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Episode 14: Title race, relegation battle and the hunt for top 6
380 Plays1 year ago
Unpacking the drama of Round 21 of Superliga action and a look ahead to a crazy Sunday of football - the final round before the league splits into championship and relegation groups.
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Transcript
Introduction to Danish Dynamite
00:00:16
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Danish Dynamite, your one-stop shop for all things Danish Superleaguer. And despite the snow coming down during many games last weekend, the season is very much heating up. I think we might as well just get straight into it this week. There's so much to talk about.
FC Michelin's Surprising Defeat
00:00:31
Speaker
No better place to start than Herning, where it's been a pretty busy week.
00:00:35
Speaker
And on the pitch, FC Michelin were coming off a 0-0 draw with Alborg last week, where I think it's fair to say that Alborg had the better of it and were probably unlucky not to win. And how did they follow it up this weekend? Well, they followed it up by losing a 3-1 to Lingbu, a team who have managed just the, this was their third win of the season.
00:00:55
Speaker
but they did score three goals earlier this season against Michelin, and perhaps that was a warning sign, but Lungbi have now won two on the bounce against Brumbi and FC Michelin, no less. So really, they're putting together some pretty interesting form.
Managerial Changes at FC Michelin
00:01:12
Speaker
And just on the pitch, there was
00:01:16
Speaker
insult to injury as FC Michelin had Brumardo, Junior Brumardo, sent off. He was coming back from a lengthy layoff and really two stupid challenges and got a yellow for each and got sent off and that doesn't help them at all. And news broke yesterday that this was the straw that broke the camel's back in Michelin and they decided to part ways with Albert Capellas, a manager who
00:01:38
Speaker
hasn't even done a whole season. He came in midway through the season to replace Bo Henriksen, who moved to FC Zurich, and he came with a very decent pedigree, Albert Cappellas. He'd previously been an assistant at Borussia Dortmund. He'd been an assistant at Brumbi, at Vitesse.
00:01:57
Speaker
He had coached the Danish under 21 team and he was coming from the Barcelona setup where he was the Barcelona B manager. He came with a very high pedigree and really to be truthful, I haven't seen on the pitch any discernible difference. The team looked good one week, bad the next. He seemed to be constantly rotating. You could never be sure who the lineup was going to be.
00:02:21
Speaker
And I think that he was fighting a bit of a losing battle in terms of the recruitment side of things where FC Michelin lost, you know, two of their star players over the winter window in in Evander and Anders Dreier. And the replacements who came in looked okay, but certainly are not of the same standard as those players off the bat. And of course, there's an adjustment period and I've got no doubt that they're going to show
00:02:47
Speaker
show their quality and time, but I think that leaving the team without those two players and the contribution they make has put them in a tricky position.
00:02:55
Speaker
So Mitchell and are now very much in the relegation group and they can escape on the final day and we'll talk through what would need to happen for that to take place. But it's not looking good for them. And I think that firing the manager is almost a, it's almost them conceding that this is going to be too big a task for them to do. And so having the reset now, Patrick at Dookie on Twitter asks, who should
00:03:21
Speaker
FC Michelin appoint as their new manager. When I saw this news break, I thought the most obvious candidate for me was Jes Thorpe, former FC Michelin manager, former FC Copenhagen manager, won gold medal at both clubs and he's currently available. So I think he's a known quantity to them, he's proven what he can do in the league.
00:03:41
Speaker
And so, yeah, he seems like an obvious candidate to me. Nils Fredrickson, obviously another option. You know, I think the end of his tenure at Bronbee went south, but he's a great man manager. Could be an interesting option, but it seems like the candidate that is leading the race at the moment is Pär Mateus Holmål, who is currently the Bekor Hakken manager, the Swedish champions.
Who Will Lead FC Michelin Next?
00:04:04
Speaker
And he's also a former Norway manager, former Rosenberg manager, has got a very strong CV.
00:04:09
Speaker
So he could be a really interesting candidate. So whatever happens, I think that Michelin are going to have to retool this summer and really find a style and a way to compete again because
00:04:20
Speaker
over the past four, five, six years, they've been one of the top two, three teams in the league and have represented Denmark in the Champions League. They've had some really top class players come through. And so I think they need to get back to that point and quickly. And so it starts with the manager, but yeah, there's a whole bunch of recruitment they need to do. And with talk that Isaacson might be leaving in the summer, that's another big gap to replace. So yeah, big work to do there.
