That’s why players go in and out all the time: “Must perform”
Published 2024-10-14 15.56
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TALLINN. 26 different players in the starting eleven, a total of 33 who got playing time, players who go directly from the stands to the starting eleven and formation changes in the middle of it all.
There has been “the whole sea of storms” over Jon Dahl Tomasson‘s selections as the new national team captain.
– You have to perform if you want to play, he says.
It has been just over half a year since Sweden played its first international match under Jon Dahl Tomasson: 2–5 away against Portugal.
If we look at the starting eleven against Slovakia on Friday, we find only three players who were in Tomasson’s debut eleven against Portugal: Isak Hien, Dejan Kulusevski and Viktor Gyökeres.
The Dane has used a total of 26 different players in his seven starting elevens and given five more players playing time as substitutes. A total of 41 different players have featured in the squads.
Players have gone directly from the stands to the starting eleven during one and the same session (like Gabriel Gudmundsson in September) or entered the starting eleven after not even being part of any of Tomasson’s previous squads (like Alex Douglas and Jesper Karlström this autumn).
We have also seen players go from starting a match one collection to not even taking a place in the squad the next, such as Simon Olsson from the June to September collection or Linus Wahlqvist Egnell now in the fall.
Several players have also played in different positions from one match to the next, while of course injuries also played a role.
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full screen Photo: Joel Marklund / Bildbyrån
“Jon is cunning”
We see a completely different rotation in the starting eleven and the squads than under the representative Janne Andersson, who, for example, during his successful WC 2018 patterned the same line-up in every match with the exception of an illness in the premiere and two suspensions later in the tournament.
Anthony Elanga is a player who has been in and out of the starting eleven. The game against Slovakia last time was the first where he didn’t get a single minute on the pitch.
As a player, do you notice in training if you will be included in the starting eleven or not?
– No, Jon can set up a team in training and then when we have a meeting (where the starting eleven is presented) he has changed. You never know. He is cunning, says Elanga.
When Sportbladet, ahead of tonight’s Nations League match against Estonia, asked Tomasson if he is looking to put a starting eleven or if we should get used to the fact that he will continue to rotate a lot, he chose to once again bring up the three phases he shared into his first two years as national team captain in. The first phase, where they got to know each other and found a way of playing, is finished and since the Nations League game started in September, the team is in phase two when they want to implement their attacking football. Next year, phase three begins, when “everything” must be ready and you must qualify for the WC.
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full screen Photo: Joel Marklund / Bildbyrån
“It is not the coach who gives the players confidence”
Tomasson is clear that he pays a lot of attention to the form and performance of the players, while at the same time he wants as many players as possible to compete for the places.
– We have 45-50 players that we follow every week. We see if they are fit, if they are doing the right things that we want to see. You can easily tell if a midfielder or winger is suddenly scared when playing. Then he’s probably not in his best shape. You have to perform if you want to play. If you continue to perform…yes, then you can also continue to play, says Tomasson.
Field:
– I think it is “fair” to get in shape.
The change of formation from 4–2–3–1 to 3–5–2 during the autumn also seems to have contributed to more changes in the eleven.
Do you also look at the opposition when choosing your starting XI?
– Right now, I’m primarily looking at ourselves and how we want to play. That’s number one. Number two are fresh players. Then, as number three, we look at the opponent’s qualities, says Tomasson.
Between the last two games he made only one change which was forced when Alexander Isak was unavailable due to injury.
Will we see less rotation going forward?
– So it can be. But it depends on how well the players perform. At the end of the day, it’s not the coach who gives the players confidence, it’s the players who give the coach confidence by doing the right things and they can do that in five minutes.
Number of times in the starting eleven in JDT’s seven matches
7: Dejan Kulusevski.
6: Isak Hien.
5: Alexander Isak,
4: Robin Olsen, Victor Nilsson Lindelöf, Anthony Elanga, Viktor Gyökeres, Anton Salétros, Niclas Eliasson.
3: Ludwig Augustinsson, Jens Cajuste, Emil Krafth, Victor Johansson, Alex Douglas, Yasin Ayari.
2: Mattias Svanberg, Simon Olsson, Emil Forsberg, Gustaf Nilsson, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Ken Sema.
1: Emil Holm, Jesper Karlström, Carl Starfelt, Samuel Gustafson, Linus Wahlqvist Egnell.
Replaced but never started
Hjalmar Ekdal, Williot Swedberg, Sebastian Nanasi, Hugo Larsson, Lukas Bergvall.
Was in the squad without getting to play
Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Jacob Widell Zetterström, Jakob Ondrejka, Samuel Dahl, Matteo Perez Vinlöf, Daniel Svensson, Edvin Kurtulus, Hugo Bolin.
