Jurgen Klopp favourite suddenly STRUGGLING after shock Liverpool exit | OneFootball

Despite having a blistering opening campaign in the Austrian Bundesliga and the Champions League qualifying rounds - unbeaten through their first eight games - Red Bull Salzburg now find themselves under pressure.

Having moved to Austria once Jurgen Klopp's tenure at Liverpool came to an end, new boss Pep Lijnders has found a sticky patch of form, with ex-Liverpool player Bobby Clark and loanee Stefan Bajcetic struggling to find their feet.

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In a side with high aspirations this season, they couldn't have started their league campaign much better with three wins in their opening games, scoring nine goals and conceding just three.

Alongside their league form, they won 6-0 in their opening round of the OFB Cup and overcame Twente 5-4 and Dynamo Kyiv 3-1 aggregate wins in the Champions League qualifiers.

However, now the Champions League proper has begun, their form has started to tail off a little.

A 3-2 league loss to Rapid was followed by a 3-0 dispatching by Sparta Praha in their opening game in Europe, and yesterday's 0-0 draw at Tirol confirmed they've entered a bit of a blip.

The Lijnders, Bajcetic and Clark experiment in Austria

While Bajcetic has only played twice for Salzburg, he has won 70% of his ground duels which is not an unimpressive feat given his recent return from a long-term injury last season at Liverpool.

However, Clark - on a permanent move to the Austrian side - has found life slightly harder, managing one start and a short cameo off the bench.

Managing such a young promising side must be a significant challenge for Lijnders to adjust to, despite being heavily involved in the Liverpool squad led by Jurgen Klopp last season.

In his first managerial role, it may be that the earlier successes were the result of a new manager bounce, with the real hard work about to begin.

Nonetheless, while we are still early on in the season, having made a decent platform to build from in some of Salzburg's competitions, it will be fascinating to see how Reds' alumni progress.

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