Lingby's Rising Performance
00:04:47
Speaker
On the flip side, credit to Lingbee because they really played a great game and Lingbee BK England asked, can we do it? And the truth is, I think perhaps they can, you know. I said on Twitter last week that I get a kind of viler last season vibe from them in terms of
00:05:07
Speaker
Viola looked dead and buried before going into the winter break and they came out of it with this fighting spirit but also a sense of you know playing with house money that their fate was already sealed and so they were able to play with a bit more freedom and it feels like that's what's happening with Loongby and it's really you know you see the videos after the game and the players are so hyped and that feels like this real sense of togetherness so
00:05:31
Speaker
I think that they can do it amazingly. They've got 11 more games to go. They've just put together two wins on the bounce. And they're starting to believe. So a huge game for them coming up this weekend, which we'll talk about a bit later. But I think they can do it. It's going to take a monumental effort. But it's not as far fetched as it seemed a few weeks ago.
Vyborg vs. FC Nordsland: A Stalemate
00:05:57
Speaker
Moving on to the second game that caught my eye this weekend, Vyborg entertained legally. There's FC Nordsland in Uland, and this was a fascinating encounter because it was first playing third, and Nordsland went ahead through Daniel Svensson, and it was a really magnificent goal. Willardson, I think it was, put in a cross that was sort of over here, and Svensson picked it up.
00:06:19
Speaker
right on the far side of the box, cut inside and curled it into the far post. And I said at the time, but it really felt like a Sheldrup-esque goal, which is a big credit to Daniel Svensson, but a really lovely goal. Veeble continued to press and impression and carve out opportunities and
00:06:37
Speaker
managed an equalizer that was really massive credit to new signing junior Renato. He really impressed me this game. And he won the ball back, ran two-thirds of the length of the pitch, showed really good composure to square the ball to Ashuri, who scored. And there was some 90th minute drama as well. Lucas Lund Pedersen pulled off a really great double save. First one with his feet, follow up with his hands at one end. And then at the other end, some more great work from Renato.
00:07:05
Speaker
Nils Mortimer through and, you know, he had the opportunity to win it. He hit the inside of the post. And so it was on as even, but this was a really great game that could have gone either way and showed exactly the quality on display, why these two teams are where they are in the league.
FC Copenhagen's Strong Comeback
00:07:21
Speaker
Alex at CPH Gunner asks, can FC Nordsland hold on and
00:07:27
Speaker
I'm changing my tune a bit here. I think that when you look at how dominant FC Copenhagen have been since the winter break, I think it's going to be tricky. You know, FC Co. this weekend ran out 4-1 winners in Horsons and they've really come out of the winter break with the bit between their teeth. You know, they scored 15 goals in four games and they look like they're me in business.
00:07:47
Speaker
My feeling is that FC Co really have the momentum at the moment and when you look how they played against Horsons, you know, Horsons went ahead early on in that game and a few people, myself included, were wondering whether it could happen again. You know, Horsons won against them earlier in the season but FC Co really
00:08:04
Speaker
moved through the gears and dispatched them fairly easily in the end. The pick of the goals came from Loney Jordan-Larson, son of Henrik Larson, and after it was a really beautifully worked passing move that he finished off but it was really nice team football and I'm sure Jakob Nistra would have been very pleased with how that goal panned out. The top three is now separated by three points so FC Norgel and the still top
00:08:29
Speaker
FC Copenhagen a second, only a point behind them, and Wiebelger third, two points behind them. But I really feel like FC Copenhagen have the momentum. And, you know, they've got the squad depth. They've got players returning from injury, like Cornelius. So
00:08:47
Speaker
I just find it really hard now to look past them for the title. And I think, you know, throughout the season, I've been saying that I think Nordsland can hold on to it. But these past few games have changed my mind on that. So prepare for some flip-flopping and not to say it won't change again in the future. But if I was asked now, can Nordsland hold on? I think that they might just get picked to it by FC Copenhagen.
