FM16: The Frozen Throne

[Rikulec]

It's nice to see they still remember about me in Norway, but it's a finished chapter.

[Rikulec]

Thanks, but no.

[Rikulec]

This one, on the other hand... I better complete this challenge soon, these offers get more and more tempting. Hull are sitting 19th in the Premier League, bravely fighting against relegation in a very tight five-way battle. This time I managed to reject the offer, but next time...

[Rikulec]

Oh, the temptation... rejected.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Friendlies



Assistant in charge as usual.

Transfers



In addition to these we've also extended the loan of David Cunningham for the next season.

Eric Gustavsson - we desperately needed homegrown players and we also needed a central defender. He's not going to set the world on fire, but he should be solid enough.

Marcus Gustafsson - he will boost the numbers up front and provide good rivarly for Achim Dörfler in the AMC spot. Oh, and he's also homegrown, which is nice.

Raad Ismail - my word, we actually paid for someone. We paid for someone who's not even going to be a starter. My God, what have I done. But... yeah, he's homegrown.

Nicolás Battaglia - the one who will be keeping Ismail out of the team... if he performs according to his attributes, at least. A direct replacement for Bilgin who decided to leave us.

[Rikulec]

One big and one small loan replaced by one even bigger.

[Jason the Yank]

Shame it fell apart at the end, but good on still finishing in the top half.

Looks like you need some additional depth though, at least behind Soto.

[Rikulec]

Shame it fell apart at the end, but good on still finishing in the top half.

Looks like you need some additional depth though, at least behind Soto.

Thanks for the comment. As for the Soto issue, the arrival of Fonseca seems to have sorted that out. When they're both fit, they play together, and we still have Martin Lindström and Viktor Hedberg who can play there.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - March 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Svenska Cupen





Still not good enough to beat AIK, but we're winning games we should be winning.

It was clear from the beginning who was going to be the better team on the pitch. AIK only needed three minutes to show their domination - after a deep cross the ball was headed across the six yard box and Hiroyuki Fujihara smashed it in from a tight angle. The hosts went on to create more good chances, but their finishing was horrendous and the goal they scored turned out to be their only shot on target throughout the whole game. Not that we were much better - we struggled immensely to create anything and, to be fair, didn't deserve to score.

Next up we had two games that were really not about anything else than getting match fit for the league campaign. First, the weirdly named Assyriska IF i Norrköping. We got into that quickly and in the 9th minute an unforced error by the opposition's right back allowed David Cunningham to go free on goal and score with a confident, powerful effort. The Englishman got the second goal as well ten minutes later, finding the ball at his feet after a poor clearance and placing it perfectly by the near post, exactly where the tiniest bit of space got exposed. Our final goal arrived in the 42nd minute and it was a classic - André Zachrisson from the right wing and Jan-Philipp Faltermeier with the finish on the far post. The second half was just about preserving the result and avoiding injuries, both of which were accomplished.

The Norrköping game turned out to be Thomas Linnerud's swan song. Our wantaway striker opened the scoreline in the 9th minute of the match, scoring with a close range header after a nice cross by Nicolás Battaglia. Last season's league top goalscorer Faltermeier doubled our goal tally two minutes later, literally walking the ball into the net, David Hallingström with the assist from the right wing. The final goal came from Cunningham in the 62nd minute and it was a marvellous effort from a tight angle that fell right into the far upper 90, lobbing the goalkeeper on its way. You may think I'm weird, but that instantly reminded me of the IFK Mariehamn days and one particular goal from Stefan Nilsson against HJK. Oh boy, those were the days.

Allsvenskan





And who saw that coming?

We got off to a flying start away at Djurgården. In the 10th minute of the game David Cunningham dribbled all the way to the byline and laid the ball out to Jan-Philipp Faltermeier for a simple tap-in. The English-German duo produced another goal eleven minutes later. This time the cross got intercepted by a defender, but Faltermeier stole the ball from him and banged it into the net. And then the hosts woke up. In the 31st minute Neto got in front of his marker after a drilled cross from the right wing and restored some hope for the fans. Hope that was fulfilled just eight minutes later - a sensational individual run from Mattias Acar ended with a wonderful finish. This guy threw his name in the hat for the goal of the season award very early on. We still managed to recover the lead before the break though - in the 41st minute our new striker Tony Møller passed to Lars Jacobsson inside the penalty box and the young midfielder applied a clinical finish that went in off the near post. The second half was just as even as the first, but this time only one team scored goals. In the 65th minute Cunningham played a corner to the far post and Fonseca scored his first ever goal for the club with a powerful header. And seconds before the final whistle Møller put his name on the scoresheet, slotting the ball home from close range. What a smashing result to start the league with.

Transfers

Tony Møller - Linnerud decided he's so unhappy at the club that we had to sell him to Åtvidaberg for £30K, so he had to be replaced. Møller joins us on a season-long loan from Aalesund.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - April 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





The unbeaten run continues.

After a stormer against Djurgården, Helsingborg were going to be a good measuring scale for us. The match itself couldn't really have started worse for us - in the 5th minute a cross from the left arrived into the box and Robert Kotwica got in front of his marker to take a shot, a lucky deflection to help him score. From then on we attacked with passion and twenty minutes after conceding we brought things back level. Tony Møller played a nice one-two with David Cunningham on the edge of the box to leave the defence behind and beat the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation. After that goal we seemed to ease off a little. We were still the better team and occasionally created something, but that wasn't enough to beat the visitors. With some more effort we could have grabbed full points there.

In the Ljungskile game we showed exactly how weaker teams should be dealt with in a very confident performance. The scoring began in the 15th minute. Jan-Philipp Faltermeier got to the byline with the ball and played a powerful knee-high cross that bounced off Mark Jacobsen and rolled into the net. Our German winger also managed to grab a goal for himself three minutes before the break - Cunningham with a conscious square ball and Faltermeier with a precise, calm finish. The level of our play dropped slightly in the second half and with the final whistle approaching, Ljungskile sniffed their chance to open up a bit and try to hit us with everything they got. And that backfired - a well-constructed counter attack in the 84th minute was finished off by Møller, and so were the hosts' hopes and the match itself.

Next up, Akropolis, or the evening of frustration. There were no goals in the first half, but we missed two absolute sitters - both Faltermeier and Møller really should have scored, both chose to smash the ball right at the goalkeeper from close range instead. The young Norwegian loanee proved he's a late goal specialist though - in the 81st minute we finally got in front thanks to his finish to a David Hallingström cross. I thought that would seal the win for us, but it wasn't to be - three minutes later a seemingly aimless hoofball flew right over our defenders' heads and to the feet of Claus Hansen, who beat Pavel Pribyl with a classy effort. Needless to say I'm not particularly excited with that result.

