Allsvenskan 25/26

Went to a Malmo game in August 2023. Decent atmosphere and they were a good side. Malmo itself not very interesting and it rained constantly. Everyone in Sweden wears those raincoats in summer!
 
Etihad said:
Went to a Malmo game in August 2023. Decent atmosphere and they were a good side. Malmo itself not very interesting and it rained constantly. Everyone in Sweden wears those raincoats in summer!
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Them and Copenhagen are seen as the top teams in Scandinavia although Bodö/Glimt has good claim to that now.

Region around Malmö is lovely the City itself is very industrial.
 
As we head in to summer break in Sweden we have had some teams that have had teams that have suprassed expectations and some teams that have been very disappointing.

Mjällby the team that I have eulogising about have been great to watch. A team that play for each other with both grit and flair. All their signings have impressed and all their youngsters have uppped their game.

AIK a team that usually is surrounded by chaos which usually derails their seasons looked to be heading the same way this season. During the preseason the results were far from impressive and there tactics were all over the place. They sacked director of football just bedore the start of the season as he had spent too much money on inadequate and old players. So everybody was getting ready for more chaos. However AIK found stability and started grinding out resluts. Celina and Guidetti found form and all of the sudden they were beating their top rivals.

Now for the underachievers. Malmö who are used to being top dog and not being to humble about it. They have an expensive squad with experienced internationals and some of the most talented youngsters in Sweden. However this season injuries and inefficent and slow possession football has been the mantra for the team. Their seasons reminds me a lot of City’s 24/25 season.

Djurgården another club with lofty ambitions. They did incredibly well in Europe eventually getting knocked out by Chelsea. The European adventure has taken its toll on the team and their domestic form has been lacklustre. The long time serving director of football is under fire frim the fans for not investing the money from their European adventure into the squad.

Värnamo it is perhaps not suprising that they are down in the lower reaches of the table. However they have been shockingly poor. In 12 matches they have failed to get a single win and only managed to get 3 points. They have been conceding very soft goals and been pretty toothless. Their seasons reminds is similar to how Soton performed this past season. They have looked slightly better last 2-3 matches so perhaps there is some hope?
 
Matches from the weekend

Malm lost the cup final midweek to Häcken after another frustrating performance. However they found the groove when they played Häcken a few days later



Top of the table aginst bottom of the tsble you expect a thrashing. It did not happen when Mjällby got a visit from Värnamo. But importantly Mjällby got the result without playing well.



Two top teams faced when Hammarby visited Elfsborg. The team from Stockholm were the more efficient team and returned to capital with 3 points




AIK took the short journey to Uppsala to face Sirius. Most people expected AIk to get all the 3 points. But Sirius wanted it differently led by their Scottish striker Robbie Ure they deservedly grabbed all 3 points

 
I've recently been in Scandinavia, and went to Gothenburg v Malmo while there Game wasn't good, very little quality, but a great atmosphere from both sets of fans. Really fancy another Swedish game before long.
 
2nd part of the season started saturday, a few matches were played yesterday and couple matches today.

Hammarby climbed to the top of the table with a routine win against Halmstad



GAIS took the spoils in the Gothenburg derby away to Häcken



AIK won in Gothenburg vs IFK. The performance from IFK was really poor and the fans turned on the team. Former city youth player Celina has been really good for AIK this season

 
Took me a while to recover from the woeful CWC performance so forgot give sn update on the last games of the round.

Malmö visit the suprise challengers Mjällby. It was feisty match with things coming to a boiling point when ex City boy Rösler got himself sent off.




Djurgårdens form continue to be poor as they dropped points against Norrköping. Fun fact that the sporting director of Djurgården’s son played in goal for Norrköping. Needless to say he had a blinder and frustrated his dad.

 
Another round was just completed today. The league is really taking shape now and one of the favorites (Hammarby) are right in the chase whilst the other other one is a real surprise (Mjällby)

Mjällby got an important win against their local rivals Öster. It was also the last match of their star midfielder Rökjaer. He left the day after the match to Danish side Nordsjälland. He left a farewell present by assisting thr goal. It will be interesting to see how they replace him



Some other teams are playing themselves out of contention.

Elfsborg were ineffective and losr against an injury plagued Höcken.



