Manfred and me

This blog might come alive again in the near future. Nice pic from the upcoming German movie The Red Baron.

Derek and AIK

Nice wristbands Derek. We love you too.

Cruyff on Larsson

'Larsson is technically an excellent player with different qualities and he almost never makes a mistake,'

Johan Cruyff

HENRIK LARSSON

Mjällby withdraws undefeated

The greatest AIK player of my time has decided to withdraw from the field, undefeated. Two moments that I believe I will remember for as long as I remember anything; Mjällby's competitive international debut against England in 1998.

1. Darren Anderton and Mjällby compete for the ball. Mjällby tackles Anderton out of the TV screen and gains the ball.
2. Like a nimble blonde tank Mjällby charges through defenders in the penalty area and puts the ball in the net while a desperate David Seaman frantically tries to get out of the way.


Mjällby also captained the team that won the Group of Death in the 2002 World Cup and was nominated for the World Team. The above tackle is, I believe, in the middle of the pitch with two seconds left of the first half in the game against Argentina.

On the club level he won both the Swedish League with AIK and the Scottish League with Celtic, where he also reached the UEFA Cup final.

Back to the good old bad old days

With heartfelt thanks to Niclas ALLTID AIK of Gnagarforum for sharing this fantastic image of what being AIK used to be all about. This season we will be taking a lot of flak from hoi polloi - it'll be just like old times.

It was the time of the Preacher

Everyone everywhere seems to be interested in wanting to teach The Zlatan how to behave. Journalists, "Experts", Refs - all of them feel the need to advise him on what not to do or to advise him on what he might be doing, few are interested in commenting on what he actually is doing. What I've seen of him lately is a striker who has lost his confidence in front of goal while still contributing immensely to the team effort. Normally the comments would run along the lines of how loyal the Swedish player is, how his teamwork is appreciated and so on. Not so for Ibrahimovic. He has a goal draught. He has a temper. He gets angry. When someone (say Mats Olsson of Expressen) comments on these comments he would claim that it is because The Zlatan's last name is Ibrahimovic that he is treated in this way, hinting at an underlying racism or at least that all commentators are discussing him on the merits of his "otherness" from other Swedish athletes.

What I find when I read about football is that it is rather the commentators that try to live up to some new, "other" ideal, both when discussing Ibrahimovic and when discussing football in general. It seems to me that it is the commentator experts that are trying to live up to something they believe is warranted - the complete focus on short term results (anyone is prepared to confidently predict the outcome of an entire season on one pre-season game), winners (the result is often regarded as an inevitable conclusion in post-game summaries these days) and the "no memory - no learning" paradigm ("experts" unabashedly ignore that the team/player they are currently hailing as The Second Coming were considered useless by them only last week).

Their very status as experts become impossible since they believe that expressing the flavor of the day is what is expected of them, while NOT conforming to popular shallow opinion is exactly what constitutes an expert. The experts should not to be confused with journalists, who have a different part to play. Yet to me it seems that any difference between the roles of expert and journalist has close to vanished and some kind of predictable nonsensical consensus has emerged as the norm. More on this later when I can be bothered to write coherently.

It was the Time of the Preacher
In the year of 01
Now the preaching is over
And the lesson's begun

Everybody PANIC!

The Super Swedes are crap! No one scores! Hilfe!

Right. Go back to your tabloid, while we deal with reality.

It took Trezeguet and Juve 17 minutes to destroy Ascoli. Zlatan came on pretty late for Trezeguet, according to a recent rumor in La Stampa, Ibra was in a fist fight with Zebina during practise two weeks ago. This is rumored to be why he has lost his starting position. I believe that del Piero's current form is a more likely answer. It is, however, clear that the talk about his current goal draught is affecting him, his decision-making on the pitch is down a notch or two. It remains to be seen whether the 24-year old can shrug off the immense pressure and continue to produce amazing football. I have no doubt he will.

The Henrik started for Barca in their away game at Mallorca and did well during his 70+ minutes on the pitch. He came close to scoring several times but only managed to hit the post. Messi scored twice and Giuly once, so it's not like Larsson lacks competition just because Eto'o is in Egypt. He is a more natural no 9 than Messi and much better in the air than any other attacking player Barca have but hey, he is no longer the world class striker he was a few years ago. Players like Messi and Eto'o are able to take the ball and run straight through a defense at high speed and score by themselves. Larsson has been succesful because of his energy, focus and intelligence.

Ljungberg is apparently a crap player all of a sudden, according to media experts. Sure. I'll not even bother with commenting. Look! See how I'm not commenting.

Rosenberg continues to score while Ajax continues to plummet. He's any clever man's third striker for Sweden right now and should remain so.

Salle Östlundh was shipped off to Southampton of all possible places. Damn you, Erwin Koeman, damn you.

Fun Euro qualifier group

- This should be interesting.
- Define "interesting".
- Oh god oh god, we're all gonna die?