And on matchday five we finally got our first home win. Östersunds were an extremely tough opponent though. If it wasn't for Pribyl's heroics, we would have been trailing at half time. Luckily the Czech goalkeeper demonstrated his trademark point blank range save once again to keep it goalless before the break. And it wasn't the end of our luck - in the 54th minute Nicolás Battaglia received the ball on the left flank and without hesitation put in a cross so bad that it actually ended up hurling towards goal and just out of reach for the visitors' goalkeeper. One thing's for sure, if that happened on the other end of the pitch, I would be fuming. Fifteen minutes later an indirect free kick taken by Cunningham resulted in a chaos eruption in front of the Östersunds goal before Sigi Perry banged the ball in to get his first ever goal for the club. The visitors responded almost straight away through Kevin Salvat and looked dangerous right until the end, but a good defensive performance allowed us to scrape a potentially valuable win.

[Rikulec]

A chance to go back to a side that has absolutely dominated Finnish football since my time there, failing to win the title only once, try to sneak into the Champions League, make the whole league stronger and more competitive... You know, if I didn't have a specific job to do here in Sweden, I would seriously consider doing that. Torgeir Heggland is still in the team and playing really well for them!

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - May 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





A rather poor month by our recent standards, but we're still within shot from Europe.

There's just something about Göteborg, I can't really put that into words. Each and every time I play them, luck seems to turn its back on me. Like they're my eternal bogey team. This time a fairly even and rather boring first half ended without any goals, but it was us who seemed to have that slight bit of advantage. And the second half started in the best possible way for us - we scored straight from the kick-off, David Hallingström with the assist and Jan-Philipp Faltermeier with a clinical finish. That's where the trouble started. Of course the visitors equalised with their first attacking move since then, and it was a bloody corner in the 58th minute that allowed Precious Chibuike to bring things back level. Some time later I made some tactical changes to pursue a winning goal, which included pushing Sigi Perry to the central midfielder position in attempt to control that area of the pitch. And guess who gave away a silly penalty in the 76th minute? That's right. Michael Jonsson stepped up to the spot, Pribyl got his hand to the shot, but was unable to keep it away. Oh, and we also lost Fonseca to a concussion. What a way to start the month.

The trip to Husqvarna had to be viewed as a chance to recover after our first league defeat this season. And we took it, albeit not without problems. The first half was as smooth as it gets though. We got the lead very early on. In the 6th minute the roles got kind of reversed as Faltermeier played an inch-perfect square ball from the left and David Cunningham found himself right at the end of it to apply an easy finish. The second goal came nineteen minutes later. In chaos following a corner kick it was Sigi Perry who kept a cool head and found just a bit of space to double our lead. For some reason we went into the second half a bit shaky and conceded a really stupid goal in the 52nd minute. Pavel Pribyl should have done much better in his attempt to save Tom Gerhardsson's strike. Thanks to that I was nervous right up until the final whistle, but we managed to hold onto the lead.

Sometimes you just have this day when you take loads of shots from different situations, create a lot of chances, but the players just seem like they couldn't hit the barn door. And sometimes, on these incredibly rare occasions, you just take one shot throughout the whole match and somehow that's enough to give you three points. On that evening at Häcken we had two heroes. First of them, Tony Møller, took that shot in the 32nd minute after a wonderful cross from André Zachrisson. Second, Sigi Perry, won the player of the match award with a 8.5 rating for a sensational performance at the back. Pribyl also played his part when the American couldn't help, but it was the central defender who was the most important figure of the game. I have to admit we got incredibly lucky there, but who cares? A win is a win at the end of the day.

How I hate playing the weak teams at home. There's just always something that will go wrong. This time against Degerfors we seemed to have full control over the game in the first half, but struggled immensely to get past their deep-sitting, well organised defence. And when we did, it was quite lucky to be fair. In added time Nicolás Battaglia pulled away from his marker on the wing and drilled a cross in, Cunningham was there at the far post to take a shot, but the ball got intercepted by Marcus Ljungman's sliding tackle. Luckily for us, he wasn't able to keep it away from goal. After the break we continued to move the ball around, not putting too much effort into pursuing another goal. And that backfired - in the 76th minute a horrendous defensive showing following a deep free kick allowed Bruno Clement to bring things back level. We just couldn't find enough spark in ourselves to respond to that. Even more stupidly dropped points. Great.

It's time to scroll up and revise my short-lived adventure with the Icelandic national team. Remember that young lad from Liverpool, Eiríkur Ari Geirsson, who scored three goals in his first three appearances? Well, he came back to haunt me. In the 13rd minute the ball was headed down to his feet on the edge of the penalty box and he unleashed the most perfect volley you can imagine. Perfect upper 90. If that was a goal for my team, I would be replaying it over and over again. What a hit. And thirteen minutes later he made it 2:0 after a deep free kick cross, our old friend Sertaç Bilgin with the assist. And in the second half we woke up. When Tony Møller pulled one back with forty minutes to go, I thought we would catch the ********. But we didn't. We lacked composure and confidence in front of goal. Simply, we lacked the finish. Zachrisson's two-footer in the 89th minute was just a proof of frustration. Another important game lost.

This game can be brutal sometimes. It was brutal beyond any limits to me when we faced Örebro. Yes, the hosts had more shots and generally were the better team. Yes, we only took three shots on target. But we also got in front three times, only to get brought down to earth after each of our goals. 31st minute, Diego Alejandro Soto with a good header after Cunningham's corner, 1:0. 49th minute, Júnior Mineiro, 1:1. 52nd minute, Cunningham, 2:1. 65th minute, Vesa Kauko, 2:2. 71st minute, Møller, 3:2. 78th minute, David Plesek, 3:3. And right when I had already settled for the draw, in stoppage time, with literally five seconds to go, John Mhlongo received a through ball inside our box and beat Pribyl at the near post. And the replay leaves no doubt to me - he was slightly offside...

