Three defeats in the first four league games, plus the downright embarrassing loss in the qualification for the Europa Conference League against the Kazakh representative Tobol Kostanai – FC Basel, eleventh in the table with only three points under their belt, is in deep crisis early this season.
The next negative highlight was the 2-1 home defeat against promoted team Lausanne-Sport on Sunday. A goal in added time, initiated by a catastrophic bad pass from Wouter Burger and completed by the fast guest winger Aliou Baldé, made the next bankruptcy perfect and the former series champion stumbled into the next even deeper hole.
Last championship title 2017
A terrible start for Timo Schultz, the new FCB coach. The 45-year-old ex-Paulian and his team are miles away from the highs of the past, such as the recent foray into the semi-finals of the Conference League when they narrowly failed at Fiorentina in spring (2-1, 1-3 aet) .
Basel has 20 championship titles on its letterhead, but the last one dates from 2017. The current quality of the squad is primarily to blame for the false start, as former Bundesliga goalkeeper Marwin Hitz (35) complained on Sunday: “That this squad It’s clear that it’s not enough. We have to address that.”
Demir continued a topic – Was Calafiori missing injured?
The sell-out of the best forces before this season brought in around 45 million euros, but also a heavy loss of class. Although the club once again managed to sign hopeful talent, the squad is still very unfinished in mid-August. Augsburg’s offensive player Maurice Malone was signed at the end of last week, and talent Yusuf Demir (Galatasaray), once under contract with FC Barcelona and Rapid Vienna, is still an issue.
The embarrassment against Lausanne puts the pressure on Schultz, who was missing eight players, some of whom were important. Full-back Riccardo Calafiori (21) was officially absent due to a problem with the hip flexor, but is said to be about to move to AC Milan and was therefore not there, as the Swiss media speculate. Hitz is quoted by the “Blick” on this subject: “You play for a club, for the fans. Certain things are difficult to digest.”
We were well prepared and could have won the game in the end, regardless of which players were available.
Timo Schultz
In the meantime, coach Schultz was critical of the players who were standing on the pitch in front of 20,490 fans: “It’s about basic defense and not about the speech before the game. We were well prepared and could have won the game on End, regardless of what players are available and whether old or young.”
Need to speak: Timo Schultz in the home game against Lausanne.
IMAGO/Manuel Stefan
His coaching colleague Ludovic Magnin, formerly at VfB Stuttgart and, like Schultz, also at Werder Bremen, made it clear that the away teams travel to Basel with a different attitude and not, as they used to, in St.-Jakob-Park, just “lose the ball for 90 minutes shovel the sixteen”.
Next home game on September 3rd
In the “Joggeli”, FCB no longer have to play, maybe the Schultz-Elf will get the curve away. A success in the cup at underdog FC Saint-Blaise next Sunday (2 p.m.) would be advisable for the team to calm the environment. Then in the fight for points at FC Lugano (27.8.) the grapes are hanging higher again. Only when the transfer window is closed and the FC Basel squad is set for 2023/24 – at least until winter – will the team play in front of home fans again. On September 3rd, the current high-flyers FC Zurich will face off. The current leader and champion of 2022 seems to have overcome its crisis.
