Football Season Guide

After recording their best top flight finish in history last year, now Ufa will struggle to top that but coach Semak is confident that his club can stay out of trouble once again. It seems that the manager, who took charge in the winter, built a very nice atmosphere for his players as nobody important left the club so far and the only two sold players were out on loan last season anyway. In terms of new recruits, Ufa are seriously limited as they don't have a lot of money and very little business has been done in terms of incomings. However, this only means that the squad should look well-oiled right from the start of the new campaign and, while others will be trying to build synchrony, Ufa are expected to be achieving results in the opening few months. Semak is also in close connection with his ex-team Zenit and many pundits think that, as the transfer window draws towards an end, one or two players unlikely to feature for the giants can find their home for this campaign in Ufa. As the 5-3-1-1 formation brought so many successes last season, Ufa were the only team to beat champions Spartak in Moscow in 2016/17, so the gaffer is almost certain to keep it. Up front, the two Nigerians Sly and Fatai will be the main hope for goals but the true strength of Ufa remains their extremely solid defence and, with the extra addition in that zone, Semak is spoiled for choice. He also has lots of options in midfield where Paurevic, Zaseev and Stotskiy are tested warriors but they will be put under pressure by two very talented youngsters. Both Oblyakov and Bezdenezhnykh burst onto the senior stage last season and they are expected to be involved even more this time around. Ufa already showed to everyone that their gameplan is always to defend in numbers while the counter-attacks of the two Nigerians and the set pieces are the main hope for goals. With decent depth and a seemingly happy squad, Semak hopes to see a strong start to the season from his players, which will only galvanise the team for the rest of the campaign.