Hello and welcome to the latest installment of my Football Manager 2019 blog series. Over the last two seasons, we’ve been following the progress of Lyn 1896 as their manager Marit Enstad tries to lead them back into the top flight.
2019 was a good year for Lyn, who missed out on the 2. divisjon play-offs by a very narrow margin. By contrast, 2020 was a miserable affair – so much so that Marit almost lost her job before saving her beloved club from relegation.
I have a feeling, though, that this third year in the third tier could be the charm for Marit’s men. I will now hand over to the first lady of the Bislett as she outlines her preparations for the 2021 season.
TRANSFERS OUT
Hei, det er Marit, and after the misery of 2020, I’ve been thinking long and hard about where I need to improve the squad for 2021. I’ve decided not to panic myself into ripping up the team and starting from scratch. In fact, only seven players have been moved on from Lyn this winter.
Five players were released on free transfers. The saddest departure was that of central defender Faisal Dahir, who’d served Lyn well for several years and was one of our team leaders. Unfortunately, he couldn’t meet the standard required at this level anymore and was allowed to move elsewhere for first-team football.
Two other centre-halves – Mathias Aadnøy and Martin Lundal – didn’t impress me enough to keep them at the Bislett. Neither did striker Felix Boe-Tangen, who rarely got first-team chances from me and had fallen further down the pecking order after a dreadful season at Lyn 2. Right-back Geir Huus Skeie made only three league appearances – all in 2018, before I took charge.
Centre-forward Erlend Hustad was also allowed to leave for free, having scored once in 10 games during his only season at Lyn. He’s now dropped back down to the 3. divisjon after signing for Gjøvik-Lyn. (And before you ask, Gjøvik is nowhere near us – in fact, the town is two hours north of Oslo.)
Youth midfielder Rune Bjørshol will also play in the 3. divisjon this season. The 18-year-old made his senior debut at the end of last year but needs more first-team experience to develop. That’s why I’ve sent Rune off to Pors, where he can hone his craft over the coming months.
We then made a handsome €35,000 through the deadline-day sale of our sought-after playmaker Henrik Lehne Olsen. Levanger from the 1. divisjon initially offered €11,000, but after some tough negotiating, we trebled the fee and get a sell-on clause as well.
I think we’ve got a fantastic deal out of that. Lehne Olsen got two goals and two assists in each of the last two seasons, so he’s not exactly been tearing up the third tier. Henrik is mentally pretty strong, though, so I’ll be interested to see how he does in a better league.
Also on deadline day, we agreed a €27,500 fee with Tromsø for our Under-19s centre-back Eirik Melby. However, Eirik rejected the newly-promoted Eliteserien club’s offer and will remain at Lyn – for now.
Another youth defender who rejected approaches from elsewhere was left-back Granit Berisha. The brave 18-year-old received offers from a number of 3. divisjon clubs, but he chose to stay here on non-contract terms.
TRANSFERS IN
Nine players arrived at Lyn at the last winter transfer window, but there are just five new faces this time around. Indeed, if you still remember the second half of the 2019 season, the first of them won’t be new to you at all.
Benjamin Zalo‘s first stint at the Bislett was a huge success, as the tall and strong central defender put in some excellent performances on loan from IFK Göteborg. He then went back to Sweden for a year, making one Allsvenskan appearance before his contract expired in November.
At first, Big Ben was hesitant to return to Lyn on a permanent basis. It took a two-year, €300-per-week contract to convince him to sign, but I’m sure his second coming will be greeted warmly by our supporters.
Some members of the Bastionen with long memories might also recognise Kot Chol Tafesse‘s name from the 2019 season. I certainly do, because the Kenyan inside-forward was ‘man of the match’ for Moss in my first home league defeat as Lyn manager. Moss were relegated that season, but Tafesse has continued to provide goals and assists aplenty in the 3. divisjon, prompting me to give him another crack at this level.
My next signing was the high-calibre left-back I’ve been looking for. Nikolas Walstad is quick, he times his tackles well, and he’s a generally calm presence at the back. The 24-year-old arrives on a season-long loan deal from Stabæk, who lent us Nicolas Pignatel Jenssen last year. (Incidentally, Jenssen has now been loaned to Halmstads BK in Sweden’s second division.)
I later took two players on trial during pre-season. Former Strømsgodset reserve right-winger Yannis Moula was one of them, and I gave him a part-time contract after scoring in a couple of friendlies. Though the 22-year-old is still pretty raw, he’s very agile and has a sweet first touch, so he could be a useful squad member.
The energetic right-back Filip Johansen Westgaard – recently released from Fredrikstad after nine years – also spent a month on trial with us. He scored a fantastic free-kick in pre-season, and I would’ve signed him permanently only if we had sold Markus Frydenlund first. The promising 18-year-old was wanted by a few Eliteserien clubs, but none of them made concrete offers, so Markus stayed – and Filip didn’t.
