The King

The quest for world domination continues

This week we have managed to infiltrate IFK Göteborg's arguably best blog, Baraben.com, where we make snide comments about their lack of class players. Seriously, the blog is really good in a bitter sort of way and I think I am making a point by pointing out the lack of a coherent vision and strategy at IFK. The comments section should be interesting and full of love.
Check it out.

AIK trounce Sirius and Zlatan is still not playing for Sweden

AIK put what might be called a reserve team on the pitch for today's friendly against Division two side Sirius. 4-0 was the final score, Bernt Hulsker, Alexander Gerndt got one each while our own Inzaghi, Daniel Mendes, got a brace. This looks like it will the best preseason since ... uh, forever with almost every player in the squad getting significant playing time and everyone looking fit. A normal preseason often has consisted of AIK borrowing players from left and right just to get a starting XI. Kudos to both the fitness staff of Thomas Lindholm and Oskar Skatt as well as our other staff.

The papers are going nuts after The Brand Zlatan declared he wasn't coming back to the national team in an interview yesterday. The same old stories, "Zlatan is so weird" and "Zlatan hates Lagerbäck", are reitirated everywhere while this blogs faithful readers, all two of you, already are in the know. This doesn't stop the media from sharing such nuggets as Mr Raiola, The Brand's Guiding Light, talking to Swedish journalists:

- I'm sorry, I am not Mino.
- Look Mino, I've talked to you hundreds of times, I know your voice!
- I am not Mino, sorry.

Fantastic. It's like watching kids running around creating havoc. And making millions of dollars doing it.

Zlatan played really well for an hour in today's game against Cagliari. A fantastic football sequence: Figo backheels the ball to Zlatan who, with a deft outside touch, crosses the ball perfectly for Burdisso to head into the net.

Dulee man of the match as GIF Sundsvall were run over, 3-0

Didn't get to see the game as I'm down with the flu at the moment. And 500 km away from Skytteholm too, now that I think about it. Listened to AIK:s excellent web radio broadcast though. Sundsvall played a 4-6-0 formation for the whole game and managed one shot at goal while AIK played ball the way you should. Goals from Mendez, NiCklas Carlsson and Dulee Johnson and all players in the match squad got some playing time, except for an on-loan goalie.

It also seems we have a new left back with the beginnings of an Argentina-hairdo, which I wager will prove absolutely crucial this season. He's really good too. So there you are.

Remember, remember, the fifth of November

Just saw this. With great trepidation beforehand I might add. Moore The Magic Man had his name removed from it after reading the script, it was produced by Joel Silver and The Wachowski Brothers who I do not love or trust and the trailer gave the impression that it was mainly about slo-mo action scenes and explosions. Which certainly wasn't what the graphic novel was all about. Add to that the horrid track record of making films from Moore stories (From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), you understand I had decided to stay away from this one. Glad I didn't.

It turned out beautifully. Great acting performances all around with some wonderful lines thrown about the place as well. Very emotional, even surprisingly so and very very talky.

Evey Hammond: Who are you?

V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.

Evey Hammond: Well I can see that.

V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.

Riquelme to Boca Juniors

Oh crap. It doesn't seem like the issues can be solved right now. Riquelme will go on loan for the rest of the season to his old club Boca. Thanks to the net we who love him should be able to watch him quite a few times anyway. I'm already looking forward to Boca vs Estudiantes, aka Riquelme vs Veron.

Should be an alright matchup, dontcha think?

Ayala signed for Villareal

Beautiful. My favorite centre back will play for my favorite Argen... I mean Spanish team next season. Now we only need to sort this Riquelme business and start prodding some buttock in La Liga again.

In other news, Sweden lost to a good Egypt side with 2-0. More on that later.

Starting XI

Isaksson

Nilsson-Mellberg-Hansson-Edman
Linderoth
Svensson-Källström-Wilhelmson
Prica-Allbäck

Planned subs at halftime are: Shabaan for Isaksson and von Schleebrügge for Edman.

