Elfsborg - objects of well deserved ridicule

Elfsborg completely disgraced themselves as the pitiful wretches lost 8-1 against this years champions. This pathetic display is further evidence that a comfortable loser atmosphere still is prevalent at the Borås club. This is the club Anders Svensson longed for, instead of going somewhere where he might have to work. This is the team who has spent more money in the transfer market this year than all other teams save Malmö. Anders Svenssons days as a natural starter in the national team are nearing an end unless he moves or Kim Källström stops developing.

I hope Elfsborg drops out of the first division next year, if you don't have more than one player with something resembling a spine (Hasse Berggren) then you should just go away. To just lie down and let another team walk over you - I'm appalled.

Real Madrid - Valencia 1--2

Valencia was helped by a hopeless referee as they beat Real Madrid tonight. Odd decisions left and right until Real collapsed and took themselves out of the game with two red cards. Incredible high-speed play by Villa, Vicente and Aimar in attack for Valencia while the defence was good enough to hold Madrid (who were without Ronaldo and Baptista). Some excellent passing and solid defending, both goals coming from dead ball situations. Baraja hit a free kick and David Villa scored his 11th goal from a penalty in La Liga. Out of 11 tries.

I still don't think the defence is as assured as it was two years ago but an away win at the Bernabu is of course always something to cherish. No sign of Rufete, rumor (actually Pontus Kåmark) has it that he's out fo form. Angula had a decent game, nothing more, even if he had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside. Baraja and Albelda are looking closer to the players we remember from that glorious season 2003-2004.

Messi looks to keep Larsson out of starting XI

Not only that, the way he played against Osasuna, he is likely to keep anyone out. I still fail to see a problem for Henrik and his place in the national team. He will continue to get some playing time, especially when Eto'o is away or injured. The training sessions and the climate are world class.

Sweden drop from 10th to 13th place in the FIFA rankings

This might be significant when the draw for the World Cup is done in December. It would appear that Sweden will be ranked in the second group, depending on what other teams make it to the cup. The Czech Republic (who went from fourth to third after losing to Holland!), Turkey and Spain are all ahead of Sweden but have yet to clear the last obstacle, a final qualifying round. Whether all, some or none of these teams go through could have a direct effect on what group Sweden will be seeded in.

Sweden did, however, make the top seeded group for the European Championship qualifiers after Croatia only managed a 0-0 draw against Hungary.

Hello and goodbye to Superettan

AIK is back where it belongs. The black and yellow team won the Second Division, finishing ahead of Öster IF. Next season should see some things set straight in the First Division as things seem to have gone awry there this year.

Larsson has gotten his pace back

Very good news for Sweden. Henrik Larsson, who has seemed to lack pace in his performances after his injury, looked much more alert in Barcelonas loss against Atletico Madrid. He came very close to scoring but was (wrongly) judged to be offside and very nearly put van Bommel through with an excellent long ball. If I saw correctly, Larsson came on as a midfielder but soon ended up as a central attacker. It seems Samuel Eto'o has severe difficulties in playing anywhere else but centre forward. Odd, that.

The "news" that Larsson might be considered as fifth forward at Barca and that this would somehow be a threat to our national team is of course absolute rubbish. Let's compare the fatigue levels of Ronaldinho who will start every game and Larsson at the start of the World Cup. Larsson will continue to get the occasional 90 minute game and do lots of 20-30 minute games this season. The training sessions at Barcelona should be of a decent level, dontcha think?

AIK is looking good

Well not financially. But I dare to say that we are back in Allsvenskan. There simply isn't the quality around to stop us and after the amazing 5-1 defeat to Boden we're simply not going to relax again. Reports from the last game, a thorough 3-1 beating of pre-season favourites Örebro, speak of fluid attacking play with rapid movement of the ball. Kristian Haynes and Dennis Östlundh an unlikely yet very successful forward pair and re-born Derek Boateng in a holding midfield role with playmaker duties. Rikard Norling and Nebosja Novakovic has done an amazing job of turning a listless crew of has-beens and never-wases into a well organized attacking team.

van Basten is playing again and he is Swedish

Hungary totally deserved getting a draw out of the game. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored one of the most fantastic goals Sweden has ever scored. Absolutely amazing.

