ULLEVAAL STADION (VG) He fell ill at the last gathering and luck does not pursue Veton Berisha (27) now either: The Viking striker is on his way home to Stavanger.
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This is stated by national team manager Ståle Solbakken on Wednesday. Bodø / Glimt’s formback Fredrik Bjørkan also has to go through testing and, according to Solbakken’s hints, has a bad time getting ready to fight for Latvia at Ullevaal on Saturday.
Three days later, the Netherlands is waiting in Rotterdam. It happens without the Vikings’ leader Veton Berisha.
– We do not get him well. It’s just the injury he’s had all along. It got a little worse in the Mjøndalen match. We thought he would handle it, says Solbakken to VG.
In that match, Berisha won the match on a penalty kick well into overtime, but does not get the chance to feel online in the national matches now. Nor do any other strikers than those who are already in place in Oslo. Solbakken does not see the point in bringing in a replacement.
– There we are well covered with Sørloth, King and Lehne Olsen. Then we will see if we probably get one on the back, the national team manager explains.
Otherwise, the national team manager was greeted with good words for how he has made the players focus on the Latvia match. At least if one is to believe Mathias Normann, who was asked what Solbakken did so that the players would only think about the next – and not the biggest – match at this gathering.
– He is so respected. You’ll get … give me everything, for him too. That’s how I feel, says Norwich pro Mathias Normann at Wednesday’s press conference.
TV 2 asks him to describe what Solbakken is doing to achieve this.
– Nothing to describe. You can almost call it “mind games”. That’s the way he is, comments, I like the way he is, Normann continues – and gets agreement from his northern Norwegian neighbor on the podium, Jens Petter Hauge.
– It should only be missing, grins Ståle Solbakken when he takes over the question round after the players and is confronted with the statement by VG.
– There must always be mutual respect between athlete and coach. I like to know them a little better than just being a player – knowing a little more about them. Then I have a motto of treating everyone differently in terms of which person it is, and then everyone must be treated equally in terms of achievement. All players must have that acceptance, the national team manager continues.
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