As soon as tipped as a possible successor to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, Pep Lijnders has not loved a superb begin as head coach of Purple Bull Salzburg.
Expectations are sky excessive at Purple Bull Salzburg, who sacked Gerhard Struber as head coach in April – regardless of the membership sitting high of the league on the time. The membership finally completed as runners-up, the primary time in 11 seasons they’d didn’t take the Austrian Bundesliga title.
Lijnders was appointed in the summertime in hopes he might be able to get them again on high of the pile, however have had an detached begin to the season beneath his command.
Summer season signing Bobby Clark has are available for some speculative criticism since becoming a member of Pep Lijnders at Salzburg (Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
Salzburg began the season brilliantly, incomes qualification for the Champions League league part by seeing off Twente and Dynamo Kyiv and successful their first three Bundesliga fixtures.
However issues took a flip with their 3-2 defeat away to fellow Austrian giants Speedy Vienna, which was adopted up by a 3-0 loss to Sparta Prague in Europe and a goalless draw away to home minnows WSG Tirol, who prevented relegation by only a single level final season.
Salzburg have turn into mainstays within the Champions League in current seasons (Picture credit score: JOE KLAMAR/AFP through Getty Photographs)
Salzburg bounced again with a 4-0 cup win towards lower-league Wiener Viktoria and a 2-0 league victory over Austria Vienna.
However Lijnders’ aspect have since fallen to back-to-back hammerings by the hands of French aspect Brest, who ran out 4-0 winners within the Champions League final Tuesday, after which table-topping Sturm Graz, who smashed Salzburg 5-0 on Sunday.
Lijnders mentioned after the sport on the membership web site: “It was undoubtedly one of many worst matches I’ve seen from us. It’s an extended season, and plenty of issues have labored effectively already. We’re questioning why we’re a shadow of our true selves in the mean time.”
Two new arrivals who adopted Lijnders from Liverpool – midfielders Bobby Clark and Stefan Bajcetic – have are available for explicit criticism.
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Austrian outlet Krone wrote final week that ‘some gamers have lately been puzzled about beginning eleven call-ups’, utilizing inductive reasoning to recommend that they’re speaking in regards to the the previous Reds.
The newspaper are up to now not pointing the finger at Lijnders, nonetheless, as an alternative writing that Salzburg have ‘misplaced their aura’ after being unable to ‘adequately change their departures’ as they’d in earlier years.
That is Lijnders’ second job within the large seat within the dugout, along with his spell again in his native Netherlands with NEC proving short-lived after he didn’t earn promotion from the second tier.
