Football Season Guide

Were easily one of the success stories of the Bundesliga last season. Encouraging attacking football, fearless play, and looked like they could claim a European berth before their dreams were scuppered in the play-offs despite topping the Relegation Group. Unfortunately, that relative success cost them - boss Maximilian Senft left for Karlsruher SC. He has been replaced by Mario Despotovic. He's got a lot to live up to, given how well the team did in their first campaign back in the Bundesliga. The transfer window has largely been encouraging. However, one negative is that they did such a good job with striker Mutandwa that Cagliari paid them to bring him back. They also lost Kiedl and van Wyk in the same window so there are depth concerns despite the arrival of Sissoko. Tobias Lund Jensen is a shot in the dark. They've done well with adding depth to their squad though, particularly in midfield and defence. They've added some real physicality at the back, and a lot of industry in the middle. Yet again, this should ensure that SV Ried are very hard to beat. Could have some issues at CB at the start of the season with both Sollbauer and Kirnbauer battling injury. They've got high hopes for midfielders Zeqiri and Scholl from their own academy, and Mesic should be back following his bad injury Attack is still a big problem though. They might be tempted to field Rhodes or Eghosa further forward, and it's likely Bajic's more advanced role will remain that way. Other than Sissoko though, it's only academy products that can actually play up front. Therefore, repeating last season's heroics could be a bit too much.