At the end of last season, we saw Leicester City win the Premier League, historic outfit Aston Villa suffer relegation and José Mourinho switch blue for red by joining Manchester United. It was a trio of events that reiterates that the football community can no longer be certain of anything in the sport.
It seems that from now on we should anticipate any team getting relegated and any team winning the league at the start of the season, but that’s not to say we aren’t surprised when such bizarre events do unfold; they have done so far this season and we’ve still been caught off guard.
Here we look at five examples of sides across the continent which have exceeded or failed to match our expectations this term and which have shocked us.
#5 Eintracht Frankfurt
Just under 12 months ago, Eintracht Frankfurt were a club in disarray, fighting for their lives. In the 2015/16 campaign, the club finished 16th and only beat the drop by beating 1. FC Nürnberg 2-1 on aggregate in the infamous Bundesliga relegation playoff. The team had survived by the skin of their teeth and fans were expecting heavy recruitment in the summer; all they got were big name players Zambrano, Aigner and Castaignos departing and additions totalling up to a mere €3 million.
As a result, expectations plummeted before the season began and such forecasting may have been just what the club needed, as they won three of their opening four Bundesliga matches this term, beating Schalke and Leverkusen in the process. Now the club are mixing it with the big boys, sitting pretty in 3rd, a point ahead of Borussia Dortmund and having already won more games this season (10) than they did across the entirety of last campaign.
Manager Niko Kovac has utilised the loan market well, bringing in Real Madrid youngsters Omar Mascarell and Jesus Vallejo both of which have been revelations this season for the team. This time last year and the club were lingering in the division’s depths but now they look poised for European football next campaign, a turn-around nobody could have foreseen.
#4 OGC Nice
Finishing only two points off second spot in fourth, Nice took the 2015/16 Ligue 1 season by storm. The club had a good blend of youth and experience and Hatem Ben Arfa at the heart of their midfield; the former-Newcastle man racked up a remarkable 17 goals and 6 assists in the season. It was a great achievement by the club and Europe was calling, unfortunately, that would not be enough to keep the group together.
Ben Arfa would be snapped up by French giants PSG on a free transfer, whilst other key components Nampalys Mendy, Jérémy Pied and Valère Germain would too head for the exit door. Most troubling of all though was the loss of genius manager Claude Puel to Southampton, the man who had invigorated a mediocre squad of players. The brief empire looked to be crumbling and rather than looking to build on European football this campaign, many were tipping Nice for a turbulent season ahead.
On the contrary, the club responded emphatically to remain unbeaten until early November and kick-start a title charge. Frontmen Alassane Pléa (11) and Mario Balotelli (9) have twenty goals between them already and the southern side are just five points adrift of leaders Monaco and an incredible 13 points ahead of fourth-place Lyon.
Champions League football looks a very achievable goal for the club now who ooze ambition and look desperate to become the first side to win Ligue 1 other than PSG since 2012.
#3 Leicester City
‘Second season syndrome’ is an all-too-popular occurrence in the Premier League but that usually relates to clubs which have successfully staved off the drop one campaign, but failed miserably to do so the next; it shouldn’t apply to previous winners of the division. This term Leicester City have already lost more than four times as many games as they did in their title-winning campaign last year, having won less than a quarter of the games they did in 2015/16.
This may have been what we expected had there been a mass exodus of personnel and had Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez departed, but the fact that the duo, alongside ‘Tinkerman’ Claudio Ranieri, stayed adds further mystery to why the club are performing so poorly this campaign. It was universal opinion that the Foxes wouldn’t come close to winning the league again this season; other teams had recruited too much, but for them to find themselves in a relegation dogfight is very strange indeed.
Leicester sit just two points and three places above rock-bottom Sunderland going into this weekend’s set of games. Last term they compensated for a less than brilliant defence with a swashbuckling frontline but all that energy seems to have been sapped dry and believe it or not, the club are now just 7/4 to go down according to SkyBet.
#2 Atalanta
Serie A has been a predictable league over the past five years or so; Juventus win the Scudetto and then it’s a free-for-all for the European places below that, which is usually won by any two of Roma, Napoli, Milan or Lazio. This term things have gone pretty much according to plan as far as that’s concerned, but one club has defied expectation towards the top of the tree – Atalanta.
La Dea are by no means a recognised name for those outside Italy and prior to this campaign they had failed to break into the top ten in Serie A in the last six seasons since their promotion to the top flight, finishing thirteenth last campaign. There were no big signs hidden in last summer’s transfer dealings that such fortune would be turning around anytime soon either, with the addition of Swansea’s Alberto Paloschi the only notable signing.
That said, the club have been impressive this term, bouncing back from four defeats in their opening five games of the season to go nine matches unbeaten through October and November, having defeated the likes of Roma, Inter Milan and Napoli along the way.
Atalanta now sit in fifth position in Serie A, sandwiched tightly between Inter Milan and Lazio and above big clubs like AC Milan, Fiorentina and Torino. It’s been a steady few months for the club which has seen them rise well above the glass ceilings laid out for them at the beginning of the season.
#1 RB Leipzig
Love them or hate them, Bundesliga newboys Leipzig look right at home in the German top flight, having achieved the feat this term of a record unbeaten start for a league newcomer. Their form in 2017 hasn’t been remarkable but it’s testament to the sensational start they made to the campaign that they still sit in second, seven points clear of Eintracht Frankfurt in third and only seven points behind a rampant Bayern Munich side at the top of the tree.
As surprising as their own form this campaign has been the rise of youngster Timo Werner, who has bagged 11 goals and two assists this term, spearheading one of the most exciting attacking contingents in Europe at present.
The club may be blessed with a big transfer kitty and a hatred from the rest of German football which drives them further, but expectations for the club in their first ever Bundesliga season were a lot lower than what we have seen unfold – beating the drop in itself would’ve been a great achievement for the newboys.
Nonetheless, they shook off the prejudices and the division’s youngest squad (average age of 24.1) has been fearless from the off, unbeaten until matchday 14 and having stunned the German football community by displacing the usual chasing pack of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Leverkusen. Some are even tipping Leipzig to do their very own ‘Leicester City’ and go one further than second place now.
