Danish Football Season 2016/17

[EarlofBug]

5) AaB Aalborg
About the club: 4th biggest city, quite unstable, sometimes bad, sometimes really good. Good at using own youth players.
Always offensive and risky gameplan.
Comparable club: ?? (any suggestions, I would think there is a Dutch or Portugeese club could fit?) or Southampton maybe?

Maybe Sevilla? Bilbao? Bremen?

Sevilla for me seems a bit more stable, but I think the idea is good, offensive etc..
Also I think both teams really prefer to play at home

I think that Bremen and Bilbao are better examples. Also Leverkusen, Köln, Schalke and Frankfurt.

Nordsjælland
About the club: Have recently been bought by Tom Vernon (The Right To Dream), just next to the capital without a lot of money. Quite good at thinking long term with a lot of investment and use of young players. Maybe a bit to long-term and no short-term focus on results. But they have gone all the way once before, after 4-5 build up seasons.
Also have an artificial pitch and not one of the good ones.
Comparable club: Small club with lots of focus on youth and long-term perspective??

Maybe Westham, Rostov, Utrecht?

[SteffenM]

Perfect!! I am not that strong about Utrecht, but I imgaine it to be a bit "dutch" and utrect seem to be the club to with.
And year also Schalke. Big differences on performances. Also in domestic league and european leagues, so, perfect!

1) København - Bayern M./Celtic
2) Midtjylland - Dortmund
3) Brøndby - Arsenal/Hertha
4) OB Odense - Stuttgart
5) AaB Aalborg - Schalke
6) AGF Aarhus - Liverpool
------------
7) SønderjyskE - Leicester
8 ) Nordsjælland - Utrecht
9) Randers - AZ
10) Lyngby - Nottingham Forest
11) Viborg - Bournemouth
12) Esbjerg - Aston Villa
13) Horsens - Hull
14) Silkeborg - Freiburg

Now after 4 nice mid-weeks wins,
Wed Crusaders – FC København 0-3
Thu FC Midtjylland – FC Vaduz 3-0
Thu SønderjyskE – Strømsgodset 2-1
Thu Hibernian – Brøndby IF 0-1

The league starts again tonight, with the new season.
Friday aren't the biggest club though. We start easy with
Fri Bournemouth (Silkeborg) – Utrecht (Nordsjælland)
Fri Stuttgart (OB) – Freiburg (Silkeborg)

Then we have
Sat Bayern M./Celtic (FC København) – Nottingham Forest (Lyngby)
Sun Leicester (SønderjyskE) - Liverpool (AGF)
Sun Schalke (AaB) – Hull (AC Horsens)
Sun Arsenal/Hertha (Brøndby IF) – Aston Villa (Esbjerg fB)
Mon Dortmund (FC Midtjylland) – AZ (Randers FC)

Fun thing.
Heartha Berlin (Brøndby) can actually draw the real Heartha Berlin in EL Q3

[Diouf]

Generally agree with much of the criticism against the new league system here. I fundamentally think that the League should be rewarding consistent quality, and the Cup is where you can end up doing very well without being one of the best teams, if you have a bit of draw luck, hit your peak performance in a game or two etc. With the changes to the League, parts of it turns into a lottery as well. There is no real problem for finding the champions; all points will be transferred over, so we can still be fairly confident that the best team of the season will end up as champions. However, it starts going wrong with the European playoffs. Although the route is quite difficult for the team from the bottom playoff as the last round is one match away, I don't like that a team that will probably be 20 points worse can end up snatching the European ticket from a more deserving side. I do understand why this is made, to create some excitement for the best teams in the relegation part, but I don't approve of it. However, the real scandal is the relegation part. That you can lose 32 matches in a row, and then avoid relegation by winning 2 playoff rounds is terrible. If you win the first playoff round, then you even only have to win one of the two possible playoff rounds following it. The 11th placed team which could easily have won way more points than nr 14 can be directly relegated. If you wanted to do relegation playoff, then at least make the lowest placed teams in each relegation group play about direct relegation, so it is either the 13th or 14th team that is directly relegated. No 11 should not have to face that danger. Making that change would make the system significantly fairer, while not really taking out much drama as I see it.

