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Lars Lagerbäck took office in 2017 as the new captain of the Norwegian national team and is now in perhaps his most unstable period during his time in office.
Earlier this fall, Norway failed to reach the European Championship next summer after losing in the playoffs to Serbia. Following his departure, several expert votes demanded Lagerbäck’s resignation.
But dissatisfaction is also present in the staff itself. On Wednesday, VG came in with reports that he is shaking within the national team.
The day before last week’s meeting with Northern Ireland in the Nations League, Lagerbäck and the rest of the national team leadership were invited to evaluation meetings with the players.
According to VG, a big dispute started between Lars Lagerbäck and Alexander Sörloth in front of the rest of the team. The Leipzig striker Sörloth is said to have been critical of the team’s style of play and line-up in the game against Serbia, which allegedly got Lagerbäck excited.
The Swede must have asked if the midfielder had seen the game on repeat.
When Sörloth answered no, Lagerbäck should have gone to Sörloth about how he can be so sure how Norway should have played, multiple sources tell VG.
– How dare you, who missed an open goal against Cyprus two years ago, to say something, should Lagerbäck have said?
The team captain had to get in the way
Alexander Sörloth has said in previous interviews that the days after the Cyprus mistake were “the worst of my life”.
VG has spoken to several people who saw the dispute between Sörloth and Lagerbäck:
– I was shocked. I’ve never experienced anything like this before, says one of the newspaper’s witnesses.
Team captain Stefan Johansen must have walked in and finished the discussion. Alexander Sörloth was benched the next day in the game against Northern Ireland, which Norway won 1-0.
On Thursday, the dispute became even more contagious when Norway’s TV2 published an interview with the Norwegian striker that followed their Euro Cup qualifying defeat.
– I felt in the afternoon and in the morning after the Serbia game that we were disappointed and empty. Then we had some meetings where the players could talk to each other. We then agreed that “we should never play that football again.” I think most of the people were very aggressive and really angry. So we decided to go out and control the game and score a lot of goals, Sörloth said then.
Now Lars Lagerbäck himself comments on the dispute. In a press release from the Norwegian Football Association, Lagerbäck says that Sörloth’s behavior is unacceptable.
– I tolerate disagreements on football issues. However, Alexander made several accusations that had nothing to do with how we played our football, but rather that Per Joar Hansen and I were incompetent as coaches both in terms of management and football. After 30 years in international football, I have never seen a player cross the line in this way. I have had many discussions about soccer with players that have been based on facts and about soccer. But nothing has ever come close to this, says Lagerbäck.
In the statement, Lagerbäck also took the opportunity to apologize for pecking at the Norwegian forward after the Cyprus game.
– Unfortunately, I lost my patience. I regret my choice of words that came after a long and heated discussion in an attempt to make Alexander understand that he must adapt to the way the team plays, says Lagerbäck.
The press release ends with Sörloth apologizing for his behavior. Lagerbäck himself hopes that in future the focus will be on Norway’s upcoming international matches.
– For the best of the national team, Per Joar Hansen and I hope that Alexander lives up to what we agreed to so we can put him behind him, says Lagerbäck.
