Defeat to newly promoted side

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·23 September 2023

Defeat to newly promoted side

Disappointing loss v Blau-Weiß Linz

Our return to the Austrian Bundesliga did not go as planned. Newly promoted Blau-Weiss Linz took three points in Salzburg with plenty of missed chances and a Ronivaldo goal proving the difference.

Match summary

Our Red Bulls featured nine changes – with Nico Mantl making his first start of the 2023/24 season – but tried from the word go to seize the advantage. Gerald Scheiblehner's visitors stood their ground well, but Gerhard Struber's side increased the pace of their attacking efforts as the encounter went on. Dijon Kameri and Dorgeles Nene as well as the persistent Amar Dedic kept the blue and white defensive ranks continually on their toes, with Sekou Koita (8', 16'), Kameri (17') and Luka Sucic (20') getting our first scoring chances.

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The visitors had their first opportunity to note from a corner (22'), but nothing concrete came from that. Our boys boasted more than 70% possession with over 200 passed played at this stage, but it remained goalless on the scoreboard. We were determined to alter that as soon as possible - with Sucic (36') – whose shot was saved by Linz goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid – and Amankwah Forson (37') tyring their luck, which didn't come for now.

Nico Mantl had his first wake-up call in the 38th minute, when his quiet afternoon was ended by having to smother a misplaced backpass from Oumar Solet on the edge of the six-yard box. Nene fired the final chance of the first half (43'), but missed that.

Dedic opened our second-half attacking efforts from distance (46'), which set the tone for the rest of the period. Andi Ulmer & Co frequently combined their way to the edge of the box without making their mark on the scoresheet. Then came a spell of pressure for Blau-Weiß culminating in them grabbing the lead via Ronivaldo - who couldn't find a team-mate in a better position so took aim to beat Mantl (61').

Gerhard Struber reacted with four changes as Samson Baidoo, Nicolas Capaldo, Oscar Gloukh and Petar Ratkov brought fresh momentum into our play. We pushed but despite the introduction of Karim Konate, we weren't able to get a win.

The three dropped points marked a new feeling for us - our first defeat in 45 at home. Now we have to switch our focus to Tuesday and a cup derby against Austria Salzburg at 20:45 CEST in Grödig.

Views

The way we performed today was disappointing - you don't win matches in that way. We were punished clinically today. That is the result you get if you don't go to your limit and don't operate with the kind of focus you expect from us. That's on us, as it was completely unnecessary. We didn't get the basics right on the pitch today, and that invited Blau-Weiß Linz in. We have a squad in which all our players are trusted, but there was no fluidity today. We were off-colour and didn't show our true face. We have to learn from that so that it doesn't happen again.

Gerhard Struber

Line-up

Substitutions

Kameri for Capaldo (65'), Ratkov for Koita (65'), Baidoo for Piatkowski (65'), Gloukh for Sucic (65'), Konate for Nene (78')

Yellow cards

Koita (63' foul)

Injury news

Not available for action were Fernando (adductors), Bryan Okoh (thigh), Justin Omoregie (back), Lukas Wallner, Moussa Yeo (both ankle) and Mads Bidstrup (finger).