The arguments of the football federation for introducing it is completely stupid. Here are some of the quotes from the head of tournaments: "I know this can be hard to understand, but it turns out that it is mainly us older people who can have difficulties understanding all the complexities. Complexity is the future, and the young part of the population lives with it fine". Complexity is the future? Yeah, well if you deliberately create stupid and complex systems, then yes, but there is hardly any obligation to do that. "The Superliga is one of the leagues in Europe which have had the same structure for the longest time, so we needed something new". Again, a hopeless argument saying that since some others are maybe doing stupid things, then we should probably do it as well. Also there are a quite a few countries which have had normal league for a long time, and they seem to handle it just well. "The Superliga has lost some steps internationally. We were 11th in the UEFA rankings a few seasons ago, but now we are only 21th and will maybe end the season as 24th. We need to turn this around". Here, I almost fell down the chair. We have a league structure, which just a few seasons ago worked good enough to make Denmark 12th, and now the structure should suddenly be the problem? It has been entirely predictable that Denmark would fall again due to the automatic yo-yo effect: once you are low in the rankings you can score many points as your few teams enter Europe early; if you are high in the rankings you score fewer points because you have many teams which enter Europe late. Denmark is already on the yo-yo up again before the new structure is starting. A great season last year, and again this season a lot of points have been collected in the early qualification rounds. If these people praise the structure's role when Denmark is 15th in the ranking again in a few seasons, then I will go insane. That was on the cards no matter which structure. And if you actually wanted to create better possibilities for good performances in Europe, the logic thing would be to make fewer teams in the league so the resources are distributed among fewer teams. Instead two more teams is added, so the resources are distributed among more teams plus one more of the European spots can end up with a team, that has not really performed well in a season. "We would like more audiences and more goals. It should be a league with more goals than the average, and with 14 teams there will be bigger differences between the teams. We need more highlights during the season, and more risk taking from the clubs". I think the audiences are generally more attracted to higher quality teams and famous opponents, than more goals against poorer and less known opponents. With regards to highlights during the season, then I don't really think it is a problem now. And as stated above, I think the league should be about meritocracy, and then the cup can be about these kinds of "highlights". Ideas like a derby day, where every team faces its closest rivals, is a good idea, but you could have introduced that in the previous structure as well. Finally, I am not completely sure about the risk taking. A lot of teams will do everything to finish in the top 6, but that could equally well lead to more defensive outlooks in the hard battles for this spot.

[SteffenM]

18:00 the game of Brøndby IF – Esbjerg fB starts.
That's that.

But Brøndby have a German manager and Esbjerg have an English manager.

That makes the Danish experts wonder when is the last time when an English manager have beat an German manager in a counting game?
(Friendlies doesn't count)
Any chance any of you know?

[Thunder_PT]

18:00 the game of Brøndby IF – Esbjerg fB starts.
That's that.

But Brøndby have a German manager and Esbjerg have an English manager.

That makes the Danish experts wonder when is the last time when an English manager have beat an German manager in a counting game?
(Friendlies doesn't count)
Any chance any of you know?

There's a German manager in the Premier League, so the last time Klopp lost to an English manager there would be a good bet. 6th of December 2015, Newcastle 2-0 Liverpool, Steve McClaren was Newcastle's manager. A month before he had lost against Alan Pardew.

[EarlofBug]

Perfect!! I am not that strong about Utrecht, but I imgaine it to be a bit "dutch" and utrect seem to be the club to with.
And year also Schalke. Big differences on performances. Also in domestic league and european leagues, so, perfect!

1) København - Bayern M./Celtic
2) Midtjylland - Dortmund
3) Brøndby - Arsenal/Hertha
4) OB Odense - Stuttgart
5) AaB Aalborg - Schalke
6) AGF Aarhus - Liverpool
------------
7) SønderjyskE - Leicester
8 ) Nordsjælland - Utrecht
9) Randers - AZ
10) Lyngby - Nottingham Forest
11) Viborg - Bournemouth
12) Esbjerg - Aston Villa
13) Horsens - Hull
14) Silkeborg - Freiburg

I actually like Arsenal (my favourite club in Europe), but I don't like Brøndby that much... Also, Arsenal was pretty successful in the last decade, more than Brøndby. So maybe you can change them with Tottenham hotspur They have the same profile.

