Arsenal Tula

Arsenal Tula initially seemed like a rather limited side in terms of personnel but did make an exciting appointment in the summer in Oleg Kononov as their new manager, someone committed to attacking and passing football. He struggled to get the results initially but at times his team clicked and looked excellent, as in the win over Akhmat when they bossed the proceedings despite playing with ten men for entire half. The team was capable of such performances at times but lacked a bit of resilience and consistency and never looked like breaking into the top places despite of that. Kononov still impressed enough to get the Spartak Moscow job in November but the Tula club turned that supposed setback into a massive plus as they hired the more pragmatic Igor Cherevchenko, who proved much more adept at getting the best out of a talented squad. He immediately impressed with a superb win over Zenit but the team really came into their own in the spring when they went on a brilliant 11-game league run without conceding a goal. That was enough to catapult them to a sixth spot and a place in Europe at the end. The one minor disappointment was getting edged out by Ural in the Russian Cup semi-finals as they had a real shot at winning the trophy. Players impressed and showed massive improvement all across the squad but none more so than the pair of on-loan flying wingers Rieuzan Mirzov and Zelimhan Bakaev, who gave torrid time to defences all around the league. Yet Maksim Belayev and Gia Grigalava also deserve credit for becoming one of the most solid defensive units after initially being rather leaky.

Player of the Season: Maksim Belyaev