Football Season Guide

Cercle had very difficult season from October onwards last term and they survived on their return to the top flight only thanks to the points accumulated in the first 2 months of the campaign. Logically the dreadful form, particularly past the winter break, saw managerial change and huge revamp of the squad taking place over the summer. French manager Mercadal is the new boss, he coached Caen not very successfully last season, with his first weeks in charge very busy. As many as 9 regulars from last season left Cercle, including captain Lambot and the team’s most creative playmaker Mercier. To replace the latter the coach signed Peeters from Caen, with the new main inner midfielder of the club well known to the manager as he was coaching him last season. Also as usual Monaco sent numerous players to their feeder club, with at least 4-5 more Monaco loanees expected to join before the transfer window closes. Saadi was another important player that joined on loan, with the robust centre forward expected to be crucial up front. Cercle are still short on defensive options, currently only 3 typical centre-backs are in the team, plus apart from Saadi they don’t have another typical target man up front. This could be changed by incoming transfers, but as things stand the squad doesn’t look complete and also based on pre-season tests so far the new boss is yet to settle on formation. Mercadal already used 4 different shapes and he is still experimenting.