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FCZ Champion Blerim Dzemaili: The champion team has fallen to last place and has not yet won the championship match.
It is an unprecedented decline. Never in the history of Swiss football has a champion crashed like FCZ. From champion to relegation contender in just five months.
Sunday’s 4-1 derby defeat to GC is their 16th consecutive Premier League game without a hat-trick. “It’s the sad truth. We are where we belong,” says FCZ captain Yannick Brecher. In 25 competitive games since the start of the season, there have been only five victories. Even previously very patient FCZ fans are blown away in the wake of the disgrace against GC.
How did FCZ happen to become the #1 landing candidate in record time? The causes of the massive crisis are manifold. Disastrous coach choice with Franco Foda in the summer. Failed transfer policy, many targets from Assan Ceesay and Willy Gnonto have not been replaced. Top performers like Antonio Marchesano are completely out of shape.
Banned boss, assistant at a loss
With Bo Henriksen as a new coach, he got a red card in the second game of the Premier League and could be suspended for a long time. With Genesio Colatrella, coach and interim after stopping Henriksen, who appears to be at a loss as a crisis manager.
Inside, too, there is plenty of air. To the taste of the club management, some players express themselves very clearly in terms of internal matters such as the choice of coach. The fact that President Ancilo Canepa, despite taking 10th place, insists that the team is individually better than it was in the tournament, is only moderately received by the players. Another strange episode: Against Winterthur, Precher is reported to be injured. It has been spared, this communication is also disturbing internally.
Is Henriksen not training this year?
What is clear: On Thursday in the Europa League match at home against Bodo / Glimt, FCZ coach Bo Henriksen (47) will train his team as normal. It is unclear if the Dane will be on the sidelines at Sion on Sunday. It depends on which referee is likely to appear on Tuesday after the red card in Basel – or whether Zurich has appealed against it.
Henriksen faces a heavy fine. If he was punished for hitting the fourth official as harshly as Sion coach Paolo Tramizani last season (four suspensions for a red card for offensive behaviour), Henriksen will no longer be a Premier League coach this year. There are only three rounds left until the World Cup break. The first automatic suspension served against the GC.
But things could get much worse for the Dane. Because the league is also investigating whether Henriksen was illegally in the booth after he was sent off in Basel. The problem: The card regulations for coaches have only been around since 2019, and the coach never saw red in the first half. Now a precedent can be set. (MD)
What is clear: On Thursday in the Europa League match at home against Bodo / Glimt, FCZ coach Bo Henriksen (47) will train his team as normal. It is unclear if the Dane will be on the sidelines at Sion on Sunday. It depends on which referee is likely to appear on Tuesday after the red card in Basel – or whether Zurich has appealed against it.
Henriksen faces a heavy fine. If he was punished for hitting the fourth official as harshly as Sion coach Paolo Tramizani last season (four suspensions for a red card for offensive behaviour), Henriksen will no longer be a Premier League coach this year. There are only three rounds left until the World Cup break. The first automatic suspension served against the GC.
But things could get much worse for the Dane. Because the league is also investigating whether Henriksen was illegally in the booth after he was sent off in Basel. The problem: The card regulations for coaches have only been around since 2019, and the coach never saw red in the first half. Now a precedent can be set. (MD)
Then there is the double burden of the European Cup. Zurich has already had eleven English weeks, and the schedule is tighter than ever due to the Winter World Cup. The numerous trips and, above all, sometimes severe defeats in Europe, have long become a great physical and mental burden.
In general, all the problems mean that the Zurich team is completely broken on the field. Players blame each other for goals conceded and failed actions.
Alternatives are boiling
FCZ rips itself apart. Brecher puts it this way: “It makes me hated and disappoints how we behave as a team. We don’t help each other. Every player has to realize their role again.”
In plain language: some players are reluctant to sit on the bench. Keeping reservists happy was one of the outstanding qualities of André Breitenreiter. But now it is boiling. Henriksen was able to significantly improve mood in training sessions. But the Dane also needs wins soon.
Once again, a Scandinavian is supposed to get Zurich out of chaos. As in 2015/2016, when Finn Sami Hyypia did nothing and FCZ was relegated to the Challenge League. Krass: Zurich is currently in a worse situation than it was at the time. In 2015, they were at the bottom after 13 rounds, but they took three more points than now and won at least once.
And even then, she did not want to admit the danger of relegation for so long. Again, the champ considers himself too good for a landing. Also because there is no direct relegation due to the league increase.
But will this FCZ survive the barrage against the third-party Challenge League?
Premier League Credit Suisse
|
Team |
SP |
TD |
Point |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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 |
||
|
VIII |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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