Football Season Guide

Hoffenheim narrowly missed out on European football last season due to their inconsistent performances throughout the campaign. Markus Gisdol once again failed to address the main problem with their squad which was the defence as injuries hampered their season and they ended up conceding the second highest number of goals in the top half. But the situation there is not likely to improve this season based on their current transfer dealings. Captain Andreas Beck has moved to Turkey to play for Besiktas which is a big loss for the club. Beck was one of their most reliable performers on both sides of the defence and they will now hope that new signing Pavel Kaderabek will be able to step into his shoes. At left full back Ji-Sun Kim will not have the same schedule as last season which saw him play in two mid-season tournaments and will be able to focus on Hoffenheim, but he looks promising. Much will rely on Niklas Süle staying fit after he missed almost all of last season but he is the leader of their defence and is a very influential player. Swiss defender Fabian Schär will add to their depth at centre back and is also highly rated with plenty of European experience already. However at the other end of the pitch there have also been substantial changes with the sale of playmaker Roberto Firmino to Liverpool. He was both a source and provider of goals so his absence will be felt, especially as the club gets used to him being gone. Anthony Modeste has also left after failing to score the goals which his form in the French league promised, going to fellow Bundesliga side Köln. In his place Mark Uth has arrived from Heerenveen, also with an impressive record but in the Dutch league. But the role of talisman in attack will now move to Kevin Volland who has been one of their better players in the last few seasons and also scores regularly as well. In central midfield one of the constants from last season are the trio of Sebastian Rudy, Eugen Polanski and new captain Pirmin Schwegler who give Gisdol plenty of options and can fill in elsewhere in the team. There have also been the usual number of players coming back and leaving on loan or free transfers as the club tries to cut its massive squad down. The most interesting signing of the summer is veteran striker Kevin Kuranyi who returns to the Bundesliga after five years in the Russian first division. He will probably have more of a mentoring role at the club as his best years are certainly behind him. Hoffenheim will have ambitions of finally making it back into European competition after some tough years but they find themselves once again with a squad which has the character of a transition side rather than a finished product. the loss of some crucial players will be hard to deal with in the early part of the season and could well exacerbate their inconsistent nature. A mid table finish again is far more likely and perhaps a cup run if the team gels well in the second half of the season.