Dublin.
Five points for Bear Bowman of Shamrock Rovers – Djurgården at Tallag Stadium.
1. Don’t they trust him anymore?
There was frantic activity among the small Swedish press delegation an hour before kick-off. It took a degree in zoology to explain the unexpected start of eleven years.
Rotating the team so much in some Allsvenskan matches is one thing. It is crucial that Djurgården be able to keep the entire team in tip-top shape through the fall. It was not expected that Thomas Lagerlöf and Kim Bergstrand would make such ruthless interventions in the “best” eleven in the world. Europa Conference League– the first show. against Shamrock Rovers in the only away match where the Blue Stripes could be considered an a priori favourite.
Pissard Sabovich (who was sharp against APOEL) replaced Rasmus Schuller and entered Pierre Bengtsson in place of Elias Anderson who could still be accepted in terms of rotation.
But Jacob Wedel Zetterstrom? The coaches kept Aleksander Weisutin warm over the summer with matches against Varnamo and Varberg, but that looked like something else. It was difficult to interpret Wedel Zetterstrom’s seat as anything other than a pure poke and that they don’t really trust him in Europe after the personal trauma of the young goalkeeper in Cyprus.
2. Shamrock was allowed to get tired
Stephen Bradley, Shamrock’s manager, was before the game cynically dismissive of outdated prejudices about “typical Irish/British” football. And no, this wasn’t a cruel pub gang. Playing it on the ground, Rovers wanted to build methodically from the back and challenged Djurgården for possession.
But it didn’t take several minutes before it became clear that Djurgården – only in terms of quality – was clearly better both individually and collectively. Asoro and Edvardsen ran almost immediately. Hjalmar Ekdal was on the verge of taking a cross free kick.
Shamrock had good ambitions but bad feet. That’s why it was surprising that the Irish still moved just over a quarter of an hour into the game. That such a limited group was allowed to dictate the game for long periods. It was certainly not because the home team was particularly good, but because Djurgården suddenly acted asynchronously in the game of pressing, lukewarm in duels and passive with the ball.
3. I understand Bergstrand’s anger
No one can accuse Kim Bergstrand of blurred body language. No one has ever said “Kim is kind of a puzzle, it’s hard to tell what it is.” In fact Feels”. When Bergstrand gets angry, he looks angry. Shortly after the first half, Thomas Lagerlöf returns in the technical area. Bergstrand was feeling enough, he stood guard and pointed angrily at his team.
I didn’t hear what he said but you didn’t have to be a lip reader to understand that this was something along the lines of “what the hell are you doing?”.
Criticizing Djurgården in half might sound bleak as they basically created every dangerous opportunity and could easily have taken the initiative. It was the blue lines better, But the disappointment was that they should was superior or at least dominant.
4. Just impressed Vasuytin
One player impressed. Admittedly, Vasweten was shaky with the ball at his feet, but he made up for it with an inspiring goalkeeper. At the start of the second half, Russian Djurgarden saved after Peter Johansson (who was unlucky on several occasions) missed a free position. Thus it continued when Vasuytin alone ensured that the Stockholmers were able to secure the target. Some of the actions were unorthodox but that didn’t matter: the goalkeeper kept a clean sheet.
Djurgården actually worsened after the break. So the coaching duo reacted strongly. In the 60th minute, they substituted four men on one board. It may have been partly about keeping everyone fresh in this week’s derby against Hammarby, but as much as they wanted to wake the team from the collective underperformance that occurred at Tallaght Stadium.
Elias Anderson, Rasmus Schuler, Emmanuel Banda and Harris Radetenak all came in, but they couldn’t change the match profile until the last ten. Then Djurgården pressed hard for the winning goal, but to no avail.
5. You will feel bad for a long time, Djurgarden
Expectations were rightly high at Djurgården before this group stage. The Blue Stripes deserved to be taken seriously after a professionally conducted qualifying match at all levels. This evening they let themselves down, but also their supporters who traveled to fill the far seat to the last place. Too harsh words? It may be so, but this is – on the whole – a lukewarm effort against a fundamentally inferior opposition that I felt was … superfluous.
At the same time, this is not the first sign of a decline in shape. Djurgården got the results but lined up his half-shows over the course of two weeks.
I’m not looking to downplay Shamrock Rovers. They had great energy, showed no fear and thrived on the support of the crowded arena. On top of that, they’ve proven their strength on home soil, including in European play with wins against FC Shkupi, Hibernians, Ludogorets and Ferencvaros in qualifying (although the latter two came when the Irish had already lost two heads).
However, it is clear that Djurgården is a fundamentally good enough team to win this match. They can’t count on scoring a lot of points away from home against Molde or Gent, but this was the club’s chance to make a strong case for themselves in this group. Djurgården will long regret that they did not take it.
As the end neared, Shamrock supporters took the opportunity to fend off distant fans. “Hamarby, Hammarby, Hammarby,” cheered fans of the local team – who are on friendly terms with Deaton Bagn. He said it all. The Irish saw the cross as a victory to celebrate. For Djurgården, it was just a missed opportunity.
