Bodø/Glimt 0 – 2 Brann
A double from the delinquent dane David Nielsen was enough to give Brann their first win of the season. Steinar Nilsen’s men were under significant pressure to deliver after failing to grab three points in any of their first five games, but a thoroughly hapless Bodø/Glimt-side and a return to scoring-form for Nielsen conspired to take some heat off the boys from Bergen.
The game made very poor viewing indeed from a neutral standpoint, with both teams struggling to string passes together. Hosts Bodø/Glimt were very much hoisted by their own petards, as the team who counter-attacked their way to an incredible 4th place finish last season were time and time again caught out by the pace of Brann’s Erik Huseklepp, a player who is finally starting to look like he’s worth at least half of what Brann are paying him. Still, it took an almighty gaffe from the Glimt-keeper Pavel Londak for Brann to get their noses in front. A tame shot from Petter Vaagan Moen was inexplicably spilled, and instead of moving quickly to smother the loose ball Londak took time to have a look at the linesman, and his hesitancy was punished by the onrushing David Nielsen. Having fully recovered from that nasty knock on the head back in round 2, Nielsen was pro-active and industrious throughout and now looks like Brann’s most likely source of goals.
Bodø/Glimt created very little, but could have had a penalty in the 58th minute, much to the delight of the controversy-crazed Norwegian media. When attempting to clear a corner Brann-defender Kristjan Sigurdsson involuntarily almost punched the ball into his own net, but keeper Håkon Opdal came up with a sharp save. David Nielsen later secured the win for Brann, finishing off some superb work down the wing by Huseklepp.
“We were quite simply better than Bodø/Glimt,” an upbeat Steinar Nilsen told the press after the game, which is true, but not saying an awful lot because Glimt were simply terrible. The only one who disagreed with Nilsen’s analysis was Glimt-manager Kåre Ingebrigtsen, who either must have watched a different game or eaten some pretty powerful happy-pills, possibly both: “I thought we controlled the game well today and were the better team,” he said, causing much confusion amongst the assembled journalists.
The win could well give Brann some badly needed confidence and kickstart their season, and while it’s too early to declare a crisis anywhere Bodø/Glimt are doing a passable impersonation of a team in serious trouble.
April 29th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
That pacey wimp Huseklepp was, in my opinion, nowhere near as good as the general media consensus (and to my disappointment, also NFN’s opinion), seems to be.
It seems to me that the lack of players who actually try to play the ball on the ground, and even attempt a dribble from time to time, serves to elevate these exceptions to a ridiculous level of hype.
Take Huseklepp’s last game. He was up against a defender who’s really a forward, and severely lacking in pace and positioning. He managed to pass this defender one on one a few times, and always ended up passing the ball weakly to the defence or the goalie. Even his “superb work” assisting Nielsen’s second goal was really a dribble, followed by a missed cross.
Thank god Semb is not selecting the Norway eleven anymore.
April 29th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Hey hey, let’s not go too far overboard here, my opinion of Huseklepp has gone up this season, but it’s gone up from “bloody awfull” to “decent”. And that’s by Tippeliga-standards.
I agree that the lack of players who can, youknow, control the ball means the media go batshit crazy when one comes along, no argument there.
Let’s just say it was a terrible terrible game, and Huseklepp’s runs were the only vaguely interesting moments of it.
April 30th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I don`t get why Huseklepp is a big deal he can dribble some and run with the ball but he can`t pass cross or shoot so yeah he can run around with the ball but he hardly ever seems to do anything useful.
I guss the big deal is that he is the only tippeliga player Brann has managed to produce in ages. Maybe a little exchaguration but not much.
May 1st, 2009 at 12:48 am
Two assists and a goal in his last two games now would suggest that he is capable of at least occasionally doing something useful..