Gregg Berhalter: New Hammarby manager!

Discussion in 'Yanks Abroad Academy' started by iamalfred, Dec 12, 2011.

  1. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    Yeah, the fantastic start is definitely a big part of the reason why there is unhappiness now. If Hammarby would have gotten the exact same amount of points but evenly distributed throughout the first 15 games I think the fans would be a bit more cautiously optimistic right now. What's most important though is that the supporters still have confidence in Berhalter, which they do.

    Hammarby has a decent squad on average, but not in the way that all of their players individually are decent. It's more like they have a good starting eleven when everyone is available but outside of those guys the quality is low. Part of the reason for their poor results has been players missing. For example Max von Schlebrügge will finally be returning from his long injury and starting after the break which will increase the quality of their defence alot.

    Hopefully they can also succeed in signing a goalscorer, another above average defender, and maybe a depth guy somewhere. Alot is going to ride on getting those summer signings right. Realistically I think it's going to be difficult for them to finish in the top two as they won't catch up with Öster and I have a hard time seeing both Brommapojkarna and Halmstad stumble in a major way. One of them might very well do though, giving Hammarby a good chance at a third place finish and promotion playoffs if they can start winning again.
     
  2. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    The swedish assistant manager who stayed on from last season resigned today citing a lack of motivation. The U21 coach and goalkeeping coach will temporarily take over his role until the club finds someone permanent for the position. Maybe Berhalter are going to bring in another american?
     
  3. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    He didn't, he instead chose Djurgården assistant manager Carlos Banda who has a history with Hammarby. The official story is that Berhalter himself wanted and scouted Banda for the position, but it does seem likely that the club pointed him in Bandas direction considering his history with Hammarby youth teams.

    The other bit of news is that the club has signed canadian midfielder Nikolas Ledgerwood who Berhalter apparantly played with in Germany. I don't know anything about him but it's kind of an odd signing if you ask me since midfield is probably the last place that needs reinforcements this transfer window. I guess it makes some sense if he's a very mobile and dynamic player since the midfield they have now is pretty static, and maybe this is only the first of many signings.
     
  4. Karen Walker

    Karen Walker New Member

    Nov 22, 2007
    Maybe some information will be posted by the 1860 guys.


     
  5. White/Blue_since1860

    Orange14 is gay
    Jan 4, 2007
    Bum zua City
    Club:
    TSV 1860 München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Okay first let me say, Ledgerwood wasnt my all-time favorite player at 1860. as I considered him simply not to be good enough where I wanted my club to go. Anyway, Nik made it to pro-soccer through 1860 "Talentschmiede" as later the Bender twins and others. What you can be sure of is tactical awareness as it already plays a big role in 1860 youth system that's competing with FCBs. Though he never was that starting-11 guy, he only came to games when others were injured or the club did have the money to invest in better back-up players. Though when he played, one could say, he always gave his best. He's a fighter if he wants to. But that wasnt always enough as the DM position is the most important in position in modern football. That's why he had to leave the club for such a minor 2nd Buli club such as FSV Frankfurt. He isnt that typical playmaking or "destroyer" DM, he is something in between as he is not that good at both. I even remember he started in the pro team as LM, but after a few disastrous matches (OMG the CROSSES !!!) due to technical lacks they put him on the DM. Depending on what are your plans for him I would say a good transfer if you plan with him as an sub DM, as he wont do any trouble in the team for not playing. In case of everything else I would prevent laying all my hopes on that guy.

    He was nicknamed "Ledschad"-Wood, in Bavarian tongue, meaning "tired" or "lethargic".
     
  6. LoewenBoy

    LoewenBoy Member+

    Aug 25, 2004
    Giesing, Muenchen
    Club:
    TSV 1860 München
    Nat'l Team:
    Sint Maarten
    Nick played with Gregg at 1860 for seveal years. Nick came up through the 1860 system. He was a propsoect for the future but sadly never really met the hype around him. Does not make him a bad player. He is naturally a DM -- usually in a double six formation -- but can also play wing defense...on the left. The Canadian team was playing him for a long time at LB while 1860 was playing him at DM. Can also play wing midfield.

    He has a decent read of the game, is a tough tackler and fairly clean player. He can flank well but is not strong in the air. He always gives 100%. Much like Berhalter, he may not be the most gifted guy on the field, but his ability to read the game and anticipate makes up for that. Nick used to be fast but am sure age has slowed him down a bit.

    My guess is if he was picked up it was for being a MF all arounder and someone who can slot in at defense too.
     
