Football Season Guide

Arsenal Tula were easily one of the worst teams in the league last season but no little luck and a few results going their way eventually spared them a bottom two finish and another season in the top-flight. Yet, it is quite clear that the Tula side have been going backwards for a couple of seasons now and will surely be relegation favourites this season unless they dramatically improve a bloated and unbalanced squad. Dmytro Parfyonov had a few wins against reputable sides like CSKA and Krasnodar since taking over in November but he has hardly shown that he is the man to lead Arsenal to a better season. Yet, he remains the man in charge for now and will hope to oversee a good start and improve the confidence and belief in the squad somewhat. Arsenal brought in a few experienced players at this level in Ivan Novoseltsev and Evgeni Markov but they hardly have the quality to make much of a difference for the Tula side. It will be interesting to see if Dmitri Khusevich and Kings Kangwa, two of the few players that have shown actual promise last season, will be grabbed by bigger sides. There is some decent quality in midfield but the lack of dynamism in wide areas is the biggest concern for Arsenal going to the season. It all points to another campaign spent battling against relegation unless there is a clear change of direction for this team, targeting more versatile young players rather than mediocre players on big contracts who show little ambition and motivation.