Football Season Guide

Hannover narrowly missed out on promotion last season but did make significant strides under coach Titz, they caught the eye with their entertaining football but lacked consistency to get over the line. Titz was heavily backed in the transfer market last season, so big changes were not needed, having said that, the loss of key midfield duo Leopold and Aseko are yet to be compensated for. Hannover never really looked comfortable defensively last season so the signing of Hugonet should help to bring more leadership in this area. Goalkeeper Pascal Loretz has been brought in after the loan of Nahuel Noll ended and is not only a good shot stopper, but also decent with the ball at his feet, this fits in well with Titz’s style of play. Promising young forward players Etchibasi and Unal have also been recruited, but are likely to be squad players for now. Although Hannover did make the loan signing of dynamic winger Yokota permanent, his future is still unclear with top sides interested. If Hannover can find a good balance between attack and defence, there is no doubt they will be a force again this season, but they will need to be more ruthless when trying to close games out. The pressure to get back up to the top-flight is rising among supporters and this affected their home form last season, this could be a weakness again with still a relatively young squad.