Basel vs Deportivo
 

You guys will be playing Deportivo at home on wednesday night.
I sincerely wish from the bottom of my heart that you guys get a point at the very least.

Best of Luck guys;)

Thanks

I'm just wondering if you are genuine or if there is some sort of Juve "agenda" happening here so far as Basel doing their bit to knock Depor our of the qualification race ;) :D

Champions League Report: Basle Shock Deportivo
Basle - Deportivo | Latest News | News Archive

02/19/2003. A first-half Hakan Yakin goal was enough to see Basle to a 1-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna in Switzerland.

Basle started the better with Yakin and Julio Hernán Rossi causing problems for the Depor defence.

On nine minutes Roy Makaay shot over for the visitors, before Murat Yakin hit the inside of the post with a free-kick, after Scott Chipperfield had been fouled.

Depor had to defend stoutly at times, although at the other end MaKaay forced Pascal Zuberbühler into a save.

After Aldo Duscher had seen a shot cleared off the line, Basle took the lead when Rossi passed to Hakan Yakin who curled home from 25 metres. He then forced Juanmi into another save with an overhead kick.

Sébastien Barberis saw a volley go just wide after the break, although as the half went on Basle had to soak up more pressure. Despite this Depor failed to make many clear cut chances and the Swiss held on for a famous victory.

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that's a pretty shocking result...

Fabulous result for Basel :proud: :happy:

From the match reports i have read and footage i have seen, it looks as though Murat Yakin had a total form turnaround as he was apparently brilliant in this game :cool:

Of course the usual suspects (Hakan Yakin, Rossi, Giminez) were upto their usual standard and i suppose Cantaluppi did another excellent (if underappreciated and underackonowledged) job in the centre of the field.

I also saw that Chipperfield was heavily involved just as he was in the Eng-Aus game and again had a good chance to score but the angle forced him to put his shot wide. Looks like he put in some good crosses and got to the byline a few times as well.

Once again though the whole "inferior opposition" tag is being thrown at Basel by the press (especially the Spanish press) who seem to atribute the result to Depor's inadequacies rather than Basel dominance :rollani:. I will acknowledge that Irureta's tactics were a little suspect but at the end of the day you can only play as well as the opposition lets you and looking at the stats and uefa's minute by minute report, Basel deserved to win the game :)

Looks like Basel will have to win the CL to shed that "inferior" tag and even then there would probably be doubters :sigh: :depress: :groan:

Sorry for the delay, I'm quite busy atm with my exam preparations so I dont have that much time to hang around in the forums.

Well, once more I was completely surprised by Basel when I expected it the least. But after all I really should have learned my lesson an NEVER overestimate testing games like the 0:3 against Zürich. So my impression ater the Slovenia game of the NT was rather correct: The players are very well prepared and in great form, especially Hakan Yakin who definitely showed a world class performance against Coruña. Already after 5 minutes I realized that my bad expectations werent appropriate at all. Basel was prepared as usual in their CL home games. In the first 25 minutes Coruña was heavily dominated, similar to the games against Liverpool and ManU. Unfortunately the Basel players always missed the right time for the goal shot although they had quite a few good opportunities. Chipperfield is a great player, but I really hope he finally learns how to score... Once more it was unbelievable what he did with all his opportunities. Either he missed the moment to shoot or he tried to play a pass right in front of the goal without anyone in front of him...
Of course we also needed some luck and a "Zubi" in top form, especially when Coruña got stronger after 20 minutes and Makaay had 2 good opportunities to score. But right after Coruña missed to good opportunities in a row, Rossi started for a perfect counter and Hakan scored this beautiful goal with his excellent left foot. I dont remember when we last scored a goal after a counter btw...
After that Basel was still more dominant and especially Rossi had an excellent opportunity to even raise the score right before halftime. In the 2nd half Gross changed the formation from his usual diamond midfield to a flat midfield (Chippy, Huggel, Cantaluppi, Barberis) with only one forward (Gimenez) and Hakan in a more defensive role. Obvioulsy he learned from the games against Liverpool and ManU when Basel kept up their offensive game and, as a result, received three goals in each game in the 2nd half. Coruña (with Tristan as an additional forward) was visually dominating the game now, but they didnt really create any dangerous opportunities. The Basel defense was very compact (did I say Murat was out of form??? good joke! :howler: :howler: ) and the Coruña forwards seemed to get frustrated more and more. Basel on the other hand had some chances tro score a 2nd goal, especially in the last 10 minutes when Coruña was taking more risks. Unfortunately Gimenez isnt really the "dribbling type" of a forward or he might have scored after one of the countless counters when he had some 1:1 situations with a defender in front of the Coruña goal.
The whole team showed an excellent performance, and you would never have guessed that they havent been playing a competitive game for 10 weeks! The excellent tactical move by Gross is also worth mentioning, after all Basel really seems to have learned a lot in the CL this year.
I hope the euphoria of the last year will return now, after all the discussions about the "fan problems", the closing of the "Muttenzerkurve" and the disappearing of the stands I somehow lost a bit of my enthusiasm. But after this win I'm really looking forward to the next games, maybe we can even get a decisive game against Juve in the last round for a spot in the quaterfinals (I dont really expect us to get there but a decisive game would be great anyway, even if we lose it). Concerning the championship I'm quite confident now after I've seen the current form of the team , I just hope they will be as concentrated as they were against Coruña when they have to play Wil, Thun or Xamax.

