Stupid to judge Blue Yellow – Tedesto has it even worse
This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer’s.
Janne Andersson radiates optimism ahead of the European Championship qualifier against a new Belgium.
Does he really have reason to?
2023 looks suspiciously like 2022.
The league captain has engaged in positive affirmation during this gathering. In front of the players, the journalists and the bathroom mirror, Janne Andersson has rattled off a mantra.
– At home at Friends, we have played 16 qualifying matches. Won 13, cruised in three and lost zero.
I can accept that Andersson engages in creative accounting by counting away home losses in the Nations League, even if the rhetoric eventually devalues it into a pretend tournament for the players. He is right that Sweden often overperformed against larger nations at home. If you can beat France, Italy and Spain in Solna, Belgium shouldn’t be impossible. It is reasonable to hammer that message into an uncertain Swedish national team squad. In the same way, Andersson is trying to leave the pissing year 2022 behind.
– Now I’m just looking ahead, that 2022 I’ve archived in the back of the filing cabinet and thrown away the key.
What do you do if the key like a boomerang swings back in the air and unlocks that nightmare cabinet? If all the demons are released again? Because 2023 so far looks suspiciously like 2022. Blågult risks suffering from the same acute defense problems as last year.
Andersson has previously said that he feels safe with the thin backup lineup as long as everyone is healthy and can actually play. That won’t be the case this time either. The four-back line with Emil Holm, Isak Hien, Victor Nilsson Lindelöf and Ludwig Augustinsson that looked decent in the November internationals against Mexico and Algeria is already split. As usual, the national team captain is forced – for the ninth competitive match in a row – to piece together a completely new back line.
The other day, a man forced his way into the Friends Arena to “cause chaos”. Unfortunately, it was not a spirited right-back, which would have been welcome, but a suspected criminal who was arrested by the police. Three intended right backs are missing in Emil Krafth, Joel Andersson and Emil Holm. Janne favorite Linus Wahlqvist or actual centre-back Edvin Kurtulus must step in there. Two talented players but in the context unpleasantly unproven cards. At the same time, Isak Hien is not ready to start, so we get a completely new centre-back pair in Viktor Nilsson Lindelöf and the named Hjalmar Ekdal. On the far left, Ludwig Augustinsson, chronically benched for the club team, will try to conjure up a top form in the national team environment.
New Year. Same problem.
Looked cut on Thursday night
Sweden is still a – purely qualitatively – unbalanced national team. It’s not the national team captain’s fault, but still his headache. In the attack and outside positions, Andersson can pick and choose among players at a high European level. Names like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Viktor Gyökeres and Viktor Claesson look set to start on the bench. In defense, he has to search among random pieces of fabric to sew together his ever-changing patchwork. Inner midfield then? Andersson can’t feel safe there either. Albin Ekdal is slightly ill and cannot start. Suddenly, Häcken’s Samuel Gustafson appears almost as a key player for Sweden. What really impresses about him is the ability to seamlessly adapt and channel his Allsvenskan playing genius to the national team’s slightly more rigid, defensively balanced structure.
It would be foolish to judge Blågult’s chances of scoring important points at Friends Arena. Janne Andersson should not be underestimated. But what speaks for Sweden is the defensive organization and what speaks against Sweden is that the captain’s opportunity to set that particular organization is greatly curtailed.
Speaking of organization, it does not exist in Belgium. At least not at the federation where the scandal surrounding the sacking of general secretary Peter Bossaert caused the entire national team to sway. New national team captain Domenico Tedesco looked cut at Thursday evening’s press conference. The 37-year-old has only had two or three training sessions with a national team that is undergoing a liberating but painful generational change. Belgium is not Belgium longer.
– It’s like starting a new school with new classmates, said team captain Kevin de Bruyne with his introspective, and therefore difficult to interpret, smile.
So even if Janne Andersson is forced to put together another back line, he can take comfort in the fact that Domenico Tedesto has it even worse. He needs to get a whole new team together in record time. Sweden must take advantage of it tonight.
Sweden-Belgium is played on Friday at 20.45 – the match is broadcast on TV6 and Viaplay