  7. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010


    Hammarby played a very dramatic 2-2 draw today against Jönköpings Södra. They were down 0-2 early in the game but managed to score the 1-2 goal just before halftime. Then in the second half Hammarby got a man sent off but still managed to score the equalizer with ten men. After that the teams traded chances back and forth and it was a minor miracle that there were no more goals scored. Hammarby also got a second player sent off in the last minutes of the game.

    I only had the game on in the background since my main focus was on another game so I can't give a much more detailed report. I can at least say inform Baggio provided the assist to the first Hammarby goal on a free kick. Schuler spent the whole game on the bench and signs might not be so good for him considering that Berhalter chose to sub on a newly promoted 17 year old youth striker towards the end of the game instead of Schuler. The club also announced today that they have signed forward Mattias Adelstam who (although I personally think he's terrible) will also likely be placed ahead of Schuler in the internal forward rankings. Finally, Dustin Corea didn't play for Jönköpings Södra as he can't officially be registered before August 1st.
    Code:
    Öster              16   14    2    0    35-12    44
    Brommapojkarna     16   12    0    4    32-20    36
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Ängelholms FF      16    8    5    3    27-21    29
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Halmstad           16    8    4    4    32-19    28
    Ljungskile SK      16    6    5    5    22-22    23
    Hammarby           16    6    5    5    21-21    23
    Landskrona BoIS    16    7    2    7    25-26    23
    Jönköpings Södra   16    5    6    5    29-29    21
    Falkenberg         16    5    5    6    24-22    20
    IK Brage           16    5    5    6    19-24    20
    Varbergs BoIS      16    5    4    7    23-28    19
    Assyriska          15    5    3    7    22-23    18
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Degerfors IF       16    4    3    9    22-29    15
    Trelleborg         15    3    3    9    15-23    12
    -------------------------------------------------------
    IFK Värnamo        16    2    4   10    16-30    10
    Umeå FC            16    2    4   10    19-34    10
    
    The next game is away against Halmstad and looking at the table they are going to need a result there to keep the gap to third place from growing too big.
     
    WrmBrnr repped this.
  8. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Maybe Schuler should move to Molde with Gatt.
     
  9. prowazekii

    prowazekii Member

    Jun 21, 2008
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks. I was wondering why he wasn't in the line-up.
     
  10. sakibomb523

    sakibomb523 Member+

    Oct 13, 2009
    Orange County
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I assume the Tippeligaen is better than the Swedish second division.
     
  11. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    FK Molde (Gatt's team) is anyway.
     
  12. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010


    Hammarby kept hope alive today when they won 1-0 at home against last place Umeå FC. This was only their second win in the last 13 games but these three points combined with some favourable results in other games means that third place still remains reachable.

    They looked the better team throughout the game so it was a fair result, but I can't help but feel that it's a weakness that they can't kill off a game like this against the worst team earlier. Husidic started, played 80 minutes and provided the assist on the goal with a nice cross. Schuler remained on the bench the entire game.

    Next game is away against Assyriska who has the worst form in the league so that might be a good opportunity to keep the positive momentum going with another three points.
    Code:
    Öster              17   14    3    0    35-12    45
    Brommapojkarna     18   13    0    5    35-23    39
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Halmstad           18    9    5    4    36-21    32
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Ängelholms FF      18    8    5    5    28-29    29
    Ljungskile SK      18    7    6    5    23-22    27
    Hammarby           18    7    5    6    22-23    26
    Landskrona BoIS    18    8    2    8    26-28    26
    Falkenberg         18    6    5    7    28-25    23
    IK Brage           18    6    5    7    21-26    23
    Jönköpings Södra   18    5    7    6    31-32    22
    Varbergs BoIS      17    5    5    7    24-29    20
    Trelleborg         17    5    3    9    24-26    18
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Assyriska          17    5    3    9    25-30    18
    Degerfors IF       18    4    5    9    26-33    17
    -------------------------------------------------------
    IFK Värnamo        18    3    5   10    21-31    14
    Umeå FC            18    3    4   11    21-36    13
    
    In other news Berhalter may have felt less than flattered as the biggest newspaper in Sweden published an article yesterday on the gambling odds of him getting fired and who the possible replacements are. For those who don't feel like clicking and google translating I can say that the odds are 1.65 that he's still the manager at the end of the season and 2.10 that he he isn't.
     
  13. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010


    1-1 draw today for Hammarby against Assyriska. The Assyriska goal was, just like last time these two teams played, scored by the trialist Hammarby turned down this winter. Berhalter might be regretting that decision since this was his ninth goal of the season while the Hammarby forwards have a combined total of three (not counting Castro-Tello as a forward). It does look like Berhalter haven't been able to find a solution to Hammarbys number one problem because today was like many of their other games where they dominate possession but are extremely toothless in their attacks. They only managed to salvage their one point with a spectacular long range strike in the last seconds of added on time.