Stuff will happen

More stuff to come here, I've been out of sorts for a bit. Managed to get a short chat with one of my favorite (ex-)players on Wednesday, Andreas Andersson. Made me think about the differences in mentality between an ordinary joe like me and someone with a background like that. Something to ponder.

They would have lost to anyone tonight

Yes, the humiliation continued all through the second half. I think a division six team would have troubled that back four and the only one trying to do anything in midfield was Daniel Andersson. The forwards, young Pode gave it all he had while Afonso didn't seem to give a fuck.

I owe Prahl an apology, I thought Anders Andersson was a football player still. I've been wrong before and will likely be so again. How on earth could Malmö fail to buy more backups for the back four? Kaiser Patrik quit playing full time three years ago and just having Persson isn't enough. I've never seen Elanga this poor either, he was a total failure. Enough of this.

Pathetic Malmö

Thank the gods I'm not MFF. First half the most expensive team Sweden has seen in a while is standing still when in possession and the back four refuses to leave their penalty area when the rest of the team tries to press. Most division six teams have a better grasp of football's fundamentals. No movement, never playing the ball into space, never creating space and when they do get the ball upfield they put two players in the box. Oh yeah, and the second Swiss goal was a beautiful through ball, by Malmö left back Elanga. Absolutely nothing is working and the Swiss are certainly good enough to exploit it, but Malmö is really just giving the match away.

Second half should provide for even more embarassment for Swedish club football. Litmanen and Anders Andersson are on the bench. Jesper Bech is on the pitch. That's just fucking stupid.

Thunights the night

What wit!
A possible starting line-up for the men in light blue tonight:

Asper
Mattison - Höiland - Abelsson - Elanga
Bech - A. Andersson - D. Andersson - Osmanovski
Afonso - Pode

It is doubtful that the game won't feature Litmanen.

The Premiership

If you are a football fan, I think you should read this:
Football fans are idiots

I may have something to add on how this applies to Swedish football later on. For starters, let's just say it is a good piece of writing and that it is hard to find fault with the line of reasoning going on in it. Add in that article in Offside where the business deals of 'Arry Redknapp were brielfy examined (the Anders Svensson one in #3 2005). When Harry got the Soton job he went into the transfer market and bought two central midfielders, his son Jamie and Nigel Quashie. This despite the fact that observers claimed Soton's best player of the fall was a central midfielder. Now, both Redknapp's and the other bloke are represented by the same agency. Whenever they switch clubs, the agency makes money. 'Arry may or may not have some stake in the agency or receive a bonus whenever he allows the agency to earn money. Who knows? When, mainly due to Redknapp's complete lack of any football knowledge, Soton were relegated, the first thing he said was that he knew both Quashie and Redknapp would leave. Amazing isn't it? It's so cheap and so obvious it seems no one would try it, let alone get away with it.

Always follow the money, as Commander Vimes is wont of saying. The Premiership for me is reduced to watching Tottenham trying to play Dutch football and seeing if Rafa gets Liverpool to resemble his Valencia team of 2004. I am unable to get excited about watching the top three, maybe I should try to find out why.

Mozilla weirdness

Due to some weird settings that I for some reason changed in Mozilla Firefox, images sometimes change place on the web pages I visit. Most notably this happens on Expressen's site but also on www.tvmatchen.se. It was thanks to this that I went on a rampage against TV4 last week, when in fact it was TV3 that covered the Czech game. So yeah, sorry for feeding you misinformation. I promise to spank myself, severely, any day now. I'll try to fix my settings someday, somehow.

