Football Season Guide

Dumb luck kept them in the division last season. Winterthur struggled too much with injuries, and left their managerial change too late to catch them. A few more rounds though, and they'd have almost certainly managed to do so. Sacking Scheiblehner was insane. The results weren't always there, but their performance in just about every single game whilst he was in charge were exactly right. Dealing with square pegs in round holes, as well as copious amounts of injuries, is all that hamstrung him. It was clear to see he was part of the solution, especially given how much they struggled after he was sacked. The only good thing that they did ahead of the forthcoming campaign was to appoint Zeidler as manager. He knows this division inside out, and his attacking football will appeal to the fans. Unfortunately for the club, he only tends to produce his best teams in his second season, and not many managers get a second season at this club anymore. Due to the change of ownership (fan protests against Los Angeles FC ownership, so now they're back in Chinese hands via Bridge - out of the frying pan and into the fire much!) they've not spent any money pre-season, and there aren't any noises that they'll do so now. They need to though. They lost some big players pre-season for a variety of reasons, and now find themselves very short of experience and leadership. Big Frey up front moved on, Clemente/Plange are still battling injuries, and with Lee banned for 3 matches, they're already short of attacking options. Defensive stalwart Abels moved on. Midfield star Zvonarek and star creator Jensen both left at the conclusion of their loans. Even Ngom, who impressed a lot during his six months, has moved on. Much like bitter rivals FC Zurich, they do have some good players coming through their academy. Wing-back Krasniqi looks ready for more game time, CM Papic is expected to be awesome for them this season, and Kabashi has enormous talent, not that he was allowed to show it last season. Rissi and Sahin have a chance of showing up too. In general though, they've taken a lot of gambles. Very injury-prone centre-backs, a lack of options in attack, massively reliant on their few remaining experienced heads like Abrashi, and they're still likely to lose more players before the league starts - Kohler is another of them. It's hard to envision this campaign going well for them, even with Zeidler in charge. They're likely to be in the relegation battle again.