    Baggio played the full game and mixed good and bad actions, but didn't really stand out in either direction. Schuler didn't make the matchday squad.

    Code:
    Öster              18   15    3    0    38-14    48
    Brommapojkarna     18   13    0    5    35-23    39
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Halmstad           19   10    5    4    38-21    35
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Ängelholms FF      19    8    5    6    28-31    29
    Ljungskile SK      19    7    6    6    24-25    27
    Hammarby           19    7    6    6    23-24    27
    Landskrona BoIS    18    8    2    8    26-28    26
    Varbergs BoIS      19    6    6    7    27-30    24
    Falkenberg         18    6    5    7    28-25    23
    IK Brage           18    6    5    7    21-26    23
    Jönköpings Södra   18    5    7    6    31-32    22
    Assyriska          19    5    5    9    26-31    20
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Trelleborg         18    5    3   10    26-29    18
    Degerfors IF       18    4    5    9    26-33    17
    -------------------------------------------------------
    IFK Värnamo        18    3    5   10    21-31    14
    Umeå FC            18    3    4   11    21-36    13
    
     
  14. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    [​IMG]

    Hammarby were eliminated in the second round of the swedish cup tonight against third tier club IK Sirius. According to reports Sirius were the better team and took the lead towards the end of the first half. Hammarby then got a good chance to come back into the game as Sirius had a man sent off in the 65th minute and shortly thereafter they equalized.

    Unfortunaly they didn't manage to score any more goals in the remaining 23 minutes + 30 minutes of overtime so the game went to penalties. Baggio scored the first one for Hammarby (that's supposedly him in the fuzzy photo above) and then everyone in both teams kept scoring until Billy Schuler completely missed the goal in the fourth round. Sirius then scored theirs and the last Hammarby penalty hit the bar.

    Granted Sirius is one of the better third tier teams and might be playing in Superettan next season but it's still a pretty embarrassing defeat with the way that the game played out.
     
  15. The Irish Rover

    The Irish Rover Member+

    Aug 1, 2010
    Dublin
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Ireland Republic
    Is Berhalter in serious trouble? If he is, will they wait until the end of the season?
     
  16. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    Well, the Hammarby fans are being more patient then I think I've ever seen them. But even so, some have started having some concerns over Berhalter.

    Still though I think that unless they get dragged into the relegation battle (which is not totally unrealistic) he will be given this full season and the start of the next one to try to get some positive momentum going.

    And they really do need some of that momentum, because I read on their forum that after their great start to the league they have won only 3 times in the last 14 games, and all of those wins came against teams that are currently in the last four places in the table.
     
    Dave216J repped this.
  17. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Hammarby played a 0-0 draw against Landskorna BoIS yesterday. I feel that I'm starting to only repeat myself here in these reports: Hammarby controlled the game but were totally unable to score, Baggio was alright but didn't stand out, and Schuler stayed on the bench. Have you heard these things before? :)

    Well, with ten games remaining Hammarby are 10 points from promotion playoff and 8 points from relegation playoff. As you can see in the graph below they are now at almost the exact same spot as they were at this point last year (green = this year, pink = last year). This even though (or maybe because) they have a total of 13 new players in the squad compared to then. Hopefully they will at least finish this season better then last year and not get involved at the bottom. Having a positive trend at the end of the season would be great for the start next year.

    [​IMG]

    The biggest problem for the team remains the goalscoring. Berhalter has given into what the fans wanted in the last few games and played more of a 4-4-2 formation in order to have two forwards which seems to have enabled them to create more chances but still not scoring. To illustrate the problem the tv-commentetor mentioned yesterday after Hammarby substituted off one of their forwards that none of the remaining players on the pitch had scored more then one goal this season (and the forward they took off has only scored two!). It doesn't really look like Berhalter has any solution to this problem.

    There was also an article in the paper earlier in the week where Berhalter talked about the experience so far at Hammarby. The things of interest might be that he pointed out that some of the players couldn't handle having such a good start to the season. And also that he underestimated how much their opponents viewed playing Hammarby as their "game of the year" meaning that everyone they play is always at their most motivated. He compared this to how things were when he played at LA Galaxy where their opponents would move the games to bigger stadiums when they came to visit.
     
