What speaks for FC Zurich as a champion – and what against it
The FCZ players celebrate in front of the south stand.Image: Keystone
Analyze
FC Zürich seems to be inexorably marching towards the 13th Swiss championship title in the club’s history. Are there still any arguments against FCZ winning the title? There are – but there is clearly more to Zurich than against them.
That speaks for the FCZ
The lead
With the 4-2 win against FC Basel on Sunday, FC Zurich got rid of another pursuer. FCB are now 13 points behind the leaders. But the Young Boys in second place are already a whopping 10 points behind FCZ.
No club in the history of the Super League has lost such a large lead at this point (13 games left). FC Basel comes closest, trailing six points ahead of FCZ after 23 matchdays in 2005/06 and losing the championship title to Zurich on the last matchday.
Points even with weak games
It’s not like FC Zurich is always convincing this season. At the start of the second half of the season, FCZ happily won 1-0 against Servette, before the week’s deadline against Sion Antonio Marchesano scored the equalizer with a penalty in the 97th minute of the game.
The FCZ also scores in Sion.Video: SRF
One could call it luck, but it’s precisely these “big points” that naturally distinguish a good team from a candidate for the championship. In Germany, Bayern have been promising for years that you can’t always convince, but you can (almost) always win. That’s exactly what FCZ is doing this season – for months it has always found a way to win or at least to win a point.
The incredible run
FC Zurich has not lost a game in the Super League since September 26, 2021. In 15 games, FCZ has won twelve and drawn three. During this period, Zurich have scored 39 goals and conceded only 15 goals. In addition, in this strong phase, the two biggest competitors for the championship title have been beaten (1-0 against YB and 4-2 against Basel).
FC Zurich has good reason to go into the final phase of the season with confidence. The self-confidence is high, but there is something humble about FCZ’s performances. The difficult mix of being self-confident without appearing arrogant has been perfect for the city of Zurich for months.
The FCZ schedule since October 2021. Screenshot: transfermarkt.ch
The efficiency
FC Zurich has extremely low ball possession values for a league leader. Only 46.7 percent of the time is the ball in the ranks of Zurich. These are values that would make Pep Guardiola tear his hair out. Only FC Sion and bottom of the table Lausanne-Sport have less in the Super League.
Super League possession values:
Data: fbref.com
But FC Zurich doesn’t need this ball possession at all. What is much more important is what a team can do with the possession they have. And in these quality metrics, the FCZ is at the top of the league.
FCZ has fired 128 shots on goal so far – only YB (156) has more in the league. Per game, that’s 5.57 shots at the opposing goal in Zurich.
What is even more important than the number of shots is their quality and in this respect the FCZ is the croesus of the league. FCZ scores 0.37 goals per shot on goal, only FC Basel can keep up to some extent (0.35 G/SoT). YB is somewhat lacking in efficiency in this regard (0.31 G/SoT).
G/SoT= goals per shot on goal, SoT/90 = shots on goal per 90 minutesData: fbref.com
The goalkeeper performance
On the defensive, the top teams hardly take anything. YB and Basel have conceded 29 goals so far, FC Zurich 30.
What is striking, however, is that YB only allowed 68 shots on goal. At FCZ (104) and Basel (101) there were significantly more. The fact that these two clubs still concede so few goals is due to the fact that the defense does not allow many great chances, but also to the strong goalkeeper performances.
Basel’s Heinz Lindner keeps 76.2 percent of the shots on his box, Zurich’s goalkeeper and captain Yanick Brecher also at a strong 73.1 percent. YB is at the other end of the chart at 63.2 percent.
SoTA = shots received on goal, Save% = percentage of shots saved.Data: fbref.com
More than just two scorers
With Antonio Marchesano (11 goals, 4 assists) and Assan Ceesay (13 goals, 7 assists), FCZ has two outstanding scorers in its ranks. In addition, left-back Adrian Guerrero (3 goals, 8 assists) is another player who ranks in the top 10 in the league-wide scorer list.
Super League scorer list.Screenshot: transfermarkt.ch
But the FCZ not only has the two goalkeepers Ceesay and Marchesano, but also strong alternatives. André Breitenreiter can count on a super joker in the storm. The only 18-year-old Wilfried Gnonto has been substituted on 19 times this season and scored five times. Overall, the Italian has 7 goals this season in 22 games. Impressive is Gnonto’s goal quota, especially calculated down to the minutes. Gnonto scores every 96 minutes on average, which is the best in the league.
In addition, the FCZ offensive with Blaz Kramer (13 games, 3 goals, 2 assists) has a beefy center forward option and then there’s Aiyegun Tosin. The Nigerian started out with different views for a long time, but now seems to have really arrived in Zurich. In 431 minutes he already has 6 scorer points (3 goals, 3 assists)
No departures
During the winter break, FC Zurich was surprisingly quiet after the major renovations in the summer. No top performer has left the club, only a new player has joined in central defender Karol Mets.
The only winter signing at FC Zurich: Karol Mets.Image: Keystone
Things are different with Basel and YB: Basel gave up top performers like Arthur Cabral, Edon Zhegrova or Eray Cömert in winter, who were replaced by Adam Szalai or Fedor Chalov.
The Young Boys have also had to give up some important calibers: Silvan Hefti, Michel Aebischer and Jean-Pierre Nsame all moved to Italy, Christopher Martins to Russia on loan.
That speaks against the FCZ
Die Young Boys
The biggest opponent for the championship title is called YB. The Bernese have underperformed so far this season and are already ten points behind FCZ.
Eight of those ten points accumulate in the first half of the season, when YB played a total of 12 international parties. Because the Young Boys have already been eliminated from the cup, they can now – like FCZ – concentrate fully on the championship.
Can the Young Boys put FCZ under pressure?Image: Keystone
YB definitely has the qualities and characters to put on a winning streak. There are also many players who know how to win the title – after all, the Bernese have won the Swiss championship four times in the series.
If YB wins week after week and thus puts pressure on FCZ, it could actually get exciting in the end.
The direct duels
Of the exact 13 games, FCZ meets YB twice. So the Bernese have it in their own feet, which is reduced to four points in direct encounters alone. In addition, difficult away games in St.Gallen and Basel await the FCZ. There are still enough stumbling blocks anyway, the only question is how the FCZ can overcome them.
The rest of the schedule for FC Zurich.Screenshot: transfermarkt.ch
The Dump
The fact that FCZ is doing so well is a combination of a well-assembled team, the excellent coach André Breitenreiter and … also the need for a dose of stupidity. Be it with late goals or sometimes – like on Sunday against Basel – somewhat lucky referee decisions. The phrase “The luck of the efficient” More precisely the FCZ is currently perfect – it just works.
André Breitenreiter is doing a very good job in Zurich – but luck is also on his side.Image: Keystone
But what if the balls suddenly land on the post instead of in the goal, if the opponent equalizes in the last minute and there is also a controversial goal against FCZ? Such phases will most likely still come and then it will be decided whether the FCZ can cope with these setbacks so well that it is enough for the championship title.
The football weekend was also dominated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Various clubs and fan organizations show support for Ukraine.
Everton meets Manchester City (0-1) in the English Premier League on Saturday. Both teams have a Ukrainian in their squad – Oleksandr Zinchenko at Man City and Vitaliy Mykolenko at Everton. The two sat on the bench for the whole game, but before kick-off they met and hugged.