Football Season Guide

SJK enjoyed a pretty decent 2022. In the Spanish manager’s Joaquin Gomez’s first year in charge the team played attractive football and surprised many by finishing as high as 6th. Despite being the third lowest scorers in the league, only 33 goals in 27 games, SJK defended very well all season and sneaked into Play-off I where they finished last but already feeling as overachievers. Gomez prefers to use compact formations and he is blessed to work with 4 very good centre-backs, all of which extended their stays at the club and will be available again. To boost further the defence SJK added 2 quality full-backs to their ranks. Hing-Glover was signed as a reaction to the retirement of Markkula, while Murilo joins from the champions to address the one weak spot of the defence the left flank. The main departure this off-season was that of goalkeeper Ost. His backup in 2022 Uusitalo seems to have impressed enough and looks set to become the new number 1. The only other regular to leave was midfielder Bates but SJK are blessed with plenty of depth in that area. In attempt to improve the attacking returns coach Gomez added South American striker Moreno and talented youngster Paananen to his team. The two are expected to fight for one starting spot up front. If either gets hot SJK could be a very dangerous team as they are bound to be solid defensively.