Well, I'm also preparating my exams sometimes but as I'm a lazy guy I have enough time to write an very long match report....







... but as Athelas' report is a sensational one I can just add a few thoughts and then go back to hanging around ;) So my delay's not because I work too hard (although I should) but because the page didn't work till now.

Unfortunately I have to agree on our reporter's critics on Chippers. It wasn't really his game. Not because he didn't score (I've learned to live with that and he has other qualities), he just acted a little unlucky in his offensive actions IMHO. Murat Yakin really surprised me, he was once again the chief on the pitch and you sometimes had the impression he was playing a little with some children or beginners (those people in yellow on the field), so confident and dominant was he in some situations.

I was really disappointed with Depo's performance, so I can understand the critics a little, but I guess that's just the way they play and Makaay usually would have made 2 goals of the chances he got. Nevertheless I was fully satisified with our performance and could get a little enthusiasm back, although the support wasn't that great (except for the optical progress :eek: ). A "final" against Juve would be great, but I guess we would have needed at least a point in our home game against ManU to get there (BTW: Nearly everyone of the team and staff stated we merely won because we didn't want to score the second goal at every cost as against ManU, but IMHO we got too defensive and weren't able to hold the ball long enough so that Depo could almost immediately start a new try - so there's to find a middle way between those extremes)

Very good match reports by both Athelas and Redblue Power, but I want to add a few critical points from an "outside" view.

-FC Basel were very lucky not to concede a goal after about 25 mins when Makaay twice faced Zuberbühler alone, especially the second time, when the ball hit Zubi's hip. Depor seemed to find their play at that moment.

-The goal, as magnificient as it was, was somewhat lucky, you don't usually see those 25 metre shots find the net and the counter attack wasn't anything special at all.

-Apart from a good opportunity early in the second half, FC Basel acted very defensively and didn't manage to create any opportunities at all, Gimenez isn't a striker suitable for fast counter attacks (I think Rossi would have done better...)

-Although Depor was dominating heavily in the second half, they never managed to become a real threat to FC Basel's goal, all their attacks were stopped at the box.

I think a draw would have been the appropriate result, taking into account both team's performance, but FC Basel IMO won because they scored the first (and in this case only) goal...

Sorry for adding some spoilers ;)

I agree, we definitely needed some luck there. A striker like Makaay usually scores at least one goal out of these 2 opportunities. But both times Zubi made it extremely difficult for him reducing the angle to score. So it wasnt only luck, but also the great form of Zubi... ;)

Well, of course it was somewhat lucky, but look at Zidane's marvelous goal in the last CL final. No one said he was lucky then, Zidane is just a class player so it's normal for him to score goals like that. You could say the same of Hakan imo... :D


Basel definitely had more opportunities in the 2nd half than Coruña. I agree on the part about Gimenez/Rossi though. As I already said, Gimenez isnt a good dribbler and he's lacking technical skills (he's rather the finisher type), so he wasnt really suited for Basel's counter play in the 2nd half. I also think Rossi would have done better, but maybe Gross chose Gimenez because of his better physical abilities (his sprints were unbelievable! One after another, sometimes without time to relax for just a second :cool:).

