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Ståle Solbakken is suddenly available on the market. Lars Lagerbäck has no intention of resigning as manager of the Norwegian national team.
Lars Lagerbäck during Saturday’s training at Bislett. Photo: Fredrik Hagen / NTB
ULLEVAAL STADIUM: The coach of the national team met with the press on Saturday morning. By then, a day and a half had passed since the atrocious loss to Serbia. That was the final sentence for Norway’s dream of a European Championship match next summer.
After the game, Lagerbäck opened to step aside as director of the national team. It made headlines.
On Saturday, Ståle Solbakken was also fired as coach of FC Copenhagen.
He has long been considered Lagerbäck’s natural successor as coach of the Norwegian national team.
– My motivation is the same as on Thursday. I think you should leave that discussion alone. What I do or don’t do, I don’t think is that interesting. The important thing is that I treat these players to advance them. I am full of motivation and I look forward to working towards winning the Nations League group, Lagerbäck said on Saturday.
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Lars Lagerbäck and Mathias Normann during Saturday’s press conference. Photo: Fredrik Hagen
Lagerbäck: Natural with a Norwegian as boss
The Norwegian Football Association (NFF) was in several discussions with Solbakken about the work of the national team in 2017. Then the FCK coach finally decided to say no. Instead, Lagerbäck was hired.
The Swede thought then that it was natural that Solbakken would have been NFF’s first choice.
On Saturday, he explained this in more detail.
– I said it because I think the best thing is that he is a coach with a Norwegian passport. This is how I think it is for the Nordic countries, to have their own country’s national coach. Get to know Norwegian culture and football in a different way than a foreigner, says Lagerbäck.
It does not mean whether it is natural for Solbakken to be his successor. This does not want a public opinion. You shouldn’t control who takes over one day.
– The Norwegian Football Association will do that. If you ask me, I’ll say what I mean, says Lagerbäck.
Solbakken was employed at work in 2012. Then he decided to terminate the contract before it even started. At that time he took over the Bundesliga club Cologne.
Lagerbäck was asked about the Solbakken situation.
– NFF must do an assessment the day I resigned. If you want to chat before that, I’ll show up, says Lagerbäck.
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It was a big recession for Erling Braut Haaland and Norway on Thursday night against Serbia. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell
– An air castle
He opened the press conference with a longer post on the state of Norwegian football and the national team. He believes that expectations have been raised too high in the public eye.
He noted that many of the players lack high-level international experience.
– If you look at the Serbian squad, they have 18 players in the top five leagues. And they have been there for three or four years. Kolarov won the Premier League as early as 2012. Some of our preschoolers just finished, Lagerbäck illustrated.
He believes that the Norwegian media have built an air castle.
– If you create too much expectations, then you build an air castle. So you think you are better than you are. Against Serbia, we lost in a match that will work. It depends on the opponent and I have a great responsibility. But such expectations cannot be generated in players, he says.
Lagerbäck was correct with what he believes to be a couple of factual errors in the analysis after the game against Serbia. For example, the claim that you have no choice if Plan A doesn’t work.
– We also have a plan B and a plan C. The most drastic change we make if the game doesn’t work out, is that the full-backs get total freedom offensively. We also insert a third tip. In practice, we played almost 2–5–3 then, says Lagerbäck.
He also thinks that it is wrong that he does not act. Against Serbia he put Mathias Normann for Markus Henriksen during the break. Joshua King replaced Stefan Johansen after one hour.
He also raised criticism that only the 4-4-2 formation plays.
Lagerbäck believes that the experience of Iceland and Sweden indicates that it is the best formation with a national team. The reason is that he thinks it is difficult to get good enough pressure in front of the opponent’s goal with just one point.
He also believes that it is best to stick to the same lineup as much as possible, as a national team has very few training sessions during a season.
The Swede also noted that Norway has two of the most promising strikers in European football to date, Erling Braut Haaland and Alexander Sørloth. Also, Joshua King has a lot of experience in the Premier League and the national team.
– I think it is almost negligent not to use them, says Lagerbäck.
