Djurgården leads the Allsvenskan on a better goal difference than AIK, but after the loss when the teams met in the derby before the national team break, they now want to bounce back to the winning track.
Now Elfsborg stands for the opposition, but then Djurgården must manage without their central midfielder Rasmus Schüller, who received a red card against AIK.
– It is no secret that he is an incredibly important player for us. But there are different ways to handle it. Either to change formation or if another player is allowed to take his role. What is his main characteristic is that he makes his surroundings much better. We will need to help with it on other players, says the team’s coach Thomas Lagerlöf.
Do you see any natural replacement?
– We have no one who is the same type of player if you look at his overall qualities. Whoever takes his role, if we take it straight off, it will be different. We have no one in the squad who feels like a copy of Rasmus.
Elfsborg is fifth in the Allsvenskan and has five points up to Djurgården. Thomas Lagerlöf is very impressed by the team from Borås who finished second last season.
– A fantastic team that has a lot of top players. You play good and fast football. It goes fast in depth and you put pressure on the opponents. I am very impressed by what Elfsborg looked like last year and also what it has looked like this year, he says and continues:
– There was a slump in the results here a while ago, but in terms of play it was not so bad. No, it’s a great football team. It will be incredibly tough. But we know we have what it takes, we just have to get it.
What is required?
– That you handle their skill, because Elfsborg are skilled in many parts of the game. You are skilled even in the lower defensive game, you accept at times that the opponent has the ball, varied with that you go in incredibly high pressure. It is a complete football team that handles most parts of the game very well. So it is important that you manage all those parts if you are to assert yourself against Elfsborg.
Last season, Djurgården came fourth with 48 points. With eight rounds left of this year’s season, they have 44 points. Lagerlöf thinks it is clear that the team is better this year.
– Last year’s season was very different from the beginning with the pandemic and all the clubs treated it differently. Play in front of empty stands and so be special. But now we play a little faster. We had a decent collective last year as well, but it has sat together a little better this year as a collective. The press game has been better for long periods and better adjustment games as well. That’s the big thing, he says and explains that the players are really hungry for revenge after the derby loss.
– Everyone is crazy disappointed with the result against AIK so it is clear that everyone wants to go out and do better now, he says.
The match is played at Tele2 Arena and it will be the first time the team plays at home after the restrictions disappeared. For Hjalmar Ekdal, who joined the club this season, it will be the first time he gets to play in front of packed home stands.
– Damn cool. I think there have been a lot of fans even before the restrictions disappeared completely. And I’m not that damn used to a lot of fans. Now it will be extra fun with even more audience. It gives adrenaline and a boost. You get tailwind in the back and it feels like you are an extra player on the field, he says.
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