Thun in Thun on Burn out

A bit more in ye old Doom n' Gloom category. It may well be ten years before a Swedish team get a final qualification opponent with the (lack of) calibre of FC Thun again. If a team with the economy, crowd and squad of Malmö FF is unable to get past the Swiss, we might as well give up any hopes of European play and put our trust in the national team for international wins. With only one central defender remaining and genius Jari Litmanen injured/doubtful Malmö will not have a bench capable of turning the game around , should the game turn sour. At the start of the season, the question was how coach (not manager) Tom Prahl would fit Afonso, Rosenberg, Osmanovski and Nicklas Skoog into a starting XI. Skoog is out injured, Rosenberg sold to Ajax, Afonso only scores on non-moving balls and Osmanovski is mainly used as a winger. Hopefully, Elanga, Höiland and The Anderssons (Anders and Daniel, that is. Patrik has just retired) will show their class tonight. And Asper would do well to find his 1999 form.

Who are we kidding?

According to our media and Mr Källström himself, Kim had an excellent game and played well defensively. What anyone who watched him when the Czechs had possession will tell you is that he did absolutely nothing to win the ball back. Nothing. I don't think Lagerbäck will risk giving away the central midfield that easy, Linderoth can't be everywhere.

Källström leaves a lot to be desired defensively, he would function extremely well with two central midfielders behind him in a 4-2-3-1, the way I believe Rennes used him last season.

Rosenberg in starting XI

After Ibrahimovic, Ljungerg (both injured) and Lucic (flu) bowed out of tomorrow's game Lagerbäck has named the following starters:

1 Andreas Isaksson – 2 Alexander Östlund, 3 Olof Mellberg, 4 Petter Hansson, 5 Erik Edman – 6 Tobias Linderoth – 7 Niclas Alexandersson, 8 Kim Källström, 9 Christian Wilhelmsson – 10 Markus Rosenberg, 11 Henrik Larsson.
Subs: 12 Eddie Gustafsson, 13 Christoffer Andersson 14 Olof Persson, 15 Daniel Andersson, 16 Marcus Allbäck, 17 Johan Elmander, 18 Johan Arneng.

A bit surprised that Rosenberg got the nod, I noticed on todays practise that he was paired with Larsson and he wasn't exactly brimming with confidence. Källström sprayed balls all over the field almost always trying for the hardest solution. Arneng looked comfortable in the box but maybe a little slow outside it. Hopefully Källström will be able to play more with his brain and remain in position tomorrow or we could well get slaughtered. Alexandersson is the best outside midfielder defensively, he is needed with Källström on the pitch and with Östlund playing behind him. The forward turned right back always plays super-aggressively and if his timing isn't on for the night he will need backup. Mellberg has announced that he won't play the full 90 minutes which indicates late call-up Olof Persson of Malmö FF will get some playing time. Henrik Larsson has indicated he would like to play the whole game so it would be a surprise if he doesn't. With three given starters gone from the line-up I expect most of the more inexperienced players will get playing time. Since we're allowed six substitutions I suppose everyone save Allbäck or Eddie Gustafsson will feature in some way.

Arneng to replace Jonson

Johan Arneng of Djurgården takes the place of injured Mattias Jonson for Wednesday's friendly against the Czech Republic. This was to be expected since there were only three central midfielders in the squad. Another possible selection would have been Martin Ericsson of Ålborg in the Danish League. It is probable that he is not seen as a good enough two-way player, having mainly offensive qualities. Should Andreas Johansson of Wigan start playing regularly for his club he would also be a likely candidate. Johansson came close to scoring when he came on as a sub in Sunday's game against Chelsea.

Hopefully I'll be able to watch the Czech practise on Tuesday night and maybe a Sweden session as well. Thanks to benevolent forces I have received tickets to the game and won't have to subject myself to the horrors of a TV4-produced game. Tv4 has the most inept cadre of "expert" commentators in the world, all save one with direct ties to Hammarby where TV4's Robert Perlskog used to be a board member.

Jonson out of Czech game

Mattias Jonson will not play on Wednesday after injuring his hamstrings in Djurgården's UEFA-cup qualifier. Lagerbäck may call up a replacement after Sunday's First Division games. Central midfielder Johan Arneng of Djurgården could well be in line.