Malmö were really bad against a battling GAIS. There season is reminding me of City’s season last season. The formation is not good and they have injuries to key players. They will not win this year and the goal has to be reset to get a european spot. They have reinforcements coming in the shape of Robin Olsen from Villa.



Djurgården had a really strong performance as they battered Degerfors



AIK are also struggling to get the 3 points at the moment. I am not surprised though as their play earlier in the season had not warranted the amount of points they were getting. Guidetti is sulking on the bench and is not getting along with his manager.

 
Another round was almost completed this weekend. The final match is played currently Sirius against Mjällby.

The big match of the weekend was when the two big working man clubs played each other. Hammarby visited GAIS in Gothenburg. I was there to see the match and the atmosphere was cracking and the game was good as well.




Djurgården lost unexpectedly to Värnamo. The match seemed destined for a draw until Värna o struck deep in extra time




Malmö got spme experience back in team with captain Pontus Jansson returning from injury and Robin Olsen returning from Villa. They won comfortably against Norrköping. Is it sign that they will start climbing the table?



IFK Göteborg got a visit from the neighboring town Borås by Elfsborg. The visitors took the short journey home after two goals from their towering central defender Wikström.

 
Been traveling so this update is a little late.

It was an exciting round of games. I believe we will see a 3 horse race at the end of the season. Malmö’s form jas improved and they have signed an attacking and defensive reinforcement. Hammarby and Mjällby meanwhile have lost players this window. So we will see if Mjällby and Hammarby can keep their heads in front.

Here is summary of the key games.

Mjällby showed their belief and team spirit to come from behind against Sirius to claim all 3 points.



Hammarby also showed fighting spirit to come from behind against Värnamo although the penalty was rather soft.




Malmö did the same and came from behind to claim all 3 points against Brommapojkarna.



In another exciting match Elfsborg took all the points. This time they left it really late to come from behind to claim all 3 points against Göteborg.


 
For those that are interested this is very accurate article about Brommapojkarna.

www.skysports.com

Viktor Gyokeres: Arsenal's new signing is a graduate of IF Brommapojkarna, the Swedish club with 'no fans' but Europe's biggest academy

Arsenals Viktor Gyokeres was an emerging star with Coventry and a scoring sensation for Sporting but it was at Brommapojkarna that he made his senior breakthrough; Swedish club are a talent factory whose unique approach to youth development splits opinion
www.skysports.com www.skysports.com

It is strange but also wonerful club. When you go to their home matches it feels like going to your local village team (except for when they play the other Stockhokm teams).

They also excluded John Guidetti as one of the players from their academy.

Häcken has a fairly si ilar set up but they get their talent from the Gothenburg area. They also run one of the worlds biggest youth tournaments which earns them a lot of money.
 
This weekend brought another round of games in Allsvenskan.

The pick of the games was a crazy match in Stockholm between Brommapojkarna and Norrköping. Each team had one half were they were truly woeful defensively. In the end the home team won this 10 goal fest.



Elsewhere GAIS and Djurgården both dropped points in their chase for European football against teams struggling at the bottom.



 
kingn6 said:
By popular demand I have put up a thread about this seasom’s Allsvenskan (top Swedish league)

The favourites:

Last year the boys in sky blue Malmö put on the big boy pants and strolled through the season. They remain favpurites this seaspm despite a mediocre start. They have had a tough schedule though as they have played 3 of the top contenders away in the first 5 games. Expect them pick up form as the season goes on.

They have the best coach and the biggest squad with veterans like ex Brentfird captain Pontus Jansson and big talents like Hugo Bolin.

The chasing packs

The main rivals will be the big three Stockholm clubs AIK, Djurgården and Hammarby.

AIK had tough preseason and the board did not agrre with director of footballs strategy so they sacked him. So the fans were fearing the worst. However they have had a good start to the season and could challenge this year if they can cut out the outside noise and pressure. They are led by Swedish international Anton Saletros in midfield and they have big hopes for their new striker Cypriotic international Kakoullis.

Djurgården has had tremendous run in Europe and now face Chelsea in the semi-finals. They are marshaled at the back by experienced Danielsson. They signed an exciting finnosh u-21 Matias Siltanen who was rumored to have attracted interest from CFG as well. He has looked really promising in the first 5 games. They could struggle from fatigue after all the european marches and no real break between the seasons.

