Football Season Guide

Akron Tolyatti were one of the more impressive stories of last season as they easily secured their place in the division for next season, despite being complete newcomers with a squad that took quite a long time to get into full shape. Yet, Zaur Tadeev managed to get enough points by bucking the trend of being very defensively-oriented coach who plays 3-5-2 as most newcomers do. Instead, his in-your-face 4-3-3 took quite a lot of teams by surprise ands Akron were able to get quite a few handy results against direct opponents to finish eight points clear of the bottom four. The signing of legendary striker Artem Dzyuba back in September proved the masterstroke for this squad as they became a lot more lethal and decisive as the season went on, with the veteran leading the way and providing an inspiration for the rest of the squad. He is staying along for one more year and overall the squad is broadly the same as the one that earned 35 points from 30 games last season. The one notable departure is Paulo Vitor at the back but there is enough completion for places there, with Ionut Nedelcaru a very good alternative. The midfield looks quite good as long as Maksim Kuzmin and Aleksa Djurasovic remain fit while the speedy wingers proved a real menace last season too. Therefore, more of the same can be expected from this rather decent and likeable Akron side but the one issue is that more teams will be prepared for their way of playing and will not be underestimating them.