[SteffenM]

Fun thing.
Heartha Berlin (Brøndby) can actually draw the real Heartha Berlin in EL Q3

And they did

Surprisingly all teams have qualified to the 3rd round, with interesting opponents.
Astra Giurgiu Romania - Denmark Copenhagen (CL)
Hertha BSC Germany - Denmark Brøndby (EL)
Videoton Hungary - Denmark Midtjylland (EL)
Lubin Polen - Denmark SønderjyskE (EL)

Also the 2 first rounds of the league have been played.
MD 1 / 26
Viborg – FC Nordsjælland 0 – 4
OB – Silkeborg 0 – 0
FC København – Lyngby 3 – 0
SønderjyskE – AGF 1 – 2
AaB – AC Horsens 1 – 1
Brøndby IF – Esbjerg fB 4 – 0
FC Midtjylland – Randers FC 2 – 2

MD 2 / 26
AGF – Viborg 2 – 1
Esbjerg fB – FC København 0 – 4
AC Horsens – SønderjyskE 1 – 1
Lyngby – OB 2 – 2
Silkeborg – Brøndby IF 0 – 2
FC Nordsjælland – FC Midtjylland 0 – 4
Randers FC – AaB 0 – 1

1. FC København (7 - 0 ) 6 p (CL)
2. Brøndby IF (6 - 0 ) 6 p (EL)
3. AGF (4 - 2) 6 p
4. FC Midtjylland (6 - 2 ) 4 p (EL)
5. AaB (2 - 1 ) 4 p
6. FC Nordsjælland (4 - 4) 3 p
7. OB (2 - 2 ) 2 p
8. AC Horsens (2 - 2 ) 2 p (P)
9. Randers FC (2 - 3) 1 p
10. SønderjyskE (2 - 3 ) 1 p (EL)
11. Silkeborg (0 - 2 ) 1 p (P)
12. Lyngby (2 - 5 ) 1 p (P)
13. Viborg (1 - 6 ) 0 p
14. Esbjerg fB (0 - 8 ) 0 p

key points (subjectively chosen by me):
- The teams playing European matches have come out hard, maybe except for SønderjyskE.
But also aren't expected to play a good season as last season, but they kept their players, so they might.
First hopefully they can beat Lubin thursday.
- The Promotors, well are promotors. None have impressed massive, but they have put up a fight and not been bad either.
- Esbjerg really seem to be in no mans land, in the matter of a healthy organisation. They have just changed their leadership though, might help them. To big a club to relegate, but I am not convinced.

[nikolapfc89]

Watched yesterday Nordsjaelland - Midtjylland. Great second half. I dont know. From first two matches Kobenhavn look so strong again like they made even better team. Midtjylland, Brondby and Arhus looks like they made best team in last couple seasons, and i expect lot from them, but it will be very hard to be in front of Kobenhavn. Should be good and interesting season.

[SteffenM]

Watched yesterday Nordsjaelland - Midtjylland. Great second half. I dont know. From first two matches Kobenhavn look so strong again like they made even better team. Midtjylland, Brondby and Arhus looks like they made best team in last couple seasons, and i expect lot from them, but it will be very hard to be in front of Kobenhavn. Should be good and interesting season.

Hehe, I stil think it is awesome you got the league in Serbian TV
Awesome you catch along.

But yeah agree, Kobenhavn looks very strong this season. Some say it's about the same as the 10/11 squad, where they performed well in CL and advanced from Group Stage and also won the Danish league with a record of 26 points to the 2nd place.

In my eyes they are probally not at same top level, but they have quite a wide squad. Injuires, bans and rotation doesn't matter, because the next man is just as strong. They are absolotely big favourites this season.

- Midtjylland haven't changed much, but the team are played better together and looks good also
- Aarhus I think have been struggerling, but it seems the coach who came in christmas time, have started to get the team in place. I don't think they can keep the pace, but shouldn't be underestimated. Won their 2 first matches even without their captain.
- Brøndby is the big question for me. They have started hard with their new coach etc.
But can they keep their pace? I believe until Christmas they will perform well, but after christmas when the value of the new coach have disapperead, I will be interested to see.

[SteffenM]

European matches

All teams progressed
København - Astra
Midtjylland - Videoton
Brøndby - Hertha Berlin
SønderjyskE - Lubin

Next round, another 4 difficult draws
FC København – APOEL Nicosia
SønderjyskE – Sparta Prag
FC Midtjylland – Osmanlispor FK
Panathinaikos – Brøndby IF

Cup Matches
40 of 47 matches in 1st round have been played.
A few minor surprises, biggest surprises is

Frederiksværk (7) 1 - 0 Brønshøj (3)

and also somewhat funny, this small victory with 6 tiers distance.
FC Græsrødderne (8) 1 -2 AB (2)

Bonus Fact:
Græsrødderne are a few old 1st tier, mostly old 2nd tier players who have resigned and now only play for fun with 1 practice a week, some of them actually from AB.
Also the EURO 92 champion Henrik Larsen is playing ass. coach. But think he didn't get much time on the pitch in this match though.
The one who scored have played in AB.

