Eight days into the new season, Young Boys are already in crisis. With solidarity, a few corrections and perhaps reinforcements from outside, the champions want to get back on track.
28.07.2024, 20:24
28.07.2024, 20:37
SDA
Just how tense Young Boys' nerves are after the first few minutes of this season was demonstrated against FC St. Gallen in the second half: David von Ballmoos grabbed Jaouen Hadjam by the collar and gave him a piece of his mind. The captain appeared for a TV interview after the match and explained his reaction to the error-prone defender, who had been substituted during the break, as a result of his pent-up emotions.
As understandable as the goalkeeper's outburst is in view of the past few days, it is of little help. Von Ballmoos himself and Sandro Lauper told "blue" that it was now particularly important to stand together. All the YB players quickly disappeared into the dressing room after the 4-0 defeat and had an initial discussion. The aim was not yet to correct the mistakes, but rather to take a first step towards the necessary mentality.
Self-criticism and hope
There will be serious individual discussions in the coming days, as head of sport Steve von Bergen told "blue". The fact that these will not necessarily lead to success is shown by the fact that they have already taken place after the lost match against Servette on Wednesday. Four days after the 1:3 in Geneva, nothing was better in St. Gallen. "We were out of our depth in all areas," said von Bergen. He had no explanation for this.
Lauper went into a little more detail in his search for faults. The central defender, who heads a very insecure defense, said: "There's a little bit missing everywhere - and that's just too much." Von Ballmoos added that they are currently being extremely punished for every mistake. "It feels like every mistake leads to a goal." In three games, the defense has conceded nine goals, which is already over a quarter of all the goals that YB conceded in the entire last Super League season.
Lauper draws some hope from last season, which was far from perfect. "We lost three times in the space of a week," the veteran recalls of the period at the end of February and beginning of March with defeats against Servette and Zurich in the league and the cup exit against Sion. This series led to the dismissal of coach Raphael Wicky.
"We're not getting five players"
Of course, a change of coach is not an option this time. It is up to Patrick Rahmen, who has been in charge since the start of the season, to find solutions. It doesn't help that he himself has now had to digest a run of ten defeats in a row (three with YB and seven with Winterthur). In terms of personnel, he could be helped by the return of Mohamed Ali Camara and Loris Benito. The defenders will be ready for action again in the coming weeks.
Until then, the aim is to make the necessary adjustments to shape the currently available players into a competitive team. There is a whole week to do this before the next match next Sunday at home against Zurich. Lauper believes the team needs to get back to basics and "perhaps stop dying in beauty". Von Bergen promises that something will happen on the transfer market. But he also says that the club will by no means panic: "We won't be bringing in five new players next week."