Hammarby looks the most likely candidate to dethrone Malmö. They have terrific support at home up there witn big clubs in Europe. They have a really good balance in their squad of young talent and experience. Veteran Besara hold together themmidfield while Tunisian Tounetki looks exciting up front.

The remaining contender is Elfsborg. They stand for solidty and continuity. They have experienced players like Hedlund and Larsson who know what it takes to. Ompete and build a culture. They have also sparkled their squad by adding Helsingbor’s top scorer Taylor Silverholt and ghanian man mountain Terry Yegbe at the back. The latter is rumoured to attract a number of french clubs plus Bremtford and Brighton. They should also finnish in the top 5 and can challenge if things go their way.

The overachievers

There is not one club that carries this name tag better than Mjällby. Opponents have treated them like tough but uncultured team. The truth is they used to be that but now they play some of the best football in the divsion. When Hammarby came to visit they gave them a good hiding 3-1. This season they could challenge for a european spot. Their star player is Röjkjaer who is amagixian on the bal. They also boast tremendous pace in the gambian winger Manneh. Added to that they also have the physicality to score lots of goals from set pieces and crosses.

Brommapojkarna is the 4th Stockholm. They lack the support and funds of the other Stockholm clubs. What they do well is scout well and bring up a lot young talents. Look out for young Ghanian Alladoh and young attacking midfielder Odefalk. BP should finish in the middle of the table.

GAIS the St Pauli of Allsvenskan. Will battle in every game like last season and that should be enough to stay up for the Gothenburg side.

Sirius are now a serious team uin the top flight after languishing for several seasons in the 2nd division. They have steady if unspectacular strategy in place. They should be a few places above relegation come the end of the season. It will be interesting to see how former Rangers youth player Robbie Ure gets on.

Deferfors surprised most by staying up last season. The old mining town are enjoying having their pride back in the top flight and the season has started well. Expect them to drop down in the table but they should stat up quite easily.


Underachievers

Ifk Gothenburg has been a club full of chaos for the last 10 years. The fans are voicing their hateed at their director of football and former Göteborg legend Håkan Mild at every opportunity. They might be a bit more stabile this season as their transfer strategy and tactics seem to be a bit more coherent. They are hoping for a mustard season from their winger Tobias Heinz so they can challenge for Europe.

The other IFK team Norrköpimg are in even more disarray. Their finances are in tatters and the team lacks quality. Nobody ismwuite sure how they have wasted so much money. They need their veteran striker Totte Nyman to deliver to keep them away from the relegation zone.


Ast on the underachievers list is the 3rd Gothenburg team Häclen. Häcken means ass or hedge in Swedish btw. They normally do well and challenge for European spots. However they have stacked up long term injuries on key players. So expect them to finish in the middle pf the table. The signing of Albanian international and former Lazio keeper Berisha should provide some stability.

The cannon fodder

Värnamo had a tough season last season and only stayed up through the play offs. Exåect them to struggle this season as well @malg. They willdeåemd on their Migerian hit,am Kalu and veteran Simon Thern. They continue having issues with their stadium and the local council. Expect another tough season.

The beach boys from Halmstad are not loke their former glories of late 90s ans early 00s when Ljungberg was there. They will hope collective keeps them up as they are devoid of any major stars.

Finally one of the classic clubs Öster are back in the top flight after many years in the 2nd division. They have a big task to stat up this season. They will hope the goals of their Russian striker Aliev keeps them up.
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Great to see this! me and my son been visiting Sweden for the last 3 x years to see the Speedway GP and take in a game at Elfsborg as it's the nearest team to where we stay. Have to say the fans are mad and generate a great atmosphere in such a small stadium!
 
AJS1961 said:
Great to see this! me and my son been visiting Sweden for the last 3 x years to see the Speedway GP and take in a game at Elfsborg as it's the nearest team to where we stay. Have to say the fans are mad and generate a great atmosphere in such a small stadium!
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Yes sometimes it almost feels like an atmosphere in a turkish or greek derby match.

Which speedway team did you go to watch?
 
Speaking of fairytales the tale continues as Mjällby journeyed to Malmö. This is considered the toughest away game pf the season along with Hammarby away. Would this be the game and reality caught up with Mjällby?

The answer was a firm no. In a supremely confident style Mjällby tore apart Malmö in their own ground.




The other game of the day was a bottom half clash between Halmstad and Sirius. The game was decided by a solitary goal from Scotsman Ure.

 
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