Football Season Guide

Akron were one of the more disappointing stories of last season as they were unable to ever get on a strong run of form and always seemed to be punching below their weight as a side of no little talent and depth but one that was constantly exposed defensively and often shooting themselves in the foot. They stumbled into the relegation play-off zone after a painful last-day loss at Krylya Sovetov but composed themselves enough and prevailed over Rotor Volgograd in two legs to preserve their status in the league. But lessons will need to be heeded if the Tolyatti side are to get better as a group and avoid the sort of struggles that plagued them at the bottom end of the standings last season. A new coach is in place in Serbian Srdjan Blagojevic, who has been through a whole host of clubs over the years. His last two spells were with Partizan Beograd and he seems to be someone who play an expansive, aggressive brand of football and will not just make this Akron side drop into a defensive shape, which seems to be pretty important for the club management as a philosophy. The team's talisman and leader over the last two years, Artem Dzyuba, has departed after being an excellent servant but someone who was definitely starting to feel his age by the last few months of the season. In his place comes a tall Serbian striker in Slobodan Tedic, who was a big hope earlier in his career and even earned a move to Man City, before going back to his home country. He should be a decent outlet up front and should guarantee at least 10 to 15 goals by himself if he gets the services. Akron bid goodbye to Ifet Djakovac and he will be a loss in midfield but there are enough good alternatives there to work with in Kristian Bistrovic, Stefan Loncar and Konstantin Maradishvili. The problem area is the defence and that will need to be addressed in the coming weeks as the team was leaking far too many goals last season and that was due to personnel as well as setup. Some more solid and experienced options will be needed and that could go a long way into improving Akron's chances for the season. They probably needed a new reliable keeper after going through three different options there last season. The wingers showed promise at times last season but the output was still insufficient and as a whole this squad still need a few more additions to feel confident of a mid-table finish.