Two by two with pants of blue

If you caught that line I'm betting you will look for serenity in movie theaters this fall. Anyway, my thoughts on how and where the players will form up against the Czechs:

Isaksson (Gustafsson) Duh

Östlund (Alexandersson, C Andersson)
Lucic (Hansson)
Mellberg
Edman (C Andersson)

Linderoth (D Andersson)

Wilhelmsson (Jonson, Alexandersson)
Källström (D Andersson)
Ljungberg (Elmander, Jonson)

Ibrahimovic (Allbäck)
Larsson ( Rosenberg, Jonson)

So no backup for Mellberg and very likely Källström will get 90 minutes unless he gets slaughtered. Lots of options up front with Jonson being the most versatile. Elmander has matured and impressed me with his great pace and improved work rate. Come next summer I expect him to be number three among the forwards. Alexandersson is an option at right back until Mikael Nilsson recovers from injury and returns to form.

The Yellow Submarine victorious in Liverpool

Three quotes from Soccernet's live commentary of the Everton-Villareal game.

David Moyes looks very determined on the Everton bench. His opposite number, Pellegrini, looks like a cabaret singer.

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome ...

Riqueleme is starting to come in to his own as Everton chase the game and Villarreal look to frustrate them by keeping possession; the Argentine play-maker rarely gives the ball away and always seems available.

And that is all the magic required.

This has been a classic European performance by Villarreal; they were outplayed early on, but stayed composed and patient and hit the home side twice with stunning counter-attacks. Everton, understandably, have been a little niave {sic}.

Sometimes you can picture how games has played out just by reading a few sentences.

Good night.

It's alright - Larsson is back

Lasse Lagerbäck today announced the squad for next week's friendly against the Czech Republic.

Goalkeepers:
Eddie Gustafsson, Ham-Kam Fotball
Andreas Isaksson, Stade Rennais FC

Defenders:
Christoffer Andersson, Lillestrøm SK
Erik Edman, Tottenham Hotspur FC
Petter Hansson, SC Heerenveen
Teddy Lucic, BK Häcken
Olof Mellberg, Aston Villa FC
Alexander Östlund, Feyenoord

Midfielders/forwards
Niclas Alexandersson, IFK Göteborg
Marcus Allbäck, FC København
Daniel Andersson, Malmö FF
Johan Elmander, Brøndby IF
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Juventus FC
Mattias Jonson, Djurgårdens IF
Kim Källström, Stade Rennais FC
Henrik Larsson, FC Barcelona
Tobias Linderoth, FC København
Fredrik Ljungberg, Arsenal FC
Markus Rosenberg, AFC Ajax
Christian Wilhelmsson, RSC Anderlecht

According to the media and Lagerbäck there were no surprises. Really? There are no less than six forwards in the squad competing for two places. With Anders Svensson out injured I suspect they will give Källström yet another go at the other central midfield spot in front of Linderoth. I doubt he will make it defensively against the quick precise passing of the Czechs. I think they went eenie-meenie-minie-moe over whether to call Rosenberg or Fredrik Berglund. Rosenberg unproven but with higher status (and greater potential) in Ajax - yet Berglund continues to score and score in Denmark. Barring any injuries this is how I believe Lagerbäck wants to start on Wednesday:

Isaksson
Östlundh-Mellberg-Lucic-Edman
Linderoth
Wilhelmson-Källström-Ljungberg
Larsson-Ibrahimovic

Four-five years ago we had six or seven really good central defenders so we used them at both wing backs and Johan Mjällby played central midfielder. Now we have Mellberg and the enigma wrapped in a conundrum Teddy Lucic who looks world-class against Argentina and division three against division three opposition. Petter Hansson is a decent sub but no starter. Here's hoping Andy Jakobsson opens the door again. Instead we put our hope and faith in two forwards and a midfielder. Ibrahimovic, Larsson and Ljungberg create problems for any defense. I would be surprised if Andreas Isaksson doesn't play in a Big Team next season. He is sensational.

AIK seven points in the lead

Despite being one man short for 30 minutes AIK managed to hold on to their two goal lead and beat IFK Norrköping in front of a record crowd. Derek Boateng played for 90 minutes for the first time this season and started the scoring with a dazzling shot from 30 meters, 19 minutes into the game. Nicklas Carlsson then added another goal on a pass from Boateng following a corner. The referee was the, as usual, hopeless Keijo Hyvärinen who, according to reports, had great trouble with keeping control of the game. Mattias Moström received an injury after a reckless challenge from a Norrköping player and was substituted for Rubarth after only 25 minutes. Rubarth was himself substituted for keeper Kjell Jönsson after 59 minutes, Daniel Öhrlund receiving a red card after handling the ball outside the area. The call was dubious according to completely subjective reports.

