Kalmar had a season of two halves as they first struggled to pick up points at the beginning of the campaign, before finding form near the end. After scoring just four wins in the first half of the season it appeared that Peter Swardh’s side would belong to the teams battling against relegation but from August onwards they were one of the better sides in the league and secured some excellent results including a win of fourth placed IFK and draws with Elfsborg and Malmo. Not even Swardh would be able to explain why his side found form so dramatically and eventually ended up in the top third of the table, but certainly the Kalmar squad does not lack in quality players. Alongside some seasoned campaigners, their new additions and some youth graduates managed to eventually gel together into a very strong side. Injuries did play a role in Kalmar only finding form late in the season as important players such as Rasmus Elm and Viktor Elm only started playing regularly in the second half of the season and a few others suffered long term injuries which forced younger players to step up. But in the second half of the season their defence got their act together and only conceded 15 goals at the rate of one per match, but that represents much less than half of their total goals conceded. The back line allowed the relatively goal shy Kalmar attack to decide matches in their favour often. Indeed the attack is likely to be the area that Kalmar most focus on over the winter though recent signings Mahmoud Eid and Henri Anier will get time to show their worth to the team and prove they can hold down a regular spot. While the Elm brothers will hope to play more regularly next season and along with top performances from Jonathan Ring and the back four throughout the year, Romarinho was Kalmar’s best player. The attacking midfield player created plenty of chances and scored around once every four matches. He will surely have competition from other members of the squad next season, but it remains to be seen how much of the current squad is still wearing the red of Kalmar as there are some real stars in their ranks.
