Johann Garbinlov on the new coaching assignment
Johan Garpenlöv is back in Djurgården.
After an unwelcome start to the season, he must steer the Stockholm club in the right direction – and the demands are high.
– I have to prove that I can win, says the 54-year-old.
Johan Garbinlof is the new coach at Djurgården.
After an unfavorable start to the season, the club chose to sack Joachim Wagerfall on Monday. Now Garbinlove will turn the tables and leave his mark on the Stockholm side.
During Wednesday, the 54-year-old had his first training session in Hovet.
– There are no major differences. If you look at all the teams, they play pretty much the same, and there are some details that differ. When you watch the next match, you will not see: oh, how much they have changed. Garbinlove says that’s not really how he works.
“It’s Going Wrong – So Strange”
After the start of the season, Djurgården was criticized for not having a clear idea of the game and that the base game did not work.
– I was told that people think and think so, but everyone who plays in Allsvenskan and SHL hockey clearly has it. Then you don’t engage in the right way and it can look a little weird. But it would be strange to talk about them when they occupy the second and third places in the table.
There is still a suspicion that Djurgården is not satisfied with the results so far.
– Now Djurgården has chosen to do this and I have chosen to accept. I have to try to put my stamp on this and get them to play the way I want them to.
“You have to prove that I can win.”
Garpenlöv comes out of the role of captain of the national team, which he left in May. The stay was difficult, as it was blighted by the pandemic and results were missing. Last year, Sweden finished fourth at the Olympics and at the World Cup went to the quarter-finals. The previous year, in Riga, the Swedish national team had missed the World Cup finals for the first time in the modern era.
– I can’t influence what people think and think. As long as you don’t win anything, they’re right. I have to prove that I can win, but if you don’t go in and try, it’s hard to win. Obviously you want to win the gold every time, but it just doesn’t work that way, he says.
Now he is back in the club team for the first time since 2005.
For me, there isn’t much difference. The big difference is that now you do it every day and that’s okay. What you do in the national teams, says Garbinloff, is two processes and then you have to give and when you don’t, you’re bad.
“It doesn’t work that way.”
Djurgården comes from a heavier direction. Until the big win over Mora on Tuesday, the team had picked up just four points in their last five games. With a star-studded squad, there are high demands on the Stockholm squad.
– You usually think that you have to get in and dominate in Hockey Allsvenskan or that an NHL player should be able to get in and dribble everyone and score goals. This is not how it works. It is for players with tactical skills in the league.
However, the goal is clear – to return to the SHL again.
– I think we are a team that can go to the SHL, I think Modo looks good and Björklöven looks good. There are three, four, five teams that can do this kind of flight and we are definitely one of the teams.
For the club icon, the new mission also means he’s headed home. After 17 years elsewhere.
– I know these buildings, corridors and locker rooms. Many of the people I worked with in the past are still around. He concludes that it feels great.