What does this tell us?
One, Svensson gets his chance to get into a starting XI that includes Källström. It would be great if this works out, and I have a feeling it just might. Alexandersson is easily the weakest regular these days, possibly along with Nilsson.
Two, Rosenberg is not considered match fit, which sounds like a reasonable conclusion.
Three, Andy Johansson is not a serious contender for a regular squad. When everyone including the kitchen sink is either unfit, injured or having brain scans (Ibrahimovic) and Rade Prica gets the nod ahead of you, you know you are on borrowed time.

My guess is that Wilhelmson will play a bit as a forward winger while Svensson moves a bit inside, leaving the flank open for the offensive runs of Nilsson. This should strengthen us up centrally and leave space for Prica and Nilsson to run into. Svensson, Linderoth and Källström sound like and excellent central midfield trio to me. We'll see.

There's been a small change in tonight's program ...

... the part of Robin Williams will be played by The Temptations.

Hrm.

Anyway, after leaving you all scratching your heads over that one, it seems that it is more likely that Anders Svensson will replace Alexandersson to the right, which leaves Mikael Nilsson back at right back and Markus "Mr 100%" Jonsson on the bench. Ah'm devastated sah! Not really. Hopefully we'll get to see a bit of Mr Jonsson tomorrow, sprained ankle and all.

In other news, AIK played their first game of the season, beating Syrianska FC 2-1. Only they didn't, not really. This was instead "a practise in match-like conditions" which, of course, is something else entirely. This weekend we take on GIF Sundsvall in a friendly - where we won't feature two Väsby players (I think) like we did today. I await confirmation on the scorers, the first goal was either headed in by Nicklas Carlsson or Jimmy Tamandi, opinions differ, while Kali Ongala (on loan from Väsby for the day) seems to be scorer of the second goal in extra time.

P.S Anyone know where I can get hold of "Robin Williams - Live at the Met" from mid-eighties sometime, please post linkies in the comment section. The above header is from the announcer of that show.

Egypt and the spectre of Zlatan

OK, here we go. Time for the last friendly before the qualifier against Northern Ireland. A year ago we were trusting in the Holy Trinity of Ljungberg, Zlatan and the Holy Henrik. None of them are available anymore. Sadly, insanely in-form Elmander is also out after a minor injury but hey, let's think positive here and start with a possible lineup for tomorrows game, away against Egypt.

Goal: Shabaan will probably get the nod to start while Isaksson might be given some desperately needed match practice after the break. Isaksson simply isn't Man City's no1 right now.

Defenders: Ollie Mellberg and Petter Hansson should start in central defense. My guess is Markus Jonsson (of AIK, baby) will start at right back and Erik Edman at left back. von Schleebrügge will definately play, he can go central or left, depending on what Lagerbäck wants to do.

Linderoth will play in the Linderoth position.

Midfield: I'm guessing Mikael Nilsson will replace Alexandersson at right midfield, Wilhelmsson will replace Ljungberg over on the left and then it is time for the usual ten thousand franc question, Källström or Svensson. Please let it be Källström and please order the outside midfielders to defend accordingly.

Strikers: Rosenberg and Allbäck. Just leave Rade Prica out of the equation. Please.

The Reason Why Zlatan Won't Play

It's all really very simple. Zlatan has the potential to become the number one brand in Football, on par with Henry, Ronaldinho, Beckham and Ronaldo. That is what he and his advisors are after. Playing a friendly against Egypt before the end run of Serie A and The Champions League simply plays no part in those plans. Nor does, really, qualifiers against the likes of Northern Ireland or Liechtenstein. That the Swedish press are tying themselves into knots over the schism between Ibra and Lagerbäck is just silly, rather I would point to the fact that neither Raiola (his agent), his father or his wife gives a flying psychotic fuck about the Swedish national team or the Swedish market anymore. Ibra has outgrown that. If it becomes in the interest of the brand to play for Sweden again, he will. Otherwise not.

"Always follow the money."

- Commander Vimes (Terry Pratchett)

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.