The Unraveling of Football Giants: 2023-2024 Season Analysis

It’s always good to see your team doing well in the league and cups. A lot of the team's form depends upon the coach's style of play, the player's adaptation of the coach's vision, transfers of the players for every season or mid-season, it’s fans on how they support while their team is playing, or even not.

Smaller teams have seen multiple reasons as to why they are doing well in the league with outcomes affecting their standing in the league table. A clear example presently would be VFB Stuttgart who had to fight in the relegation playoffs to stay in the top flight in season 2022-2023, not this season after they are second in the league with 21 points in 8 games out of a possible 24.

One major reason for their high-flying start is the resurgence of forward Serhou Guirassy. The forward has notched 15 goals already in his first 8 games. As a result, he is been linked with a lot of clubs across Europe with rumours lighting up even more after a release clause of 17.5 million Euros was revealed recently.

The proverb Nothing lasts forever is applicable in every possible scenario one can ever think of. So it is in the World of football when teams with long-standing history face a downfall out of a sudden and it never looks good. Teams that have been doing well for so long have started to stutter now with a fear of getting relegated this time out. 

AJAX - Eredivisie 

It’s by far their worst run of form after 1954, as they currently stand in the 17th position in the league with just 5 points to their name. The most successful club in the history of Eredivisie with 36 titles to their name, struggling to show some form. Their coach Maurice Steijn was also fired after their loss to FC Utrech 4-3, which the former coach referred to as the “ Jet Black Day”. In the Europa League too they are 3rd in the table with just 2 points of a possible 6.

FC Schalke 04 - 2. Bundesliga 

Once a UEFA Champions League quarter-finalist in 2017 and then relegated in 2021 during the Corona Virus Pandemic. The team has never been able to cope with that, coming back into the top flight in the very next season they again got relegated in 2023. They were a team that had exceptional talents like Raul, Klass Jan Huntelaar, and Leroy Sane who never made it a problem for the German team to finish in the top half of the table, with them being a relegation battle in the second tier.

LYON - League 1 Uber Eats 

Former league-winning coach with PSG, Laurent Blanc was fired in September for a bad start to the campaign with Lyon, his replacement Fabio Grosso hasn’t been able to do any good to the team. With the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Ryan Cherki, and Corentin Tolisso under fire for their underwhelming performances, they’d certainly be looking at players in the winter transfer window to survive the drop or would want their club captain Lacazette to replicate the form he showed last season.

FC Basel - Swiss Super League 

FC Basel has been known for developing great talents who have excelled wherever they play around the globe. The likes of Mohamed Salah, Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka, Yann Sommer, and many more. They have been even better in replacing them with better talents as well ones they are sold for profits, maybe not this time out where the 20-time league winner has been suffering the worst after the resurgence of BSC Young Boys and a dip in form that has resulted in them fighting to stay in the top flight.

RC Lens - League 1 Uber Eats

PSG narrowly pipped RC Lens to win the title in the season 2022-2023. During the summer transfer window, the team let go of their captain Seko Fofana and top scorer Lois Openda to Al Nasr and RB Leipzig respectively. They reinvested the profit they got and brought good replacements who are yet to shine this season to bring their team back to the first half of the league. Surprisingly they were able to beat English giants Arsenal in the Champions League at home which has been their best performance for this season.

Cover Credits: ESPNofficial.com