Football Season Guide

Elfsborg have been on a slide ever since winning the Allsvenskan in 2012, but there's no doubt few expected them to be as disappointing as they were last season, when they limped over the line in 12th place with 30 points from the 30 fixtures. Jimmy Thelin had a tough first year as Elfsborg head coach, particularly as he got the job after going down with Jonkopings Sodra, but the club have stood by him and they deserve credit for that. Thelin will be desperate to repay that loyalty with a more promising season this time around, but expectations should still be pretty muted looking at the current state of the squad. There haven't been wholesale changes to the team despite last year's downturn, and that might come as a surprise to many onlookers. Thelin has instead maybe given a lot of players like Robert Gojani more time to bed in and buy into his philosophy, while the likes of Alex Dyer were moved on to pastures new. The loan signing of Pawel Cibicki is a promising attacking move, and there are signs in pre-season that this campaign might be better than 2018. It can't be much worse. There's also a number of youth players that have been given a chance in and around the first team squad in recent games, so don't be surprised to see some rough diamonds being tried out over the course of the season if Plan A fails to deliver. Thelin is certainly not ignoring the club's youth players.