Hello there, ladies and gentlemen! My name’s Chris, and I’m delighted to welcome you to the start of a brand new Football Manager 2019 adventure on Fuller FM. We’ll be following Lyn 1896 as they try to rise up the Norwegian leagues under new management.
If you missed the introductory post, which explains a little about the club’s infrastructure and history, you can go back and read it here.
I’ll now pass you on to Lyn’s new manager Marit Enstad, who will talk you through pre-season and the winter transfer window before giving you a mini squad report. I’ll jump in occasionally with some out-of-game comments [you’ll see them in square brackets], but for now… take it away, Marit!
ARRIVAL
Hei, det er Marit! I’m the new manager of Lyn 1896, and I’m very excited to be sharing my journey with you!
First things first, here’s the senior squad that I inherited. As you can see, I didn’t have a lot to work with! There were a few players in the second team who were ready to be promoted, but major changes would still need to be made.
Having only one goalkeeper in the squad – 33-year-old amateur Thomas Sandsør – was obviously a problem I had to address quickly. The defence also needed a bit of attention. On a more positive note, we did have some talent in midfield and on the right wing. Our best player was Marius Østvold – a tenacious 21-year-old midfielder coveted by some higher-division teams.
I introduced myself to the squad on the first day of pre-season training. Despite my lack of experience in men’s football, they were all very welcoming… well, all except one.
The lone dissenting voice was that of journeyman midfield playmaker Dulee Johnson. The 34-year-old Liberia international has spent most of his career in the Scandinavian leagues, though he’s also played in Israel, Greece, the Netherlands, South Africa and Romania. [He was also a sought-after bargain striker on Championship Manager 00/01, when he was a teenager. Think of him as a slighly inferior George Weah.]
Johnson’s profile says that he is outspoken, volatile and confrontational [that probably explains why he’s had more clubs than Tiger Woods]. I suspect I’m not the first manager he’s tried to rile up, but I put on a smile as I told the team of my ambitions. My goal for this first season was to stay clear of immediate relegation back to the 3. divisjon and finish in the top half, and then build from there.
Wow. That sure got Dulee on board, didn’t it? With everyone singing from the same hymn sheet, we could now press ahead with training.
Part-time clubs typically only train for two or three days a week, so you must plan ahead and make the most of your limited time. For the first few weeks of pre-season, I would focus on building up my players’ fitness, before moving towards tactical training when the friendlies began in March. Once the competitive matches kick off in April, technical training will start taking priority.
Yes, you’ve read that right! Our pre-season is three months long!
BACKROOM STAFF
When I arrived at the club, we were down to the bare bones when it came to the backroom. We had a Director of Football (Ola Erik Frantzen, who’s been here since 2010), a Head of Youth Development, a fitness coach and two youth coaches, but that was it.
It was up to me to beef up my backroom staff. Ola Erik and I put in some job adverts, and within a few weeks, we’d signed up six new staff members, who are highlighted above in red.
One of my first priorities was to recruit a new assistant manager. I eventually went for Daniel Westvang – a 35-year-old technical coach with excellent man-management skills. He had recently left fourth-tier Lørenskog after a couple of seasons as their assistant boss.
I also recruited Marcus Lantz – a former Sweden international midfielder, no less – to help with our defensive coaching. Marcus might have been managing Superettan side Örgryte as recently as two years ago, but he happily volunteered his services to us. Similarly, a couple of Swedish physios joined our ranks on amateur contracts.
Lastly, I signed a couple of scouts to help us with finding and assessing new blood. Being a part-time club, we were restricted to scouting within Norway, but I had faith that our new scouts would help us unearth some lower-league gems.
TRANSFER WINDOW
When you’re managing at this level of football, you have to cut your cloth very fine. The board gave me a minimal transfer budget, and a weekly playing wage budget of just over €10,000. While the latter was one of the biggest budgets in our division, I couldn’t risk this club’s financial future by using it all up, so I capped myself at €6,000.
Before I talk about the players we’ve brought in, let’s touch on the outs. You won’t recognise any of those five names above, because they’re all reserve players who aren’t cut out for the 2. divisjon.
Two players left us permanently – centre-back Amadou Conde returned to his native Spain, while right-winger Bjarte Hovland dropped back to the 3. divisjon. He was later joined at Follo by striker Chimaobi Ifejilika – one of three players that we loaned out. With all three of those loan deals, we made sure that the other club paid all the wages, which helped us free up some more funds.
