West Ham United begin this summer’s pre-season match action with an enticing clash against 27-times Swiss champions Grasshopper Club Zürich on Saturday afternoon.
The game at GC/Campus against Gerald Scheiblehner’s side will mark the conclusion of the Hammers’ pre-season camp in the Black Forest of southern Germany after a week of intense training at the home of SV Aasen 1928 in Donaueschingen.
To get the lowdown on West Ham’s first pre-season opponents, we caught up with Swiss football expert Craig King for some in-depth insight on what to expect.
Read his pre-match thoughts below...
Thank you for taking time to chat with us, Chris. Firstly, could you give us a brief overview of Grasshopper Club Zürich’s journey...
“Grasshopper is one of the names that's synonymous with Swiss football, and I think if you ask anyone who isn't familiar with Swiss football, they are one of the first three or four clubs that they might come to.
“They've been successful for the most part since their formation in 1886. They've won so many titles pretty much every decade up until the early 2000s, and since then it's kind of fallen off the cliff a bit, and sadly for them, it has got progressively worse.
“They got relegated for the first time in almost 70 years back in 2019, which caused a lot of unrest amongst the fans, who threatened to storm the pitch and asked for the shirts off the players’ backs because I don't think anyone could really believe that a club that is still statistically the most successful in Switzerland could be relegated.
“Grasshopper were down in the Swiss Challenge League for a couple of seasons and then managed to come back up, but they've not won a title since 2003, and there's just so much disarray about them at the moment.
“Last year they were taken over by Major League Soccer side Los Angeles Football Club in the United States, which was seen as another mark on their name, and for a club that's of tradition and had so much about their values, to let a team from the USA come in and take over was another step backwards in their history.
“Sadly, they've not shown signs of getting back anywhere near the level from the early 2000s, and we are now looking at a team that's constantly in a relegation battle and way below where they expect to be.”
How did they fare on the pitch last season and so far this term in pre-season?
“Last season was another disappointing season for Grasshopper.
“They finished eleventh and avoided direct relegation on goal difference for the second season in a row, so they had a play-off against FC Aarau.
“They won that pretty comfortably and stayed up, which obviously was preventing a disaster because going back down at this point to the second tier would have been another step backwards.
“In terms of this pre-season, they’ve played two games, against FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein and FC Sion, and have been on a training camp in Crans-Montana.
“Their season starts on 26 July against FC Luzern, while they’ve also got friendlies lined up against RC Celta de Vigo and FC Bayern Munich in July and August.“
Who are Grasshoppers’ key men? Which players should West Ham United fans be keeping an eye out for in particular?
“As you can imagine, a lot of the players who did well last season have already moved on, and, to be honest, they didn't have many standouts because of the season they had.
“I would say Nikolas Muci, who used to be a Switzerland U21 international. He's a striker and was their top scorer last season with nine goals in all competitions.
“They've also got Albanian international Amir Abrashi, who moved early in his career to Grasshoppers, spent a few seasons there, then went to Germany, while he also had a loan spell at FC Basel.
“He’s now back with Grasshopper for the last few years of his career and is very experienced in midfield, having made almost 300 appearances across both his spells at Letzigrund.
“They have signed 19-year-old Jonathan Asp Jensen on loan from Bayern Munich, and he scored five goals and provided eleven assists last season for Bayern Munich II in the Regionalliga Bayern Division.
“But I think right now, seeing the players who have gone out, who contributed at least a little bit last season, they've not really strengthened too much.
“So there's not really many players that jump out at me to say that they're going to be a threat for anyone, not even in this pre-season game, but just the season going forward.”
What does the fixture against West Ham United, Premier League opposition, mean to players and fans of Grasshopper Club Zürich?
“Despite it being a pre-season friendly, Grasshopper will really want to win this game because it's a chance to test themselves against a Premier League side and try and get a marquee win. To be able to say they beat recent UEFA Europa Conference League winners West Ham would be a massive thing for them as well.
“So that’s an issue West Ham could face, coming up against a very motivated side that will be eager to get what would be a historic result.
“But I think when you put those two teams against each other, West Ham are going to win most of the time.
“There’s also a chance Grasshopper could be that bit sharper, with their season starting just a week later, while West Ham are just beginning their pre-season preparations, and it might take a bit of time to shake the rust off and get back to it.
“Grasshopper don't really get to play a lot of big European games anymore. They played Fenerbahçe in 2016, and that was their last big European game.
“It used to be quite the norm for them to play these teams, but for the last decade or so, they haven't got to play any sides of that stature unless it's in friendlies, and any time an English Premier League side comes and visits Switzerland and plays, whether it be in a competitive competition or in a friendly, then it's a big occasion.
“It’s an exciting fixture for the fans of the club and for the players themselves to test themselves against a Premier League opponent and see how they get on, and it’s up there with the games against RC Celta de Vigo and Bayern Munich.”
Can you give us an insight into their newly-appointed manager, Gerald Scheiblehner? What is his preferred style of play, and what formation does he usually opt for?
“He seems to have done a great job with FC Blau-Weiß Linz, taking them from the second tier to the Austrian Bundesliga, and seems to focus on youth development.
“It's an interesting appointment for Grasshopper because they've gone through a spell where they took some risks with left-field managers, then had some experienced Swiss managers, of which none really worked.
“Gerald Scheiblehner is their 19th manager since 2015, and Pierluigi Tami, who is the sporting director for the Swiss national team, was the last manager to last longer than a year between 2015 and 2017.
“There's been a revolving door, and right now they just need someone that's going to stabilise the club and keep them moving forward. It'll be interesting to see if this manager can do that because they can't really afford to dispense with another one so quickly, but it looks promising.
“He seems like he's got a track record of taking clubs that have potential but are falling on hard times, and that's exactly the sort of stability Grasshopper need at this point.”
Click HERE to check out Craig's X Account.
