The squad for the World Cup is to be revealed on thusday. Who do you want to be selected for the squad, and what's your starting XI? GK: Andreas Isaksson, Johan Alvbåge and Bengt Andersson D: Stenman, Mellberg, Lukic, Edman, K. Svensson, C. Andersson, Östlund (due to an extreme lack of options) and P. Hansson. M: Ljungberg, Linderoth, Wilhelmsson, Källström, A. Svensson, Alexandersson, Djuric/hysén (neither is really likely to be picked), Jonson and D. Andersson. F: Rosenberg, Zlatan, Larsson and Allbäck. Starting XI ------------Isaksson Stenman Mellberg Lucic Edman -----------Linderoth Wilhelmsson Källström Ljungberg ---------Larsson Zlatan
You've got 24 players up there... But as you say Djuric/Hysén probably won't be picked so I'll assume you'd take them out if you had to. Other than that I pretty much agree with you although I'd prefer Elmander instead of Allbäck. Also I wouldn't mind Hysén instead of Jonson because of his left foot. Regarding your starting XI, Alexandersson should start ahead of Wilhelmsson. The only thing Wilhelmsson is good at is dribbling but for some reason he doesn't seem to have the confidence to do that for the national team. Alexandersson is a much more complete player. Have you seen Stenman play for Leverkusen? I've just heard he's doing alright but I don't really know. Although I suppose anything is better than Östlund... Edit: If Hysén is chosen for midfield I'd prefer Jonson ahead of Allbäck in attack (but after Elmander)
I suppose those are good options. I don't really have any objections. I suppose you could start Wilhelmsson against T&T and Alexandersson against England and Paraguay, due to him being more skilled defensivly. I too have heard that Stenman has been solid for Leverkusen. The only problem is, ofcourse, that he's a LB and not a RB. If Stenman isn't capable of playing RB, I'd rather have Andersson playing RB instead of Östlund. Like you said, anything is better than Östlund.
It would have been interesting to see how we could handle a sort of 3-5-2 ---------------Isaksson---------------- ---Mellberg--Lucic--K. Svensson-------- ---------------------------------Edman ---------Linderoth-----Källström-------- -Ljungberg--------A. Svensson---------- ---------Larsson----Ibrahimovic-------- With Edman being a defensive winger and Källström having the kind of role Pirlo has for Italy.
There are not many opportunities left for any surprises. For any 'outsiders' to have a fair chance they should have been tried earlier and been given a chance to adapt and acclimatize to the national team. Ignoring all that, I would have liked this 23: Andreas Isaksson, Bengt Andersson, Jonas Sandqvist Erik Edman, Teddy Lucic, Tommy Jönsson, Christoffer Andersson, Fredrik Stenman, Olof Mellberg, Mikael Antonsson, Mikael Nilsson Kim Källström, Tobias Linderoth, Fredrik Ljungberg, Anders Svensson, Christian Wilhelmsson, Alex Farnerud, Dusan Djuric, Johan Arneng Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson, Johan Elmander, Markus Allbäck And this 4-4-2 (straight): Isaksson Chr. Andersson - Lucic - Jönsson - Edman Källström - Linderoth - A. Svensson - Ljungberg Larsson - Ibrahimovic
You're right, Alexandersson is be more complete, but he's not good at anything. Don't get me wrong, Wilhelmsson is no favourite player of mine. He has got his dribbling skill. He just lacks the ability to complete a simple pass after a run. I seem to recall that he's decent defensively though.
My preferred List: (somewhat unrealistic) GK: Isaksson, B. Andersson, Alvbåge D: Mellberg, Lucic, Edman, Östlund, K. Svensson, Augustson, Antonsson, Hansson M: Ljungberg, A. Svensson, Källström, Wilhelmsson, Linderoth, Alexanderson, Ishizaki F: Ibrahimovic, Larsson, Rosenberg, Elmander, Jonson I only chose 7 midfielders since both Jonson & Elmander can play midfield as well as forward. My starting 11: (4-2-2-2 formation) ------------- Isaksson ------------- Östlund - Mellberg - Lucic - Edman ------- Linderoth - Källström -------- -- Ljungberg -------- A. Svensson -- ----- Ibrahimovic --- Larsson ------ ...with both Ljungberg and Svensson having very free roaming roles, as in their clubs A fun 4-3-3 variant ------------- Isaksson ------------- Östlund - Mellberg - Lucic - Edman ---- Linderoth ------ Källström ----- ----------- A. Svensson ------------ -- Ibrahimovic ------- Ljungberg -- ------------- Larsson --------------
tend to disagree about Wilhelmsson. Its just that he rarely recives the ball around the opponent penalty area. In the nt he oftens has to recive the ball in positions where his qualities doesnt suit him the best. Otherwise, as when I've always seen him in Championsleague, he's a rather direct and simple player. We have abit too offensive lineup I'd say, this being the reason for this imbalance. We lack players that can distribute the ball from defence. Anyway, players that run with the ball are required; we lack em and Wilhelmsson and Hysen are one of few that do this well. As for Alexandersson, I have my opinion bout him. I'll just say that I'd rather see a more defensive minded midfielder, a more physical one, being asked to play that role that he plays. I dont rate him to begin with, never have and never will, but imo he's being miss used. Like to see Hysen, Djuric too but I doubt it.
