As clubs across the board sack players and cut wages, we here at NFN plow on heroically..
Saturday
Sandefjord (9th) – Vålerenga (5th)
After Mad Martin Andresen realized he was about to lose his job a couple of weeks back, he shelved ambitions of playing expansive football and went into “let’s just not get fired”-mode. The result of this more direct and cynical football? A bit of a winning-streak with four wins in five games. Last week, having gotten himself some breathing-space, he had is Vålerenga try to play some more expansive stuff again. Result? A 1-0 defeat to Stabæk. It’ll be interesting to see which Vålerenga turns up for this one..
Draw
Aalesund (7th) – Rosenborg (1st)
Welcome to yet another edition of “What is Kjetil Rekdal unhappy about this week?”, the game where YOU guess what it his that Aalesund manager Kjetil Rekdal is unhappy about based on a quote with some words taken out of it. Ready?
“If everyone would cast their mind back a month or two, [the answer] was absolutely and by far the worst [the answer] around.
Is he unhappy about..
A – The traffic-situation facing him in his commute to work
B – The Norwegian Football Federation
C – The state of the pitch at Lerkedal and the inherent hypocrisy of RBK-manager Erik Hamrén complaining about the astro-turf at Color Line Stadium
D – Tor Hogne Aarøy
Answers in the comment-thingy.
Away win
Sunday
Lyn (16th) – Odd Grenland (4th)
This week Lyn have fallen below Bodø/Glimt and are now at the very bottom of NFN’s dreaded doomed-o-meter. This means they are now official as doomed as the proverbial “snowball in hell”, the somewhat less proveribal “Raymond Kvisvik in Vegas” and the more obscure “Ivar Hoff at a feminist rally”. Not only are they bottom of the leauge, they are also even more doomed than usually off the pitch as this week they’ve informed their creditors that, well, they can’t really afford to pay them. A 10% wage-cut across the board is also in the process of being implemented, which is sure to give their demoralized players a much needed boost. Also, it turns out they might get chucked out of Ullevaal, which would be rather bad as a Tippeliga team isn’t allowed to change stadium mid-season. If this was to happen to Lyn they’d probably have to forfeit the rest of their games. Very very doomed indeed.
Away win
Bodø/Glimt (15th) – Lillestrøm (13th)
Speaking of doom and distress, here’s Bodø/Glimt. Three straight 4-0 tonkings in the league were followed up by a 3-0 defeat to admittedly quite handy minnows Alta in the cup. It’s not looking brilliant for them is it? Lillestrøm on the other hand are on the up, and it seems like the dastardly duo of manager Henning Berg an sporting director Torgeir Bjarmann have done exactly what they did with Lyn and dug up a couple of really rather talented Nigerian kids. Edwin Eziyodawe’s brace against Fredriskstad last round was so memorable you can almost accept his post-match claim that he’s the Lionel Messi of the Tippeliga.
Away win
Molde (2nd) – Fredrikstad (12th)
That Molde’s midfield maestro Makhtar Thioune has been possibly the best player in the league so far this season is common knowledge by now. But such fame and acknowledgement comes with a disadvantage, as opposing managers are now instructing their men to essentially try to kick the Senegalese star out of the game. What is referees doing about this? Well, bugger all really. “The opposition players are after me all the time. They kick me in the legs and try to destroy the good game,” Thioune complained to the local paper. Sadly Thioune is suspended for this one, which is a shame not just because he’s a great player but also because his battle with Fredrikstad’s exceptionally annoying midfielder Ardian Gashi could have been a saucy one.
Home win
Stabæk (8th) – Start (3rd)
Another club in deep financial doodoo is Stabæk, who this week started thinning out their squad by first ending Fredrik Risp’s loan-spell at the club and then announcing that Christian Keller will be leaving the club after they’ve attempted to qualify for the group-stages of the Champions League. They’re still struggling to reach an agreement with the players that will be staying on how much of their wages will be cut, as it turns out a 10% or 15% cut could prove devastating to the poor underprivileged players (no Daniel, we don’t feel sorry for you, and if you think there’s any other club in the world who would even consider handing you a three year deal worth 3million+ per year then you’ve clearly been partying with Erik Mykland).
Draw
Strømsgodset (14th) – Tromsø (11th)
Tromsø have also reduced their numbers, telling the largely ineffective forward Adriano Munoz that he can take his non-scoring stylings elsewhere. With Old Man Rushfeldt struggling for fitness that leaves the Northerners very thin indeed up front, and a cheeky bid for Alta’s Vegard Braaten looks inevitable. The former Tromsø youngster is currently top scorer in the Adeccoliga and Old Man Rushfeldt himself reckons he’d make a good addition TIL’s squad.
Home win
Viking (10th) – Brann (6th)
Viking’s head honcho Ole Rugland has insisted that he won’t be sacking manager Uwe Rösler and sporting director Egil Østenstad any time soon, in spite of the team’s embarrassing cup-exit at the hands of their local rivals Bryne. He told the media recently that “it would be wrong to remove Uwe Rösler or Egil Østenstad now,” even though deplorable results have lead most Viking-fans to the exact opposite conclusion. A second derby-defeat in five days here would do very little to calm the masses.
Away win
June 20th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
To be fair, Edwin only said that a certain goal was a Messi-moment, which was a bit less further from the truth (I don’t think Messi would be particularly ashamed of scoring a goal like that, at least). When the reporter asked if he was the Messi of the Tippeliga, he promptly answered that no, he wasn’t; he was the Edwin Eziyodawe of the Tippeliga. Which is absolutely true no matter what.
As for the weekly Rekdal contest, the answer is probably D), but possibly with a side dish of B) (who is in charge of giving Aarøy matches to referee), as well as E) The weekly “Stoneface Rekdal” jokes that Mons Ivar Mjelde keeps emailing him.
June 20th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Oh damn! I confused player Aarøy with some referee. Makes my paranthesis rather silly, doesn’t it.
June 21st, 2009 at 10:21 pm
[Censured]. [censured]. [CENSURED]!
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:51 am
I am reading this late on Sunday across the pond which means the games are over and I know the results. So, no comment on your choices, except I know that Start wishes you had been correct.:-)
Great stuff on the financial situation. I think this is going to be an interesting transfer period. This year the pocket books are empty and it seems that some sales or cuts must to made to make way for changes. After the Alta game, the Bodo manager said he saw “some” players that they would like to pursue when the window opens. My question is, “How can they afford the tranfer fee and the new salary?” I’m sure there are sevral other teams needing players and asking the same questions.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:25 am
Håkon: It does make it look silly, but as your comments are usually better than my articles I won’t make fun of you.
(you are of course right about Edwin, I was being a bit flippant in the piece)
Well, Bodø is a strange case, becasue a few months ago there was much panicking about the state of their finances, their poor cashflow, lack of liquid assets and that kind of thing (which I of course struggle to make sense of). But recently they’ve signed up two of their players to long-term contracts, which you can’t really do if you’re facing financial meltdown. There might be some investment there that’s been sorted out and kept out of the press so that I haven’t heard of it.. But on the surface of it, you’d think the answer would be “No, they can’t afford anything at all”.