Football Season Guide

VfL Osnabrück

In


Lukas Gugganig (def) Greuther Furth; Kevin Wolze (def) Duisburg; Moritz Heyer (def) Hallescher; Bryan Henning (mid) Wacker; Nico Granatowski (mid) Meppen; Sven Kohler (mid) Lippstadt 08; Niklas Schmidt (mid) Werder Bremen – on loan; Kevin Friesenbichler (att) Austria Vienna; David Buchholz (gk) SV Straelen;

Out


Alexander Dercho (r) (def) end of career; Tim Danneberg (sp) (mid) end of career; Steffen Tigges (sp) (att) Dortmund II; Lucas Pfeiffer (sp) (att) Paderborn – end of loan; Furkan Zorba (def) Turkuguc Munchen; Kamer Krasniqi (mid) BSV Rehden; Tim Moller (def) Lotte – on loan;

After long absence Osnabruck finally return to Bundesliga 2 after dramatic promotion was achieved last season. Coach Thioune begins his third season in charge at the club and the only notable departure he had so far this summer was that of the retired main left-back Dercho. To replace him Duisburg’s captain Wolze was signed. The aggressive wide defender brings rich experience at this level, lots of goals and assists too as he is known for his set pieces. Osnabruck are definitely expected to use defensive tactics a lot this season, especially on their travels, and to prepare for that the back line was strengthened. Korber arrives on loan expecting to be the main starter between the posts, while Gugganig and Heyer are centre-backs that can play both in back 3 and back 4 formations. Already have 4 other reliable centre-backs in the team from last season. Captain Heider remains very potent threat down the right wing where he usually operates, but Osnabruck will survive only if the recently signed centre forward Friesenbichler becomes the key figure he is expected to be inside the box. At the minute the squad looks well prepared for a long season, apart from the forward positions where only 2 typical centre forwards are available. That said both Alvarez and Heider can play as false nines and there will be games in which one of them will be used in such a role.

Target


Survival is the only goal, with the Violets hoping to be just good enough to achieve that. It will be hard though.