Zurich's Grasshoppers are once again in a relegation battle this season. Many things are not going as they should at the record champions, although there are plenty of alternatives. Football expert Alex Frei and editor-in-chief blue Sport Andreas Böni with three suggestions for GC.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- With just three wins from 18 league games, GC is once again fighting against relegation this season.
- Expert Alex Frei and editor-in-chief Andreas Böni agree: things can't go on like this at the record champions. A clear strategy is missing.
- Böni urges GC to look into a Swiss solution for the sporting management and says: "Bringing in Germans who have little knowledge of Swiss football and the Swiss market is simply not the right philosophy."
In the last game of the year, there is still a ray of hope for GC. Away at FC Basel, the Hoppers secured their first win under new coach Tomas Oral - and won a Super League game for the first time since 28 September and the 1-0 win at YB. blue football expert Alex Frei and editor-in-chief blue Sport Andreas Böni agreed in the Sport kompakt program: GC can't go on like this.
"They were able to breathe a little easier for the first time with the win against Basel. But things are moving fast, the three teams at the back are very close together. It can look completely different again after two match days," Frei makes clear and misses a clear strategy at the record champions: "How do you want to move GC forward again, how do you want to position yourself? I have no idea. I simply don't have a plan anywhere."
A Swiss solution?
Böni has a similar view. "I'm completely lacking a strategy," says the blue editor-in-chief and suggests that GC should look to FC Lugano, for example, and focus on a Swiss solution. "You could think about it, for example: Bring in Ilja Kaenzig, a great man with a GC past. Try to poach him from Bochum, maybe he won't be able to achieve much there after five years. Then you bring in Alain Sutter with a GC past, who restructures the entire sporting area from youth to the first team. Then you might bring in Raphael Wicky as coach because he has a connection to the owners in Los Angeles, because he spends a lot of time there and knows everything there."
This is not the case for Stephan Schwarz, who has been pulling the strings as GC's head of sport since March of this year. "This strategy of bringing in Germans who have little knowledge of Swiss football and the Swiss market is simply not the right philosophy. Even a 1-0 win in Basel won't change that."
