Earlier this year, TV expert Alexander Axén said that his mother can coach Malmö FF and still win SM gold. Something that many interpreted as a jab at coach Henrik Rydström, with whom he had been taunting for some time.
It was that statement that the former Gais and Örebro coach was asked about when he was a guest on the Lundh podcast this week.
– He (Rydström) is a great coach. We will clarify it at once. But it is not difficult to win with that Malmö team. That’s why I said that. Then journalists called me and wanted to talk to my mother. What level is it? Everyone understands that it is an expression, said Axén.
Yes, but then Rydström said that your mother could coach the team – but not you.
– No, and then I’ll be very sad. But I won’t be. The problem is that when these discussions come between me and Rydström, it is usually he who has started it. Because I only talk about him when we are face to face. He talks about me when I’m not even there.
– I’m in his head, he has a problem with that. That’s why it’s extra fun when he can’t hold it back, and then I think it’s more fun.
According to Axén, Rydström is bothered “like hell” that he is not a “cheerleader for him like everyone else”.
– I have no problem with Rydström. I have nothing to: “He’s bad or something”. He has done great, he is an incredibly good coach. But some things get a little too much. And when I can ask critical questions about it, he has a very hard time taking it, Axén said in the podcast.
So. What does Malmö FF’s successful head coach say about this? In an interview with The Gazette Rydström is asked to “respond” to Axén’s new outing.
– Last year it felt so strange. We started the Allsvenskan very well, but he was always critical, which then gave me questions. He’s an expert, he talks about our game and then I’m in the studio, but I was rarely face-to-face with him, but afterwards it’s something he’s said that you have to replicate, or Aftonbladet often calls with “Axén said this”, and then I answer it. Then he interprets it as being in my head or having problems with critical issues, says Rydström.
The MFF coach feels that there was more focus on him and Axén last year. This year, he cannot remember anything the TV expert has said, says Rydström.
– Last year there were times where you felt “Wow, what’s the problem?”, but after the SM gold, you’ve been in the studio and then you start talking about carpentry and then there were no strange things. Then I felt, “Uh, it’s more of a game,” and I still think it’s a game on his part. When he and I talk, he doesn’t say “Damn you play poorly, my mother could…” Then he says things with a twinkle in his eye.
Rydström develops:
– If I am going to answer it more seriously: the way of his rhetoric and his view of football, and the way he expresses himself, is a reminder to myself not to be rigid in anything. “This is how we did it then, and anything against it is bad”. I have seen Axén and Nanne Bergstrand, two examples for me where you can see that it is easy to end up there. You can’t really take it anymore… Shall we call it new things or new trends? Then it is instead a regression in how you look at football. It is conservative. I don’t want to end up there, but it’s probably easy to do. He is an example of that, I think, if we’re talking from a purely football point of view, he says The Gazette.
Listen to the episode with Axén from the Lundh podcast in the player above.
