Football Season Guide

After back-to-back seasons with top 3 finishes Krasnodar established as one of the main teams in Russia and their ambition to become champions for the first time sooner rather than later was reflected in the aggressive transfer activity this summer. Krasnodar are the team that has spent most money on new players at the start of the season with experienced Kambolov and 3 new arrivals from other European countries boosting the squad’s depth and strength. The new playmaker Vilhena is expected to pair with Gazinskiy in the heart of the midfield, with Krasnodar almost certainly continuing using mainly 4-3-3 as starting formation. Experienced centre forward Ari hopes to have better luck with his health this season compared to the last one. Even if he is absent, youngsters Ignatyev and Shapi-Suleymanov provide great cover options and scoring goals shouldn’t be a problem for the Bulls. The main reason for not properly challenging for the title in the last 2 years were the points dropped at home against sides from the bottom half of the table and one of the main focuses in the preparation for the new campaign was on how to break down teams that sit deep and defend in numbers. Coach Musaev has impressive squad already and if there are no major departures before the transfer window closes Krasnodar shouldn’t have issues coping with the demands of both domestic games and the first ever Champions League campaign. Still the main focus up until the winter break at least is expected to be on Europe, with the best players predicted to be rotated on the domestic stage against weaker sides.