Football Season Guide

Akhmat remained one of the more stable and consistent sides in the league last season, maintaining a base level of mid-table assurance without ever really going on a strong run of form. Andrey Talalaev will seek to build on the development from last season and make the team a bit more of an attacking threat going forward. The squad has actually seen some big players depart as Wilker Angel, Ismael Siulva and Odise Roshi all saw their contracts expire and did not extend them. Coupled with losing main striker Vladimir Iljin and promising full-back Maksim Nenakhov, that leaves a few spots in the starting 11 vacant at the moment. Yet, there is decent depth to call upon for Talalaev and he will be confident that new singings Vlaidimir Lystov, Daniil Utkin and Mohamed Konate have the quality to fill the gap. Utkin looks like an especially shrewd signing as he looked a part in the excellent Krasnodar midfield not too long ago and may become a real leader of this team as the season goes on. Bernard Berisha was the driving force of this team last season and it will be interesting to see if he can build on the excellent return of eight goals and three assists from the last time out. There is a bit more work to be done for the Chechnya side to have options, especially in the final third, but they remain one of the more reliable and consistent sides in the league and it will be a surprise if they get dragged down to the bottom places of the table this season.