– He’s stone chopping crazy – VG

– He’s the yeast. He is stone-chopping crazy, says midfielder Stefan Strandberg about his own boss.

The 31-year-old reveals that there have been private meetings between the players – even without the leaders present – and that he notices a clear difference in the mentality from before.

At the press conference the day before the meeting with the Netherlands, the Norwegian national team manager was clear that he wanted a “worse” Norway.

– Do you think they were “disgusting” enough today?

– Yes, I think so. They are a little early disgusting and Thorsby is not the one I feel safest with as a player with a yellow card, but it went well, Solbakken answers VG’s questions.

During Tuesday’s session, Solbakken made it clear to the whole of press Norway how tired he was to hear about the sacrificial emergency national team:

After the Netherlands match, he praised Erling Braut Haaland, who took the physical duel with Virgil van Dijk – who ended up with his finger out of joint.

– What may not seem so good, are the physical battles, not just the race duels. It took Erling in a completely different way today. When the plays came, he went into the duels and held the ball several times. That’s a bit what I’ve called for, because we need it. We are not Dortmund, and we will not be Dortmund. At least not before Christmas, says Solbakken.

Midfield duo Morten Thorsby and Mathias Normann plunged into the tackles, and Netherlands stopper Stefan de Vrij entered the podium in the press room with a blue eye after the meeting with Norway.

– We show it in our clubs on a daily basis, but we have been far too bad at it on the national team. We have been too kind and there has been too good an atmosphere. Of course we will have a good atmosphere, but we have to be much tougher in training and matches, says Stefan Strandberg.

– Stone chopping crazy … You have to elaborate on it, NRK asks.

– It’s just looking at him, that. He demands extremely much of himself and his surroundings. If there’s something we need, it is. He is very clear on what he wants. He is a perfect leader for us and that group here.

While Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal sat calmly and took notes in his seat, Solbakken was active on the sidelines. He pointed, shouted and gestured.

– There were some small adjustments, especially on the side where Jens Petter played, he was a little too narrow. They got to play a little too lightly on the outside. That was where the goal came too, so I was probably not ready enough then, grins the national team manager.

Norway made 13 free kicks and scored three yellow cards in the match against the Netherlands. There could have been more.

– I have not really had any developmental goal of getting worse. I clink, I also have a good tone with the referee, says Mathias Normann with a smile.

–