And finally Åtvidaberg, a game where we hoped not to let our winless streak go any further. But for a large portion of time things looked like it would. We had more of the ball and created more situations, but at the same time the visitors' counter attacks looked quite dangerous and we struggled to find the net. The relief finally came in the 71st minute and it was our trademark goal - Cunningham put a cross in from the right wing and Faltermeier squeezed the ball in from a tight angle. You could feel the tension going away almost immediately. And my players did - in the 84th minute we added another goal. Having come on from the bench nine minutes earlier, Pontus Andersson served Tony Møller with a pinpoint pass and the Norwegian doubled our lead to erase any doubt about the result. Why can't we just win like that every time we should?

[Rikulec]

I wish I could take that. When I finally go to Denmark, Brøndby will be the club I'd really like to manage. It's still not the time for that though.

[Rikulec]

I did give it a thought, but the lack of homegrown players in their squad put me off. I would seriously struggle to put together a team for the league.

[Rikulec]

It's been a proper flood of interview offers since the end of last season! Declined.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - July 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





Oh, the dizzy heights of the top spot! There are three teams that could overtake us if they win their games in hand though.

The AIK game was going to tell us whether we're in deeper crisis or our May form was just a stutter. And our performance seemed to point to the latter. We opened the scoreline in the 19th minute and it was a classic. Cunningham, Faltermeier, 1:0. The visitors didn't seem to be overly fussed about the game, their shot attempts coming from unprepared positions and posing no real threat to Pribyl. Seconds before half time we doubled our lead. This time it was André Zachrisson who assisted Faltermeier from the right wing. It wasn't an easy position, but the German somehow scored with his chest while attempting to bring the ball down with his first touch. Two wins in a row, fire extinguished?

Not exactly. We were extremely unlucky in our away trip to a newly promoted side Halmstad. The match started off rather slow with neither team attempting to seize control, but in the 17th minute Halmstad's Mikkel Nielsen placed the ball 25 yards away from our goal and unleashed an unstoppable free kick right into the top corner. Our response was immediate - just a minute later Cunningham got past two opponents while running to the byline and laid the ball out to Faltermeier for the equaliser. From then on we were the better team, but it was the hosting side who scored the goal. In the third minute of first half's stoppage time Sead Karic jumped the highest after an out-swinging corner and let off a header, which went in off the crossbar. And despite numerous chances in the second half, we couldn't bring things back level. Seriously, we need to stop losing games like that. It's infuriating.

We had eleven days of rest before the big one. They may not be holding the title at the moment, but to me Hammarby are easily the best team in Sweden at the moment. And when their striker Roger Karlsson missed an absolute sitter just two minutes into the game, I thought we were in for a proper beating. Oh, how gloriously wrong I was. After that it was us who were the better side. The only letdown was the finishing. We kept getting denied by posts and crossbars while all the visitors could manage was the odd counter attack, albeit a couple of them were quite dangerous. And finally the 78th minute arrived. Zachrisson took a throw-in on the right hand side of their box, received the ball back and put it in for our left back Battaglia of all people to knock it past the goalkeeper from five yards out. I might have celebrated this one a bit excessively, so if there's any of my neighbours reading this, I apologise. That doesn't change one fact though - we held onto it and got an extremely important win that gave us a huge confidence boost.

The Djurgården result looks nice on paper, but things could have got quite ugly at a certain point. There were no goals in the first half, but you could sense that we were closer to breaking the deadlock than the opposition. It took us until the 63rd minute to do so. This time the delivery came from Battaglia on the left wing and it was David Cunningham who smashed the ball in. And we could have given that away just a minute later when Sigi Perry commited a foul inside our penalty area. Alekos Koutsoubeis took the shot, but Pavel Pribyl guessed his intentions brilliantly and managed to deflect the ball for a corner. Our response was delivered by our late goal specialist in the 77th minute. David Hallingström put a cross in, aiming for the near post and Tony Møller finished it off with a well-aimed header. The 3:0 goal came in the 86th and it was Cunningham once again, Lars Jacobsson with an assist from the bench.

We had to round off the month with a good result against a struggling Ljungskile side if we wanted to end it in high spirits. And the players set out to do exactly that. In the 8th minute a shot by Cunningham was saved by the goalkeeper, but the poor guy was helpless with a perfect rebound from Faltermeier. And eighteen minutes later we sealed the final scoreline. Once again the ball started to bounce around after our attacking set piece and once again it was Sigi Perry who proved he feels comfortable in this kind of chaos, tapping it in from close range. From then on there was really no need to push for more goals and we simply focused on keeping the ball and preserving our clean sheet. That means we managed not to concede in three games in a row, our best accomplishment since I came to the club.

[Rikulec]

It's been a while since I won one of these!

[Bitner]

I was getting sad by seeing only negative updates! Hope you go all the way.

Cheers,

Bitner

[Rikulec]

I was getting sad by seeing only negative updates! Hope you go all the way.

Cheers,

Bitner

Sweden certainly hasn't been kind to me so far, but that's only going to make the success taste even better when I eventually reach it. It will feel like giving this bloody game the finger. Thanks for the comment mate.

[Jason the Yank]

The good thing and the bad thing I found about managing in Sweden is it's a pretty even competition, nobody really runs away with it. So you're never really out of the title chase, but you can never feel like you're going to stroll to the title (or even European places)

[Rikulec]

The good thing and the bad thing I found about managing in Sweden is it's a pretty even competition, nobody really runs away with it. So you're never really out of the title chase, but you can never feel like you're going to stroll to the title (or even European places)

Oh yeah, that definitely seems to be the case...

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - August 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





Things are shaping up for the tighest season of my career so far (yeah, I know there's a lot of things wrong with the table screenshot, I got a bit carried away ).

After our nice run at the end of July, we went to Helsingborg to get properly tested. We failed that test, and we failed it miserably. We did a fairly good job with marking ten of the hosts' players, but seemed to have completely forgotten about the eleventh one. Vegard Danielsen started his show in the 11th minute, scoring with a magnificent header from a tight angle. We managed to reply to that just three minutes later. Marcus Gustafson demonstrated a wonderful through ball to the crowd and David Cunningham applied a wonderful finish to please our supporters. From then on the game turned into a proper exchange of blows, with both teams having their chances to get in front. It was us who got knocked out though. Helsingborg managed to land a punch in the 24th minute, Danielsen with the goal once again. And for some reason we simply gave up. No matter what I tried, we couldn't put together anything that would even resemble an attacking move. What's even worse, the defence didn't seem too fussed either in the second half. And Danielsen couldn't be more happy about this. He added two more goals in the 76th and 81st minute to simply humiliate us. For the first time this season we've lost by more than one goal. And it hurt.