And here are the dozen players who’ve joined Lyn for the new season. The first two – left-footed full-backs Martin Fasting and Joakim Rishovd – were actually signed shortly before I took charge, but the others were all my own acquisitions.
Many of my early signings were youngsters brought in with the future in mind. They include goalkeepers Hermann Witzøe and Peter Bergmann (who’s a Faroe Islands youth international), playmaker Hans-Robin Enoksen, and centre-back Mathias Aadnøy.
The first senior player I snapped up was Andreas Østeraas – an aggressive, no-nonsense centre-back who was recently released by divisional rivals Elverum. Funnily enough, we will host Elverum in our first TWO competitive matches this season! We’ve been drawn to face them in Round 1 of the Cupen on 15 April, and they will return to the Bislett six days later for our league opener.
I later signed a couple of very different midfielders. Mads Pedersen is a hard-working Danish defensive midfielder who played in the Eliteserien for Sandefjord as recently as 2015. By contrast, Lars Følstad is a flamboyant advanced playmaker who’s honed his craft in the lower leagues.
Two players were signed directly from KFUM Oslo, who play in the other 2. divisjon group. My search for a new goalkeeper led me to Knut-André Skjærstein, whose aerial ability and decision-making have earned the 23-year-old plenty of respect. He was later joined at Lyn by the pacey 21-year-old winger/forward Simen Vedvik, who’s comfortable with both feet.
Last, but not least, we paid actual money for a quality striker on deadline day. Martin Trøen was transfer-listed at 1. divisjon side Ullensaker/Kisa, who agreed to part with him for €2,800. Time will tell if this was a panic buy or a smart move, but with his acceleration and his lethal finishing ability, I reckon Trøen will be worth the outlay.
YOUTH INTAKE
Before a new season, every Norwegian club welcomes in a new batch of youth players who have ‘graduated’ from the Under-17s side. These are the talents who will make up the bulk of our Under-19s squad next season… and a couple of them could be ready for senior football very soon indeed!
Christopher says that we’ve got more right-wingers than Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party [and UKIP as well, but let’s not go there]. This boy, though, could stand out from the rest and become a Lyn favourite.
Tor Fritzøe Östman is a very athletic wide attacker who has supported Lyn as one of our ‘Bastionen’ since he was very young. He’s got an eye for a killer pass, and I hear that he is also quite useful when it comes to free-kicks.
Another 16-year-old with an exciting future ahead of him is Svein Melfjord, who’s a pacey and composed striker. Svein has already scored his first goal for the senior team during pre-season, and he has been given a squad number that’s double his age. Expect to see him get some competitive action sooner rather than later, especially if our other forwards struggle to find the target.
PRE-SEASON
With team cohesion at a very poor level, I used every opportunity to give the players match practice, arranging nine friendlies. As it happened, we started off our pre-season very well before falling off a cliff. [As a certain Scandinavian coach would say, “First half, good. Second half, not so good.”]
We kicked off in Arendal against a lower-league side named Trauma. [How appropriate, considering my previous FM19 experiences!] Attacking midfielder Henrik Lehne Olsen‘s 7th-minute penalty got us off to a strong start, but Trauma equalised not long afterwards. Two goals from Jonas-Alexander Bakken either side of the break turned the tide firmly in our favour and we eventually ran out 6-1 winners.
And then came this result…
With Ole Gunnar Solskjær at the wheel, Molde regained the Eliteserien title in 2018. Ole challenged our boys to a friendly, only to be left red-(baby)faced in embarrassment when we kept them at bay for 90 minutes. Though we posed little threat to a defence headed by Vegard Forren [Southampton and Brighton LEGEND, by the way!], I’m sure we’d all take a goalless draw at home to the league champions!
Our attackers found their scoring form again at Klemetsrud. Despite again being pegged back to 1-1 midway through the first half, we ultimately won 4-1, with youth prospect Melfjord completing the scoring. We registered 17 shots on target in that match, and then another 16 at Flisbyen, though we surprisingly only won 2-0 there.
Our first real setbacks came when we hosted a couple of 1. divisjon sides. Mjøndalen punished our profligacy with a narrow 1-0 win, while Åsane were insanely ruthless, going 4-0 up within the first 27 minutes! Reserve winger Rasmus Gjemmestad spared us further embarrassment by scoring the goal that ‘won’ us the second half, but reality was hitting home.
