The bulls are seething

Powder keg Salzburg is about to explode

Salzburg's fans demanded: "We want to see you fight!" Pep Lijnders (m.) is not looking for excuses, Alexander Schlager sits on the substitutes' bench.(Bild: GEPA)

The hat is on fire at Austria's runners-up: The threat of an early exit from the Champions League, personnel decisions caused astonishment and the fans chanted loudly after the 0:4 against Brest: "Bull pigs!"

You have to give Salzburg coach Pep Lijnders credit for one thing: He didn't try to make light of the 4-0 defeat to Brest in the Champions League.

Pep Lijnders was not looking for excuses.(Bild: APA/BARBARA GINDL)

"I'm fed up with it"
He took full responsibility for the result, explained the Dutchman. Making excuses about the youth of his squad, as was the case in the past (keyword: Jaissle), was out of the question. "I'm fed up with people calling us young. That's no excuse," the 41-year-old made unmistakably clear. The mood in the city of Mozart is admittedly at rock bottom. There are several reasons for this.

• Disastrous record
  0 points. 0 goals. 7 goals conceded. Salzburg have so far proved to be "Agent 007" in the top flight and have fallen far short of their own expectations. "We defend the counter-attacks too badly. We're also not good enough in our own box," said Mads Bidstrup.

• Coach's favorites
  "I won't say the reasons (for the defeat) now, but there are certainly reasons," said Amar Dedic, who was one of the few bright spots, cryptically. As an insider revealed to the "Krone", there has recently been some internal confusion about starting eleven call-ups. Salzburg had eliminated Twente and Kiev on their way to the top flight. The squad received a lot of praise for this - especially from Lijnders. At Sparta Prague, however, two new signings - Bajcetic and Clark - were suddenly in the starting eleven who had not played a game for the runners-up until then. The duo are said to be held in particularly high regard by the coach due to their shared past at Liverpool.

Stefan Bajcetic was in the starting eleven against Prague and came on as a substitute against Brest.(Bild: GEPA)

• Fan rage
  Janis Blaswich did not look good in the 4-0 defeat against Brest. Thousands of Salzburg fans took this as an opportunity to call for Alex Schlager in goal. He proved to be a perfect team player and tried to calm the fans down. In vain! Blaswich, who is due to receive a call-up to the DFB team today, was even jeered when an 08/15 save by the German was exuberantly celebrated. The team acknowledged the behavior with contempt and did not go into the curve after the game. The hard core of fans responded by chanting "Bullenschweine" and shouting: "We are Salzburg and you are not."

The runners-up currently resemble a powder keg that could explode at any time. Now, of all times, the top match in the league awaits champions Sturm