Football Season Guide

Odd struggled for large periods of last season and at times looked like a collection of players not knowing how to play or what is really expected of them. They claimed a few wins towards the end that elevated them in the table but there was no hiding the fact that the team has been regressing badly and is merely a shadow of what they were a few years back. Dag-Eliev Fagermo's dogmatic and unflinchingly results-first approach has made this team really difficult to watch and the lack of goals was a painstakingly obvious flow last season. It remains to be seen how this issue will be resolved this season as Odd have been the quietest team on the market in the entire division. They signed Vålerenga''s fringe player Bilal Njie and also brought back Torgeir Börven after he endured a poor spell at Brann last season. He has been hampered by injuries for a few years now and it seems quite optimistic to expect that he will suddenly hit the scoring form that he needs to when back at Odd. Otherwise, the defence and midfield remains pretty much the same as before as stalwarts like Fredrik Semb Berge, Jone Samuelsen and Fredrik Nordksville will be expected to carry the load. Some back-up players have been let go and the squad looks quite light and will be relying on youngsters when there are missing players. On the top of that, promising keeper Sondre Rossbach is set to be watching from the stands when the season starts as he is refusing to sign a new contact and the manager would not be using him as a result. It is hard to see real promise for improvement for Odd but they are still good enough to tread water in mid-table. The team has remained unbeaten in the six friendly games played, earning a good win over Odense from Denmark.