Arsenal Tula

Arsenal Tula kicked off the campaign with little reason for much optimism after mostly limping towards the finish line in the previous one. Caretaker coach Sergey Podpalyi was retained on permanent basis and the squad was almost entirely kept unchanged. Things looked worrying from the word go as there was a real lack of attacking threat, with last-season's top scorer Evgeni Lutsenko nowhere near the level of performances from last year. They won just one of the first seven games but the performances were even more worrying than the results, with lack of identity and constant changes in system and personnel unsettling the team. A particularly dire run of form in October, losing three out of four, cost Podpalyi the job and Dmitri Parfyonov was given the managerial reigns. He did not improve results too much immediately and instead the Tula side finished the year on a run of four losses in a run of five games, not scoring even once. There was hope that things would get somewhat better after the winter break but the squad was once again hardly left to get stale and there was just lack of quality in key areas. There was a bit more spirit on show and the odd good result, beating CSKA and Krasnodar. Yet, it was clear that Arsenal were fighting for their lives and were somewhat lucky that Tambov are certain to get relegated and there was only one more automatic relegation place. They went into the final few rounds needing a couple of points to escape the drop but they lost to the likes of Rubin and Spartak at home. Indeed, a loss at Ufa on the final day may well have relegated them but Rotor eventually were denied a win at the death and spared them. Yet Arsenal need a massive reset on all levels as this squad is just not at the level required and there are too many players who are coasting and not contributing enough, with a miserable return of just one point from 15 away games all season the biggest proof for that.

Player of the Season: Aleksandr Lomovitski