Football Season Guide

Erzgebirge Aue flirted with danger for the second season in a row last term, but again a bit of luck and crucial goals from their reliable forward Kopke proved enough for survival. This time the Violets had to play a play-off to stay in the division though and the threat of relegation was very real. Coach Drews left his job at the end of the campaign, he had a disagreement with the Board in terms of transfer targets for the summer, and having a very small budget Erzgebirge opted for a gamble with the appointment of Daniel Meyer in charge. This will be his first job as the head coach of a senior side, with his previous experience being manager of Koln’s U19s and assistant coach of Koln’s senior squad. Meyer’s attack was crippled even before he was appointed as the team’s best striker and top goalscorer for the last three season Kopke joined Hertha this summer. Not just that but his reliable partner up front Munsy returned to his parent club and in a flash Erzgebirge lost the scorers of 72% of their goals last spring. With no serious reinforcement in attack made so far, the only new striker is the unproven loanees Iyoha, Pronichev and Kruger (all of them 20-years-old and younger), Erzgebirge will have to rely on the scarcely used last season Nazarov and Bunjaku, between them they scored just 1 goal from November onwards. Further down the pitch some experience was added, with both Breitkreuz and Hochscheidt coming from Eintracht Braunschweig with serious pedigree and expectations to gain lots of starts. Last season Drews used three at the back a lot, but the new manager has been testing 4-1-4-1 and 4-2-3-1 as formations this summer and with Erzgebirge yet to start two games with the same tactical system it is hard to predict what will be the favourite shape. Despite being 36-years-old Tiffert remains a very important figure in midfield and he will be playing a crucial link up role once again.