And with that quote from "Serenity" we move on to today's mouthful - the European Cup 2008 Qualifier Group draw. Sweden got Spain, Denmark, Latvia, Iceland, Northern Ireland and, believe it or not, Liechtenstein. Certainly a group we are capable of advancing from, but as you know dear readers (all four of you), we (or rather I) do not take anything for granted here on thepotcallingthekettleblack. In football, weird shit will happen. Spain is of course completely capable of beating anyone and anything on a good day and draw against Malta on the other days. Same goes for Denmark really, other than that they are also capable of losing against that former residence of the Knights of St. John. The odds that Denmark will have an off day against Sweden are not computable but they can stumble anywhere else along the road. Hopefully, Spain will continue to handicap themselves by always playing Raúl so we only have to contend with 10 world class players. There are plenty of wonderful players to choose from for almost all positions in the Spain team whereas Sweden and Denmark always will field their share of cannon fodder to supplement whatever stars they have available. Lagerbäck has said what he always says after a draw so I'll not quote him here.

Sweden to play Chile in last friendly before the World Cup

A good call I thought. The game will be played at Råsunda (probably) on June 2nd. Apparently they are "similar in style" to both Tn'T and Paraguay.

A used car salesman pretending to be Wenger

Bo Lundqvist, chairman of SEF (no, I'm not going to tell you what that stands for) and of Animal Farm FC IF FF AB Inc threatens to keep his players home from future Mickey Mouse-tournaments with the national team, like the one in Saudi Arabia. The reason being that it might disrupt his team's preparations for another Mickey Mouse-tournament - the Royal League. Well isn't that special. Since everyone knows that these tournaments are the only way to get into the national team squad for players without international experience, I would be surprised if his players think this is a good idea. Tobias Hysén, for instance, had his shot to get a all expenses paid Germany trip this past week. It doesn't sound like he took his chance. It remains to be seen who will make the squad for the Ireland friendly later this year. According to our media "experts" (and I use that term as loosely as is possible) Karl Svensson of Blowit might be a surprise addition, but we have no way of telling if this merely is yet another campaign to create a story. This is usually the case ahead of big tournaments, for Euro 2000 it was Johan Elmander, WC 2002 Kim Källström and for Euro 2004 it was all about the return of The Larsson.
Bo Lundqvist, incidentally, was given the title "hero" in a tabloid this week after announcing that his club would spend millions of kronor on preventing adolescents from joining Animal Farm's hooligan firm and demanded that both AIK and Hammarby would do exactly the same thing. It turned out that the program consisted of starting a café. We'll see how that develops.
It would be interesting to know if any Swedish tabloid will try to follow The Sun's suit and buy themselves some "exclusive" riots in Germany or if they'll just pony up whatever The Sun is demanding and buy the rights for Swedish publication. It's a wonderful world.

One of the worst games ever

Of course I didn't watch it, not after seeing the starting lineup. The less said about these last two games the better. Saw episode 5 of ROME tonight instead, what a great show it's turned out to be. Not on par with Deadwood of course, but then very little is. People I know demand that I watch Brideshead Revisited for no other reason than that it is brilliant. I just might one of these days. Apparently a remake is in pre-production, no one seems sure of why.

- A central midfield with Ishizaki and Djuric? Tell me you're joking, centurion.

Rosenberg and Larsson scores

Both scored the first goals for their teams in today's matches, both were substituted late in the game and both of the subs brought on for them scored as well. Oh, the symbolism and potential drama! Anyway, Larsson looked more nervous than I've ever seen him tonight and it was great to watch the relief in his face after he tapped in an easy goal. He moved very well but his touch was not up to par, signs of not playing enough and being tense. Rosenberg has now scored five in his last seven games for Ajax while this was Larssons first goal in three months.

Riquelme converted twice from the penalty spot to give Villareal a home win against Osasuna.

Larsson to start against Alavés tonight

With Samuel Etóo away for the African Cup it looks like Henke will get the nod from Rijkaard. When it comes to individual skills like pace and first touch he is not nearly as good as Etóo but he is far superior tactically and in positional play. Txiki Bergirstan has even made an instruction video of Larsson's movement on the pitch. From what I've seen of Larsson so far he has lost a bit of his first touch and his pace is definately down a notch again. Hopefully he'll get on the score sheet tonight. With Larsson on the pitch Barcelona is able to threaten by putting high crosses into the box, something they normally don't bother with with Etóo, Ronnie and Messi (or Giuly) playing.

Mellberg and crew shut down Spurs

Olof Mellberg helped Aston Villa keep a clean sheet in their away game to Tottenham today. Tottenham had most of the possession and Villa never once threatened to score. Thanks to good positional play and a few excellent saves from goalkeeper Sörensen, Defoe and Keane wasn't able to turn their possession into goals, even with playing against ten for ten minutes. Captain Ollie played as he always does and looked as strong and forceful as usual. Good news for the national team with the complete lack of depth behind Teddy, Ollie and Petter Hansson (Heerenveen). A player like Majstorovic is probably out of it since he doesn't have to personality to handle a fourth spot very well. Another reason why someone like Karl Svensson could be a late addition to the squad that goes to Deutschland.

