Pep Lijnders slammed amid tough start with RB Salzburg in life after Liverpool

Former Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders is experiencing a difficult start to life as a manager with RB Salzburg.

Despite qualifying for the UEFA Champions League main competition after overcoming both FC Twente and Dynamo Kyiv in tight two-legged ties, they have faced two tough opening games in the eight-match league format, taking heavy defeats to Sparta Prague and Brest.

They sit third in the Austrian Bundesliga but have two games in hand to make up the three point gap to SK Sturm Graz in first. Having taken on his first role as a manager, he brought in Liverpool duo Bobby Clark and Stefan Bajcetic but according to Austrian outlet Kronen Zeitung, there has been some confusion in the RB Salzburg squad around Lijnders’ selections. Speaking after the 4-0 defeat to Brest, Salzburg man Amar Dedic said: “I won’t say the reasons now, but there are certainly reasons.”

This has led to plenty of speculation as to what it could mean, with the outlet then reporting that they had gotten to the bottom of it: “An insider revealed to the ‘Krone’ that some players have recently been puzzled about the starting eleven. Salzburg deservedly eliminated Twente Entschede and Dynamo Kiev on their way to the top flight.”

“The team received a lot of praise for this – also and above all from coach Lijnders. At Sparta Prague, however, two new signings, Stefan Bajcetic and Bobby Clark, who had not yet played a game for the runners-up, were suddenly in the starting eleven (partly due to injuries).” The duo are said to be held in particularly high regard by the coach due to their shared past at Liverpool. In any case, the duo has yet to shine in sporting terms.”

Winning the title will be the minimum aim for the club as well as the cup but to make it to the next stage in the Champions League they will need to avoid finishing in the final eight places.

There are winnable games against Dinamo Zagreb and Feyenoord to come but they face some of Europe’s elite as well where they will be heavy underdogs. Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid will all be incredibly difficult given they’ve already come unstuck against the likes of Brest and Sparta Prague.

Whereas they were never expected to go far in the competition, the manner of the defeats will be what Lijnders will ultimately be judged on. Life after Liverpool is proving to be difficult but there’s still a long season ahead for him to find his feet with this young side.