Football Season Guide

Were utterly embarrassing last season, finishing 14th in the table - just eight points away from relegation. It's been a long time since they played in the division below but their constant chopping and changing makes it far likelier that they'll be relegated in the years to come than getting back into Europe. They've attempted to shake things up ahead of the forthcoming campaign but it looks more like a goalmouth scramble than finishing with aplomb with wildcards like Iheanacho and Ejuke joining, and manager no. 6 (Pimenta) from the last 2 years(!) taking charge following the dismissal of veteran La Liga boss Quique Sanchez Flores. Although playing him at RB was always a tad curious, losing club legend Jesus Navas to retirement pre-season was the biggest blow they could encounter. At a time when the team lacks identity, spirit, and togetherness, he (along with another former Sevilla graduate, Sergio Ramos) made sure those around him knew what it meant to represent this club. That's why the club persuaded Navas to stay until the end of December before moving into a non-playing role at the club. Star striker En-Nesyri was poached by Fenerbahce(!) pre-season, which was bizarre for a number of reasons, so that's another problem for them to overcome, having seen fit to loan understudy Rafa Mir to Valencia. In terms of quality on the pitch, that's arguably their biggest problem now - the absence of a good striker. The spine of this team is gone though. Four out of the six players that made the most starts last season have gone. Their regular back four are likely to miss the season opener. Reliable squad players like Torres have gone. New recruit Lokonga is injured. They may be forced to field an underwhelming Iheanacho up front in their opener. It's a disaster! They're likely to start this campaign really slowly as most areas of their team have been changed, or will be changed before the start of the season. Pimenta has done the best he can to galvanise this group in the pre-season friendlies, and he's done a decent job but they've not exactly given themselves the hardest of tests, for the most part. It's not a coincidence that they've been easily beaten on the two occasions that they have (versus Liverpool & Sporting Clube de Portugal respectively). It's perhaps best to surmise this preview by saying that they're still trying to buy players, months after their last campaign ended - and they're generally failing to do so. They are ill-prepared for this season with holes throughout their squad, and barring a miracle, will have a poor campaign.