Antonio Marchesano signed for Yverdon, Nikola Katic for Plymouth Argyle. Nemanja Tosic and Mirlind Kryeziu are on their way out. The blue Sport experts Admir Mehmedi and Pascal Zuberbühler ask themselves: What's going wrong at FCZ?
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- FC Zurich lose the classic against Basel 0:1. FCZ have only won one of their last nine games.
- Not only the poor results, but also the many players who are willing to move are causing a stir.
- The blue Sport experts Admir Mehmedi and Pascal Zuberbühler ask themselves: Why do so many want to leave?
- The two agree that FCZ is undergoing a major upheaval and would therefore probably have to revise its objectives downwards.
FC Zurich loses 0:1 at home to FC Basel in the Letzigrund, bringing a fine series to an end. Because of the seven previous classics, the Zurich team had never lost. Now they suffered their first Super League defeat against Basel since August 2022.
This hurts all the more as things are anything but going well for Zurich at the moment anyway. FCZ have lost four of their last five matches in the Super League, more than in the first 16 rounds of the current season - when they only lost three. FCZ have only won one of their last nine league games. They started the new year with a 1-0 win against Yverdon.
FCZ started the season really well and were still leading the table after matchday 14. Seven rounds later, FCZ have only four points more in their account than at that time and have slipped to sixth place in the table. As if they didn't already have enough to worry about, transfer policy has also been a talking point in recent days. In particular, the departure of crowd favorite Antonio Marchesano infuriated some FCZ fans.
However, FCZ boss Ancillo Canepa explains in an interview with blue Sport that they themselves were surprised by the transfer request. They did not want to put any obstacles in the way of Marchesano, who now earns twice as much at Yverdon. Whether Marchesano really only packed his bags for the money remains to be seen. When asked about his move, Marchesano himself said that there were "various reasons".
Nikola Katic and Antonio Marchesano are gone. Nemanja Tosic's move abroad is imminent, and Mirlind Kryeziu is also pushing for his departure. Canepa says that it is not them who initiate the changes, but the players who express their desire to move. And as we all know, you shouldn't stop travelers. Or as Canepa says: "We only want players who give 200 percent for FCZ."
The blue Sport experts Mehmedi and Zubi are amazed
Zubi, who is busy taking notes during the Canepa interview, says: "My question is: Why do they all want to leave? You are at FC Zurich, you have a good team, you have experienced players there. But why do they all want to leave?"
Zubi gestures away blue Sport presenter Stefan Eggli's objection that this is at least understandable in the case of transfers abroad. And Admir Mehmedi also considers this to be an excuse. "Stefan, Katic's transfer is symptomatic. He's seriously moving from FCZ to the bottom of the English second division (Plymouth Argyle; editor's note). Someone tell me that's a career move. That sounds to me like: 'Help, I just want to get out of here. No matter where.' And again: why do they all want to leave? We don't know the details, but all in all, it's just too much."
Zubi also doesn't understand why Canepa doesn't want to talk about a change. "This is a huge upheaval. Almost exactly a year ago, Zurich against Basel, 0-0. Two of the starting eleven from back then are still on the pitch today. Brecher and Krasniqi." He sees a completely new team, which is not fundamentally negative. "But players like Katic, Mirlind (who is on his way out), Marchesano and so on and so forth used to be the backbone of FC Zurich." And that is now completely gone.
Does FCZ have to lower its goals?
Although FCZ has not been looking good recently, nothing has changed with regard to the target of finishing in the top 6. The two blue Sport experts take a critical view of this. Mehmedi says: "Since the Malenovic era, it feels like the club has been completely turned on its head." It's unusual to have so many changes in the winter: "And you can legitimately ask yourself whether the objectives need to be adjusted. Because they haven't been able to adequately replace the players who have left so far." He is curious to see which players they will now sign, as the transfer window is still open.
Zubi also believes that they may have to lower their targets. He says this without bashing FCZ. Zubi praises the young team and believes that they showed character against Basel, as they had previously in Lucerne. "They have good young players and now you're starting all over again." But you shouldn't expect this team to be among the front runners.
Mehmedi concludes: "Once again, they've had a big upheaval. Not only in the 1st team, but also in the youth team. A lot of personnel changes within a very short space of time. And the good thing is that time will tell whether they are right or wrong. And I'm very, very excited to see what the next few weeks and months will be like at FCZ."