TFT Issue 3397!

The more time elapses, the more I become impressed by Lausanne-Ouchy. I never thought Kodro would do as well as this but he is. I think his team have thrived by being listed as mid-table fodder i.e. nothing is expected of them. Whilst other teams have come and gone, they’ve remained consistently good throughout, and now need to be taken seriously as a promotion candidate.

I mean, Grasshopper Zurich are bottlers, Winterthur have all but ruled themselves out of contention, Aarau are too inconsistent, FC Schaffhausen’s heads have gone, and FC Thun have had too many setbacks in the transfer market, so why shouldn’t Lausanne-Ouchy push for Super League football? They’re an incredibly settled and consistent group, tactically astute, and haven’t lost many players at all. Indeed, those they have lost have been replaced seriously well. This is a very well-oiled machine, in short.

I like how they don’t over-rely on any of their players too. The usual situation for clubs at this level – particularly those that are over-achieving – is that they’ve got someone that is far better than the rest, who will carry the team as and when required. At Lausanne-Ouchy, that’s simply not the case. The goals are shared out, the assists are shared out, and everybody does their duty at both ends. It’s a really harmonious setup, and that certainly helps in making things happen consistently well. I just don’t have a reason to doubt such a resolute and confident team right now.

For those of you that don’t know, FC Thun are the team that I like the most in Switzerland. They play fearless attacking football, always seek to entertain, and sometimes win, sometimes draw, and sometimes lose! They operate on a shoestring budget, selling anybody that is bidded for, and do a terrific job of picking up unknown youngsters and turning them into good players. The likes of Lauper and Spielmann, both at Bernese rivals Young Boys Bern in the Super League, both played for FC Thun, as did Burgy, currently on loan in the Bundesliga 2. 

The philosophy of the club meant that, when relegated, they lost players like Tosetti and Munsy, purely because other clubs were interested. The end result of players moving on was that they needed a striker and wingers. It took a while for them to solve the striker situation, eventually recruiting Kyeremateng from Stoke City, and that’s only partially worked. The wingers situation was easier to solve as they had da Silva and Schwizer on loan in the Challenge League last season, so they simply decided to play them in the FC Thun team when their loan deals expired, and both impressed. They also re-signed a former winger of theirs along the way, Dzonlagic.

Of course, when Grasshopper Zurich’s Portuguese manager saw that FC Thun had a star Portuguese winger in the making, he then went and bought him earlier in 2021. That coincided with injuries to other wingers and ultimately FC Thun were left looking very short of creativity. Nothing has really changed much on that front; the team simply doesn’t do enough collectively to create chances now. It’s not through a lack of effort; FC Thun always graft. They’re just not good enough, and it’s showing. 

The above, fused with the fact that FC Thun have never paid much attention to defending, leads to issues. Tonight’s visitors tend to field midfielders in defence on a regular basis so conceding goals is a rarity for them at any level. Now they’re not scoring enough either, they’re not only sitting ducks, but jeopardising their promotion push. I can’t see an FC Thun side in such a position heading to Lausanne and avoiding defeat here, to be frank, not after the home team just won away from home against SC Kriens in a professional, thorough manner. 

To me, it simply makes sense to back the home win here.