Football Season Guide

Aarhus had a season of two distinctive halves last term. Played very well up until the winter break. Ended the regular season sitting third and at one stage even looked like title-contenders. The wheels of their wagon fell off in the spring though. Long winless streak, five consecutive 1:3 defeats during the play-offs, and pathetic defending for months saw them finish last in Play-off I. This collapse led to a managerial change in the summer. Jakob Poulsen, in charge of Viborg for the last 3 seasons, is the new head coach. His desire to play open and attacking football is well known, so Aarhus should continue to score plenty of goals. Their captain Patrick Mortensen won the Golden Boot in second consecutive season. He scored 20 league goals last term. However, he is now 36-years-old so it is no certain he can remain as productive going forward. Young striker Youssouph Badji could start getting much more starts if Mortensen starts to fail. So far the new manager indicates he will keep the 3-5-2 formation. Used it as the starting system in all friendlies this summer. The star playmaker from last season Mikael Anderson was sold though. Aarhus are yet to add any serious names to their ranks. This is likely to happen but for now it seems Mads Emil Madsen and Kristian Arnstad will be given the reigns in midfield. The defenders in the squad are all experienced and quality players. The new gaffer is ready to give them the opportunity to redeem themselves for what happened. Their inexplicable collapse in the spring is still being analysed. Aarhus had the best defence in the entire league at the end of the regular season (23 goals conceded in 22 games) and the worst during the play-offs (23 goals conceded in 10 games).