And then we come to my final signing of the winter. Lehne Olsen’s exit left us needing a new midfield playmaker, and that was where Gaute Høberg Vetti came into the picture. Gaute made 13 assists for Elverum as they won their 3. divisjon group last season and were promoted back to the 2. divisjon. I was so impressed by his creativity and intelligence that I signed him for €1,500, which could be a bargain.
YOUTH INTAKE
A new year means a new intake of Under-19s players. Once again, we’ve got a healthy contingent of potential first-teamers, three of which clearly stand out from the crowd.
Stian Bogsveen is the best of this year’s intake when it comes to current ability. The pressing forward is quick, naturally fit and has a solid first touch, though his raw finishing ability will take some refining. Stian showed real promise in pre-season by getting an assist for the first-team, as did this next player…
Tor Gulbrandsen is another speedy starlet – and one with an impressive work rate. The small and slight attacker is most comfortable on the wing, though he could also have a future as an inside-forward.
[A homegrown right-winger named Tor? Hmm… where have I seen that before?]
And lastly, let’s meet Reidar Huus [which sounds like a Scotsman simply explaining what an equestrian does for a living]. Reidar is fairly determined, a good sportsman, and a team player – three qualities which will serve him well in the future. I can see him developing into either a fine holding midfielder or a deep-lying playmaker.
BACKROOM STAFF
I’ll keep this short, as there’ve not been many changes to our backroom for this year. Our coaching staff remains the same, as my number 2 Daniel Westvang and fitness coach Hans Erik Ramberg signed new contracts.
By contrast, our recruitment team has had a bit of a makeover. Jan Wiggo Øfelt remains our Director of Football on an improved contract, but he’s now working with two new scouts.
37-year-old Kim-Gøran Nilsen [who has 12 in both Judging Player Ability and Judging Player Potential] has been hired as chief scout and will mainly analyse our forthcoming opponents. He’s been joined on the scouting staff by a 35-year-old Swede in Fredrik Svantesson [12 JPA, 11 JPP]. They respectively replaced Bjørn Erik Tronsmoen and Kristoffer Stolsmo, who each wanted pay rises that their abilities did not deserve.
PRE-SEASON
That probably looks like a good run of pre-season results – six wins, one draw, and one loss. Bear in mind, though, that we’d arranged more friendlies against easier opponents than we had done in previous seasons. After last year’s catastrophe, this was a team that needed to get its confidence back. The first two games certainly helped, as we thrashed a couple of amateur teams.
First off was a 7-1 demolition of Kurer, in which Tafesse and Eirik Haugstad each got braces. We then raced into a 4-0 lead over Fet after just 12 minutes, eventually putting another three goals past them without reply. Marcus Mehnert and Martin Holmen claimed two each, and even 17-year-old youth striker Anders Andersen managed to get his first senior goal.
Oppsal from the 3. divisjon then threw some cold water in our faces. They moved 2-0 ahead after 19 minutes, and though we took 10 minutes to cancel the deficit out, we were back behind come the closing stages. It took a couple of injury-time goals from Johansen Westgaard and Haugstad to steal us a 4-3 win we didn’t really deserve.
There were more defensive issues when we hosted a couple of teams from the 1. divisjon. Firstly, Notodden came from 2-0 and 3-2 down to grab a share of the spoils. We were then comprehensively outclassed by HamKam [that’s Hamarkameratene, not Samantha Cameron’s Norwegian cousin]. A 3-0 humbling gave us our only taste of defeat in this pre-season campaign.
The Bastionen would see a much-needed home victory in our next game. We invited over Kvik Halden – who nearly got promoted to the 2. divisjon last season – and put in a solid (if not clinical) performance to win 2-0.
Then came a more encouraging comeback at Skeid (from the other 2. divisjon group). The hosts went ahead after 31 minutes, but Haugstad hit a brace just before half-time, and Jesper Sandberg completed a 3-1 victory late on. Finally, we coasted past another 3. divisjon team in Kråkerøy to end pre-season with three consecutive wins.
SQUAD REPORT
After a little winter transfer business, there is the current Lyn first-team squad – refreshed and ready for battle. I’ll now quickly go over each player’s role in the team, attaching a few key profiles along the way.
Unlike 12 months ago, I’m really not sure who will be our first-choice goalkeeper this season. At the moment, I’m leaning towards Alexander Vangen, who’s agile, has good positional awareness, and was relatively unscarred by last year’s disaster.
Knut-André Skjærstein – who’s been retained for a third season – is technically slightly better and much less eccentric than Vangen, but he really struggles against long shots. Don’t rule our Faroese reserve goalkeeper Peter Bergmann out of the running either, even if the 19-year-old still has a lot of development to go through.
