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5 days ago
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There was widespread approval from Sweden’s well-wishers when, during a training camp in Marbella this week, Graham Potter announced his new charges would play a variation of 4-4-2. A national team once tipped for greatness had been frayed, disconnected and muddled for too long. If their new manager had arrived with an unusually high profile, at least he had wasted no time in throwing on a familiar comfort blanket.
From one angle, that is just what the Sweden job resembles for Potter. He could surely not have believed his luck when, just over a fortnight after his dismissal by West Ham, the top job became open in the country where he made his name. The Swedish Football Association must have pinched itself at the timing, too.
Potter was installed swiftly, initially until March, and the fit looked good: 50-year-olds of his pedigree who are steeped in the local ways and, crucially, can handle a pay cut are hardly abundant in international football management. He had spent nearly two years out of the fray after leaving Chelsea but no rumination was needed this time. “I wasn’t ready to stop,” he said after arriving in Geneva for a fiendish-looking bow against Switzerland. “I didn’t need a break. I didn’t need anything. I wanted to carry on working.”
It appears some remove from the chaotic early ostentation of Todd Boehly’s operation, not to mention the east London wreck Potter selected for his return to the touchline. Neither role really fitted a measured, pragmatic, emotionally intelligent coach with previous for making underdogs punch high. Time was when Sweden, in their understated way, were masters of doing exactly that.
Yet Potter’s task is not especially simple. Sweden are in a curious spot, requiring an astonishing turnaround over the next four days to salvage their disastrous Group B campaign but knowing the safety net of a March playoff can almost certainly be found owing to their Nations League success last year. They are bottom of their group with a single point but four games from a return to the World Cup finals.
Sweden lost their last three games under Jon Dahl Tomasson, two of them against an improving but unfancied Kosovo. They looked bedraggled and shapeless when the Kosovans won in Gothenburg last month. Such was their disarray that a steadying of the ship, a return to their old identity, might count as success for Potter but there is a clear undercurrent of pressure. Next door in Norway, a golden generation are sweeping all before them en route to North America. Sweden have their own star vintage and face a race against time to offer them a place at the top table.
It means that, if nothing else, Potter needs to see signs Sweden can compete with Switzerland. The home side will qualify with a win, partly thanks to their comfortable victory in Stockholm five weeks ago.
Sweden need three points, and a favour from Slovenia against Kosovo, to keep alive the race for second and a potentially crucial place among the playoff seeds.
This is a team Dejan Kulusevski said would “become one of the best in the world” after a win over Estonia last year. When talents such as Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyökeres, Anthony Elanga, Roony Bardghji, Yasin Ayari and Lucas Bergvall are added to the mix it is clear Potter has inherited a goldmine. Tomasson struggled to find the right attacking balance, Sweden often looking loose and gung ho on his watch; his successor must quickly restore order.
Potter’s options will, in any case, be limited on Saturday. Gyökeres and Bergvall, who was sent home feeling the continued effects of the concussion sustained for Spurs against Chelsea, join Kulusevski on the injury list. Victor Lindelöf, who will be Potter’s captain when available, picked up a minor knock late in the week and will not be risked against Switzerland.
Meanwhile, Isak’s true level of fitness is anyone’s guess. “He’s not ready to start [on Saturday],” Potter said of his talisman, who has been dogged by groin problems since his British record move to Liverpool. “We have to be smart and use him in a good way. I think it’s best for Alex that he can help us from the bench.”
Sweden are not so rich in depth that they can lose big names, but have tended to fare best when the collective holds sway. That selfless, indefatigable spirit is what Potter must foster.
During their stay on the Costa del Sol he split the squad into small cells and asked them to tell each other about individuals, perhaps a coach or family member, who had been important to their careers. The result, according to some of Sweden’s players, was a rare level of openness and honesty.
In public appearances he has turned on the charm, conducting his pre-match press conference in the decent Swedish learned during those seven years taking Östersund from obscurity into Europe. “It’s a part of the job that is important,” he said, brushing off compliments about his proficiency. Contrasts with Tomasson, a Dane who preferred to speak English and created an environment that felt increasingly distant from outsiders, have been pointedly drawn.
The biggest difference must come on the pitch. Sweden have a reputation to restore. So does Potter, who has taken some wrong turns but now faces a golden opportunity to work at the sport’s most exalted level next summer. “I wouldn’t be here today without my time in Sweden,” he said. Perhaps going back to what they know, 4-4-2 or otherwise, will help Potter and the nation he has grown to love.
