PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Janne Andersson has received a lot of criticism.
Most recently from Dejan Kulusevski as well.
Now the Swedish national team captain is fighting back.
The criticism against the Swedish national team captain Jan Andersson has not been gracious lately. Many have been tired of Sweden’s fiasco for several years now with the failure of the WC 2022, nightmare results in the Nations League and now the EC 2024 is almost over.
The criticism against Janne
Most people want to see Janne’s departure and a new national team captain take over. Soon it may also become a reality as Andersson’s contract expires in connection with European Championship 2024 and if Sweden does not manage to get there, he will leave his job prematurely.
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Recently, the national team star targeted Dejan Kulusevski clear criticism of his coach in Blågult that neither the tactics nor the generational change has worked for the men’s national team. The Premier League top player wants to see Sweden find a new identity after the stinging loss against Austria last time out.
– I don’t read what is written so I don’t know how he expressed himself. But we chose, as we have done several times before, to go higher against Estonia. We went with three players and got a lot of pressure. We did damn well together. It bit in that game, we got it. We also did that when we faced Italy at home in the playoffs in 2017. Then we also went high and got paid. So we’ve done parts of this before, says Janne and hits back at the criticism in a long interview with Fotbollskanalen.
– Now it became very clear against Estonia. Same at home against Spain, then we also went high. So it’s nothing new. But on the other hand, the offensive balance with Emil Forsberg, Dejan Kulusevski, Viktor Gyökeres and Alexander Isak, I think it was brave that we did it against Austria. But we lost the match 3-1. So you can turn and twist everything.
Andersson’s mood
Many believe that the new, young players who have taken over from the key players Andreas Granqvist, Mikael Lustig, Sebastian Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic etc. Jannes does not appreciate “old school” tactics. But he doesn’t agree with that.
– No, I think everyone buys how we want to play. It’s not weird. We haven’t played exactly the same all the time either. The problem is more the stability. If you take after Euro 2021, these players quit. Then others would step forward. Then you have players like Albin Ekdal who was injured and out for a year, Emil Forsberg who hasn’t been allowed to play much in the club team, Victor Nilsson Lindelöf the same for periods, he tells the football site and continues:
– So these players who would take over, it has not been so easy to step in, because if you are going to step in and be a leading figure in a national team then you yourself need to be in damn good shape and have good self-confidence and be able to lead the others. It’s more that these players don’t buy what we do. I feel total loyalty to what we do.
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Janne Andersson’s angry mood has also been the talk of the town recently. We all remember the high-profile fight with Bojan Djordjic and in the last international match, the Swedish national team captain knocked over several bottles from the podium after he got annoyed with an interpreter.
– No, I can probably still say that I have kept quite calm, he admits in the interview.
– Haha, but I have a bloody temper. I don’t like to lose. It’s probably one of the things that has made it possible for me to keep going for this long at such a high level, that I have that drive. For example, after this thing with Bojan (Djordjic) that happened last spring, someone who knows me said that it was nothing. And no, it was absolutely nothing based on how angry I can get when things go badly. I’m not a good loser, and I admit it. And it would be hell if I was.
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