Football Season Guide

Ufa were extremely fortunate to save their skins in the last round last season, which was a repeat of what they did an year earlier and many wonder if their luck has expired. The modest team from the eastern parts of the country can’t be competitive against the best squads in the top flight and the problematic home form for two consecutive years nearly cost relegations. Hoping to do much better now Ufa hired a new manager in the summer and if nothing else Viktor Goncharenko comes with the reputation of achieving good things with average teams. His activity on the transfer market so far is somewhat limited and the only two significant arrivals are that of veteran goalkeeper Zhevnov and experienced centre-back Vasin. Ufa will probably need more signings as they parted ways with some decent players already, amongst them the extremely talented playmaker Zinchenko who was bought by Manchester City. The lack of creativity has been an issue for the team in previous years and one wonders if the Brazilians Marcinho and Diego Oliveira will be trusted more as last year they were constantly on and off the starting XI. The left winger Sly was Ufa’s best player last term and once again his ability to run at people should be key factor. At the minute the squad is missing a typical centre forward, Pourie and Handzic left, and this suggests that Krotov or Sysuev will lead the attack if no new striker is signed. Paurevic was another key player that left and now the inner midfielders that are expected to start will be Zubarev and Zaseev. Vasin is brought with the sole goal to be main figure in the back four, where Alikin, Tumasyan and Nikitin are the other main options. Katsalapov and Sukhov didn’t have very good seasons as full-backs, but as the options in this area are also scarce one can expect the two of them to be given another chance. In general Ufa need strengthening and the weeks until the closure of the transfer market will be crucial for the future prospects of the side.