I was even more concerned when we went down 2-1 away to Skeid, who play in the same tier as us. Goals from their right-back and centre-half midway through the first half put us in a difficult position, and we came away with only a scrappy consolation from winger Eirik Haugstad.
That was when I signed Trøen, who made an instant impact by netting a brace at home to KFUM Oslo. Unfortunately, our opponents also scored twice, leading 2-1 at the break before Martin’s second half penalty put us back on an equal footing. We concluded pre-season with a timely return to winning ways, though we had to survive a late scare from 3. divisjon side Korsvoll before emerging as 3-1 victors.
SQUAD REPORT
With the transfer window closed and pre-season finished, this is the squad that we will take into the 2019 season. I won’t write about every single player in this squad report, but I’ll quickly summarise each area of the team. I’ll also show you the attributes and profiles of five men who could play key roles for us over the coming months.
Despite not officially being our number 1, Skjærstein will start as our new first-choice goalkeeper. The 24-year-old is a cool-headed custodian who commands his area quite well and was in the promotion play-offs with KFUM Oslo last year. His much older deputy Sandsør – who’s been at Lyn for much of the past decade – will play mainly in cup and reserve matches.
Defence is still quite a weak area for us, though we do have some quality there. While Anders Lübeck has questionable positioning and prefers to play at right-back, he has the concentration and aerial ability to be a reliable central defensive general. As such, I have appointed him as our new captain.
Lübeck will mainly be partnered by either Faisal Dahir – who first played for Lyn as a 16-year-old way back in 2010 – or winter signing Østeraas. At full-back, the man to watch is the versatile and hard-working Rishovd, who provided four assists in pre-season.
Despite also being new to Lyn, I’ve entrusted Pedersen with the vice-captaincy. The 26-year-old Dane is a fearless ball-winner with great leadership qualities, and he can also take a mean penalty.
Providing backup for Pedersen is the long-serving Emil Borkø – now in his sixth consecutive season at the Bislett. Elder statesman Johnson is another player who could fill that holding midfield role, though he’s more of a deep-lying playmaker than a tough tackler.
On pure ability, box-to-box midfielder Østvold is our most talented player. The lifelong Lyn supporter actually came through rivals Stabæk’s youth system before joining us in 2018. A firm but fair tackler with a great work ethic, Marius ignored interest from a couple of 1. divisjon clubs and signed a new three-year contract with us in March.
Much of our creativity is likely to come from 22-year-old Følstad, who can play either in central midfield or in a more advanced role. Lehne Olsen (age 21) and Adil Zahid (age 20) are two more young playmakers with the potential to be major game-changers.
The explosive Haugstad – who’s made 68 appearances in the top two divisions – starts out as our first-choice right-winger. Mind you, he does not have much technical ability, so he could be quickly ousted if other players (such as Johannes Johannessen, Gjemmestad or even Fritzøe Östman) kick on.
And then we come to our star striker. Trøen is a natural and clinical finisher, which is summed up by the fact he scored 27 goals in only 12 games for Eidsvold Turn in the 3. divisjon in 2016! Martin subsequently moved up to the 1. divisjon, and although that proved too much for him, he’ll hopefully feel more at home here.
Make no mistake, I’m putting a lot of trust in Trøen. Bakken was our main marksman last term, but aside from that brace against Trauma, he did nothing of note in pre-season. Our only other natural senior striker is Morten Lyngstad Bjørshol – and I’ll mainly be using him as an inside-forward on the left flank.
Lastly, here’s the 4-2-3-1 tactical system I’ll mainly be using this season. I know it’s not the most defensively stable tactic, but I feel that we have enough attacking talent to make up for it. Getting our advanced playmaker involved and creating good chances for our front three will be key to any potential success we have.
I also experimented with a 4-3-3 [a 4-1-4-1 DM wide for you FM nerds] and a narrow 4-4-2 diamond, but the tactic above has got us more consistent results. I may make some minor changes game-by-game, such as dropping the defensive line against quick strikers, or using a more cautious mentality away from home.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading that first post and are looking forward to the start of Lyn’s competitive fixtures in the next part (which I’ll hope to have ready on Thursday).
I’ve notice that several Lyn fans have started following me on Twitter after the club’s official account ‘liked’ my introductory post, which I think is very cool. If any of you ‘Bastionen’ want to share some information about the club or its players (or about Norwegian football in general), either leave a comment below or tweet me. This is a very different experience to what I’m used to on FM, so I’m happy to learn anything useful.
“Takk for lesing!”
Fuller FM 
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