Football Season Guide

After suffering through a slow autumn and very positive spring Union Berlin seem to be looking for more at the start of the new season and their ambitions were matched by the fact that the Board convinced Jens Keller to take charge. Keller comes with vast experience at top level and he will definitely be asked to turn the Irons into one of the contenders for the top places. After two summers of very active transfer policy the last few months have been very quiet according to Union’s standards and the only notable change will be in attack. Bobby Wood was scoring goals for fun in the second part of last season and expectedly he was tempted by an offer from a top flight team, but Keller reacted quickly and secured the services of Philipp Hosiner to lead the attack. Busk’s arrival in January made him the preferred goalkeeper and logically the two disappointed custodians that were left out in the cold after his arrival left too. Apart from that nothing else major changed, outside the fact that Kroos made his stay permanent. Even last season Union had plenty of quality in their ranks to be challenging for promotion and with the main core of players preserved hopes are that now the start of the season will be strong and this can be a base for further development. Union are generally very solid in Berlin and if they manage to improve their away form they can be the dark horses this year. With plenty of options in almost every area of the pitch and healthy competition for places in the starting XI the only notable weakness is that outside Hosiner there is no other typical centre forward in the first team and an injury to the Austrian could cause problems. Damir Kreilach is turning into one of the most valuable players in the entire division and after achieving both goals and assists in double figures last year he is ready for even great things this term.