Since Gais lost 3-2 at home against Mjällby, AIK now leads the Second division by seven points. Should Öster manage to beat Väsby Utd on Wednesday the lead will shrink to five points with twelve games remaining.

Everton vs Villareal

This one should be interesting. I remember when Celtic played Villareal a few years back and Celtic came out the same way I think Everton will, very physical and aggressive, trying to scare the yellow submarine. If they think they can I'm betting that they are wrong. Villareal has half the Argentine national team in the line-up (Riquelme, Sorin, Figueroa and Gonzalez), two superb defensive midfielders in Senna and Tachinardi (Josico is out injured), the top scorer in Europe and excellent speed down the flanks. What Villareal managed against Celtic was moving the ball around, always keeping possession, which both tired the pressing team and created space for Riquelme. My guess is Lee Carsley will jump in studs first if he can and try to scare Román out of the game. I don't think that'll succeed.

I'll be interested in how Villareal's new keeper holds up but I probably won't be able to see the game.

Goitom to be loaned from Udinese?

According to SvenskaFans, Swedish U21-striker Henok Goitom was not included in Udineses recently submitted Champions League squad. This should indicate that he is to be loaned or sold shortly. My guess is that it will be a loan deal as Udineses manager has given Goitom favorable reviews and I don't think Udinese would sell him now. In order for him to compete for a possible World Cup squad he must be getting regular match practise in Serie A. I don't think a Serie B team will do. Tommy Söderberg (former manager of the national team, now U21 manager) has spoken very highly of Goitom and he is a regular in the U21's.

I suppose Malmö FF would be interested in some kind of deal here but my bet is that he remains in Serie A. Once upon a time AIK came this close to signing Goitom when instead Udinese stepped in. He's played 10 minutes in one competitive match for Udinese where he scored one goal.

More on the national team

Naturally, should recent Ajax signing Marcus Rosenberg succeed in Holland, he would most certainly feature in a World Cup squad. He did rather poorly in his latest national game though and has shown uneven form, as most young players do. Sweden currently has far more good strikers than high-class defenders. Thankfully, Mikael Nilsson escaped the insanity that is 'Arry Redknapp's Southampton for Panathinaikos and Erik Edman should get plenty of games at Tottenham, as should Mellberg at Villa. Fourth defender is Teddy Lucic of BK Häcken (once an AIK player), a unique player in many ways, more on him later. Nilsson fights with willpower-fueled Alexander Östlund of Feyenoord for the right-back spot. Östlund as a young striker once scored the goal that secured AIK's title in 1998 .

In fact, should Östlund keep Nilsson out, Sweden's whole defensive line would consist of former AIK players.

AIK heavily featured in derby between Djurgården and Hammarby

When the other two clubs from Stockholm met tonight AIK was present throughout the broadcast without even playing in the same league. In the studio head coach Rikard Norling made an appearance as guest analyst and during the breaks short clips with AIK match sequences were shown. Norling made, as he has the few times I've met him, a very polite and correct impression and answered, I thought, intelligently and with insight.I can't help but really like this man.

The game was good, especially the first half which ended with Djurgården 2-1 in the lead. Hammarby got back in with a few minutes to spare and both teams should feel displeased with the result as both, especially Djurgården, had opportunities to come away with three points. Mattias Jonson, recently bought from Norwich to DIF, was a force during his 65 minutes on the pitch. Jonson has been the third choice striker for the national team and competes with Johan Elmander of Bröndby, Marcus Allbäck of FC Köpenhavn and possibly Fredrik Berglund of Esbjerg for the spots after the obvious starters Larsson and Ibrahimovic. Henok Goitom could also challenge should he receive more playing time at Udinese.

