Football Season Guide

First Division A
Belgium
First Division A
2021/2022
Standard Liege
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Standard Liege

In


Out


Jean-Francois Gillet (sp)(gk), retired), Duje Cop (sp)(att), Dinamo Zagreb), Laurent Jans (sp)(def), Sparta Rotterdam), Michel Ange Balikwisha (r)(att), Antwerp), Zinho Vanheusden (k)(def), Inter)

Standard Liege had the season from hell last year as they never looked like challenging for the top places and only sporadically showed signs of consistency and the sort of quality that someone can build on. A miserable final month of the season made it a particularly grim atmosphere for the Reds in the off-season and coach Mbaye Leye knows well that he needs a good start to lift the mood around the place. Yet, there is not too much reason to be confident or optimistic about a squad that has some genuine holes in it. The lack of real competition in attack and in the wide areas is a concern, where players like Maxime Lestienne, Mehdi Carcela and Obbi Oulare have underperformed for a long time now. Standard have already lost some big players so far as Michel Ange Balikwisha was sold to a direct rival and skipper Zinho Vanheusden is back at Inter. Nicolas Raskin and Hugo Siquet could well leave too given the tough financial situation at the club. There have been no new signings made so far and it seems like Leye will have to work with mostly what he has and try to make it a more cohesive and efficient squad.

Target


It is hard to see Standard getting back to the glory days in the coming year but the aim is to at least find some sort of chemistry in the squad and be a bit more than just a sum of its parts, even if will mean just a finish in mid-table.