Janne Andersson was under pressure after the 0-2 loss against Austria.
Now the confederation captain is seriously being sawn – for the words of Bojan Djordjic.
“Damn unprofessional,” writes TV profile Claes Åkeson.
Sweden was whipped to get a good result from the away meeting with Austria in the EC qualifier on Tuesday. After losing to Belgium earlier in the qualifiers – and given that Austria got points in the away match against Belgium – Sweden risked falling behind the top duo significantly if they lost.
The pass to Bojan
And that’s exactly how it happened. Sweden didn’t get up to par at all, and was heavily pressured by Austria for large parts of the match. Had it not been for the great play of Robin Olsen, the match would have been decided much earlier, instead it took until the 81st minute for the home team to make it 1-0, and then it was not long before the second came. The loss means that Sweden is now a full seven points up on group leader Austria.
Janne Andersson’s national team has had a hard time in competitive matches in recent years, and yesterday was no exception. Austria won the shootout by a whopping 20-4, and afterwards the national captain was under pressure. When he met Viaplay’s studio, a lot was about Janne’s substitutions, and the fact that early in the match he took out perhaps Sweden’s two sharpest offensive players, Emil Forsberg and Alexander Isak.
READ MORE: Zlatan’s unexpected offer to the big star – who agrees to change sports and play with “Ibra”
Sawed heavily
When Janne Andersson got the question from Bojan Djordjic, he couldn’t help but send a sour pass, which alluded to the hugely publicized fight between the two during the previous meeting, when Bojan Djordjic wanted to see more playing time on Jesper Karlsson.
– I spoke to Isak and he looked very tired. I have Viktor Gyökeres on the field and Dejan (Kulusevski) looks much fitter. That’s why I’m making the switch, Janne said first.
He then continued:
– At the same time, I’m replacing your favorite, Jesper Karlsson, who will come in and contribute in the box and untie knots.
On social media, the criticism of Janne Andersson and his passing to Bojan Djordjic was enormous.
“I wonder how Jesper Karlsson feels when the national team captain says ‘But I replaced your favourite, Jesper Karlsson'”, writes television media profile Emir Osmanbegovic.
“Janne’s passing to Bojan. Damn unprofessional”, writes the long-time presenter Claes Åkeson.
He also added:
“Extremely ill-chosen comment by Janne.”
However, the two profiles were not alone in their criticism. The general tone on Twitter was harsh towards Janne Andersson after the girl against Bojan, and many believe that it should now be time for a new voice to lead the Swedish national team.
READ MORE: Henrik Larsson only managed to get a single word out as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s artwork shocked everyone