Lagerbäck had to stand up here – VG

It is also prudent for the Swedish national team manager to admit that he himself went too far when answering Alexander Sørloth unnecessarily and for no reason.

And not least, it seems that Sørloth had no choice but to apologize to the group of players and the leadership of the national team, which the criticism degenerated. And that he was largely to blame for the case escalating to heights that are, in fact, unusual in team sports.

As a former national team player recently told me: “It’s good that the players get involved and get involved, and that they give their opinion. But everyone also knows that in the end it is the coach who decides how the team will play, and everyone knows what. role and responsibility they have ”.

The media is always working to find out what is happening within the sport. It has always been that way and will continue to be so. Simply because the media will always look for things that are naturally not said, just like that without further ado.

So also in this case. And I understand very well that the leadership of the national team, and many others involved here, do not like this outing very much. I know that Lars Lagerbäck is very upset that the Norwegian team’s line-up leaks to the press before games, and that he has raised this.

At the next meeting, “mole” and “loyalty” to the team and the team are guaranteed as a theme. Lars Lagerbäck is very upset that he has to spend time on such things, but now it is necessary to repeat: You can’t have it like this. Matters like this cannot dominate the landscape of what he is like as a coach of the national team. He had to put the famous wardrobe in its place.

At the same time: now most things should be out of a dispute between the leadership of the national team and a player, which even experienced players had not experienced before. And something good can come out of it.

I have worked with the Norway A men’s team since I moved to Oslo in 1985. 35 years in the company of nine national team managers and several hundred players will always bring you both triumphs and tragedies.

What emerges from sensational and non-sporting episodes are “The battles in Drammen” in 2003 and in La Baule during the World Cup in France in 1998. It was regrettable and painful episodes that affected the national team and everyone around it. The disagreement between John Carew and John Arne Riise, which turned into violence on the player’s bus, and the trip to the city of Henning Berg and Erik Mykland in 1998. It affected an entire environment.

And there have been leaks of situations and cases that the leadership of the national team never wanted to publicize.

But a case like this, which goes so far that the national soccer coach feels that he has to tell the media about internal and difficult cases, because the case has gotten out of control for him and his people, I do not remember having lived anymore early. In that sense, this case is unique.

The point is that Lagerbäck had to do it, to reestablish a kind of control. Externally, it could quickly seem that there was anarchy in the national team, that the coach had lost the roof of a group of players who, until the game against Serbia, seemed very harmonious.

Now he has told his version, how he reacted, why he reacted and why this is not good. In the end, it’s about ending a case, so that you don’t drag it to infinity, that it doesn’t continue with cases like this. Doing so will eventually make it impossible to lead.

The case will likely be a topic around the November meeting as well, at least in the media. And naturally it will be the first thing Lars Lagerbäck and his team do when the team meets in Oslo on Monday 9 November, so that it does not affect the rest of the meeting, which contains two decisive away games in the Nations League.

But the pressure has mounted, both on the management and on the players: if Norway wins the Nations League, it can be argued that the air cleared and that something good came out of this case.

And vice versa …

There is a lot to play for now, for everyone.