– Have been heavy periods – VG

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Twice in six games, Avaldsnes has been sent home with 0-6 in the bag this season. On Sunday, it was Vålerenga who occasionally overran the club where John Arne Riise took over as coach before the season.

Despite the loss, Riise was in a good mood in the press zone after the match and stated that he was “Incredibly proud” of the team’s efforts.

Just before, in the minutes after the match, he gathered his players at the coaching bench in a ring. There he came with some encouraging words after the loss.

– No one should be sad, no one should cry, no one should shed tears. This is learning. This is not the match we look back on after the season. Ok, it’s 6-0, but it was three corners and a post that went straight to goal. It is my responsibility externally, and then the girls get to focus on getting to next week, says Riise about the content of the small speech.

Riise is open that at the moment it is far up to teams like Vålerenga for Avaldsnes. During the first six games of the season, Avaldsnes has played with three different 16-year-olds, one 17-year-old and five 18-year-olds.

In the last two seasons, the Avaldsnes team has gained a more young and local profile, after they have previously been known to have many foreign profiles on the team.

Among those who have previously played in Avaldsnes, but who are now in another club, is Elise Thorsnes. On Sunday, she scored two goals for Vålerenga.

– It is a special club and a special club for me. I think it’s a little sad to see that they are so far down the table, but as they have done in the years up to now, one might have to think a little new and try to cultivate their own, let them have playing time and grow, and keep them there as long as possible, she tells VG.

At the same time as Riise says there is a lot of learning for the young players on the Avaldsnes team, it has also been an educational period for the coach.

– I have an insanely young team that I will try to guide as best as possible. I learn a lot from seeing where the level is. There is an incredible amount of learning for me, both as a human being, tactically and mentally.

– I am incredibly happy that I took this job, because I have learned a lot about how people react differently, Riise says.

– I do not care what people write from the outside. They are welcome to slaughter me for anything I want, but we are in the process of building players. My job is to guide the girls to get better. We have a couple of girls crying on the bench after they are replaced. It makes me sad. It’s not their fault. They are young and need to learn. I care more about my girls than the result today.

Riise praises Vålerenga for both ticket stunt and a video in social media aimed at him. The former Liverpool and national team star is less satisfied with how much focus there has been on him in other channels.

– I was of course prepared for that, but when it goes as it goes, with Rosenborg and the matches there … people from outside do not know what we agree with the club and what the stoda is. I am judged on the results. It’s the way it is, but I can stand it. We in the club know what we are doing and what the project is, but it has probably been more shit than I had imagined. Especially from the media and such. But I have faith in what I do, and I have enough self-confidence to lift myself. But there have been difficult periods from time to time, says Riise.

National team profile Karina Sævik is the big star on the team for Avaldsnes.

– As soon as he became a coach, I got a lot of questions about it. Then I got a little tired of answering that. Yes, he is well known and has been a sickly good football player, but as he is with us, you do not feel that he is a celebrity.

– Did he surprise you in any way?

– Yes a little. He knows we have a young team. He takes care of the young people and the whole team, even if things go badly and he is actually quite sensitive, says Sævik.

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