Football Season Guide

Against all expectations, Cesena came out of the past Serie B playoffs as the winners and so they returned to the top flight of the Italian football just two years after their last relegation. Coach Bisoli undoubtedly was the architect of such a success, as had occurred in their previous promotion. This time around, though, he was not lured elsewhere by promises of success, which ended up in a big failure as in Cagliari, and will thus also face the Serie A campaign at the helm of the team. His football, ugly to watch and hyper-defensive, characterized by a 5-3-2 system of play disguised as a more attractive 3-5-2, belongs to an old age and might not be too apt for the new challenge. It will all depend on the players, then. Cesena cannot rely on a huge budget and so, for their survival, they usually have to adopt a policy of loans from the richer teams. This means that, since the end of the season, a huge amount of players have been travelling to and back from Cesena. Most remarkably, Gagliardini and D’Alessandro returned to their parent clubs while experienced ones and youngsters arrived, hoping to contribute to the final safety. Among them, Leali from Juventus, who is likely to become a regular in goals, Brienza, Giorgi, Lucchini, Nica who arrive from Atalanta, Perico from Cagliari, who should be given the right flank of the midfield, and Ze Eduardo, who might also become a protagonist in the middle of the park. While they seem to be quite solid defensively, and with Bisoli in charge it could not be otherwise, they might be too fragile offensively with Marilungo and Defrel unlikely to pose a serious threat to the opponents. For such reason, the management are desperately on the hunt for a valid and experienced striker.