VADUZ. Slavisa Jokanovic did not imagine his Basel debut like this. On a cool evening in the Rheinpark, the promoted side from Liechtenstein dismantled the visitors 3-0, and the new coach, who had called his team amateurish after a 7-3 friendly defeat to Winterthur during the international break, watched the same soft defending return on his competitive bow. Marcel Monsberger settled the match inside ten first-half minutes: sliding home Lutfi Dalipi’s cutback on 26 minutes, then heading Dominik Schwizer’s cross past the returning Jonas Omlin on 36.
Dalipi, on loan from Young Boys and the creative hub of this Vaduz side, added the third on 68 minutes to go with his ninth assist of the season, a tally that leads the league by a distance. Basel, who had been unbeaten away before Sunday, dropped to seventh on 13 points, while Vaduz climbed to tenth with nine. The gap between the champions-elect and the newly promoted is currently measured in points; on Sunday it looked considerably smaller.
Lugano pull away, Servette find their voice
At the top, the story is stability. Lugano swept Luzern aside 4-0, with Dos Santos scoring at 12 and 78 minutes and Moncada adding a late fourth, and the leaders sit on 28 points, six ahead of Young Boys, who beat Grasshoppers 2-0 in Zurich. Servette produced their best ninety minutes of the autumn to beat Sion 3-0 in Geneva, a result that leaves Sion third on 19 and lifts Servette to 13. FC Zürich won a six-goal game against Thun 4-2, with Lengen, Krasniqi and a stoppage-time strike from Derbaci, and St. Gallen edged bottom club Lausanne-Sport 1-0.
Round eleven: the leaders travel, Basel need a reaction
The league returns from the cup break on Saturday. Servette host the high-flying Vaduz at 5 pm, Zürich meet Luzern at the same hour, and the evening brings the round’s heavyweight fixture: Young Boys against St. Gallen in Bern, second against fourth, with YB trying to keep Lugano in sight. Sunday sends Thun against the leaders, Basel against Grasshoppers in what already feels like a must-win for Jokanovic, and Sion against Lausanne-Sport in the Valais.
Ten rounds in, the table has hardened into shape: Lugano 28, Young Boys 22, Sion 19, then a chasing pack led by St. Gallen on 16 in which Basel, on 13, have no business lingering. October was supposed to be the month Jokanovic steadied a giant. It ends, instead, with the giant looking up at Liechtenstein.