Östersunds wasn't going to be a much easier game by any means. The hosts came out of the dressing room all pumped up, guns blazing, which I think we weren't quite ready for. Following a couple of missed chances, in the 15th minute Paolo Rizzo put them in front with a rather lucky header after a corner. We hate to concede from set pieces. So we got angry. And we get angry, we sometimes produce great football. And that's exactly what happened. They shouldn't have angered Cunningham and Faltermeier. But they did, and our amazing duo produced their trademark goal just fifty seconds after the deadlock was broken. And from then on we simply weren't going to let go. In the 38th minute Cunningham somehow found himself on the left wing, but that didn't stop him from putting it another wonderful cross for Tony Møller to convert. It was also the Norwegian who scored the final goal. In the 72nd minute Johan Johansson hoofed the ball upfield, our striker pushed a defender to create a bit of space for himselft and slotted the ball down the bottom corner with a calm finish. What a class act from the loanee.

Next up, Akropolis. They are so weak that I simply knew we were going to struggle against them. Initially my players begged to differ, with Nicolás Battaglia putting us in front in the 12th minute with a header from the edge of the box after the visitors' goalkeeper punched the ball away. But our celebrations didn't last long - two minutes later a counter attacking move led to Pribyl deflecting a shot straight to the feet of Einar Sævarsson, who had no trouble with the rebound. And then we pushed. And pushed. And pushed. And the harder we pushed, the further away from actually scoring we seemed to be. Until the 77th minute. Marcus Gustafsson played a wonderful, if a bit lucky through ball and Lars Jacobsson, who had just come on from the bench, managed - after a second attempt - to put us back in front in a one on one situation. Luckily this time we managed not to drop points against that outfit, but once again we came dangerously close.

Three days later we hosted another relegation-battling side, Husqvarna. These games are never easy, but this time we put in a really good performance. Or at least one of our players did. In the 28th minute André Zachrisson drilled a cross in from the byline and Tony Møller found himself in a bit of space at the near post to score from a tight angle. The Norwegian doubled his goal tally just six minutes later, anticipating an underhit backpass from one of the Husqvarna defenders and winning the race with the goalkeeper. And in the 55th minute he scored once again, Cunningham with the assist this time round. Hat-trick, done and dusted. A goal from Thapelo Jousse in the 66th minute was the only real moment of hope for the visitors. We marked our domination rather convincingly.

Göteborg. Just the sound of that name makes my heartbeat much faster. These games are always tight. And if we wanted to seriously challenge for the title, this one was a must-win. That was the day to separate boys from men. And we just found ourselves on the right end of it. After holding off the initial wave of attacks, we struck in the 24th minute. Tony Møller got dispossessed while trying to hold onto the ball with his back to goal, but it rolled to Marcus Gustafsson who placed it right in the bottom corner. Our celebrations were spoiled immediately though - Sigi Perry lost the ball in our own area and Anton Bertnsson equalised in an easy situation. To make things even worse, eleven minutes later Patricio Cardoso gave the hosts the lead with a tight angle shot, with Pribyl not making a save attempt for an unknown reason. We just couldn't be stopped though. David Cunningham made it 2:2 just two minutes after that, Nicolás Battaglia with a wonderful assist from the left wing. And the final punch landed in the 53rd minute when Tomas Jörnvik scored after a corner. With surprisingly little trouble we carried a massive result until the final whistle.

The less said about the Degerfors game, the better. I was actually surprised when I saw we had more shots than them after 90 minutes of play, because the actual highlights suggested we got absolutely hammered and were lucky to concede only once. As for the goal itself, it came in the 4th minute. A cross came in from the right, Stanislav Nedilko brought the ball down while getting away from Zachrisson at the same time and beat Pribyl with a calm, precise finish. Our streak of 25 games with at least one goal scored comes to an end in the most unexpected moment. How typical.

Svenska Cupen



We had to put in much more effort than I would have liked to.

Bearing in mind the IFK Göteborg game awaiting us in the league, I decided to field my reserve squad in the cup game against a 4th tier side Karlslund. And it started off really well - in the 3rd minute an overhit cross was deflected by the visitors' goalkeeper straight to the feet of Lucas Sundström, who probably scored one of the easiest goals in his life. But then... bam. Surprise. A howler by our unhappy second-choice goalkeeper Horacio Ferreyra allowed them to equalise in the 16th minute, Oskar Eriksson the lucky scorer. I expected us to push extremely hard after that and wipe the floor with them in revenge for hurting our pride, but nothing like that happened. We seemed to be banging our heads at a brick wall. I was seriously starting to fear that we would need extra time there. Luckily in the 80th minute Eric Gustavsson put us back in front after an indirect free kick taken by Achim Dörfler. Huge, huge sigh of relief.

Transfers

Richard Alvarez - I just couldn't reject such an opportunity. A quality attacking midfielder joins us on a free for a mere £400 p/w.

[Jason the Yank]

Hacken have a few matches in hand.

[Rikulec]

Hacken have a few matches in hand.

I can already tell you that you can't be certain about anything this season!

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - September 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





Can you feel it?

September was going to be an absolutely huge month for us as we were going to battle three title candidates one after another. First up, Häcken. Remembering how attacking and dangerous they were in our first confrontation, I decided to go with a cautious setup. In the first half it was the visitors who looked like the better team, but in general it was a rather boring game of football. And then the 49th minute changed everything. David Cunningham put the ball in from a corner, Nicolás Battaglia headed it down and Tomas Jörnvik smashed it in from close range. First Göteborg, now this - we might have a potential clutch player this season. And then there was nothing. Bringing on Richard Alvarez seemed to have killed the game off completely - we shut down midfield and neither team was able to create anything. That was absolutely fine by me.

Four days later we travelled to Malmö for another intense clash. This one went a little bit more smooth. The scoreline is rather flattering for the hosts - they posed next to no danger to us and we had more than a couple of chances to put something past them. The only goal of the game was scored in the 17th minute. Cunningham's corner once again, Tony Møller's shot hit the back of one of the defenders, but then the ball got to Jan-Philipp Faltermeier, who knew exactly what to do with it. From then on it was full control right until the final whistle. We seemed to be in absolutely smashing form and I was really starting to believe this could be our season. We managed to beat both Göteborg AND Malmö, who could stop us now?!

