Football Season Guide

Lokeren are looking to accomplish more stability and better results in the coming season after a rather subdued and disappointing last season. The team struggled for identity and rarely played good football in a campaign in which they never looked capable of more than just mid-table obscurity. Georges Leekens will be aiming for more in his first full season in charge but the highly experienced manager does not have too many impressive tools to operate with. Tom de Sutter is the biggest signing of the summer so far for the Tricolores and it is hard to get too excited about someone who is clearly a veteran already and is not among the most prolific of strikers. He will have big shoes to fill as Hamdi Harboui is off to Udinese after a very strong second half of the last season, when he basically carried the team on his own. He will be indeed badly missed but the manager will hope that the core midfield paring of Koen Persoons and Killian Overmeire stay fit for long stages of the season as they also left a massive hole during the campaign last year when they were sidelined for large periods. Otherwise, not much has changed in the team apart from the departure of an experienced and quality player in Denis Odoi. But Iceland international Ari Freyr Skúlason is back with the club for another spell and will be a good replacement at left-back. Davino Verhulst is expected to provide a safe pair of hands on goal again after a very solid campaign last year but much more is expected from talented but frustrating players like Ayanda Patosi and Jaja Coelho in the final third. Overall, Lokeren look rather modest and do not have the personnel to challenge for the top six. Of course, a finish there is not out of the question if some of their players hit top form and get on a good run. But it is hard to see and another finish between sixth and tenth is their most likely target.