Football Season Guide

The reigning champions have done some good business pre-season, although they've lost lively attacker Conte for months due to cruciate ligament problems - shouldn't be an issue with the depth that they have. They've not lost anyone of note other than young CB Amenda, who was always going to leave because of his superb recovery time. He's been replaced well by Zoukrou though, so there shouldn't be a problem there although it's intriguing that they've only signed one CB when two (Amenda & Lustenberger) have gone. They may feel that lack of depth at some point, given how easily Camara picks up bookings. They've got the best goalkeeping situation in the division; von Ballmoos, Racioppi, and now Keller are all capable of starting games and doing well. They've even seen fit to promote youngster Bajrami to the first-team this season so they really are spoilt for choice. They've got depth in most positions too, and some very good players to call upon - keep an eye on talented LB Hajdam. Long-term absentees Ugrinic, Imeri, and Benito were partially why their title challenge almost went to pieces last season but they're all back from injury now. Deme should play more of a role this season, and he could be a real talent for them. Attack is the only real issue this team has had to navigate its way around as the expectation is that someone will buy Monteiro at some point. For now though, he's there - and he's electric. Conte is expected to do well (when back from a bad injury), Itten is a good finisher, Ganvoula has come on well, and Elia is still in town, somewhat surprisingly - another good addition. Still, only one concrete finisher there - that's a worry for a team that exclusively relies upon their capacity to convert chances better than their opponents. The club parted ways with boss Wicky toward the end of last season, and former FC Winterthur man Rahmen has come in. Good things are expected of him because he plays lively attacking football, which is what this team was built to do by Hutter all of those years ago. If he can make them play that way, they'll stroll to the title because nobody will get near their offensive power. However, if he tries to make them play more 'intelligently' like Wicky did, then they're in a spot of bother. They simply don't seem to know how to control a game and unless you're scoring goals in a situation like that, you're vulnerable - and this team isn't as capable of finding the net as it was when Nsame was there. Will definitely be involved in the title race but it's not 100% they'll win it.