Bronby's Championship Aspirations
00:09:08
Speaker
Looking to the west of Copenhagen, Gombe pulled out a huge win against Silkeborg. Valleys, who of course arrived from Silkeborg earlier this season, scored the first goal. I don't know if there was bad blood there, but I don't think so, but he ran off screaming in celebration. I've seen lots of times where players score against a former team and sort of
00:09:31
Speaker
look almost embarrassed to have scored and run off holding their hands up, but there was none of that whatsoever. Oliver Son equalised for Silkeborg, but then it was a classic OHI goal to win it. You know, this guy always finds himself in the position you want a number nine in. He put his head on the line, nodded home from six yards, and that was the winner for Bwombi, but I thought they played really well. They deserved the win and have given themselves a really great chance now of finishing up in the championship group.
00:09:58
Speaker
One of the questions I got on Twitter actually, Chalté, I think you pronounce it, asks, who do you see as being the keeper for the national team over the next 20 years? And I have to say, I can't claim that I'm a national team expert when it comes to Denmark. I tend to, you know, my time is quite limited, and so I tend to focus on
Who is Denmark's Next Goalkeeper?
00:10:16
Speaker
the Super League. But what I would say is that I noticed that the Bronby keeper, Mads Hermansen, has been brought into the Denmark squad alongside Schmeichel and Renault in terms of the keepers.
00:10:26
Speaker
And he's been really impressive. He's obviously incredibly highly rated. And this is now his second season as a starter for Bromby. And given he's only 22, he'll be 23 this summer, I think that he could be the answer to the national team goalkeeper question for maybe not the next 20 years, but certainly the next 10. I think that could be really interesting.
00:10:49
Speaker
And over to Odin so which is a it was a very strange game on the on the Friday night primarily because there was some problems with that the Danish TV provider that meant that no one in Denmark actually watch this game so I was I was sat at home on on Friday watching it and get getting lots of messages from people saying how you watching this game and I thought.
00:11:08
Speaker
watching me but it turned out that there was no problem to watch it abroad but if you were inside Denmark it wasn't possible so it was trying to sort of commentate on the game and it was a great game actually.
Technical Issues and ODINso Game
00:11:20
Speaker
It was an unbelievable goal by Franco Tonga in it and if you haven't seen it I urge you to
00:11:27
Speaker
to pull it out because a cross came in and both him and Sabi, who was standing a couple of meters to his right, both went for bicycle kicks at the same time and Tonga's one connected and smashed it in. It was quite a comfortable victory for them in the end. Al Borgridi didn't offer a great deal. There was a long shot from Lucas Anderson at one point that could have been an absolute colazzo.
00:11:50
Speaker
no that didn't go in and Alborg scored with one of the last kicks of the game which they'd sort of resorted to throw some defenders up front and lump it long and actually that worked and it did make me think maybe this is a team that should be playing more direct in the future.
00:12:06
Speaker
as the season winds down. But no, Finnish 2-1 and Alborgh find themselves now level on points with Lungbi at the bottom of the table and they've scored the fewest goals in the league. Hamron still isn't able to get a tune out of this team and it must be really dispiriting because the Alborgh fans are there in force every week supporting their team.
00:12:25
Speaker
And last week against Michelin, they really showed that they had it in them to pull out a performance and were very unlucky not to get the win. But that almost looked like a bit of a mirage compared to this week where they didn't have that same verve that they had last week and it's going to be a long old season for them now with 11 games to go.
AGF's Triumphant Season
00:12:45
Speaker
Finally, AGF secured their place in the top six. What a turnaround to the season it's been for them. Rossler came in at the beginning of the season and
00:12:55
Speaker
They looked really good. And then they had a bit of a slump. And they're coming out of the winter break looking like a different team again. So well played to them. And yeah, they had a really deserved win in Ranners. I thought that Ranners fell apart. Carl Grinn, who is so often the hero for them, had an uncharacteristically poor gaming goal. He gave away a really clumsy penalty. And Ranners also lost Johansson late on for quite a nasty challenge. It was a second yellow.