Teddy to quit after World Cup

Teddy Lucic, the coolest guy ever to leave Hising Island, is reputed to retire from international duties after the World Cup so he can see his kids more often. I'm guessing that he'll be able to see more of his beloved horses as well.

Bajen has more right backs than you can shake a stick at

So Alexander probably won't return to that club, which is good. In more ways than one. Remains to be seen whether MFF will be able to persuade Salle or if he'll just cruise on down the street and remain on the continent.

Östlundh told to leave by Feyenoord

After starting almost every game for his Dutch club Feyenoord, former AIK forward (with brief, insignificant stints at IFK Norrköping and Bajen) Alexander Östlundh has been told he can leave by manager Erwin Koeman. The right back spot (for my money the only spot one can bother debating) is all of a sudden up for grabs. Contenders are, besides Östlundh, Mikael Nilsson of Panathinaikos, Niclas Alexandersson and Curly Andersson. Alexandersson, Nilsson and Östlundh should all make the squad anyway, but Curly's nomination hinges on showing he can really compete for a spot.
Rumor is currently that Alexander will move to a smaller Dutch club, while both Malmö FF and Bajen certainly need strengthening at right back. AIK is probably out of the picture as the right flank looks like its strongest area this year with new signings Kenny Pavey and Marcus Jonsson competing with Jimmy Tamandi and Mattias Moström.

That wasn't so bad now, was it? Yes it was.

Well, that sucked. Awful low tempo game. No one made a very positive impression except maybe Tranquil Teddy, but he's always cool. Midfield was crap with no pressure applied and very little movement. There was plenty of space but no movement and the passing was really poor. Maxie Schnellenbaum didn't do much damage as a left back and Toby Hysén was invisible like last time I saw him in the yellow shirt. Martin Ericsson was decent in the first half I thought, reminds me a bit of Ishizaki, only better. We've got a few of these types of midfielders, good when they have the ball, completely bloody useless when out of possession. Anders Svensson is easily the best of the bunch and is miles better now without the ball. Djuric, Ishizaki, Martin Ericsson and Kim Källström simply cannot be trusted to perform any defensive duties whatsoever. Karl Svensson was also close to decent but putting the ball up the pitch without being under pressure is something only Norwegian coaches applaud. Only Ollie Mellberg is allowed to do that and that is only because he can beat up both Freddie Ljungberg AND Zlatan. Eddie G was just the same as always, I thought. Very erratic, a bit like a younger David James. Gods help us if we lose Isaksson.

So maybe I should write more often

With the World Cup draw over and done with we sent some chaps down to Saudi Arabia to show them how Human Rights work and to play some football. To my mind the starting XI in tomorrow's game features only three players that are probable to start in the World Cup, Teddy Lucic of BK Häcken Anders Svensson of Elfsborg Losers FC and Niclas Alexandersson of Blowit, Gothenburg.

In fact the number of potential World Cup travellers are easily numbered if numbering is your kind of thing and not that there's anything wrong with that. Apart from the previously mentioned trio the back four (the other three apart from Teddy Tranquility Lucic) all have a chance of making an impression. We need defensive players and I think that these are the best we've got behind Mellberg, Edman and Östlundh, along with Mikael Nilsson of Panathinaikos.

I don't see Martin Ericsson, Fredrik Berglund or, actually, Tobias Hysén making it into the squad. Hysén is good but might not make it since he's competing with Elmander (Bröndby), Jonson (Animal Farm IF FF) and The Chip (Anderlecht) for a spot behind Alexandersson and Ljungberg. Alexandersson, easily the most versatile player in the squad, will probably be a backup for Linderoth AND be the starting choice at either right midfield or right back. Up front I'm guessing on Jonson and Rosenberg to back up the most obvious choices in the team after Isaksson, Zlatan and Henrik. That would give us the following squad:

Isaksson, Eddie and probably Alvbåge who doesn't cut it in my mind.

Östlundh, Mellberg, Teddy Tranquility, Edman, Nilsson, von Schleebrügge, Hansson, Curly Andersson.

Linderoth

El Chip, Källström, Anders Svensson, Elmander, Ljungberg, Alexandersson

Larsson, Ibrahimovic, Rosenberg, Jonson

And one more guy. Thing is, Mikael Nilsson is an excellent right midfield player and since Alexandersson can play everywhere ... I need to sleep on this.

Starting lineup for tomorrow's game:

Eddie G
Curly A, Teddy Da Man, Karl Svensson (his debut) and Maximilian von Schlipperknödel
Alexandersson
Martin Ericsson, Anders Svensson, Tobias Hysén
Son of Jon, Freddy Berglund