Football Season Guide

Ural were one of the more uninteresting sides last season as they just about did enough to avoid being dragged into the bottom four, maintaining a good run of form at home and at the same time being tough to beat, which was enough to stave off the threat of worse teams like Arsenal Tula and Ufa. Yuri Matveev will look for a similar formula this season as his side have a decent base level that will allow them to get points off teams in and around them in the table. That said, some experienced players with pedigree and quality have departed in the summer, with Pavel Pogrebnyak, Stefan Strandberg and Othman El Kabir the main ones. Matveev will be most worried about the lack of options in attack, where the team really relied on Pogrebnyak last season, and will need some new additions there before the start of the season. The central midfield looks pretty solid though, with Rafal Augustinyak and Daniel Miskic providing assurance, and Eric Bicfalvi has been a reliable creator from a more advanced role as well. Yet, the lack of depth at the back beside Aleksey Gerasimov and veteran Vladimir Rykov is somewhat worrying. Ilya Pomazun is meanwhile back for another loan after excelling in the first half of last season.