Football Season Guide

Haugesund will be seeking improvement after a fairly average and at times disappointing last campaign. The Arabs spent most of the last 12 months stuck in mid-table, playing sometimes inspired football but overall unable to provide quality on consistent basis and lacking a genuine goalscorer to take the burden off the rest of the team. A very poor run of form in the final couple of months has made it a somewhat sombre close season for Erik Hornerland and his side. The manager will be looking for improvements from all over the pitch in the coming season but in truth, there is not much reason for optimism among the Haugesund fans ahead of the big kick-off. They lost probably their most creative and dangerous player in Liban Abdi and have not really replaced him, while the pressing need of a reliable striker has not been addressed yet. Babajide David Akintola is certainly a good addition in midfield, and may prove a hit, but Joakim Vage Nilsen and Christian Grindheim are mostly functional players, in decline, and are unlikely to make much of a difference. Hornerland will be relying on his defence to bring stability and in Frederik Knudsen and keeper Per Kristian Bratveit he has two of the best players in their positions in the league. But otherwise silver linings are not really there for the Arabs and they may be in for a tricky season at the bottom half of the table. The pre-season form has been poor as well, with a single win in six games.