Football Season Guide

Mediocre last season is putting pressure on coach Carrera to deliver better results from early this campaign. The Italian is already feeling the heat as twice during the summer camp he stormed out of press-conferences after being questioned about his transfer activity. Spartachi are the second richest team in Russia and yet for two consecutive summers they are not strengthening their ranks. Lots of money was spent only on centre-back Gigot so far, which should guarantee the Frenchman a starting place. The only other new arrival Tashaev is seen more as an acquisition for the future. At the same time, apart from the injury-prone Tasci, no other big name left the club so far. Promes has been Spartak’s key figure for two full seasons now and, if he avoids the tempting offers thrown at him from clubs all over Europe and China, the Dutchman should remain the player around who the forward actions will be concentrated. Hanni slowly got used to life in Russia after arriving in the winter and this term the Algerian playmaker is expected to have a much more important role. The same is expected from last summer’s big signing Pedro Rocha. The Brazilian winger struggled to adapt to football in Russia, but he has been very lively this pre-season and it seems that a lot more could come from him in 2018/19. Carrera uses three or four at the back, depending on the opponents and the available options, which makes Spartak’s system a bit hard to predict. That said, once Jikia and the World Cup hero Kutepov are fully fit, they could form a formidable partnership with Gigot in defence and 3-5-2 might be the most logical formation for the Reds past the first month or two of the season. Carrera doesn’t seem to have enough depth in his squad at the minute, especially in midfield the options are few if something happens to the main figures Zobnin, Glushakov and Fernando. Still Spartachi have a very strong starting line-up and, if they are to avoid serious injuries to key players and Promes stays put for one more year, the Reds will be amongst the contenders once again.