Football Season Guide

Silkeborg were somewhat fortunate to secure a top 6 finish last season. They sneaked into Play-off I at the end of the regular season but then never competed for much and finished dead last in the group of the top 6 teams. This didn’t matter as Silkeborg lifted the Danish Cup, which not only gave them a trophy but also a place in Europe this season. The main issues for Silkeborg last campaign were in defence. The 50 goals conceded in 32 league matches represented the third worst record of all 12 teams. This makes it hardly surprising that the longest serving manager in Superliga Kent Nielsen, in charge since June 2019, decided to act on that over the summer. The underperforming defenders Joel Felix and Lubambo Musonda are no longer in the team. Portuguese Pedro Ganchas was signed as a direct replacement for the former. Also, made Andreas Poulsen a permanent signing so he is seen as the new regular at left-back. The only other notable departure was that of inner midfielder Stefán Teitur Thórdarson. This was addressed already too with the Kazak Ramazan Orazov signing and the returning from a successful loan in Sweden Andreas Pyndt. Young striker Alexander Lind had a breakthrough campaign last season, 10 goals in 28 league appearances. Together with his main partner up front Tonni Adamsen they were directly involved in 22 of the 39 league goals Silkeborg scored. The duo remain the main hope in attack with the recently signed winger Younes Bakiz seen as a good addition that could help improve the chance creation ratio. Coach Nielsen prefers more conservative formations, the most used ones last term were 4-3-2-1 and 5-3-2. He’s likely to continue using those. The main challenge will be managing the load between European games and domestic ones, with what is a relatively small squad that also lacks experience. No field player of Silkeborg right now is older than 29, with the team having only 3 players in the entire team older than 26.