Football Season Guide

With just 1 win in the initial 12 weeks, last season LB Chateauroux seemed to be heading towards a sure relegation. Things started improving from the beginning of November, though, and from week 15 they found themselves out of the bottom 3 for good. Chateauroux certainly achieved salvation thanks to their away performances as they grabbed 21 out of the 42 points available on the road. Coach Nicholas Usai will be at the helm of the team for a third season and will be asked to lead his boys to safety with an almost-untouched squad. In fact, over the summer transfer campaign Chateauroux lost only 2 regulars as centre-back Conde and holding midfielder Vanbaleghem were both released. Conde might be replaced by one of the two new recruits, Morante and Cissé, or by Nama Fofana, a right-back who missed most of the past campaign through injury and could be adapted to the role. With the adoption of a 4-3-3 formation, instead of the 4-2-3-1 that characterized the past campaign, Leroy or Grange, their top scorers in the last season with 5 goals, could be the ones now acting in the middle of the park. Having scored only 22 goals, only 1 more than relegated US Orléans, Chateauroux held the next-to-worst attacking record last season. This issue is not properly solved yet with goals being expected from the likes of Gonçalves and Chouaref. In fact, they mostly managed to score through set pieces and they have been doing the same during a rather negative pre-season. More offensive problems could also arise if wunderkind left-winger Hassan is attracted by some bigger club.