Emil Forsberg’s icy penalty and Dejan Kulusevski’s brilliant performance gave an excellent start in the Nations League.
2-0 against Slovenia made the strongly result-oriented national team captain very pleased.
In terms of play, there are several steps to take for the new game system the national team wants to introduce to sit. In other words: High rating for the result, lower for the performance that gave three points at Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana.
The final grade passed
– Winning here is not obvious. We’re doing well. Some are good, others we have to work with. The total is approved.
– We find the edges good. But when we play too much centrally, they get counterattacks. I think we handle them well, but it felt tricky. At the beginning of the second, we closed to better central and came to nice locations.
– Towards the end we got a little tired and unnecessarily low but kept it together well, says Andersson.
The choice to play only with a defensive midfielder – Jesper Karlström – was unexpected for many.
– Nothing is carved in stone. You can change it a little. The basic idea was today. But it became a little too large areas for him to cover. “Koffe” (Kristoffer Olsson) was a bit overambitious in the beginning and disappeared a bit from the central surface, says Andersson.
Holds on to three forwards
Clearly, he will stick to an attacking lead with two offensive wingers.
– We will definitely have three forwards, that is the starting point. We have to test, now that we have the chance, both with the way we play and with the players.
Janne Andersson was very pleased with Ludwig Augustinsson’s left-back play, Emil Forsberg’s responsibility and Alexander Isak’s intelligence – and of course Dejan Kulusevski’s fine 2-0.
Andersson about Augustinsson:
– He has not played much lately, but today he was almost one hundred percent.
About Isaac:
– He takes the ball at the penalty so that the opponents can disturb him and then when it is time to hit it he gives the ball to Forsberg. I like it. He is mature, a smart player.
The big minus item was Carl Starfelt’s injury at the end of the first half. There is a real shortage of midfielders after Victor Nilsson Lindelöfs and Filip Helander’s injuries and Marcus Danielson’s retirement from the national team.
– There is probably a great risk that “Calle” can not play (against Norway on Sunday). If you break a match in that way with a muscle injury, there is a great risk that he will not be able to participate. Too bad for him. I soon can not remember which midfielders are not included.
– We get to collect it and see what we do.