Five points for each Bohmann from Varberg-AIK.
1. Is it time to reevaluate Varberg? number!
For a long time I was convinced that Jock Pearson’s football was almost perfect especially against the big teams of the series. Allsvenskan stars accustomed to fancy establishments that used to hate serving Varberg’s guaranteed meat and chips. It wasn’t very fun to face a midfield team from the Premier League with steroids. Whoever ran more, tackled more aggressively, played straighter.
But this year?
Then Varberg’s playing style didn’t pay off at all against the big teams. In eleven matches against the top seven teams, the Greens and the Blacks only took one point.
Is it time to reevaluate Varberg?
Absolutely not, it turns out.
2. Ballerinas vs. Wrestlers
That point, 0-0 at home against Djurgarden, came recently. Perhaps this was the first sign that Varberg had found his way back into the role of relentless Allsvenskan mowers?
Because when AIK came to Halland, Henok Goitom filled the starting eleven with neat and sloppy players. They were Yassin Ayari, Bilal Hussein, Vincent Till and Nicholas Stefanelli. Soft feet. It was noticeable. But there was no Sebastian Larsson (pending), which was more obvious.
Because it was a half game between ballerinas and freestyle wrestlers. Varberg pulled off the shirts, lowered the opponents and cut off the legs. They created, for AIK, an uncomfortably inhospitable environment and once established, the local team was simply…better.
3. Robin “Denko” Simovic
The steel-powered Robin Simovic has a mobility reminiscent of the turning radius of the container ship Ever Gift in the Suez Canal in the spring of 2021.
That didn’t stop him from retaining the Dinko Felic class (a big compliment) as a striker and standard. Simovic was also the closest to the goal before the end of the first half. Ishmet Lushaku (good!) found the central reservoir with a tightly taut cross and Sotirios Papagiannopoulos did. However, Christopher Nordfeldt did, who quickly responded to Simovic’s header.
AIK was unbalanced, drawn into a football tournament for which they were very unsuitable and could not control the image of the match.
4. Truth? The sting was awful
The truth is that Gnat was lousy. Careless, afraid, uncomfortable. If the team doesn’t really take the fight to Varberg, they have to make up for it by outselling both technically and tactically.
It was not AIK.
Henok Goitom may wish it were his team, but so far they haven’t gone far enough in developing their game.
In the first hour, it was Varberg who – when they won duels – gave better organized attacks, more ambitious rounds and nice combos in the final third.
Then Goitom acted. He replaced John Guedetti. Go to Erick Otieno and bring in Axel Björnström on the left. AIK gained more weight in attack as Al-Jediti and Nabil Al-Bahwi approached the penalty area. Then AIK had an acceptable period of maybe ten minutes for the first time.
Then the slaps finally came.
Tonji Tranberg fought 1-0 and superior Ruben Simovic danced the ball to Felipe Cisses 2-0. Varberg’s victory (and the renewal of the Alsvenskan contract?) was terribly well deserved.
5. AIK fell into the first hurdle – not worth a gold fight
I’ve always been skeptical about the slightly unrealistic talk about AIK’s easy schedule. Very little indicated that this incomplete team building – as if he was commanding – would only be able to suddenly graze opponents. No matter how “simple”.
But to fall at the first barrier? Falling into trench number one? Not even giving a potential downfall group an honest chance?
It is under all criticism. Not just the result, but the failed effort in every way. Varberg got overachievers from all his players at the same time that no one in AIK can get a passing score after this disaster.
On one level, it feels right and right. AIK wasn’t good enough to win SM gold in 2022 and they’ve never been so good. And the fact that they still made their way to a decent position in the table, in classic black and yellow style, does not detract from the fact that in terms of performance and quality they are not even close to other top teams in the series.
Now all received definitive proof of what we suspected and knew in our depths all the time; This year’s AIK doesn’t deserve a gold fight.
