Football Season Guide

Lokomotiv Moscow were mostly disappointing last year as they looked like a side lacking in direction, ideas, and energy and one that was veery much waiting for the season to end in the final month or so. There was genuine discussion as to whether it was worth keeping Mikhail Galaktionov as a coach but the board gave him a vote for confidence as of now. He certainly needs a strong start to win over the support of the fans and overall give the whole club a fresh new momentum after the feeling of stasis that engulfed them in the spring. The hope is to turn Loko into a real force at the top end of the standings again and also make them more exciting and appealing to watch than last year. Loko did sign a new striker who, will be the leading number nine in Nikolai Komlichenkio and while he has had two very productive seasons at Rostov, he had earlier flopped quite significantly at Dynamo and so far has not proven that he is capable if stepping up his games at a bigger stage and with more pressure. He will be certainly an update on Dmitri Vorobyev and addresses a need for Loko but apart from that their business has been underwhelming. They certainly need new faces in defence, where the coach has failed to get the most out of established players like Cesar Montes and Gerzino Nyamsi so far, and has resorted to playing youngsters instead. Players like Dmtri Barinov, Maksim Nenakhov and Ilya Lantratov are on the other hand looking like they are past their best and at the moment the Railwaymen can certainly do with another three or four additions who are strong enough to be regulars. Ultimately, things are not looking too rosy for Loko at the moment and it will take some pretty big turnaround and inspirational job by Galaktionov to make this squad capable of challenging for a top-three spot.