How does it feel, Zlatan? – Aftonbladet

Sometimes you should play fast, sometimes it’s enough to play right.

Sometimes Denmark between Sweden and the European Championships.

When needed right sort balls fast.

Sports Journalism most lambasted issue is alive and well. There’s a reason that it exists and is used, and as we sat at a press conference a few hours left to battle for Scandinavia, I had no more important question to ask Zlatan Ibrahimovic, so:

– How does it feel?

The captain turned his face away, coughing into your elbow, raised his eyebrows and promised that yes, it feels all right. No worries. The French cold is about to give in.

– It is better and better, except I cough now.

Zlatan has a developed olfactory memory, he remembers exactly how it smelled home in the apartment where he grew up, or on the lawn, where he learned to play football. It would be a pity if he would be forced to yield the scent of the European Championship finals, and it would be a football disaster if Sweden had to cope without him.

But it feels then better and better. Ibrahimovic seems to be in good spirits, confident of his form, just in time oscillating between graying wisdom (“it comes to making as few mistakes as possible”) and gallantly galloping madness.

Yesterday, he said he “sat France on the world map “, which was funny. I do not share his opinion, but I am prepared to die for his right to express it. Now, if the Frenchman were making that kind of Swedish written profundities.

Are there clear weaknesses

In the morning meet Sweden Denmark in the kind of defining football matches which may characterize the football half a generation ahead, for both countries.

Denmark will play a Morten Olsenskt 4-3-3, with several different options from the midfield onwards. Sweden seems to have chosen 4-4-2 with two seated inner midfielders (Lewicki (?) And Källström). Match the picture will be guided by a lot of individual units (“target affects the matches” Erik Hamrén so aptly put it), but I am convinced that there will be a pattern that determines how good the chances that Sweden has to survive to the European Championships.

They need to know which ball they should beat.

And they must choose when to hit it.

Denmark has a few obvious weaknesses. They can be a bit naive when building games deep in his central midfield (Portugal Danilo stole the ball in the wholesale and retail against them), they have offensive wing backs, they have central defenders anytime defend the right turn.

In the matches against Russia and Austria, Sweden had genuinely hard to find a decent midfield balance. In Moscow it was Jimmy Durmaz that sank too deep, became passive and let Dzagojev control the game. Against Austria fell Kim Kallstrom down between the center backs, started the game – and so was Albin Ekdal alone as the midfield shield when three-four Austrians came storming.

There is a lot to learn from it.

Do not get excited ahead

The first is that Sweden must take care not to leave an inner midfielder alone when they lose the ball. The second is that they must be sure to utilize counterattack positions they get from Kim Källström’s left foot against Marcus Berg and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, either directly behind Kjaer / Agger or indirectly behind the fugitive backs.

If they succeed in the first place, the a good chance to keep a clean sheet, they succeed with the second, they have a good chance to create chances.

If they both have a good chance to win the game.

So this is where the challenge is, to change quickly, but to do it when the situation is. If Sweden excites forward it can backfire, as it did against Austria, and that they simply can not afford.

– We should not repeat the mistakes we made in those games (against Russia and Austria), especially against Austria, when we got proficient with ironing. We should do what we are good at, the things we found at times that we are capable of doing, said Ibrahimovic yesterday.

– As always, we try to have a good game, but the more Zlatan can move the ball up in the penalty area, the better it is. It is always a part of our tactics to get the ball to him, said Kim Kallstrom.

Must be intelligence also

In the cleavage point between those insights is the game on a pinch and balances .

Sweden know where they have their main weapon, but they need to evaluate when to use it, and when to let Lewicki play the ball around a turn.

Erik Hamrén usually talk about the courage and the will, this time, he must talk about intelligence and decision making as well.

It is not enough to be fast enough or smart enough, they have to be both.

Then they have every opportunity to put Sweden on the French map.

How do you feel?