Sweden's official WC squad was announced today: GK: Andreas Isaksson Jon Alvbåge Rami Shaaban Defenders: Olof Mellberg (captain) Mikael Nilsson Erik Edman Teddy Lucic Kalle Svensson Petter Hansson Fredrik Stenman Midfielders: Nicklas Alexandersson Kim Källström Daniel Andersson Tobias Linderoth Freddie Ljungberg Anders Svensson Chippen Wilhelmsson Johan Elmander (can play as Forward) Forwards: Zlatan Ibrahimovic Henrik Larsson Marcus Rosenberg Marcus Allbäck Mattias Jonson (can play as Midfielder) Note: The forwards and midfielders were presented as one group, but I separated them out according to their roles in their club teams. - My impression: I'm very happy with this squad. It is very offensively strong (perhaps our strongest ever), and coach Lagerbäck did have the guts to include many young talented players at the cost of older players. Good surprises: - Kalle Svensson, a very impressive young defender - That both Elmander & Rosenberg got to go, since both will be the future foundation of the team. Negative suprises: - Allbäck... I would have picked another defender. He's good, but not good enough to exclude other younger players for... * This squad has seven (!) players with forward credentials. (If you include Ljungberg, who as been a forward for Arsenal on occation) Reserves: Bengt Andersson Christoffer Andersson Kennedy Bakircioglu Fredrik Berglund Mikael Dorsin Tobias Hysen Daniel Majstorovic Max von Schlebrugge Alexander Östlund
I'm quite pleased with this one, although I would have preffered Bengt Andersson instead of one of the two reserve goalies. But then again, I don't really know how Shaaban and Alvbåge has played in Norway and Denmark. Does Elmander really play in midfield for Bröndby? I thought he was a supporting striker or something like that. It seems like Lagerbäck simply decided to pick the best 23 players we had, wich showes our lack in defence and our relative strength in attack. Hopefully that will translate to a lot of scored goals.
Looking at how the squad is distributed across Europe: Sweden: 7 Denmark: 4 France 3 England: 2 Spain: 1 Italy: 1 Germany: 1 Holland: 1 Greece: 1 Belgium: 1 Norway: 1 It's the most players playing in Sweden we've had since '94, also the least number of players in England since '94. Plus we won the olympic gold in hockey... all the signs are pointing to a great summer 2004: England: 6 Sweden: 3 Denmark: 3 Holland: 3 Scotland: 2 France: 2 Germany: 1 Italy: 1 Portugal: 1 Belgium: 1 2002: England: 8 (1 in div 1) Sweden: 3 Denmark: 3 Holland: 3 Scotland: 2 Spain: 1 France: 1 Germany: 1 Italy: 1 2000: Sweden: 5 England: 4 Norway: 1 Germany: 2 Spain: 3 Denmark: 2 Italy: 3 Scotland: 2 1994: Sweden: 11 (7 from IFK Göteborg) Germany: 2 Holland: 2 Italy: 2 Turkey: 1 Portugal: 1 England: 1 Switzerland: 1 France: 1
If Nilsson doesn't get much playing time at panathinaikos before the WC starts, I'm guessing Lagerbäck will play Alexandersson as RB?
Yep, that means that the starting back-line is probably cemented as follows: (with players in full health) Alexandersson - Mellberg - Lucic - Edman And the forwards are of course a given: Zlatan & Henke That leaves the midfield: Ljungberg and Linderoth are for sure starters. That leaves two starting spots to compete for among: Svensson, Kallstrom, Wilhelmsson
At a WC final you need real strikers and that is exactly what Allbäck still is. He's the 2nd most scoring forward you got on the NT at the moment (55 caps, 23 goals).. and he has been very convincing as topscorer in the Danish league this season (btw along with Alvaro Santos ..and doing a much more convincing job of it than Santos if you ask me). So if one of the "forwards" should be left out of the squad it should surely be Mattias Jonson. He's just as old as Allbäck and Knowing him very well from his time at Brøndby and from the Swedish NT, I dont regard him as a real forward, but more of a fairly good winger, but nowhere near the same class as Elmander.. and as a forward nowhere near the same class as Allbäck. .
You may be right... I don't keep up much on the Danish league. But Rosenberg would probably still be my pick as first forward substitute. (#3 forward)
This discussion is probably more appropriate in the World Cup / Group B forum, so I have created a thread there, starting with the squad announcement: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=350423
!Aftonbladet had a pretty interesting article about playing A. Svensson on the left today. That might be a soultion and it would mean getting both Svensson and Källström on the pitch at the same time" Why should he play at all? He's not even impressing in the swedish league... Anyway, I think the fact that Holmen pushed him out on the wing at Elfsborg speaks for itself; that Anders just isnt capable of holding a central midfielder role unless he has atleast 2 defensive midfielders watching his back. How he can still be considered for the central midfielder role in the nt is beyond me. But yeah, if he should feature at all, it should be on the left. But Ljungberg is rubbish at the rigthwing on the other and I would prefer Hysen there as a backup anyway. As for the squad, I'm missing C.Andersson at the rigthback. He offers some offensive qualities and although he isnt the best defender, atleast he has pace and is aggressive. Nilsson and Alexandersson arnt good enough in 1 on 1 situations for the position; too slow, cant tackle.