Football Season Guide

Last season, Jong Utrecht celebrated their second-best campaign ever since joining the Eerste Divisie for the first time in 2016/2017. In fact, they finished on the 12th rung of the ladder again after 5 years spent flirting too closely with the relegation spot. They were quite irregular in their path, though, doing quite poorly in the league’s first and third periods, while they did a whole lot better in the second and the fourth one. Such irregularity was certainly due to their fragility at the end of games, they too often threw points away in the finales, but it was also caused by excessive rotations, with first team players regularly involved. With 16 defeats and 62 goals conceded, Jong Utrecht held a rather fragile defence, as they suffered a lot when under pressure and on set pieces. On the other hand, they were quite decent offensively and scored 58 goals. At home they also looked much better than away, proving a tough nut to crack also for the best teams of the division. 40-year-old coach Mark Otten will be leading the team for the second season in a row, having been confirmed after showing some positives in the past campaign. As usual, Jong Utrecht saw a lot of players departing and arriving over the summer. Most of the arrivals, though, come from their youth system with just 3 youngsters joining in from elsewhere. First of all, with starting midfielder van der Wegen gone, Aslani, who last played in Denmark, may become a regular in the new campaign. Then, Pohl, arriving from Bayer Leverkusen youth system, could represent the perfect alternative for departed Kooy, a starter in the heart of the defence. Starting winger Jensen was the sole other main departure, but his replacement should be found in last season’s squad since the just-arrived Gyamfi-Amoah does not seem ready for Dutch football yet.