Football Season Guide

Despite a really strong start last season, they were pretty disastrous in 2023 despite having some magnificent attacking options on their books. Even now, having lost Guillemenot, Dajaku, and Latte Lath, they still have some superb individuals to carry them up front so they should, in theory, be ok. St. Gallen are wildly unpredictable though, and one of their most consistent players over the past year or so was Guillemenot so they may feel his absence a lot more than they actually should. If von Moos can’t keep fit, it’s difficult to imagine where the goals will come from. Akolo isn’t a consistently good finisher. Swedish target man Moller is still new to the club, and Geubbels is very much a wildcard for obvious reasons. Goals may prove hard to come by for St. Gallen, at least at the start of the season, although underestimating wily Zeidler is not something I’m prepared to do - he seems to get his teams to play better under the pump than when they’re at full-strength! They’ve finally strengthened their midfield by acquiring van der Venne - central midfield was a bit of a hole for them last season with Witzig’s dip in form and Gortler’s repeated suspensions. The Dutchman should help them control matches better. It’s in defence where they’re going to find life tough because they’ve lost Maglica, and it was his arrival a couple of years back that stopped them shipping quite as many goals as they were. Without him, it’s going to be youngster Stergiou (who needs to be led by a defensive partner) and presumably returning Fazliji, who did not impress during his spell at St. Pauli. He knows the club well so there’ll be no bedding in period but he’s no Maglica, although he’s likely to enter challenges with a similar level of gusto. They've also loaned Bayern youngster Janitzek and signed Diaby from Ujpest as wildcard acquisitions in defence. With Kempter having left, they now find themselves without any full-backs that are actual defenders; Sutter and Schmidt are simply wide players that are used to playing at full-back. That, fused with an unfamiliar centre-back pairing, is likely to lead to more goals conceded than usual, especially if they lose goalkeeper Ait-Zigi - and they might, after his phenomenal campaign last season. Again, I wouldn’t want to underestimate Zeidler but St. Gallen’s defence and attack really concern me. I think they’ll do enough to secure a top six spot but only because of their strong home advantage (fans), relentless energy levels, and lack of competition from any teams that should be challenging them..