At left-back, Walstad looks a good option for a team at this level. He’s got excellent tackling ability and is a reasonable crosser of the ball. [Just ignore that 1 Determination for a moment, please.] Nikolas will provide serious competition for our cool-headed vice-captain Joakim Rishovd and our very consistent free-kick virtuoso [and friend of the blog] Oskar Hansen.
Rishovd’s versatility means he remains one of three potential picks at right-back. He will again contend for a starting place with Frydenlund, who’s brave and has a good attitude but struggled for form in his debut season at the Bislett. 22-year-old Eirik Bækkelund – who’s been at Lyn since he was 16 – is our last remaining non-contracted first-team player and might have to settle with being a backup from now on.
Big Ben Zalo is the pick of our centre-halves. He’s tall and imposing in the air, but he perhaps needs to work on the tactical side of his game to become a professional-standard defender. He can potentially fill in as a defensive midfielder if required, which is also the case with Marc Vales – a tenacious Andorran stopper who never stops working for the team.
Covering defender Anders Lübeck has been our captain since 2019 and has generally been pretty solid. However, doubts remain about his decision-making, and so he might play a reduced role this season. Further competition could come from 17-year-old Dan Tandberg, who made three league appearances last year and is working hard to establish himself in the senior team.
Erik Lundanes Jonvik was a cool presence at defensive midfield last term and couldn’t be blamed for too many of our failings. He’s experienced, smart and responsible, if lacking a bit of physical strength. Expect him to play a key role for us again.
Further in midfield, Adil Zahid is now established as a regular starter. The 22-year-old is one of our most creative and intelligent players, excelling either as a mezzala or a more central advanced playmaker. Elder brother Ghayas has spent the last eight seasons with perennial Cypriot champions APOEL, and now Adil is making a name for himself.
We’re blessed with quality in the middle of the park, even now that Marius Østvold has moved on to bigger things. Summer signing Høberg Vetti is another skilful playmaker who likes to dictate the tempo, while Mads Sande‘s dribbling skills and passing range can cause problems. After ill discipline curtailed his first half-season at Lyn, I’m expecting big things from Mads.
At the age of 30, the calm but energetic box-to-box player Holmen is one of our elder statesmen. By contrast, Jesper Sandberg is nearly a decade younger and is an untamed stallion of a midfield destroyer. If Jesper can replicate the form he showed at Nybergsund early last year, he could play a huge role in a challenge for promotion.
Haugstad was the undisputed star of our pre-season, scoring EIGHT goals in as many appearances. The rapid right-winger has often flattered to deceive, but maybe the 27-year-old might now be coming into his prime. The recent arrival of the agile and similarly mercurial Moula as a backup option should keep Eirik sharp.
Tafesse could make a huge difference for us on the left wing. Born in Norway but capped by his parents’ homeland of Kenya, the 25-year-old shows great attacking drive and also takes a mean free-kick. Kot Chol is a much better inside-forward than Simen Vedvik, for whom this could be his last season at Lyn unless he rediscovers the form from his first.
With 27 goals to show for his efforts over the past two seasons, Martin Trøen is now a firm favourite amongst the Bastionen. His endeavour and marksmanship places him among the favourites to be this division’s Top Goalscorer. After all, only one player outscored him in Avdeling 1 last term.
Mehnert was rather more of a disappointment following his arrival from Moss last year, scoring only twice in 22 outings. I’m optimistic that his second season at Lyn will be rather better, as he regularly gets into good positions and at least hits the target more than he misses it. Marcus just needs to calm himself down and be more clinical in his finishing, whether he’s playing up front or out wide.
I will again be using my main two tactical systems this season, with a few more tweaks. I will mainly use this 4-2-3-1 at the Bislett, where we’ll hope to rule the midfield on a narrower pitch than we’ve previously used for home games.
The most significant changes have been at the back. We’re adopting a deeper defensive line to stop fast attackers from breaking through quite as easily. I’ve also put one of our centre-backs on a cover duty, just in case.
Further upfield, we’re now passing into space a bit more to make use of the pace we have, particularly on the right wing. Speaking of the wide players, they will keep their crosses low while attempting them earlier.
With the 4-3-3, I’ve gone for a more cautious and direct approach. The aim with this system is to get the ball upfield quicker when counter-attacking against stronger teams. The mezzala in combination with the winger will give opponents more problems out wide, where we’ll hope to exploit any gaps they leave behind.
Though we are using a higher defensive line in the example above, I will change this from game to game, depending on who we’re playing. If we’re up against Asker and their lethal speed demon Papa Sow, you can bet that we’ll not push quite so high up!
That all looks good to me, Marit. Whisper it quietly, but this could well be third time lucky for Lyn.
We’ll have a good idea of where Lyn stand in the next chapter, which will be coming your way later this week. Be sure to look out for that.
“Takk for lesing!”
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