What Carlos Fangueiro could bring to the table at Hesperange

Detailed below is what can be expected from the Portuguese in the new season, ahead of the club's first European tie on Wednesday.

Swift Hesper’s 2022/23 was something historic. The first league title in club history, achieved in astounding fashion via 100 goals scored and only one game lost throughout the year also comes with the opportunity to represent the Grand Duchy on the grand stage of the UEFA Champions League.

With the sufficient squad depth and financial backing behind them, Hesper stand a credible chance at becoming the first Luxembourgish team since 2019 to reach a European group stage. Even so, the board took the adventurous step to replace Pascal Carzaniga amid disagreements over recruitment decisions. And they landed on no other than F91 manager Carlos Fangueiro as his replacement.

Fangueiro is a safe and shrewd option for Hesper. The former Millwall and Portugal B midfielder has now been managing in the country non-stop for the past 11 years, to varying degrees of success. One overarching theme in his career so far, though, has been to take his teams just a little further than what their squad strength would suggest.

Over the past 12 months, with Dudelange’s economic situation weakening and the quality and quantity of signings dropping off, Fangueiro has voiced his displeasure about broken promises from boardroom level, alongside raising concerns over Hesperange’s emergence as a financial behemoth in the country and how it can easily prevent Dudelange from any major achievements for years to come.

It made sense for Hesperange then, to pounce on the opportunity to lure away a successful and proven coach, who also happens to be unhappy and slightly jealous of them, and appoint him in their bid to record the club’s biggest achievement this summer in Europe.

Personnel

Besides the change at the helm, Hesper can expect to see a few new faces turning up at Holleschbierg in the coming weeks.

Assistant manager Mehdi El Alaoui and goalkeeping coach Sérgio Silva Costa both follow manager Fangueiro to Hesper as they both put pen to paper on a two-year deal earlier this week.

Although no official announcement has been made by either club, fitness coach Antoine Magione could be on the move as well, considering F91 brought in a new person for the role upon their staff overhaul.

On-pitch signings are also expected to be announced in due course, having been rumoured for weeks. Confirmed by most websites by now, three key players are leaving Dudelange in order to work with their former manager, on a substantially higher salary.

The players involved, namely Aldin Skenderović, Charles Morren and Dejvid Sinani, are all starting XI-quality additions and will probably find their names on the team sheet more often than not, being also completely familiar with Fangueiro’s principles and tactical demands.

The trinity of deals serves as a statement of intent, too. Ripping main competitors F91 off three of their most-used and most valuable assets leaves gaping hole in a team already in need of a full reform. With no goalkeepers and left-backs in the squad, another three departures make for a painful summer for the recruitment team at Stade Jos Nosbaum and new manager Jamath Shoffner.

Tactics

It’s always important to look at the changes a new manager can bring on the pitch, just as well as off it. Some players will have to be offloaded if they don’t fit the new gaffer’s principles, while some areas may require strengthening if the new man in the job has something remarkably different in mind compared to his predecessor.

The key thing to note is that, while Fangueiro has shown signs of adaptability and flexibility in his tactical choices before, his go-to formation is a 3-5-2. It’s what has yielded him domestic and international success with Dudelange in the past years and he isn’t likely to deviate from his Plan A upon arriving.

That instantly creates the issue of shifting from full-backs to wing-backs within the squad, which might suit attack-minded defenders Cédric Sacras or Nego Ekofo, but will most likely prove detrimental to the playmaking wingers in the squad at the moment, in Clément Couturier’s or Bryan Nouvier’s mould, who have to take up central positions from now on to accommodate.

Getting new centre-backs was also on the agenda after the formation switch, but arrivals of Davis Spruds from Victoria Rosport and Skenderović will assure there is sufficient cover in defensive positions for now.

Already rich midfield options will be boosted by Morren and Sinani, with the former replacing departing captain Mehdi Terki, and the latter relishing his chance to play in the same team as his personal rival Dominik Stolz, arguably the two most creative players of the division.

Having a strike partnership will also be crucial to Fangueiro’s plans, as has been the case in Dudelange with Samir Hadji and João Magno. While Stolz can book his place in the lineup for now, his current partner, Europe’s top goal contributor Rayan Philippe is increasingly likely to leave in the summer, trying to find a way back into professional leagues in Europe after a true senior breakthrough.

There’s plenty of options to choose from when it comes to Philippe’s replacement, too. Prolific wingers Moussa Seydi or Maurice Deville could be interesting options to explore, while false nines Ryad Habbas and Gustavo can also provide a fascinating dynamic in their link-up play with Stolz.

Further improvements are undoubtedly coming in the summer, with famous Hesper owner Flavio Becca unlikely to rest on his laurels in a transition period that can see some key players leave for pastures green.

Results

Perhaps the biggest question looming over Hesper’s season is the one to be answered before the domestic season even starts: can they go far in the Champions League qualifiers?

Being the second-lowest team in the coefficient rankings (ahead of only North Macedonian champions Struga), the Red-and-Whites will face tough opponents right in the first round. Possible opponents involve European regulars Ferencvárosi TC, Sheriff Tiraspol or Ludogorets Razgrad. The easier options include Estonian champions Flora, Wales’ no1 The New Saints or Slovenia’s Olimpija Ljubljana.

Winning the first tie would mean only one win is needed from the remaining three duels to secure a Europa Conference League group stage spot at the very least. However, losing in the first round might require Hesper to go on a three-game unbeaten run to get the same result. Needless to say, the final rounds of any European qualification system are littered with elite, experienced clubs (such as Club Brugge. Juventus or Dynamo Kyiv in the Conference League, to name just a few). Starting the campaign on a high would thus be a major boost to their qualifying chances.

This Hesperange squad has a deeper and more skilled roster than the Dudelange and Fola Esch teams recently trying their luck in Europe’s top club competition. The chances are made all the more harder by the unfavourable draw position Hesper will find themselves in, but it is in no way an impossible task.

Another group stage presence would mean a world of good for Luxembourg’s coefficient history, since the rolling 5-year scores are about to wipe Dudelange’s UEL points out of relevance in coming seasons. Without the tally they amassed over those two consecutive seasons in Europe, the country will fall on the brink of the last five places among all European countries. Falling that low would mean Luxembourgish clubs would have to play preliminary rounds against similar lower-ranked nations before the usual qualifying procedure.

Overall, while there might be concerns about the appointment ending all sorts of competitive balance in the league, and rightly so. An already unstoppable Hesper will feel driven to repeat the same feat with a slightly different squad and a new manager. On the positive side, the potential for a successful summer in Europe cannot be overlooked. And if the league itself can’t improve to a level where it could realistically be expected from any team to do well in the summer, Hesper are right to take the best players from across the country, even if it means convincing their r