Home nimbus, your own DNA and a lot of courage: Wicky’s battle plan against the police

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Judgement. 2017. Basel in the Champions League. Benfica Lisbon. And with the 1-0 win against Manchester United, FCB laid the foundation for second place. Ultimately you get the ticket for the round of 16. FCB is eliminated against Manchester City, but wins away against the Emirate billionaires. It is the most successful Swiss Champions League campaign to date.

Speeches are not crucial for Wicky

Now, six years later? Copy/paste for the locker room speech and attack on the Leipzig Bulls? It’s not that easy, says Wicky: “Those are great memories – but a long time ago. I don’t do copy/pasting. And the speeches are not decisive for whether you win a match at all. What I can take away: You have to surpass yourself as a team. And be courageous in all phases.” In addition, you need a bit of luck so that the opponent does not go down on his first chance. “Then you have to believe in yourself that you can put such an opponent under pressure. And you have to be efficient, because you don’t get ten chances to score.”

The total package must be met

Ugh, it’s just a bit much to come together to trouble third place in the Bundesliga. That is the case, Wicky confirms. “But you have to fulfill this total package. Then you have the chance to beat and irritate the big boys. We must enter the competition with this vision and ambition.”

Wicky doesn’t want to look any further at the tactics cards. “Of course there are no very deep insights. One thing is clear: we do not want to linger in our own penalty area, but want to attack the opponent every now and then.” That is not possible for ninety minutes, says Wicky. “But we have to try to win the ball high. Deep and Defending in blocks is normal at this level, you have to be able to do that. But it is not our goal to stand around our own penalty area from the first minute.”

The often laborious artificial grass

And something that ex-YB and Leipzig goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo and Augsburg sporting director Marinko Jurendic have already emphasized could help: the artificial turf, this Bernese anachronism that is always tried abroad. The first question from a German journalist is of course about plastic. But the Valais protagonist in the Wankdorf cinema lets the subject roll off like water over Teflon: “We all know that football on artificial grass is not the same as on grass. It would be a lie to say otherwise. We experience that every weekend when we play on grass. But is that an advantage for us? Hard to say. It is what it is.”

But the fact is: YB hasn’t lost in Wankdorf in over a year. The last time was in August 2022 against Anderlecht. So it certainly doesn’t seem like a disadvantage.

Source : Blick