The Norseman Season 6 Part 4

Ten more games down and we’ve made strides towards retaining our league title, despite losing the first league game of my tenure: a home tie to Malmo. Whilst not scoring freely as my youth side, we’ve been pretty sharp in front of goal, moving to nearly three per game across the entire season. It does, somewhat, feel a bit processional and, as such, I’ve lost a little interest in the tactical nuances that make this squad and this style so engaging for me, relying on – essentially – just being the better team.

The bulk of the above goals have come from the emergence of Junior Boukama-Kaya, the returning academy graduate, who had spent time on loan in Germany. His pace and finishing ability, as seen from both the metrics and game-by-game breakdown have been immense, scoring in eight successive games, including two back-to-back hattricks. When playing a more traditional striker in a Trequartista role, I’ve ended up with a very free player; he’s certainly not a creative hub – averaging just over twenty-two passes and just under three dribbles but is given license to get himself into dangerous areas, as seen by his average shot xG of 0.35 and his outputs of nearly two and a half goal contributions a game over this period. It’s a role and, arguably, a player type, that I’ve not always been convinced by but JBK is really strutting his stuff, continuing from Brusberg before him and, remarkably, keeping Pontus Dahbo out of the starting eleven.

 

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I think this is the right thing to do but, if not, it’s certainly the in thing at the moment as I follow in the footsteps of Jurgen Klopp and Xavi in announcing that I’ll be leaving my post at the end of the season. Despite not being here for that long – just under two years – I’ve achieved what I set out to do: dominate the league and push on in Europe. a 3-0 romp over Anderlecht shows that we’re not messing around in the Champions League and two league titles in a row will cement myself as a club icon. I have, however, pondered. Five years in Sweden, building GIF Sundsvall up to maintain as a strong team at this level prior to this appointment – is it enough? Do top class managers, striving to be the best, spend longer in their homeland? Jose didn’t – four years from Leiria to Chelsea. Roberto De Zerbi took eight years to get out of Italy but Xabi Alonso only took four to leave Spain.

I don’t think you can put a timeframe on it, personally. Have I done enough to secure a job in the Bundesliga? Probably not. Is the 3.Liga too much of a drop? Probably, yes. I’m doing my research into the 2.Liga sides, looking to find myself either a rebuild job or a nice stepping stone.

Of course, I won’t allow myself to leave here on a whimper. Elfsborg have been a wonderful team and I have learnt and achieved so much in such a short time and will have, importantly, set the team up financially and in terms of it’s playing squad, to dominate this level for years to come. It’ll be sad to move on but, harking back to the Viking within, it’s part of the quest. Sweden is nearly conquered