The answer is Örebro. And boy, what a beautiful start we made to that game. In the 42nd second a brilliant through ball by Lars Jacobsson was met by a clinical finish from David Cunningham. At that moment I felt we were invincible. Yes, I might have got a bit carried away. Nevermind - in the 21st minute came the equaliser. Once again a deep cross was our undoing when Fabrice Delmas waited at the far post to perform the execution. Three minutes after the break the visitors' Swedish striker found the net once again - Pribyl failed to hold onto a rather soft effort from the edge of the box and Delmas pounced on the rebound to put Örebro in front. The response was immediate. 49th minute, Cunningham, Faltermeier, 2:2. Simple as always. Unfortunately that wasn't the final goal of the game. It was a proper two-way battle, but we lost this one. In the 70th minute Júnior Mineiro was allowed to run into the box with the ball far too easily and then he managed to beat Pribyl with a near post shot. We had our chances in the final minutes, but in the end we failed to grab the equaliser. Down to earth with a bang, but still everything is in our hands.

Do you know that feeling when you start a match and you just see that something is not right with your team? I do. And Åtvidaberg took advantage of our bad day at the office. Despite not looking really good, we managed to grab a lead early on - in the 11th minute a good cross from André Zachrisson was met by a finish from Faltermeier. That was the only real positive moment of the game for us though. It took the hosts only seven minutes to equalise through Jetmir Vodo. I just can't shake the feeling that the striker was slightly offside, but the flag stayed down. And in the 23rd minute François Diallo made it 2:1, rebounding the initial shot from his strike partner Vodo. As the time passed, it was Åtvidaberg who looked like scoring the next goal rather than us. We just couldn't cope with their weird 3-1-3-1-2 (or something), I guess.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - October 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





Not now. Please, not now.

We were simply unlucky to get beaten by AIK. Admittedly, they were the better team for the first thirty minutes or so, but then the tables turned and we really should have picked up a win there. But, chronologically - the hosts got an early lead through Max Petitjean's goal in the 8th minute, but we replied straight away with the equaliser from Nicolás Battaglia. And then, after holding off a few attacks from the hosts, we started to pursue the winner. We had some really good chances, but the quality of our finishing was just not good enough. Could that be the pressure getting to us? The lack of experience? Possibly. But there can be no excuses to what happened in the 90th minute. We allowed the hosts to build a passing move on the wing after a throw-in near our penalty area and score from a tight angle. Poor marking, poor positioning from Pribyl, poor defending... poor us.

Yawn. Stretch. Yawn. Rinse and repeat. What a horrendous showing we gave against Halmstad. Anticipating they would park the but, I went for a patient approach and wanted to drag them out a bit before exploiting the space created to get behind their defensive lines, but we simply couldn't get that to work. We had the advantage, we had a few chances, but pretty much all of our supposedly dangerous shots were easily caught by the Halmstad goalkeeper. We're simply bringing the trouble on ourselves. The final day is certainly going to be interesting...

On matchday 30 we're travelling to Hammarby. Örebro play Östersunds away and Malmö host an already-relegated Akropolis side.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - November 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





Blood, sweat and tears. Precisely in that order.

After getting just one point from four games prior to the trip to Hammarby, pretty much all I was left with was hope. Hope that we could hold onto the draw and so could Östersunds. But then the game started and shortly after the away lot went off celebrating. In the 4th minute Tony Møller brought the ball down after a nice cross from André Zachrisson and finally ended his goal drought with a precise effort that went right into the far bottom corner. We couldn't have dreamt of a better start, but the hosts weren't going to give up that easily. They pushed really hard for the equaliser, but we were holding onto the result with our dear lives. Sigi Perry was like an octopus - no matter where the hosts' players got into shooting positions, the American was there to stick his leg out and deflect the effort. Not in the 36th minute though. A cross came in from the right and Jon Fure made it 1:1 with a good finish. In the second half the pressure eased off and there were simply no highlights to show, which meant the time just passed and passed. Every 15 seconds we were a tinier bit closer to clinching the title. But in the final minutes... things just started to happen.

What an extremely wild ride it turned into. First, in the 82nd minute, we got hit by the most unlikely of injuries - Pavel Pribyl was stretchered off with a damaged shoulder. Horacio Ferreyra jumped in between the sticks. That's where I seriously started to sweat. What happened four minutes later was like a stab in the heart - Fabrice Delmas put Örebro in front. In front of Östersunds in their match and in front of us in the table. And then the 88th minute. Faltermeier and Cunningham. Cunningham and Faltermeier. Our incredible duo performed quite a long distance one-two which ended with the German somehow squeezing the ball into the net from a tight angle. 2:1!!! Only the late night hour prevented me from going absolutely wild in my room. Precisely at the same moment Örebro doubled their lead, which pretty much ruled out the possibility of an upset there. Our celebrations only lasted for a mere two minutes. For a mere two minutes we were the champions of Sweden. But then a long ball from the halfway line sliced between our central defenders and reached Hong Sang-Won. Sigi Perry had probably never run faster before in his life, but was just too late. The Korean put the ball past Ferreyra with a calm shot. It was all over. We didn't win the title with an 88th minute goal. We gave it away to a 90th minute goal.

[Rikulec]

And that's what I leave you with. I'm going back to my hometown for the weekend and won't have access to Football Manager there. The final three months of the season were played during an all-nighter yesterday, and I was absolutely heartbroken to see it end like this. Was it the pressure that finally got to the players? Or the fact that we really haven't had a proper bad run earlier on in the season? I don't know. I don't even want to know. I will just have a few days of rest to let that sink in.

I would like to wish everyone a happy Easter. Stay tuned for the end of season update on Monday. We're coming back next season.

Stronger than ever.

[Bitner]

Heartbreaker.

Enjoy the holiday... If you can do so

Cheers,

Bitner

[Dexter_Morgan]

What an horrible end to the season, I was catching up with the thread so didn't know it was going to get like that and by the time you got the 29th game I was really hoping the next post was going to be a positive one Hopefully next season will work out better for you as Sweden has been cruel to you so far

[deltablue]

Damn, heck of a final day.

[Rikulec]

Heartbreaker.

Enjoy the holiday... If you can do so

Cheers,

Bitner

What an horrible end to the season, I was catching up with the thread so didn't know it was going to get like that and by the time you got the 29th game I was really hoping the next post was going to be a positive one Hopefully next season will work out better for you as Sweden has been cruel to you so far

Damn, heck of a final day.

Cheers guys. It was a horrendous, yet memorable final day, and after a few days' rest I have some fresh ideas for approaching the next season. Remember that I won the title in Norway the year after wasting a similar opportunity!

