Football Season Guide

In the summer, Zenit reacted to their disappointing previous season by sacking coach Mircea Lucescu after just one year in charge so the Blue-White-Sky Blues will start the new campaign with the popular Roberto Mancini at the helm. The new gaffer quickly got busy in the transfer market as he has serious goals in front of him – Zenit are expected to finish in the top 2 domestically and also to reach at least the quarter-finals in the Europa League. Mancini added four of Rostov's best players to his squad plus two new central midfielders. Kuzyaev comes in as one of the brightest Russian talents while the huge sum paid for Leandro Paredes suggests that he will be expected to play a key role next to veteran Javi Garcia. In the summer, Zenit parted ways with their long-serving captain Danny but with the additions already mentioned and the few more signings expected to be completed before the end of the transfer window, Zenit definitely look much stronger already. Mancini created impressive depth in his squad and this should help him to be successful both domestically and in Europe. The gaffer seems happy to keep the 4-2-3-1 formation as his first choice, although he has used a 4-3-3 several times already and once in a recent friendly even experimented with three at the back. Mancini confirmed that Lodygin will start the season as his first-choice goalkeeper but, with Lunev and Kerzhakov ready to step in, any mistakes can change the pecking order quickly. Ivanovic, Neto and Novoseltsev are expected to share responsibilities in the heart of the defence, while the options for the full-back positions are so rich that Mancini might even consider offloading some players. In the heart of the midfield Javi Garcia and Paredes look likely to be the main pair but, with Kuzyaev, Noboa, Hernani, Mauricio and Yusupov also there, Zenit really look well covered for any eventuality. Up front the new captain Artem Dzyuba will be leading the line with Giuliano, Kokorin and Poloz the likely trio operating just behind him. Once again with Shatov, Djordjevic, Mak, Erokhin and Mollo also options to consider, Zenit look to have immense depth and probably the most challenging task for Mancini will be to keep all of his players happy with the amount of playing time they will be getting.