class=”sc-29f61514-0 icZBHN”>
Can the table lie? FC Basel finished in 5th place last season, the last time the red-blue team was worse was 23 years ago. In the new season, Schultz’s team will go one step further: four points from six games is the worst starting record in 29 (!) years. In the annual table, FCB is in 7th place with 30 points from 26 games, St. Gallen, Servette, Lugano, Luzern, FCZ and champion YB are better. What is going on? Blick gives the reasons.
More appearance than reality
The statistics reflect staid mediocrity, but FCB’s self-image is still excellent. In the major SonntagsBlick interview, Mohamed Dräger answers the question of where Basel belongs: “Definitely upwards. It would be nonsense to talk about a midfield position. This club with these players must, wants and must always be at the forefront.” Blick football expert Markus Babbel sees it differently: “They still believe it there, but the big FCB no longer exists. It’s an average club. And now they have to be careful not to face relegation at the end of the season.” Blick says: Instead of always shouting the maximum, more humility would be needed. That would be more credible. And the level of reduce the fall on further low blows in the future.
Pale veterans
With Fabian Frei (34), Taulant Xhaka (32), Marwin Hitz (36) and Michael Lang (32), the average age in the FCB selection is 23 years. Without the four team seniors, only 21.4 years. Actually, the newly built FCB house of cards would urgently need stable pillars. But the team’s seniors are in poor form, getting little playing time or lacking support.
Hitz stands out with clear language after defeats, but his achievements are not beyond doubt. Fabian Frei is in good form and new midfield boss Renato Veiga has overtaken him on the pitch. Crowd favorite and aggressive leader Xhaka was only allowed to play in the cup against amateur clubs from the start. And those responsible for Michael Lang would have been happy if the move up the rankings had come about. After the signings of Dräger and Kevin Rüegg, he is now only number 3 at right back.
Mercenaryism
Ten of the newcomers are playing in the Super League for the first time, are very young and see FCB as a stepping stone to the big league. With this goal in mind, your own playing time is logically more important than your position at the table, so it is better to dribble instead of passing the ball to your better-positioned colleague. For the coaches, five so far since the David Degen era began in the summer of 2021, it is a thankless task at best.
Not to mention the lack of continuity. There were 102 (!) entrances and exits under swords. Of the selection as presented in the summer of 2021, in addition to the veterans Xhaka, Frei and Lang, only homegrown Sergio Lopez and Sturm’s Andrin Hunziker are present.
There can be no sporting success without peace in the team. Everything else is just dreaming – or squaring the circle. Blick expert Babbel also thinks: “FC Basel is just a business model of David Degen: get players cheap and sell them expensive. The sporting performance does not matter. But at a certain point this calculation no longer works if the team no longer qualifies for European affairs.”
Competence puff
David Degen is not only president, but also ‘chief football officer’ – in German: sports director. He proved this summer that thanks to his contacts he can sell players like no other: FCB earned more than 50 million francs for Amdouni, Diouf, Ndoye and Co. An incredibly good job by the former player’s agent.
But there is also Heiko Vogel. He has the title “Sports Director”. But the German has no real decision-making power. It is said that Vogel should mainly be a sparring partner for coach Timo Schultz and a contact person for the players. Not what you would imagine from a classic sports director.
defensive
There are also obvious shortcomings in the fact that four of the six league games were lost: fourteen goals conceded is the second-worst figure of all twelve Super League teams. Only the goalkeepers of Winterthur and Yverdon had to reach behind themselves more often. The Red Blues never conceded fewer than two goals in a league match.
One reason for this is the disastrous duel record: in the 2-3 win in Yverdon, only 43 percent of the duels went to FCB, and only 36 percent of them in the air. Winning duels is also a matter of will.
And now FC Luzern, the team with the strongest form behind YB, comes to St. Jakob-Park on Thursday. And thus the club that Ardon Jashari refused to sell to FCB this summer because people in Central Switzerland no longer feel subordinate to the once so powerful FCB.
The table proves that the people of Central Switzerland are right. And as we all know, she never lies.
|
team
|
SP
|
T.D
|
PT
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
2
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
3
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
4
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
5
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
6
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
7
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
8th
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
9
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
10
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
11
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
12
|
█ █ █ █
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