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Review - 2036 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan

Results

Competition Performance: 2nd

What can I say? After picking up some great form in the middle of the season we suddenly rose to the role of title favourites, but then the wheels fell off and we only managed to get two points from our final five games. We almost had it, but then it slipped. Such a choke simply can't be allowed to happen next season.

Svenska Cupen

Competition Performance: Group Stage

Much better than last time around, yet still not good enough to progress. It would be nice to finally improve on that next season.

Squad

Definitely improved compared to the previous season. We're going to face a big problem though as David Cunningham's contract with Southampton is running out, which means we won't be able to extend his loan and we also can't afford signing a permanent deal with him.

Transfers - Finances

The transfers... happened. There's not much to talk about, we focused on slowly increasing the squad depth and quality rather than leading a revolution. This is the approach I've been successful with and I see no reason to change it. I don't think we should have spent the money on Raad Ismail though.

The finances look surprisingly positive, but that is only due to multiple cash injections provided by the board throughout the season. We're still in shambles, but at least our success is being rewarded.

Player of the Season

1st - David Cunningham - just look at the numbers. The Englishman nearly reached the level of the legendary Djibril Traoré, not only accumulating 16 assists in the league, but also scoring seven goals, more than the Malian had ever managed in a single season. Simply a key player, he'll really be missed next season.

2nd - Jan-Philipp Faltermeier - he fell three goals short of his last season's result, but still it was another great season for the German. It was also him who almost handed us the title in the 88th minute at Hammarby... alright, let's not talk about that.

3rd - Fonseca - the guy who keeps this all together. Fantastic in link-up play, without him our midfield just doesn't have enough quality to cope with the top sides of the league. Not only did he become a fantastic compliment to Soto, he also exceeded his ability.

Next Season

It would be natural to scream about a title challenge, but realistically the aim should be retaining a European spot. With a few improvements though, who knows.

[Rikulec]

I like pushing the club forward, but for some reason this doesn't give me as much satisfaction as it should.

[Rikulec]

I got a bit carried away and almost forgot to extend my contract.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Preview - 2037 - GIF Sundsvall

Board Expectations:

Allsvenskan: Top half finish

Svenska Cupen: Not important

My Expectations:

Allsvenskan: I'll be satisfied with a top three finish, silently hoping for the title.

Svenska Cupen: Let's finally get into the QFs.

Budgets:

Transfer: £92,785

Wage: £22,591 (currently spending £20,185)

Balance: £390,892

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2037 - GIF Sundsvall

Friendlies



Done and dusted.

Transfers



Four incomings, including two new goalkeepers.

Ove Andreasen - about time we brought in a proper beast into the middle of our defensive block.

Torben Christensen - his Off The Ball is a slight worry, hopefully the other attributes will make up for that.

Ikechukwu Okafor - a direct replacement for Ferreyra on the bench. He's also homegrown, which is always a great asset.

Thomas Bertrand - and a replacement for Pribyl, who was already starting to lose his touch. Bertrand is only 22 and hopefully has a lot of development in front of him.

[Rikulec]

This happens to be a cup game against one of my former employers.

[Rikulec]

Hopefully this won't stop the cash injections coming!

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - March 2037 - GIF Sundsvall

Svenska Cupen





Not good. Not good at all.

We seemed to have started the AFC United game really well. After a couple of chances we scored the first goal of the season in the 10th minute and it was the most typical GIF Sundsvall goal you could come up with. David Cunningham - for some reason he's still at the club, don't even ask - played the ball across the six yard box and Jan-Philipp Faltermeier was there with a close range finish. From then on things went balls up though. Even though we seemed to control possession and the flow of the game, it was the hosts who looked far more dangerous. In the 39th minute they equalised through Anders Poulsen, hitting us on the break. And in the 77th minute they got the winning goal, this time it was Saidou Kaboré who punished Thomas Bertrand for a poor decision to come out and try to collect a cross. That wasn't a very encouraging performance from the lads.

Next up, the supposed big one. My 600th game in football management. And of course it had to be against my former employer Malmö. Funny how things turn out, eh? And the match turned out to be a classic tale of two halves. Before the break it was the visitors who absolutely dominated the game and finally in the 41st minute Hrvoje Abramovic put them in front after a cross from the left, Sigi Perry with some horrendously passive marking. And all of a sudden we turned things around completely in the second half. The only goal was scored by Cunningham in the 58th minute - André Zachrisson with the assist - but we could have got more. All in all though, I'd say the draw was the fairest result.

And finally Värnamo, a game we really needed to win for the sake of our integrity and self-confidence. Defensively we did brilliantly, restricting the visitors to just one shot that wasn't even on target. Offensively... mediocre, I'd say. We all but dominated the game in the middle of the park, but then seemed to bang our heads at a brick wall when we had to actually try and break them down. Finally the 34th minute brought a breakthrough. A shot from Faltermeier was stopped on the goal line, but Cunningham pursued the ball all the way to score the easiest goal of his life. And in the 64th minute the English winger provided his trademark assist to our new striker Torben Christensen, allowing him to score for us for the first time from a rather easy position. We won, but I wouldn't say it was a convincing performance.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - April 2037 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





Slowly getting there.

After surprisingly losing to AFC United in the cup last month, I decided to go with a slightly different approach for the league game, attempting to keep possession and thus draw the opposition out. And while we did really well with the former, the latter simply wasn't going to happen. They came to our placed and parked the bus, hoping for the best. We were frustratingly helpless for large chunks of time throughout the game, but in the 57th minute a gap finally appeared. David Cunningham played a through ball to André Zachrisson and our right back somehow managed to squeeze the ball in from a tight angle with a shot that went in off the near post. Once again our concentration let us down though - just three minutes later pretty much the only attacking move from the visitors ended up with Fredrik Svecke receiving a cross from the left and scoring from close range. Not the best way to start the season.

We travelled to Åtvidaberg just three days later. I was afraid we would still be tired after the previous game, but we started this one surprisingly fresh and quickly grabbed control. That was confirmed in the 28th minute - a shot from Torben Christensen was denied by the post, but Jan-Philipp Faltermeier pounced on the rebound from point blank range to give us a well deserved lead. From then on not much really happened on the pitch, with us creating the odd chance, but unable to extend our lead. Finally in the final ten minutes the hosts wake up and put together two very dangerous attacks, but Thomas Bertrand did very well on his line to prevent them from equalising. Our first league win in seven games. What a relief.

