would be impossible without a masterful backroom staff.

Lijnders was on top of this. As a result, a move to head coach at Red Bull Salzburg - who had won the Austrian league 10 straight times between 2013-14 and 2022-23 - seemed like the right move for Lijnders.

And it started so well; three straight wins to start the league season and qualification for the Champions League,as was expected. But then the wheels fell off.

Only two wins from seven games following this - one being over third division side Wiener Viktoria in the cup - has left the Austrian press demanding answers from Lijnders.

None of these results have been worse than the weekend’s 5-0 defeat to Sturm Graz. Graz were the side to break Salzburg’s title dominance last season and are

the

team Salzburg need to beat.

This followed a 4-0 humiliation by French side Brest in the Champions League, leaving Lijnders 9-0 down over his side's last two outings.

What are the Austrian press saying?

Sebastian Steinbichler, editor of Austria’s largest newspaper

Krone

, wrote in a comment piece this week that Lijnders’ smile “has become increasingly rare in public”, calling the Sturm Graz result a "humiliation".

He went on to compare Lijnders press conference answers to “the situation at the police station”, writing that, “The questions have the upper hand, there are few or no answers. But it is high time to provide them.”

The press further suggest that basic elements like cohesion, enthusiasm and passion are missing from the team, and that it’s “important to find out what part Lijnders himself has played in this”.

The international break will provide Lijnders another moment to reassess the issues in his team and no doubt the appointment of Klopp as Red Bull's Global Head of Soccer could well give him a boost.