Season 85 - Are you ready?

[Al Svanberg]

Cry...



Its been like this for Al FC the last while. The thing is, there is a lot of talk about if skill matters back and forth etc. Al FC is good, 112%, finished last season at 132%, but last year the wings have been a lot weaker than previous years, while the core has been stronger. Playing 5-4-1 I have strong core no matter what, but I need strong wings.

I think in this game, there always is a big risk from drawing the wrong conclusions. But I get a very strong feeling that it certainly matters a lot where on the field you have your talent, how good your team is in different areas. Now my right side is OK and my left side is weak. Before when my right side was weak, I also struggled a lot...

Biggest win for me in TE so far. Been really excited for this season, and it would have been so disappointing had it been over before it started...



I set my formation and orders before the game, really thought things through, and made up my mind that I was not going to change anything. Mixturing during games can be good sometimes, especially if you really haven't prepared and thought things through before the game or if the opponent adjusts, or if you learn something about the opponent during the game (like that he is going down a certain flank from watching the grades of his players), but in these type of games I know that I will get a lot of advice from the AM to support my attacker more, to press higher, to play counter-attack and what not. When I adjust to that, it just don't pay off that well. In the loss I went up 1-0 and started to follow the AMs advice to put the game away and get an easy 2nd leg, and I ended up loosing 3-1...

But darn it was nerve-wrecking, I dominated but 0-0 in half time. Al FC lost the Cup Final last year after a bugging loss in the final with a big advantage in possession and shots. So I was like genuinely happy when the goals came in the 2nd half. Lol, almost sentimental.

One round down, four to go!