Draw for 2nd round this friday.

League
Another 2 rounds have been played

MD 3
Viborg – Esbjerg fB 2 – 1
FC København – FC Nordsjælland 4 – 0
SønderjyskE – Lyngby 0 – 1
FC Midtjylland – Silkeborg 3 – 0
Brøndby IF – AC Horsens 2 – 2
AGF – Randers FC 1 – 2
AaB – OB 2 – 2

MD 4
Randers FC – AC Horsens 1 – 0
Silkeborg – Lyngby 0 – 4
OB – Viborg 0 – 0
FC Nordsjælland – AaB 1 – 2
SønderjyskE – FC København 1 – 1
FC Midtjylland – Brøndby IF 3 – 3
Esbjerg fB – AGF 2 – 2

Leauge Standing after MD 4 (Split after MD 26)
1. FC København (12 - 1) 10 p (CL)
2. FC Midtjylland (12 - 5) 8 p (EL)
3. Brøndby IF (11 - 5) 8 p (EL)
4. AaB (6 - 4 ) 8 p
5. Lyngby (7 - 5 ) 7 p (P)
6. AGF (7 - 6) 7 p
7. Randers FC (5 - 4 ) 7 p
8. OB (4 - 4 ) 4 p
9. Viborg FF (3 - 7) 4 p
10. AC Horsens (4 - 5 ) 3 p (P)
11. FC Nordsjælland (5 - 10) 3 p
12. SønderjyskE (3 - 5 ) 2 p (EL)
13. Esbjerg fB (3 - 12) 1 p
14. Silkeborg (0 - 9) 1 p (P)

key points (subjectively chosen by me):
- The teams playing European matches have played well so far, except for SønderjyskE in the league.

Other news
Oh yeah. And also Van Der Vaart have signed with Midtjylland.

[Forza AZ]

Other news
Oh yeah. And also Van Der Vaart have signed with Midtjylland.

Most likely reason why Van der Vaart signed for a Danish club is that now he can live together with his girlfriend Estevana Polman who is playing professional handball for Esbjerg.
Which would be the football-world turning upside down, as usually the girlfriends of football players move to the country where there friends are playing.

[SteffenM]

Other news
Oh yeah. And also Van Der Vaart have signed with Midtjylland.

Most likely reason why Van der Vaart signed for a Danish club is that now he can live together with his girlfriend Estevana Polman who is playing professional handball for Esbjerg.
Which would be the football-world turning upside down, as usually the girlfriends of football players move to the country where there friends are playing.

Yeah surely, quite sure she is a major factor and also a kid in Hamburg.

Midtjylland also have a female handball team, maybe we will see one more transfer in the family

So Midtjylland last season got Kian Hansen home from Nantes (France) beacause his dad got ill.
This window we got Jonas Borring back among more things, beacause of getting closer to his kids and now
VdV because of Girl Friend.

*No other comparisons about this players intened, as they are different in every way as a player and their story.
But the squad have gotten stronger

Although it is a loss to to sell Sisto to Celta Vigo (Spain), but the rules of the game in a small league.

[Stout Leggings]

The results of the Danish DBU Pokalen: (some results are after PK's some after ET)