    Roblar and Mr Martin repped this.
  18. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    [​IMG]

    Things look more positive for Berhalter today as Hammarby both dominated AND won their latest game on Sunday 3-1. The club have also been given $1.5 million from the construction company who is building the stadium where they were supposed to start playing at next season. The money is compensation for the delays in finishing the build (at best it might get completed towards next fall) and this money has now been used to bring in new players.

    So far they have signed seven players and it's easy to see the benefit of spending the remaining nine games giving the new starting eleven time to gel so that they are ready right from the start next season. The latest and biggest signing is Hammarby icon Kennedy Bakircioglü who only a little over a year ago looked decent playing in La Liga so I have to imagine that he will be the best player in the entire Superettan league. This is obviously a dream signing for Berhalter, not only for his quality on the pitch, but also because the fans will now remain happy for the rest of the season. From an american perspective it will be interesting to see where in he will be playing, because of his high level it might be tempting to put him in central midfield which might leave Baggio outside of the starting eleven.

    [​IMG]

    So in summary there seems to be happier times ahead for Hammarby fans with all these signings. The only warning flag I would put up is that some of the signings seem a bit random and that they are bringing in alot of older players so the starting eleven seem to be around the 30 year old mark. But that's a worry for another season :)
     
  19. Fanatical Monk

    Fanatical Monk Member+

    Jun 14, 2011
    Fantasyland
    Pretty good chance to outdo last year coming up, with what looks like a 5 game losing streak last season. I did see they won the other day.
     
  20. schrutebuck

    schrutebuck Member+

    Jul 26, 2007
    Hammarby defeat Angelholms 2-1 today. The good news is that Hammarby are 4th, the bad news is that 3rd place and the promotion playoff are 10 points away.
     
    Tom Collingsworth repped this.
  21. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    Yeah, I didn't watch the game but it sounds like it was a brand new Hammarby playing yesterday and the fans are very happy. Baggio provided an almost-assist on the second goal (2:27 into the highlights video below). The finish on that goal also shows the difference in bringing in and playing an Allsvenskan-quality forward compared to the guy they have been sticking with up top throughout this season who probably would have shot straight at the keeper or tried to move past him only to lose the ball out of bounds. Berhalter must be really happy to have brought in his new signings.

    Like you say though, it's a bit late and there's a ten point gap to third place. The very last straw to grasp at is next game which is against second place Brommapojkarna after the international break. If Hammarby win that one they're eight points behind them and maybe Brommapojkarna can start to feel a little nervous at least since their form isn't that great (three losses in the last five league games plus eliminated in the swedish cup).

     
    Tom Collingsworth repped this.
  22. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    No promotion for Berhalter and his Hammarby this season as they lost todays last chance game against Brommapojkarna 1-2. They started well and took an early lead but Brommapojkarna came back and won the game fairly I think as they were the better team for most of the 90 minutes. Brommapojkarna also had a man sent off with 25 minutes to go but Hammarby couldn't make a comeback. No americans on the pitch as Schuler is out on loan and Baggio struggles with a minor injury.

    Code:
    Öster              23   18    4    1    47-20    58
    Brommapojkarna     23   16    0    7    45-32    48
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Halmstad           23   14    5    4    49-21    47
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Hammarby           23    9    7    7    29-28    34
    

    Obviously this is a very disappointing early end to the season for Hammarby and a huge failure. To be honest though the three clubs at the top of the table are more deserving and it's not by accident that they have a 13 point gap between themselves and the fourth placed club.

    Quality wise Hammarby have just as good, and maybe better, top players as the top three. However their poorest players are much, much worse then anything Öster, Halmstad and Brommapojkarna put out there. The top three are very even in the quality within their squads with no big dips in certain positions which I think is the main difference while Hammarby is such a mix of players of very different levels.
     
  23. Fanatical Monk

    Fanatical Monk Member+

    Jun 14, 2011
    Fantasyland
    So will Berhalter stay on after this season do you think? If so will he get a chance to turn over much of the squad?
     
  24. iamalfred

    iamalfred Member+

    Aug 15, 2010
    Yeah, I'm pretty sure he will stay on for next year. I don't remember who exactly said this (maybe the director of sports) but Hammarby will have the resources to sign three Allsvenskan level salary players this winter. Several of the worst players are also on the last years of their contract so they will be leaving automatically. I would guess that central midfield and fullbacks will be a priority. Hopefully though they will not only focus on those three higher quality players but also on raising the level of the depth guys a little. And of course in part these changes already began this summer with seven new players, and if Hammarby would have had todays squad from the start of the year then they would still be at least in the run for promotion.
     
  25. sakibomb523

    sakibomb523 Member+

    Oct 13, 2009
    Orange County
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    maybe Charlie Davies should go to Hammarby, it's probably his level right now.
     

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