Should have started with Sørloth – VG

Perhaps it was by chance that the goal came two minutes after Alexander Sørloth entered the Ullevaal pitch. But the Norwegian attacking game works best when Sørloth junior is the starting point.

I think it was wrong to remove Sørloth from the starting lineup. The English phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is very common. Here too: as long as the Sørloth-Haaland combination works, and it has done so in two and a half out of three matches, I think Lagerbäck should continue their successful duo at the top.

And it’s not because Joshua King is so bad. This is simply because Haaland-Sørloth has shown that they scare the majority of opponents. You get a completely different physique on top with Sørloth there, you can play the ball more in the air and more often on the field, and you soften opponents to a much greater degree than with King on the field.

65 minutes passed before Sørloth entered the field. Then Joshua King had a great opportunity, after 52 minutes. The change had to come, but it came in the last team.

Well, this was a football match that could end quickly 0-0, or in the worst case 0-1, despite the fact that Norway had the ball at 70 percent and controlled most of Ullevaal this Wednesday night .

Was a how that night. Norway played and played, mostly quite accurately. But the Northern Irishmen were low, like a green wall against the Red Norwegian players. And when Erling Braut Haaland did not have the day, neither with luck (his attempt after two minutes was ALMOST on …) nor with skill (a header and a shot that he often gets on goal), then it could seem that Norway is going a further slump after a rebound: “Only” 0-0 at home against the Northern Ireland jumbo group, a team that Norway beat 5-1 in Belfast a month ago.

But at corner number eight, and with Alexander Sørloth on the field and in front of the goal, the Northern Irishmen quickly panicked. Nice corner from Martin Ødegaard, chaos around Sørloth, Stefan Strandberg and several Northern Irishmen, and the ball hit Stuart Dallas, and the goalkeeper was outmaneuvered.

Thus, Norway got the score it needed, which means that the nation is still in the fight to win the Nations League group. But Lars Lagerbäck can thank André Hansen for this. The RBK goalkeeper, a surprising choice in the Norwegian goal, made two big saves in the first 19 minutes. When Norway was countered, Hansen was there.

Absolutely crucial for the rest of the game.

It will probably be a pure group final in Vienna in a month’s time, and Lars Lagerbäck has plenty of time to find a team that can challenge the Austrians. He must continue to cultivate the good pair of forwards, he must wait for the good moment and the form of Martin Ødegaard, who despite a useful game, is not as easy and free in his game as we are used to seeing him.

The Sander Berge / Mathias Normann combination has worked well centrally and needs to be cultivated. Stefan Strandberg has come in as a partner of Kristoffer Ajer and has made their cases strong.

This was a difficult battle to analyze. Norway was neither bad nor very good. But in 95 percent of the game they were in full control and the ball in 70 percent. But it wasn’t created enough. At least five occasions are made, after the advantage in games that Norway had against Northern Ireland.

But this time the ball rolled towards Norway, in the end.

And so we face an exciting November, first against Romania and finally the group final against Austria. If Norway scores points against Romania then it will be a win against Austria to take the pot.

With the promotion to “pool A” as a great temptation there, visits from several of the biggest and best football nations in Europe.