Yet still I wasn't satisfied with our play. For the Qviding game I decided to experiment and set out with a 4-3-3 (4-1-2-2-1) formation, mostly focusing on keeping possession. The first setback happened in the 15th minute when we lost Richard Alvarez to a twisted knee, but from then on things simply went our way. We scored two almost identical goals in quick succession just before half time - Zachrisson crossed from deep, Faltermeier headed the ball towards the centre of the penalty box and Christensen applied the finish. With a comfortable lead, we just focused on moving the ball around in the second half. The final goal came seconds before the final whistle. Viktor Gustavsson played in a cross from the left wing and David Cunningham headed it right into the back of the net. Simple enough.

Don't let yourselves get fooled by the Djurgården scoreline. We absolutely battered and dominated them, restricting them to only one shot in the whole game. Especially in the first half they were pressed against the wall, barely leaving their own penalty area. There was one problem though - we struggled immensely with creating clear goalscoring opportunities. We simply lacked some movement in the final third that would create enough space to exploit. We finally broke through in the 65th minute though. Faltermeier put a cross in from the left and Marcus Gustafsson headed it in off the post. As I said, Djurgården never really threatened us and a wonderful defensive display allowed us to comfortably cruise towards the final whistle with a result that still flatters the visitors.

Bloody Halmstad once again. After we failed to beat them twice last season, the latter of games effectively costing us the title, this time I just can't explain what happened. We were the better team, having more of the ball and posing constant danger, but they created three chances and scored three goals. It was us who got the lead first though - in the 23rd minute, after a good start that put us in control, Zachrisson found enough space on the wing to put a cross in and Torben Christensen got in front of his marker to apply the final touch. Halmstad equalised eleven minutes later. A surprising backheel pass left our defence wondering as Juan Luís González went one on one with Bertrand and scored. Oh, and he was offside, but nevermind. The hosts got in front straight after the break through Ismael Konta. Then in the 57th minute we pulled level once again - Cunningham aimed a corner at the near post and Sigi Perry squeezed his shot in from a tight angle. It was the opposition who had the final say in things though. In the 78th minute González received a pass with his back turned to goal and, despite two defenders' pressure, somehow managed to find just enough space to grab the winning goal. I know I've said it before, but we just can't be losing games like that.

And finally the champions of Sweden, Örebro. The last game of the month was by far our best performance this season. The hosts were next to non-existent on the pitch and we confirmed our domination by scoring twice in the first half. First in the 10th minute Torben Christensen won us a penalty and Martin Lindström comfortably took it to put us in front. And in the 32nd minute a poor clearance following a corner allowed Fonseca to make it 2:0 with a placed shot from just inside the penalty area. The Portuguese absolutely dominated in midfield, allowing us to accumulate 62% possession and getting a nice 9.0 rating for himself. If only we had played like that last season...

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - May 2037 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





So close to a perfect month!

First up, Östersunds. What an awful 0:0 it turned out to be. We literally only had one chance to score and that wasn't even a clear opportunity. The visitors might have looked dangerous with their set pieces once or twice, but that was it. Moreover, Thomas Bertrand broke his finger, pretty much forcing Ikechukwu Okafor to take his place in goal. Let's see what the Nigerian has to offer...

Luckily our not-exactly-match-sharp goalkeeper wasn't the central figure of the AIK game. Apart from one failure to hold onto a cross and a couple of good saves, he didn't have too much to do as once again our midfield functioned really well, linking up with both the defence and the front line and working perfectly as a unit. The only goal of the game was scored in the 8th minute and it was a beautiful schoolbook passing move which finally set up André Zachrisson on the right wing to square the ball all the way to the far post where Lars Jacobsson placed it in an empty net. I'm more than satisfied with 61% possession, but out of our 15 shots, only four were on target. This could be an issue that needs addressing.

The last game of this little fixture cluster was a tough trip to Malmö to face my former employers once again. And we couldn't have got off to a better start - Ove Andreasen's close range effort following a corner in the 2nd minute of the match was blocked by a defender, but the rebound from Torben Christensen was unstoppable. The hosts were missing some important first team players and it showed as we found it relatively easy to control the game and restrict them from coming too close to our defensive lines. Three minutes before the break we doubled our lead. Christensen received a low pass just inside the penalty area and unleashed a brilliant placed effort that slotted just inside the far post, way out of reach for the Malmö goalkeeper. Unfortunately we failed to keep a clean sheet - in the 92nd minute a long ball launched upfield reached Tobias Holmqvist, who managed to beat Okafor in a one on one situation. Still, it's a very good and potentially important win for us.

We're usually on the back foot when we play Häcken, but we also manage to hit them on the break. This game was quite a different story though - it was us who had the advantage and we knew exactly what to do with it. In this rather ugly battle with a total of 38 fouls between both teams, we just about scraped a victory. In the 7th minute a drilled cross from David Cunningham fell to the feet of Christensen and the Danish striker put us in front with a calm finish. Häcken did attempt to recover from that, but they were usually stopped in their tracks somewhere in the middle of the park, whether by a foul or not. And in the 64th minute we dealt them another blow - Cunningham played a cross from a corner, Andreasen headed it down and Sigi Perry finished the move with a shot that completely fooled the goalkeeper, sending him flying towards the wrong corner. Another comfortable victory at the end of the day.

When we travelled to Degerfors last year, we lost 1:0 to an early goal. This time it was us who found the net almost straight out of the dressing room - in the 3rd minute Sigi Perry scored in the second game in a row, once again having received a headed pass after a corner, this time from Diego Alejandro Soto. That pretty much set the pace for the remainder of the game, with us calmly controlling the events on the pitch. That was proven in the 30th minute when a nice passing move ended with a wonderful strike from just outside the box unleashed by Fonseca that found the bottom corner just out of the goalkeeper's reach. When Pontus Andersson made it 3:0 in the 88th minute after a good through ball from Viktor Gustavsson, I thought we would grab another convincing result to end the month on a high note, but then all of a sudden Degerfors scored two goals one after another, Tobias Emanuelsson and Henrik Fransson with their names on the scoresheet. Luckily there was only one minute of added time, otherwise I would probably crap my pants!

[Rikulec]

Always brings a smile to a man's face.

[Rikulec]

Having finished 16th in the Premier League last season, Aston Villa are looking for a manager. As tempting as the league would be for me, I still have some work to do.

[Rikulec]

It's not the time for Denmark yet.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - June 2037 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





We enter the summer break with a nice four point advantage over the 2nd placed team.

