The season is underway in Germany with the first round of the cup played last weekend. 1.FCN secured a 5-1 away victory at Arminia Bielefield.. On Saturday their league season starts with the challenge of newly promoted Hertha Berlin in the capital's Olympic Stadium. It will the first of 34 encounters as Nuremberg aim to build on the relative success of 2010-11. Overcoming the low expectations of recent history will play a major part in moving the club forward and taking FCN to the next level.
Last season's sixth place was higher than anyone expected, and with a handful of games remaining, Nuremberg were even in a position to challenge for a Europa League slot. With a young side bolstered by the experience of goalkeeper (and new captain) Raphael Schaefer, left-back Javier Pinola, and Belgian midfielder Timmy Simons, one could be excused from thinking that FCN could reasonably expect to push for a similar position or better in the coming season.
Many Clubberer however will not hear a word of it. Such is the combination of Franconian pessimism and previous experience supporting Der Club. Many would settle for simply avoiding relegation, others considering somewhere between 10th and 14th as a realistic expectation. A few have dared to suggest a top ten finish but it is only the most optimistic who think that the level of last season (and in 2011-12 sixth will guarantee a Europa League place) can be achieved again.
High quality players have depatered in the form Ilkay Gundogan , Andy Wolf, Mehmet Ekici and striker Julian Schieber. However, Wolf, despite a semi-legendary status, was prone to silly defensive mistakes and bookings, and it should not be unreasonable to expect the management of FCN to have unearthed other young talents as replacements for the other big movers.
Faith has to be placed in coach Dieter Hecking. He has created a team which plays attacking, flowing football, not only carving-out results but also paying homage to the beautiful side of the beautiful game. He has brought in young and highly-rated Stuttgart midfielder Daniel Didavi on a season long loan, Swiss U-21 centre-half Timm Klose and added the exciting prospect of Czech striker Tomas Peckhart to the squad. The master stroke however may prove to be the signing of Markus Feulner.
Injury has kept Feulner's profile lower than it might have been with spells at Bayern Munich, Cologne, Mainz and, most recently, Dortmund but there is no doubting his talent, something underlined by three wonderfully struck goals against Bielefeld last weekend. If Feulner can avoid further injury then surely the whole team, and particularly players with huge potential such as Almog Cohen, Markus Mendler, Robert Mak and Jens Hegeler will reap the benefits.
In many respects it is almost unthinkable that FCN will finish lower than midtable. Much will depend on how well 22 year-old Phillip Wolscheid and 23 year-old Timm Klose gel at the centre of defence, and how regularly Peckhart (just 22) and supporting strikers such as another newcomer, Alexander Esswein (21), can find the net. It's a big ask but a prolific season from the forwards is needed, and if one can weigh in with 15-18 goals and several other players add a handful each, then sixth place could be in the grasp of Hecking's team. The maturity of the players will be put to the severest test but if Dieter Hecking has got the balance right and keeps his charges level-headed, last season's achievments could represent the start of something not witnessed in Nuremberg since the 1960s.
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