00:13:25
Speaker
probably was an orange card, that
Upcoming Fixtures and League Impact
00:13:28
Speaker
one. But no, that secures AGF's place in the top six and gives them a platform to build on. And I think what's going to be interesting is to see, from this point on, do they use the fact that they're in the top six to really kick on now and push for a European place? Or do they rest on their laurels and say, right, we're safe now, so the pressure's off? It's going to be interesting to see. I sense that Russell is not a guy who's going to want to sit back.
00:13:53
Speaker
So yeah, let's see where it takes them. I guess the big question is where does that leave the table? And there are, there are five teams that still have a chance of reaching one of the two remaining top six spots. And if you look at the table, currently one BN runners sit there in the, in the top six, but there's one more round of fixtures before the league split and, uh, all manner of permutations could happen. So the, the four fixtures that the top six hinge on this weekend, and they're all being played at the same time, which is incredible.
00:14:22
Speaker
But Silkeborg play FC Michelin, FC Norjland play Brumbi, AGF play Obie, and Alberg play Raners. Everyone's got their own opinion on how these are going to pan out. My view is that Silkeborg, Michelin is probably going to be a draw. I would say Norjland will be Brumbi.
00:14:41
Speaker
AGF, OB, I've got down as a draw and Alborg, Rannaz, I'm going for a Rannaz win here. And if that scenario was to happen, it would mean that Hombi and Rannaz, the two teams currently in the top six would remain there. And so I guess that's how I'm going to call it. But tune in on Sunday and watch and it's going to be amazing with all the games kicking off at the same time, seeing how the teams move around in real time.
Lingby's Relegation Battle
00:15:08
Speaker
There's two other fixtures to look out for, and they don't have an impact on the top six, but they're no less compelling. FC Copenhagen play V-Borg, and it's had big ramifications in the title race. But these two teams, they haven't played each other since July, which feels like a world away. And in July, V-Borg won 4-2. And I just had a look at the scorers in that game, and again, it feels almost like a previous season because
00:15:36
Speaker
three of the five scorers are no longer at their respective clubs. You know, Christian Sorensen obviously made the move from Veyborg to FC Copenhagen. But Justin Lombik, he moved to Dunmerkiev, so he's not there anymore. And Pep BL obviously moved to Olympiacos, and he's not there anymore. So it's two very different teams to the ones that played in July.
00:15:58
Speaker
I think for this one, it's hard to see Boston FC Copenhagen win. But I think that if you were to pick any team to give them a difficult game, it would be V-Borg at the moment. So that's going to be a real humdinger of a fixture. And at the other end of the table, we've got a relegation six-pointer, which is always a really fascinating one to keep an eye on. Loongby play Horsons. And I think that it's probably not overstating it to say this is Loongby's most important game of the season so far because
00:16:27
Speaker
A win would take them within four points of safety. So if they're going to reel in Horsons, you know, they've got to win these these head-to-heads. So this is going to be one to keep an eye on for sure. I've got no idea how this one's going to pan out. You know, Horsons welcomed back Matei De La Chingol, which is a big boost for them. He said himself that he didn't have the greatest of comeback games, but it was it was good to get back out there and that, you know, he's only going to improve with more game time.
00:16:54
Speaker
So yeah, keep an eye on that one. I genuinely don't know which of these games I'm gonna be watching because there's so much at stake in all of them. I'll probably end up flicking between
Supporting Danish Football
00:17:03
Speaker
a few of them. But yeah, if you're outside of Scandinavia, one football and FIFA Plus have the games. So yeah, lock in on Sunday afternoon and see how they go. So I'm gonna be back next week. I've got a special guest joining me next week to pick through all of the action. And I think that there's gonna be so much to talk about.
00:17:24
Speaker
Hopefully that rounds up everything from last weekend and gives some idea of what you should be looking for this weekend.
00:17:32
Speaker
Before I go, as ever, if you'd like to support what I'm doing at footballindemarc.com or on the Danish down in my podcast, you can become one of many supporters on Patreon who help make all this possible. Head on over to patreon.com forward slash footballindemarc and yeah, for the price of coffee a month, you can help keep the lights on, help keep the content flowing and it's really very much appreciated.
00:17:58
Speaker
If you want to follow me on Twitter, it's at footballindk. Come along, tell me my opinions rubbish and interact with me on there. We would love to talk Danish football. So enjoy the weekend's action. Thanks for listening. And here's to another great weekend of Super Liga action.