We play too much individually, not as a team. We have a point. It's not acceptable, says Victor Nilsson Lindelöf to Viaplay.
Three consecutive losses in a qualifying group stage has never happened before, which underlines the national team's decline, despite the team having some international stars.
Can the association management continue to have confidence in a national team captain who has failed so drastically?
Jon Dahl Tomasson's experimentation on the central midfield continued. There, in the team's engine room, the criticized national team captain has not found a trio he fully believes in.
Lindelöf back
Axel Hugo Larsson, Yasin Ayari, and Anton Salétros started against Slovenia and Kosovo in September. Only Ayari remained against Switzerland, then with Jesper Karlström and Lucas Bergvall.
Now Karlström was replaced by Daniel Svensson, usually on a flank.
With Victor Nilsson Lindelöf, in his first national team match since March, came breakthrough ability in depth. He was extremely close to heading in 1–0. Arijanet Muric, the Kosovo goalkeeper, made a reflex save on a header by Alexander Isak, who also saw a shot blocked.
Viktor Gyökeres sought a penalty he didn't get. The offers were several, the chances of varying degrees of danger. "JDT's" offensive principles were followed. Speed, mobility, creativity.
Gabriel Gudmundsson, in the role of winger, surged forward time and time again. Delivered crosses, created corners, but the precision was lacking overall in the passes.
And it's not enough with 15–20 decent minutes.
Then came the blow, the stinging slap right in the faces of Swedish players who were already in trouble. Isak Hien seemed to overturn an offside and Fisnik Asllani pushed in Veldin Hodza's pass.
Again, as in Pristina, Sweden lost their lines, the individual mistakes came one after another. The wounds from the last two losses were reopened. The confusion spread among already fragile confidences.
It was like seeing a group of stars being sucked into a black hole.
Viktor Johansson kept the national team in the game with a phenomenal save on Vedat Muriqi's heavy shot. The rebound was pushed into the post by Leon Avdullahu.
National team in shambles
Bergvall, Ayari, and Alexander Bernhardsson did not come out for the second half. Anthony Elanga, Anton Salétros, and Roony Bardghji got the task of saving the job for Tomasson.
After 18 months with Jon Dahl Tomasson, the national team is in shambles – when it should be at the top instead.
We should have gotten much more out of the players we have, says Lindelöf.
Can Tomasson stay or will it be a matter of saving what can be saved before the playoff that still seems to be becoming a reality thanks to the group win in the Nations League?
