Montag, 11.11.2024, 04:02
Salzburg’s desperate search for form continues. The 3-1 win at Feyenoord Rotterdam during the week was more of a blip than a turnaround. Four days later, the Bulls suffered a 2-0 defeat at Blau-Weiß Linz on Sunday and showed well-known weaknesses. Once again, dominance of ball possession with no clear chances and defensive insecurities combined to form an explosive mixture. “I cannot accept such performances,” complained coach Pep Lijnders.
The latest results in the league are likely to make the alarm bells that have already been activated ring even louder. Salzburg suffered its third defeat in the last eight league games against a team that had previously lost four times in a row, in which only nine of a possible 24 points were scored. The former goal machine failed to score five times. With two games less, they are already eleven points behind leader Sturm Graz.
In Linz, the guests had a ball possession rate of 76 percent and only had five shots on goal, but they didn’t pose any real danger either. “We really didn’t have many ideas up front,” said defender Samson Baidoo, describing his team’s numerous fruitless ball relays. “We didn’t create anything from a lot of possession. We weren’t clear enough,” said Lijnders, whose footballing visions can’t be implemented by his kickers. “The lack of consistency in our game has been a problem all season. I thought we were already further along,” groaned the Dutchman, who watched the game from the stands because of his suspension.
Alexander Schlager, who returned to goal after his suspension in the Champions League, also didn’t look for excuses. “The game was typical of the last few weeks, at the end of the day it’s just not enough,” the ÖFB team player made clear. “We lost today against a team that worked harder as a team, was more aggressive and better – and something like that shouldn’t happen.”
The last time Salzburg had only 18 points after the first eleven league games was in the 2010/11 season, when Sturm Graz became champions. Of course, the current misery is not only due to offensive problems, but also the latent defensive vulnerability. On Sunday, the Blue and White were invited to take dangerous actions several times, and Ronivaldo used the first serious mistake – a completely unsuccessful pass from Nicolas Capaldo to Kamil Piatkowski – to make it 1-0. “It was hard for me to watch today when you see all the mistakes just happening again,” emphasized Lijnders. “If this doesn’t improve, it could be a difficult season.”
Naturally, the balance in the BW camp was completely different. After six games without a win, they finally managed to win against the league team. Coach Gerald Scheiblehner celebrated “a really great performance against a Champions League participant. That was exactly what we wanted to do and unfortunately it hasn’t always worked out that way recently,” said the 47-year-old. “To perform like this today after six games without a win is a clear sign that the team is intact.”
