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TRAINING: Joshua King, Lars Lagerbäck and Alexander Sørloth during a training session for the national team three days before the fateful game against Serbia. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB scanpix
What was supposed to be an evening of brief group meetings with the various members of the national team team turned into an impromptu general meeting that was overshadowed by a longer dispute between Alexander Sørloth (24) and the manager. of the national team Lars Lagerbäck (72).
VG wrote on Saturday about the dispute between star forward Alexander Sørloth and the assistant coach of the national team, Per Joar Hansen, during a meeting in front of the entire team the day before Wednesday’s game against Northern Ireland.
Now, after further conversations with various sources in and around the national team, VG may reveal more details about the prelude to what is described as a heated meeting and heavy exchanges between Sørloth and national team manager Lars Lagerbäck at the Thon Hotel. Storo in Oslo.
Multiple sources have spoken to VG to say that players received a strict message after the events that nothing should be leaked to outsiders.
The media manager of the national team, Svein Graff, received the information in this case, but has stated that neither he nor Lagerbäck want to comment on this. VG has been trying for several days to get a comment from Alexander Sørloth and his agent Morten Wivestad, without success.
Here you can see a chronology of the events that characterized the meeting of the national team (the case continues below):
The summit was very long in time
On Tuesday evening, the national team leadership had planned group meetings with the various team members. This came after the national team management on Sunday had previously invited players to summarize their comments in groups of five and five.
The first out were the forwards: Sørloth, Erling Braut Haaland and Joshua King sat in a group room with Lagerbäck and “Perry”.
The meeting was supposed to be relatively short, but it lasted more than half an hour in time, so the next group, which were the midfielders, had to wait a long time outside the room.
At the summit, Sørloth is said to have raised what he thought were several points to improve Norway’s style of play and his approach to the Serbia match, which ended in a 1-2 loss after additional innings.
Votes were raised multiple times during the group meeting, and the mood meant that there was never a meeting just for midfielders or defenders.
Graphics: www.sofascore.com
The other groups should have been asked to return to their rooms first, before a spontaneous meeting with the entire Norwegian national team was finally called.
The coaches left the room
In front of the entire team and various members of the support staff, an occasional rowdy discussion ensued between Lagerbäck and Sørloth, while the others in the room sat dumbfounded and continued the fight. Three sources have spoken with VG to say that the coach of the national team asked the forward if he had seen the Serbia game on a repeat.
– No, Sørloth is said to have replied, to which Lagerbäck is said to have asked how he can then be so firm on what the correct approach was, when he himself had repeatedly watched the match.
VG has only been told parts of what was a long feud between Sørloth and the boss, where the central theme was the team’s style of play. The forward is said to have expressed that he thought Norway should be better prepared to play the 3–4–1–2 / 3–4–2–1 formation of Serbia, and that a more offensive approach should be taken in this and other matches . Matches.
Lagerbäck usually goes for a tight 4-4-2 formation.
The discussion between the two is said to have lasted a double-digit number of minutes before Lagerbäck and “Perry” left the room and let the players argue in peace. So Sørloth should have been encouraged to stay calm as soon as the coaches were back, lest they might send him home from the meeting.
After a discussion with only the players present, Lagerbäck and “Perry” returned, before captain Stefan Johansen and veteran Joshua King spoke on behalf of the group of players.
Ripped Sørloth-flause
After this, there must have been once again a heated dispute between Lagerbäck and Sørloth.
Four sources claim that the national team coach made a reference to Sørloth’s unfortunate performance against Cyprus in 2018:
– How dare you, who missed an open goal against Cyprus two years ago, to say anything?
– I was shocked. I’ve never experienced anything like this, says one of VG’s witnesses. Several others have expressed similar reactions.
“ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE HEAVY”: this is how Alexander Sørloth described Photo: Bjørn S. Delebekk / VG
Lagerbäck’s statement is said to have sparked a reaction from Sørloth, who previously described the days after the Cyprus game as “the worst days of my life from a football point of view. It was terribly heavy.
Sørloth was not initially brought to the corresponding meeting, but was later included after King announced his due date.
Here’s an interview with Sørloth done right after the Cyprus match:
According to Lagerbäck’s statement, Sørloth has stated that “enough is enough”.
It is said that Sørloth’s reaction led Per Joar Hansen to repeat several times that “one more word, then that’s clear!”
Then captain Stefan Johansen had to break in and say that the situation had gone too far, that the team had a game against Northern Ireland to prepare the next day and that it had been late at night.
The evening ended with a reconciliation meeting between the coaches and Sørloth where Johansen took the initiative to participate to attend the dialogue.
The next morning, Lagerbäck informed the players that they would start the game against Northern Ireland that same night. Then Sørloth, as the first regular goalkeeper Rune Almenning Jarstein, was informed that he was on the bench.
During a meeting in front of his teammates, the Trøndelag man apologized for having to witness the dispute between him and the technical team, and promised that he would give everything for the team even if he did not play from the beginning.
He was substituted in the 65th minute of the game against Northern Ireland. This is how Lagerbäck explained VG’s choice of questions at the post-match press conference:
