FC Basel is in an unknown situation

Acting coach Alex Frei tries to motivate FCB players on the sideline. (Image: Jean-Christophe Bott / Keystone)

It just happens then, in the 86th minute: A cross from afar finds the old Raphael Nuzzolo, who wants to have known before the contact of the balloon that he Xamax, the promoted, would level to 1: 1.

The proud, but in self-doubt FC Basel had to face again a setback. Nuzzolo had all that was missing at Baselers this Saturday night: sassy passports and full of self-confidence, even once with the out-of-season mind as Croatian Luka Modric at the World Cup. The preview of what could happen in the next moment. And, perhaps the most important thing: enjoy the game. The FCB had not been able to take enough security against Noah Okafor, 18, who was brought into the team by Alex Frei.

Interim coach Frei has repeatedly tried to straighten players on the sideline. He invited her to show a large chest, so as not to collapse. An intervention on the body, because even more thought, which is wrong, confuses even more the spirit. The recovery succeeded only conditionally. It was felt that the team got free words and wore them on the first 20 minutes. Frei also praised the initial phase as "outstanding and dominant", but after that, it was "a game of ping-pong, a wild go-and-go". We find the fragile structure of the FCB, which has faltered – in preparation against Feyenoord Rotterdam (0: 5), in the starting game against St. Gallen (1: 2 at home in the last second), in the Champions League Qualification against Paok Thessalonica (1: 2 to 0: 2-residue). And now in Neuchâtel still a winless match against the players, whose FCB team would find almost no place.The sports leader Marco Streller commented after the match on the decision taken Thursday, coach Raphael Wicky after only two serious fights to appear in the new season. Streller did not steal responsibility, he said phrases like "The next cartridge must sit" – as if successful football games were a simple act. It's a lot more, more complicated, more multi-faceted. With the appointment of junior coach Frei and his assistant Marco Schällibaum, they also wanted to "bring more emotions" into the team, said Streller. It sounded like a slight reproach to the address of the dismissed Wicky, a reproach, which Streller however removed: "Alex is a different type of Raphael, there are other personalities, everything has its advantages and its disadvantages. "

The player Fabian Frei, when he said that this time the team had been" ready from the start ". This leaves a deep look, but takes the responsibility of the team. What was happening? Disturbed atmosphere? Not ready? Fabian Frei said of the newcomer on the sidelines: "Alex is a respectful person in the club, everyone looks at him."

In the return leg against Paok, Nothelfer Frei will be coach again on Wednesday. Streller says that we need an "experienced man" now, the technical commission is agreeing on this issue. In terms of time, however, we do not want to "break anything on the knee". And what does President Bernhard Burgener think of the crisis? Can not there be any for him? You do not know. He is silent. Maybe everything will be fine, and Burgener does not have much to explain. Perhaps.