National team, Norway | Austria coach shakes his head at Lagerbäck’s statement

NORWAY – AUSTRIA 1-2:

ULLEVAAL STADION (Nettavisen): The Austrians took a well deserved victory over a weak Norwegian team in the first Nations League game on Friday night.

The coach of the national team, Lagerbäck, did not hide anything during the press conference after the agreement.

The guests were mostly better than Norway throughout the game and viewers were able to see a Norwegian team that was almost played for 60 minutes.

– We just got too careful. And then Austria played very well, Lagerbäck tells Nettavisen at the post-deal press conference.

But at the same time that Lagerbäck had no problem congratulating the Austrians on the victory, the Swede came in with the index finger.

Børsen: This is how Norway played against Austria

Lagerbäck was a bit impressed with the referee

Lagerbäck believes that the Austrian players filmed and pushed, and was not impressed that the Finnish referee team did not react.

During the match, Lagerbäck was also in various discussions with fourth officials.

– I think it was bad picking it up there. It was not the best refereeing effort I have ever experienced, says Lagerbäck.

However, the coach of the Norway team believes that his players must learn to handle these challenges.

– Unfortunately, it is so. These are very experienced players where the majority play in the Bundesliga. They take their professional “fouls” and film multiple times when there is a fight for the ball. They throw themselves and then you don’t see anything that they feel pain after.

– They are very professional and I have respect for that. Unfortunately, elite football is such that they are very good at giving our players the little push in 50-50 duels, Lagerbäck says.

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Fuck uenig

And these are the duels that the Swede thinks the judge should have won.

Austria’s national team coach Franco Foda shakes his head when he hears what Lagerbäck has said. It is not recognized in the Swedish’s descriptions of player behavior.

– No I dont think so. We played a good game and it was a deserved victory because we were good during the 90 minutes. We were the best team. It was a very intense match and some tackles from both sides. I think the referee had good control of the game, says Foda.

There was no doubt that Austria were the best team.

Foda and his team seemed well prepared and prevented Norway from reaching a proper game.

The Austria manager tells Nettavisen that he is happy to succeed with the plan to stop Haaland and the other Norwegian players.

– I’m very happy with the job they left. We effectively prevented Norway from shaping the game, says Foda.

Also read: Sørloth snorts at questions after Norway’s failure

Lagerbäck takes responsibility

They did it up to that point. For Norway, it only created two real scoring chances, including Braut Haaland’s goal.

The Norwegian team fought hard, and again and again the game came to a halt long before the ball reached Norway’s star striker.

The director of the national team takes responsibility for Norway not doing better.

– It’s my job to make sure the equipment works and it didn’t for 60 minutes.

In the Norwegian midfield, Lagerbäck lined up four players who are used to playing in the central midfield.

To Nettavisen, Lagerbäck explains that Morten Thorsby and Stefan Johansen should open for Haitam Aleesami and Omar Elabdellaoui at the edges, but the Swede acknowledges that it did not happen against Austria.

– We get stuck when we win the ball, says Lagerbäck to Nettavisen.

And maybe it’s because of a well-prepared Austrian team. Well, Foda explains that they were prepared for the sponsor of Norway.

– Our plan was to pressure Norway from the beginning all the time. We are successful. We think we should close the wings again because we know that Elabdellaoui is very offensive. That’s why we closed there again, explains Foda.

Lagerbäck expects the Norwegian players to recover quickly after Friday’s failure. The next game is already on Monday against Northern Ireland.