Review of the Norwegians by a Norwegian.

I thought I might as well do it now, as the season is as good as over.

I wrote this of Dæhli and Eikrem early january in this thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=132196

In regards to Dæhli, I have few worries - the kid is the best talent Norway has seen since... probably forever, at least in regards to technical ability. That said, he should be regarded as just that, a talent, and it is in no way a given he will shine and develop into a fantastic player. But in my opinion he's got alot of things going for him, and norwegian players are usually quite down to earth (in starch contrast to Zlatan and Bendtner from our neighbouring countries). The Norwegian League is just about to start pre-season, so don't expect him to be match fit.

As for Eikrem, I'm a bit more worried. Apparantly he's done well enough in the Netherlands, but that league is not what it used to be, and there has been quite a few players doing really well in Norway going there without much success. The fact that Heerenveen bought him just this summer and is already letting him go for a sum repartedly around £2-3m isn't too convincing. From what I have seen of him I'm very worried he's not any better than what we already have, and I think new signings should be stronger than what we already have (except talents). Our central midfield is also the area of least concern, along with the goalkeepers. I do hope he proves a success though.

So, was my analysis fairly straight on? I think in regards to Eikrem, it turned out to be. He hasn't played much and as I said he doesn't seem to be much better than what we already have. If he stays after the relegation, he might get more time and might prove to be something. But I reckon there's a chance that he leaves, perhaps to Norway or some other league of a lesser stature than the PL. I think it depends on whether Solskjær stays or not.

As for Dæhli, he has surprised me positively. He's taken the PL head on, and made some good appearances. He's still young and unpolished, I think his biggest areas of improvement is in the execution of passes/shots and getting a better overview (like Scholes). Then again, if he can get better in these areas, he'll be absolutely top class. I think he'll consider to stay if Solskjær stays. If Solskjær leaves/get sacked Dæhli will follow - unless Tan intervenes and denies a transfer (Tan seems like the kind of guy who would do this, if that's the case that would be on the rather short list of good traits).

As for Berget I wrote about him here - viewtopic.php?f=2&t=133661
He didn't get much of a chance, I never rated him as good enough anyway. But I think he should've been given more chances - he could hardly do worse than Kenwyne Jones.

As for Norwegian players, we missed out on a big talent in Stefan Johansen, who signed for Celtic (a replacement for Joe Ledley I suppose). Johansen played for Norwegian Champions Strømsgodset (my local team), and this seems to be the only reason Solskjær didn't buy him - he wanted his own men from Molde. Johansen scored and was man of the match for Celtic in his first starter, and has overall done well (although playing for Celtic in the SPL is quite different). But he's taller, more athletic than Eikrem, and is extremely good with the ball (passes, technique) - better then Whittingham IMO.

As for Solskjær, I'm not overly impressed, but then again I have mixed feelings on the issue. I think Solskjær was the wrong choice, not on the basis of his managerial ability but because of the squad. In my opinion the squad isn't cut out to play the kind of football that Solskjær wants to play. If he stays for another season, I'm looking forward to see what he can do with the time to build his own team. I think someone should force him to get a new assistant manager, someone who's got a critical eye and can shape the defence - which has been quite terrible this season.

If anyone's in need of a laugh after the drop, perhaps I should introduce you to some other variants of Norwegian football...

Electroshock-football - skip to 1.30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuKva8G ... 6E41E3A673

Bubble-football - skip to 1.10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIl45f6i1PU

Japanese binocular-football - skip to 4.00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIIrSCxpca0

Beach-football, with snorkels and swim fins - skip to 3.00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQt41nEoWLE

Siamese Twin-football - skip to 2.30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joGbpixsnlo