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Of: Johanna Frändén, Linn Nordström, Michael Wagner
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LISBON. Sweden leaves Portugal with eight goals conceded in four Nations League games. And Janne Andersson praises her regular team captain.
– Granqvist in top form is a fantastic midfielder. I’d be glad if he was back in top form, but now we have the players who were there today.
After just over twenty minutes against Portugal, the Swedish defense was punished with a message. Three Swedes chased the ball and Diogo Jota, but Bernardo Silva easily connected the pass from Cristiano Ronaldo’s replacement for the night.
That was just the beginning of the nightmare. Just before the break, the 2-0 came from the aforementioned Jack, offside of course, true, but Sweden’s bottom line back on the back slope. The 3-0 in Lisbon also came from Liverpool’s new striker. Curtain for Sweden and various question marks around Janne Andersson’s parade branch: the tactical defense.
– Everyone will say that we were naive. Maybe we should have stayed lower and not given them those surfaces, says Pontus Jansson, who had a really heavy night at Alvalade Stadium.
– We have been narrow and compact. If we play and lose that piece, it is a lesson. It is important for me and (Peter) Wettergren to point the direction, says the league captain himself about the offensively balanced starting eleven he exhibited on the field against the reigning European champions.
“Players learn from it”
Janne Andersson’s first choice in defense of the night was Mikael Lustig, Pontus Jansson, Victor Nilsson Lindelöf and Pierre Bengtsson. The first two were rejected in Sportbladet’s qualification.
– It’s frustrating. I jerk when I see that there are surfaces ahead. Right now I’m sitting here thinking I could have been more defensive, says Mikael Lustig.
At the post-game press conference, Janne Andersson wasn’t sentimental about her bottom line:
– Players who make mistakes individually must learn from it.
“Fantastic midfielder”
And the league captain did not deny that his regular midfielder and team captain have qualities that he still values highly:
– Andreas Granqvist in top form is a fantastic midfielder who we have really enjoyed in the national team. Of course I hope you come back again. So I won’t say that I specifically miss him that way, that everything would have been different if he had been there. Granqvist in top form is a fantastic midfielder. I would be glad if he was back in top form, but now we have the players who were with us today.
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Sportbladet – Allsvenskan
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