Aridane Santana has started his pre-season training with Hyderabad FC recently. The Nizams had a bad first season and ended as the tenth-ranked club. They had a bad pre-season as all of a sudden the base changed from Pune to Hyderabad.
Few of their top players were injured, Nestor was out for a few matches so Stankovic was the only solid player in the midfield Their defence lacked coordination.
In total, they have scored only 21 goals and have conceded 39 goals. Marcelinho was the top scorer and the 2016 ISL Golden Boot winner had only scored 7 goals for the Nizams. With enough support, he could have scored double-digit goals.
The Sydney FC star Bobô, who scored 42 goals in 57 matches when he played in A-League, had scored only 5 goals in 13 matches for the Nizams in ISL. The whole ISL expected Bobo to score many goals but the contrary happened.
The Nizams surely lacked power in their attack last season and will this season be different for them? Their attackers Marcelinho, Bobo and many others have left the club while the Nizams have signed Narzary, Joel Chianese and the Spanish beast Aridane Santana for their attack.
The Nizams have signed Nazrary in August who is a left winger and Joel Chianese who is a right winger. Both of these players will boost the attack.
While fans expected Liston Colaco would be the go-to striker next season, Hyderabad FC announced the signing of Aridane Santana out of nowhere on September 17th.
Aridane Santana will be a good boost to the Nizams because of his 14 years experience in Spanish leagues, along with 1-year experience in Thai league. He has played 337 matches and scored 115 goals and has given 10 assists till now.
How many goals will Aridane Santana score this season?
Santana was a real goal machine last season bagging 9 goals and 2 assists in just 14 games. He could’ve done better if he hadn’t missed out the 4 games in the campaign due to a foot injury.
The Spaniard is very good at heading the ball. He drops deep to collect the ball, and can also perform on the flanks as well. Most of his goals are from inside the box.
The Nizams have very good wingers. Both Narzary and Chianese are good in their flanks, can run fast and provide good assist.
Odisha attacked by going wide last season and used its wingers who had good shot quality. Hyderabad FC might use this type of strategy too like Odisha FC did last season.
The Nizam’s coach Manolo Marquez Roca uses the formation 4-2-3-1, so we can expect Santana playing deep inside the box with Narzary and Chianese focusing on the wings and passing the ball into the box.
Santana might score double-digit goals if he doesn’t get injured this time. Sandaza is only a back-up striker for the Nizams in case Santana gets injured again.
The Nizams also have Liston Colaco who is an amazing young striker. Liston has played only 4 matches last season but he has scored 2 goals. Given more time the 21-year-old could have scored more goals.
They have recently signed two other young attackers Sweden Fernandes and Lalawmpuia. Their squad has a right mixture of foreign players, senior professionals and young budding talent.
The Nizams have a very promising attack this time and they might be one of the best attacks in the upcoming season. Their attack might even haunt a few teams. The only thing the fans might hope is for Santana to not get injured.
Even though Hyderabad FC had a forgettable first season, and now that they have built the squad right from the scratch, it looks powerful. The Nizams will surely have a better season than last time.
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