FC Basel loses its second game under Stephan Lichtsteiner against leaders Thun on Sunday afternoon. The experts Rolf Fringer and Pascal Schürpf take a swipe at FCB in the blue Sport Studio.
A week ago, FC Basel celebrated a dramatic 3:4 victory in the classic match against FC Zurich at the Letzigrund in Zurich under (former) coach Ludovic Magnin. Seven days later, the emotional situation at Basel is different: Magnin is gone, Stephan Lichtsteiner has replaced him - but Basel is out of the Europa League and, after the defeat against Thun, probably out of the championship race as well.
"The club doesn't deserve success in situations like this," said blue Sport expert Rolf Fringer after Basel's 2:1 home defeat against the Bernese Oberland side. "If you win 4:3 away in Zurich and everyone is hugging the coach, you can't change the coach - that's so unreasonable and psychologically stupid."
For the 69-year-old, there has to be a change of coach if the relationship with the coach is torn, which was not the case with Magnin. As a team, you have to have enough of a coach and be happy that a new face is coming in. New emotions and motivation would then provide a boost.
"We're not where we want to be yet"
"Now Lichtsteiner is almost the 'pawn' because they changed coaches at the wrong time. What they showed today was also seen under Magnin," says Fringer. "It's a shame for a coach: you have two games and you've been eliminated twice in important competitions."
"In such a short time, Lichtsteiner can't have much influence yet," says Pascal Schürpf in the blue Sport Studio. "By all accounts, Magnin has done a good job and it's not as if the players have said: 'We want him gone'. So the situation is special for Lichtsteiner and the players."
And what did Stephan Lichtsteiner himself say after the game against Thun? "We're still a long way from where we want to be," he admitted in an interview with blue Sport. He still has a lot of work to do with his team and the workload is enormous due to the program with many games in a short space of time.
For Basel, the Cup quarter-final against FC St. Gallen on Wednesday will be the third important game in a week since Lichtsteiner took over. With another loss, the criticism surrounding the change of coach at FCB is only likely to get louder.