I was shocked with our performance in the first half. I was expecting Helsingborg to give us a proper battle, yet we absolutely dominated them and actually were quite wasteful in front of goal. Both our goals came from penalties and both these penalties were gained in an almost identical way - Torben Christensen launching a through ball to Pontus Andersson and the winger getting hacked from behind. In the 21st minute André Zachrisson converted the spot kick and nine minutes later Jan-Philipp Faltermeier matched his accomplishment. The visitors finally woke up after the break and started to look like a proper football team, but at no point did we allow the control of the game to slip between our fingers. We really look unstoppable now, hopefully the break won't damage our momentum.

[Jason the Yank]

This is going to be the year. Sometimes you have to lose to learn how to win. Or something.

[Rikulec]

This is going to be the year. Sometimes you have to lose to learn how to win. Or something.

Hopefully you're right!

[Rikulec]

No.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - July 2037 - GIF Sundsvall

Allsvenskan





A dip in form, probably because of our European battles.

First up, we travelled to Hammarby for an absolutely vital game. With Örebro struggling badly this season, we're probably the two main candidates to win the title this year. And how did it go? Well, if we had got 3:0 up after fifteen minutes, no one could have complained really. Unfortunately, Jan-Philipp Faltermeier's finishing was below any sensible level that afternoon. And Hammarby were slowly recovering from the initial shock to turn the game into a rather boring midfield battle. To be honest, a draw at their place would probably satisfy me, but it didn't happen. Instead, we allowed Daniel Broberg to score in the 71nd minute, André Zachrisson breaking the line and playing him onside... or maybe not. Even after a replay I'm not entirely sure. What matters though is that the goal stood and our breathing space pretty much ceased to exist.

It's really frustrating to concede with the first proper highlight of the game. It's extremely frustrating when it's a 4th minute free kick. It's even more frustrating when it happens against bloody Göteborg of all teams. Being in such a comfortable position almost from the start, they simply killed the game off, stopping any attacking movement from us in its tracks. Our European voyages probably didn't help us either, maybe we were just lacking that bit of freshness to push ourselves to the edge? Well, the fact is that we lost our second league game in a row and slipped behind Hammarby in the table. Great.

In those circumstances, the away game at AFC United became an absolute must-win. Knowing how much trouble they had given us before, I was a little bit nervous. Luckily though we picked ourselves up and delivered one of this season's gloriously beautiful performances where we're a constant threat and barely allow the opposition to leave their own half. Well, at least in the first half. Luckily it turned out to be enough in this case. In the 21st minute Zachrisson played a nice one-two with Richard Alvarez before delivering a perfect drilled cross to the feet of Faltermeier six yards away from goal. Fourteen minutes later Marcus Gustafsson squeezed the ball into the net from a tight angle after a beautifully constructed counter-attacking move. Seconds before the break a slip of concentration from Thomas Bertrand allowed Tomas Lidholm to lob him with a relatively long-range header, but in the 61st minute the visitors' goalkeeper Jørgen Valsø replied with an even worse howler, literally walking the ball into his own goal. A good victory to stop us from falling into deeper trouble.

Europa League



We're doing better than expected and are within shot of making the final qualifying round.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from Slovan Bratislava. I thought it was going to be a tight game with both teams fancying their chances, but it turned out we absolutely tore them apart. We could have gone up twice inside the first half, but two headed efforts following corners were denied by the crossbar. In fact, we took until the 71st minute to finally break the deadlock. Marcus Gustafsson laid the ball out to the edge of the box and Nicolás Battaglia put us in front with a wonderful first time effort that hit the roof of the net. Gustafsson also got a goal for himself ten minutes later, receiving a low pass from Zachrisson and applying a calm finish. The scoring fest was concluded by a double from Jan-Philipp Faltermeier, his goals coming in the 85th and 90th minute. It took us some time to get going, but when we did, we were simply a joy to watch.

In Slovakia we got off to the start of our dreams - in the very first minute Faltermeier played a short pass to Diego Alejandro Soto inside the box and our defensive midfielder scored at the near post from a tight angle. After that I thought we could give our opponents a proper beating once again, but instead we eased off, possibly already thinking of preserving some stamina for the coming battles. Can't really blame the players for that. Slovan got their consolation goal in the 72nd minute through Maros Michalek, Bertrand at fault for failing to collect a cross after coming out of his line. Not that it changed much.

Stabæk were going to be a proper test for the team and a bit of a sentimental journey for me, remembering battling it out for European places back at Odd. The first leg was a wonderful performance from us - maybe we didn't dominate as much as the statistics would suggest (shots - 17 to their 3, 58% possession), but mostly we had the game under control. And in the 40th minute we took one of our chances - a quickly launched counter attack set Torben Christensen free on goal and our Danish striker delivered exactly what was expected from him. The second goal was one of the last interesting moments of the game - just as the added time was about to start, Lars Jacobsson doubled our lead with a soft, but perfectly placed header after a nice cross from Zachrisson. 2:0 was more than a satisfying result to take to Norway.

The opponents were visibly stronger in front of their home fans. We found ourselves sitting deep, soaking in their attacks and attempting to hit them on the break. The highlight of the goalless first half would definitely be a wonderful save from Thomas Bertrand, who managed to deflect the ball onto the post and then hold onto it in a seemingly open net situation. The deadlock was broken after 70 minutes of football. Once again it was Jacobsson with the goal and Zachrisson with the assist from the right wing. And we dealt them the final blow three minutes later - this time it was David Hallingström who delivered the ball into the box and Fonseca who banged it in from close range. The scoreline probably flatters us a bit, but I was more than happy to deal with a team I have at least some personal history against.

The draw wasn't very kind to us - we were put against one of the surprising forces of Dutch football, Willem II, who are predicted to win the Eredivisie this season. I was simply curious what we could do against much stronger opposition and I have to say I'm happy with what I've seen. The first great chance of the game fell to us, but Fonseca made a terrible miss, having almost the whole goal open in front of him. We got punished for that by the dominant opposition in the 30th minute - Albert Boateng played a low pass into the area from the right and Klaas Berck Beelenkamp put the hosts in front with a classy finish. The second half was just more of the same, with Willem II moving the ball around and us trying to bite them up their arse. Oh, and also Thomas Bertrand doing his best to keep the damages to an absolute minimum. Finally in the 84th minute we got what we hoped for - a well executed counter attack allowed Jan-Philipp Faltermeier to score with a cheeky near post effort in a one-on-one situation. What a great result to achieve in the away leg.

Transfers

Christopher Boman - David Cunningham left us after all, so we brought in a replacement from Hammarby for £7.5K. He then promptly got injured in his second appearance for us...