This season, the newly formed Salzburg team seems to want to reinvent football again. It is now seriously doubted whether this attempt is really a trend.
FC Red Bull Salzburg have apparently come to the realization that defending is overrated in modern football. The rule of thumb has been that “the defense wins titles and championships” since time immemorial, but the revolutionary Salzburgers are determined to prove otherwise.
The results speak volumes: Within a week and a half, with this naive approach, Salzburg went down quietly in the Champions League against Sparta Prague (0:3) and Brest (0:4), The 0:5 loss on Sunday in the league against Sturm Graz was a complete revelation.
As if the Salzburg players had been given the order not to put up any resistance in order to give Sturm sports director Andreas Schicker a worthy farewell gift.
It would now be too cheap to blame only that person for the subterranean defense performance neuen Trainer Pepijn Lijnders to put in the shoes.
What can the Dutchman do about the fact that the offensive players in the bloated Salzburg squad are on their feet, but at the same time it requires a lot of ingenuity from him to set up a defensive back four that doesn’t fall apart into its components at the first attack ?
What should he do if there is no player who can take responsibility in difficult moments on the field and carry the team along?
It is a Alarm signalwhen even the otherwise so level-headed Salzburg fans scream their frustration from their hearts and, like last time, “Bulls-pigs” chant.
Unrest in the stands, sporting decline, an inexperienced coach who is only in charge for the second time and a sports director (Bernhard Seonbuchner) who didn’t seem particularly confident in the last interviews – that’s one devilish mixture for a club that has practically only known about the crisis mode over the last decade from hearsay.
It may just be a stupid coincidence that Salzburg’s downward trend coincides with the departure of long-term sports director Christoph Freund to FC Bayern.
Since late summer 2023, when successor Bernhard Seonbuchner took over, the Werkl has no longer been running properly.
This undesirable development should also serve as a warning example to Sturm Graz. Then when their sports director and guarantee of success Andreas Schicker leaves the club for Hoffenheim.