Football Season Guide

Last season was one that this great club will want to permanently erase from the history books. They only avoided relegation because of how poor Winterthur (injury problems/managerial change) and bitter rivals Grasshopper Club Zurich (unnecessary managerial change) were. They actually had three managers in total during that campaign. Subsequently, they've panicked and brought Koller back as manager. He knows how to work under difficult circumstances, and he knows the club well enough by now. It could be argued that there's nobody better to lead them at this moment in time, sentiments I would perhaps agree with, largely because the club is in a poor state personnel-wise. Keeping the above in mind, it may surprise you to learn that the only signing they've made pre-season was to acquire a new backup goalkeeper in veteran Austrian Lindner. He's got better with age, but God help him if he makes a mistake, having featured for the two clubs they hate the most, FC Basel and Grasshopper Club Zurich, in the past. That's all they've done. Keep in mind that they've lost seriously important players in Phaeton, Cavaleiro (two of their most dangerous forwards), and Tsawa and Palacio (their two best CMs bar none). It's unclear if they're sick of splashing excessive quantities of cash on disappointing signings at this point. The one thing to keep in mind with this club is that they spent so much on their academy talent over the past few years that some of it should be ready to bloom this season. For example, midfielder Reichmuth is expected to play a more pivotal role, which he looks ready for. Stiel should also be ready to contribute in midfield. There's still the question of goals, though. Juan José Perea was once the solution but disciplinary problems and injury problems make that an unlikely solution now. Keny has shown he can score the goals, but where will the creativity come from? A reintegration of Krasniqi is possible, as is reliance on Di Giusto, but there's simply not enough in wide areas, and they've thus taken a gamble on Kevin Spadanuda, who often struggles to stay fit. They may end up sticking with a 4-3-3 but fielding three actual strikers - Reverson is mobile enough to do it. Defence is their biggest problem by far though. Hack is the only safe bet they've got there following very inconsistent campaigns by both Kamberi and Sauter, although in the former's defence, he was moved around a lot. Vujevic is the obvious solution but he cannot stay fit. At least the emergence of Walker seems to have solved their LB/LWB problem. It has to be likely that this team will start very slowly though. They've already lost 3 friendlies in a row, x2 against lower league opponents, ahead of their league campaign. It cannot be denied that they have some phenomenal talents in their academy, better than anyone else in Switzerland, but banking on them to all bloom now is a big, big risk - and it might just backfire despite the presence of experienced boss Koller.