Football Season Guide

Most of those that have left pre-season were either dead wood or should be easily replaced by existing players in the squad. The only real question mark is over Kawabe, whose loan was supposed to end in June but he’s been playing in friendlies since then so it seems he may be staying on loan again - stay tuned for that one. Kawabe being in the squad massively impacts this team’s aspirations because he’s by far their most talented creator. Even Sene’s departure should not be all that galling; he was tremendous in the first-half of their campaign but invisible for the rest of it. The big win pre-season was Bolla arriving for another year on loan; he was instrumental to everything they did last season, both offensively and defensively. They’re well-stocked in central midfield, and Morandi has signed a contract extension after a superb end to the season following a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Their centre-backs look solid too. Their big problem is in attack. Momoh, Bonatini, Sang-bin Jeong - none of them have proven themselves as a reliable goal-scorer. Disappointingly, they did not sign loanee Riascos, who impressed for his brief spell in Zurich last season, and it may come back to haunt them because this team is generally too open to keep clean sheets so goal-scoring should be a more vaunted trait than it seemingly is at this point - and it's unlikely Dadashov will be the answer. Have managed to keep hold of Kawabe at least for another season though, which is a big boost. May be in for a slow start; have been really poor in pre-season friendlies, even against teams from the division below them, which resulted in them panic-buying Dadashov and Shabani from big brothers Wolverhampton Wanderers a week before the season commences. Key players - Bolla, Kawabe, Herc.