Football Season Guide

Elche avoided relegation last season after making an early season coaching change. Fran Escriba, who had come in to save them the season before, was shown the door after just 14 matchdays after the team slipped into the bottom three. Francisco was brought in and there was a new manager bounce, as Elche put together some good results and climbed out of the drop zone. Later in the season, though, they did struggle again and only finished four points ahead of the final relegation spot, which was actually enough to see them finish 13th. Elche, therefore, had a lot of work to do this off-season, yet they haven’t really done much. Their main problem last season was that they didn’t have much quality in the spine of the team, as central defence and central midfield were their weakest positions. Their transfer business, which has been minimal, so far hasn’t addressed this, while they also have an aging squad, the second-oldest in the division. On the other hand, Elche’s strength last year was their play from out wide, from the full-backs and from the wingers. They have managed to keep hold of a lot of these important players, which is some good news at least.