Well, of course I have to disagree on that point. ;) I think it was a well deserved win. Of course the game might have ended differently if Coruña scored the first goal. But it's a matter of fact: They didnt, so they didnt deserve to win after all. ;) After the ManU game we were somehow disappointed cause the game could have been very different with a bit of luck and a fair referee, and this time luck was on our side. So I think it's only fair we won this time. ;)

Champions League Preview: Deportivo v Basle
Latest News | Match Preview | News Archive

02/24/2003. Deportivo La Coruna know that anything other than a victory against Basle will effectively see them eliminated from the Champions League.

Javier Irureta's side are bottom of Group D with only one point and a second victory for the Swiss in seven days would be devastating for the Galicians.

But Depor will certainly be a different proposition in the Riazor from the side that lost 1-0 in Switzerland.

Last weekend, Alaves were hammered 6-0 by Deportivo and the trio of strikers available to Irureta will be relishing the chance to help steer their side through to th quarter finals.

The good news for the home side will be the return of playmaker, Juan Valeron, who has missed the majority of the current campaign through injury.

The front pair of Diego Tristan and Roy Makaay will again start after they bagged five of Depor's goals last Saturday.

Basle arrive in Spain with a good Swiss Cup win under their belt as they beat Yverdon 3-0.

Christian Gross has already expressed his confidence of recording another upset as he his side continue to surprise everyone in this season's competition.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Deportivo: Juanmi, Hector, Andrade, Naybet, Romero, Scaloni, Sergio, Valeron, Amavisca, Makaay, Tristan

Basle: Zuberbuhler, Quennoz, Murat Yakin, Zwyssig, Atouba, Tum, Cantaluppi, Haas, Varela, Chipperfield, Rossi

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I just hope that Basel can at least take a point from this game......Please Basel do it.

If Juve don't go through.....I'd like to see Basel go through ;) so please take at least a point from this game.

Best of Luck ;)

Unfortunately Murat Yakin wont be able to play because he's ill. He hasnt even made the trip to Coruña. Gross also announced that he will probably play with a flat midfield. The line up will probably look like that:

---------------------Zubi------------------------

Haas----Quennoz---Zwyssig-----Atouba

Varela---Cantaluppi---Huggel---Chipperfield

--------------------H. Yakin----------------------
--------------------Gimenez---------------------

Of course I'm hoping for a good result, but I wouldnt be too disappointed if we lost. I just hope ManU wins in Torino, so we might still have a small chance for the quarterfinal, even if we lose against Deportivo. ;)

We missed so many players last week and still gave a great performance. I understand your without your playmaker....hey, we was without ours last week too. I am sure your players will take heart and play well......InshaAllah you will be able to obtain at least a point.........though I am only hoping you achieve a draw.

Good Luck ;)

Champions League Report: Depor Back In The Hunt
Deportivo - Basle | Latest News | Match Report | News Archive

Tristan Gave Depor The Points.
02/25/2003. Diego Tristan's solitary goal was enough to pull Deportivo La Coruna back into contention for a quarter final place with a 1-0 win over Basle in the Riazor.

After netting a hat-trick on Saturday, the Depor hitman struck after just four minutes to earn his side their first victory in the second phase.

Despite dominating the match, the home side were unable to add to the early strike as Basle held on.

Hector's cross was completely missed by Pascal Zubermuhler and Tristan was able to chest the ball down and flick it home from close range.

But the Swiss had not come to sit back and soak up the pressure as Gimenez forced Juanmi into a save moments after the opening goal.

Depor then pressed forward and held onto possession for long periods of the opening half , but the majority of their efforts were off target.

In the second half, Gimenez was guilty of the worst miss for the visitors as he connected with Chipperfield's cross, only to volley over from six yards.

Jose Amavisca shot inches wide at the other end and Roy Makaay forced the keeper into a good save from close range.

In the closing minutes, Basle pushed forward but failed to find a way past Juanmi as Depor held onto claim victory.

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