Swedish football not quite dead just yet and a new player for AIK

Malmö managed to squeeze past Maccabi Haifa last night and will next face FC Thün (Thun?) of Switzerland. Regardless of the fact that Thün has beaten Dynamo Kiev to get here, the chances of having a Swedish team in the Champions League look very promising.

In other news, AIK has gifted it's fan base with a new "most disliked player" with the re-signing of wing-back Jimmy Tamandi as a free agent last week. Tamandi "helped" to play AIK out of the first league last year, got fired by new club Salernitana and has done god knows what the last six months. Since some AIK fans aren't happy unless there's players to hate, preferably non-white ones, and AIK desperately needed stiffer competition for the left and right back positions, everyone's happy. Especially Arash Talebinejad and Göran Marklund who both has been out of favor with the haters and in favor with the manager. People are strange.

Original poster

Did I mention that you should see this? Yes I most certainly did.

RAGAD - lest we forget

A reminder for me to buy the new DVD of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead" on US import. Some added commentary and stuff which I absolutely crave.

- The rape of the Sabine women! Or rather woman. Or rather Alfred.

The best dialogue in the universe.

MFF - our last hope?

Awful I know. Yet it is absolutely vital for Swedish football that Malmö ousts Maccabi Haifa and advances at least to the UEFA-cup. I thought it was really funny when some less informed character at TT announced that Malmö wouldn't need to beat a "big club" to advance to the Champions League. Since when isn't Dynamo Kiev a big club? According to a helpful character at the MFF fan site you can watch the Maccabi game online live here.

Swedish nationals in the side are Daniel and Anders Andersson, where Anders hasn't featured in a while. Other players with Sweden merits are Yksel Osmanowski and Mattias Asper. Jari Litmanen and Jon-Inge Höiland play for Finland and Norway while left back Joseph Elanga has a few nationals for Nigeria. Most experienced in the Malmö side are Litmanen (Ajax, Barcelona) and central defender Patrik Andersson (Bayern München, Barcelona). The last and only time AIK was in the Champions League the keeper was Mattias Asper - he is starting today for Malmö.

Andreas Andersson new coach for AIK

It was announced just now that Andreas will become part of the AIK coaching staff following his decision to quit playing. Even if it is a sad day when our biggest star in many years resigns, it is a good sign that AIK has decided to keep a person with his experience onboard. For foreign readers, the staff in Swedish clubs are traditionally small. Almost all clubs retain only three coaches. Stupid.

Andreas Andersson to quit football

Andreas Andersson, AIK's injury-plagued star has decided to call it quits. A sad day for everyone.
More here (in Swedish) and more later here.

Really crazy Madrid

Why do they buy Baptista and Robinho when they already have players like Raul, Ronaldo and Owen? Because they can. The funniest thing from my POV is that this will not mean the exit of the useless Raul, who has maybe two or three decent games in the last year, but it will spell the exit of Owen who currently is a much better striker. Politics. Spain would not have exited Euro 2004 in the group stages if they had played their other strikers. But the captain must play. So the team will lose. Politics.

Harry Potter

I recently went through all the Potter novels in a very short time. The translation of Prisoner of Azkaban was atrocious but the others were decent I thought. Shame I bought them in Swedish as I quickly realized that The Dude would not read anything past Prisoner of Azkaban in a few years. He's six now and really afraid of being alone and in the dark. Reading about Voldemort rising from the grave (in Goblet of fire) certainly wouldn't help him any. The most recent one, The Half-Blood Prince, I read in English as I prefer to do and as I rather enjoyed the whole trip I felt a bit let down by it. I've previsously only rarely managed to second-guess Rowling but with this one I saw almost everything coming several hundred pages away. I'm also fairly certain I've figured out what will happen next. Aren't I clever? Not really, but the plot did feel much more forced this time and going over the same old ground.
Thank the gods I started a blog about football so I could get this off my chest.

It's not like the end of the world or anything

Just a Swede writing a blog about Swedish football in English. If you ignore it it will probably go away. Eventually. Main concerns are Swedish team AIK and the national team. AIK is currently leading the second division while Sweden are fighting with Croatia for a place in the World Cup.