1st round:
Tarm IF (6) – AC Horsens (1) 1 – 3
Middelfart (3) – Esbjerg fB (1) 0 – 1
FC Svendborg (3) – FC Fredericia (2) 1 – 4
Fremad Amager (2) – Avarta (3) 2 – 1
Ringkøbing (4) – Hobro (2) 0 – 2
Karlslunde IF (4) – HB Køge (2) 0 – 2
Herlufsholm GF (4) – Nykøbing FC (2) 0 – 4
Birkelse IF (5) – Vendsyssel (2) 0 – 9
Maribo (5) – FC Roskilde (2) 0 – 4
Løgstør IF (5) – Skive (2) 0 – 4
CSC (6) – FC Helsingør (2) 2 – 6
Tjæreborg IF (6) – Vejle (2) 1 – 3
FC Græsrødderne (8) – AB (2) 1 – 2
B 93 (3) – AB Tårnby (4) 3 – 1
Aarhus Fremad (3) – VSK Aarhus (3) 5 – 6
GVI (4) – HIK (3) 5 – 6
Herlev (4) – Hvidovre (3) 2 – 3
B 1913 (4) – Kolding IF (3) 0 – 4
Vatanspor (4) – Odder (3) 1 – 5
Vanløse (4) – Frem (3) 3 – 4
Aalborg Freja (5) – Thisted (3) 5 – 4
OKS (5) – Næsby (3) 2 – 1
Aarslev Boldklub (5) – Marienlyst (3) 0 – 2
Nakskov (5) – Holbæk (3) 0 – 5
Silkeborg KFUM (6) – Brabrand (3) 2 – 6
Nørre Aaby Idraetsklub (6) – Dalum (3) 1 – 6
Christiansbjerg IF (6) – Kjellerup (3) 0 – 9
Måløv (7) – Fredensborg BI (3) 0 – 6
NUBI (7) – Jammerbugt FC (3) 4 – 5
Frederiksværk (7) – Brønshøj (3) 1 – 0
Holstebro (4) – IF Lyseng (4) 3 – 5
Avedøre (4) – B 1908 (4) 1 – 3
B 1909 (5) – FC Sønderborg (4) 1 – 0
Varde (4) – Marstal/Rise (5) 1 – 0
Aabyhøj IF (5) – FC Skanderborg (4) 2 – 0
Ballerup-Skovlunde (5) – Skovshoved (4) 1 – 4
Brædstrup IF (5) – Lystrup IF (4) 0 – 3
Tårnby (5) – Fremad Valby (4) 3 – 2
NB Bornholm (5) – Taastrup FC (4) 2 – 1
Birkerød (5) – Jægersborg (4) 2 – 0
Sæby IF Skjold (4) – Nørresundby (5) 0 – 3
Rosenhøj BK (7) – Ledøje-Smørum (4) 1 – 3
Jyderup BK (7) – KFUM Roskilde (4) 1 – 7
Horslunde BK (5) – Døllefjelde-Musse (5) 2 – 3
Morud IF (5) – Otterup (5) 3 – 5
Haarby/Flemløse (6) – Sædding/G IF (5) 2 – 1
IF Føroyar (6) – VB 1968 (6) 1 – 2

The biggest upset was Brønshøj getting kicked out by Frederiksværk of the 7th tier and maybe OKS winning the derby against Næsby, but personally I'd loved to see Græsrødderne (a team of amateur, ex professionals) beat AB but it was not to be. Frederiksværk is the lowest ranked team through. From the 6th tier Hårby/Flemløse and VB 1968 made it.


2nd round:
Vejle (2) – OB (1)
Lystrup IF (4) – Randers FC (1)
IF Lyseng (4) – AC Horsens (1)
OKS (5) – Viborg (1)
Nørresundby (5) – AaB (1)
Aalborg Freja (5) – AGF (1)
Tårnby (5) – FC Nordsjælland (1)
Aabyhøj IF (5) – Silkeborg (1)
Hårby/Flemløse (6) – Esbjerg fB (1)
Frederiksværk (7) – Lyngby (1)
Nykøbing FC (2) – Næstved (2)
Vendsyssel (2) – Hobro (2)
Brabrand (3) – FC Fredericia (2)
Fredensborg BI (3) – FC Helsingør (2)
Ledøje-Smørum (4) – AB (2)
Skovshoved (4) – FC Roskilde (2)
B 1909 (5) – Skive (2)
Døllefjelde-Musse (5) – HB Køge (2)
VB 1968 (6) – Fremad Amager (2)
Kjellerup (3) – Odder (3)
VSK Aarhus (3) – Kolding IF (3)
Dalum (3) – Holbæk (3)
KFUM Roskilde (4) – B 93 (3)
Varde (4) – Jammerbugt FC (3)
B 1908 (4) – Marienlyst (3)
Otterup (5) – Hvidovre (3)
Birkerød (5) – HIK (3)
NB Bornholm (5) – Frem (3)

Vejle-OB (on sporting grounds) and Nørresundby - AaB will be interesting (the latter being an old timey derby).

[matt]

Poor Aarhus. They are bullied by Brondby, still angry for the Panatinaikos defeat


0-7!

[SteffenM]

Crazy match and crazy day.

To follow up on AlanK's count 'em up.

3 matches today.
Silkeborg 1 - 5 Viborg
AGF 0 - 7 Brøndby
Midtjylland 1 -1 Sønderjyske (after 16 min)

15 goals in 196 min.
So far average of 6,8 goals pr. match.