The First Ninety

My first line up as Chur boss. Everything I had taken in and acted upon at Gernika put into practice here. Even as now being classed as experienced in the field of senior management, this was a tough one: I had the overview of the data but this is just not comparable – my style is, well, my style and one that I’ve honed from the many great Basque managers before me. This is now how football is played in Switzerland and I am not naïve enough to assume that it will bend and fit to me and my demands.

I started Muhamed Stojanovic, a youngster from Graubünden, in the Free Role behind Mladenovic, with Stolz on the left and the untested, but capable from the bench Villigeron the right, hoping to form a narrow box in attack, as I had done previously.

Our defensive shape – a 4-4-2 – was evident from early on as my desire to close the game and compact the centre, forcing players wide and then back into the busy zones, was evident and it quickly transitioned into a 3-2-5, the shape I used at Gernika, when we had the ball. This time, though, the width came from the right – with Ozkan, our goal scorer as the marauder and Burmaci sitting in.

The end result? A 1-1 draw that sees us slip into the drop zone, with an away tie at league leader Unzwil up next. Not the most enthralling tie and not us at anywhere near our best. We need to improve and improve quickly but our shape, ideas in possession, and out of it, as well as our targeted opposition work is set up and things, as they say, can only get better!