Football Season Guide

Lahti barely avoided relegation last season as they finished 11th and had to edge TPS 3:2 on aggregate in the survival play-off. Lahti lost 16 of their 27 league games last term, scored just 26 goals in 27 matches and all campaign failed to be competitive against the top 5-6 sides. After this very disappointing campaign it was no surprise that major changes to the squad took place in the winter months. As many as 13 players left the club so far, with 6 regulars among them. Goalkeeper Reguero, the 2 main full-backs Kouassivi-Benissan and Memolla, the only solid midfielder Emsis and the main striker Geoffrey are all no longer in the squad. Coach Mannila, this to be just his second year in charge, did his best to fill the gaps and from the 9 new signings at least 4-5 are expected to start often. Goalkeeper Ljubic and centre forward Alves are destined to be key players. Ball-winner Djalo and winger Ali also expect to see a lot of use. Even with these reinforcements Lahti look incomplete. There are only 2 typical centre-backs in the squad at the start of the season so any injury to either of Kabashi or Pirttijoki will be a major issue. Also only 1 of the goalkeepers is older than 18 and only 2 of the 6 inner midfielders are older than 22. Due to all that the experts think that Lahti are in for another year of struggles.