BODØ (VG) Last winter, Ola Solbakken (23) was on his way into a mental dead end. One and a half years later, he delivered the battle of his life and was hailed by José Mourinho (58).
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– Where to start? Ola Solbakken asks when he is asked about the fairytale night at Aspmyra.
The humiliation was already complete when he tipped in 4-1 just under twenty minutes before the end, but eight minutes later he just as easily outwitted the Portuguese goalkeeper veteran Rui Patrício for the second time and set the final score at 6-1.
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– We know how to do it and we know how to handle things. When we let in 2-1, it is easy to think that “oh no, now comes Rome”, but after the kick-off we just continue to do exactly what we did in 0-0, 1-0 and 2-0 as well, says Solbakken about the Glimt culture he has become a part of.
He is also the one who should have a lot of credit for the 23-year-old being as good as he is today, he believes himself.
– What I had not thought so much about before I came here is the mental, he says where he sits relaxed and laid back with a cup of coffee in the “sports bar” at Aspmyra after a well-conducted yoga session.
Solbakken played fairly quickly in the starting line-up after the transfer from Ranheim last winter. He started four or five training matches in a row and seemed to be the “bankers” on the team before the start of the series.
– I thought that “I will start” and it was not like I was afraid of Jens Petter. It’s pretty sick to say now, says Solbakken about the man he lost his place to.
Then came the pandemic. The start of the elite series was postponed and there was a forced break from organized football training.
– What he did during that corona break – I wonder. I was not surprised by what he showed in the Eliteserien, because he was so good at training then, says Solbakken about Hauge:
The road back to the first student was long. While Philip Zinckernagel and Jens Petter Hauge made a strong contribution to Glimt delivering the season of all time in the Elite Series, Solbakken had to settle for a supporting role.
– I handled it very badly. I was cursed every time Jens or Philip was better than me at training. I was angry when I got home and was in a vicious circle.
Then he had a meeting with psychologist and mental trainer Bjørn Mannsverk.
– I felt that I had a very downward curve right up until the first meeting. After the first two or three meetings with him, I have started to build step by step. It was a very big turning point.
– Then I realized: “I just have to spend energy on what I can do something with. If Jens is good, I can not do anything about it. If I’m bad at a session, I can do something about it ».
–Solbakken learned to tackle a role from the bench, for example when he decided the match with a late 3-2 goal against Rosenborg at Lerkendal in June.
He says that he felt chopped up all season and was thus ready to do the job when Hauge disappeared to Milan.
– I know I would not have been if it were not for that meeting.
– I started to become a little more myself in the field and in the locker room after the meeting with Bjørn. It did not come suddenly and suddenly, but gradually upwards. Now I feel quite robust mentally and physically, says Solbakken.
– It’s a nice place to be. When I was younger, I was told by friends in the Ranheim and Rosenborg times that I was a very “mood player”. If I was happy and had the day I could be damn good, but if I did not I could stand with my hat down over my forehead and the buffet over my nose. I’m done with that now.
But in the Bodø / Glimt philosophy, it is always possible to get better, something teammate Ulrik Saltnes is not afraid to point out.
– I think he has become a much safer person, both on and off the field. He’s better at managing his focus, although I still think he has a long way to go when it comes to focus management. He has made huge strides there and I think we are just at the beginning of a pretty fantastic career, says the injured Glimt captain.
–Solbakken believes that he is now well equipped to cope with the upswing he got against Rome.
– When I sat at the press conference, it seemed as if people expected me to take off completely, for example from what Mourinho said.
The Portuguese manager legend stated at the press conference that while Ola Solbakken rode a motorcycle, his players were on a pedal bike.
He does not think much about foreign countries at the moment. The contract with Bodø / Glimt basically expires in December next year.
– If the autumn continues as it has started now, then of course there will be interest, so you never know what is smartest for me.
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