Football Season Guide

Vålerenga's campaign last season was hardly a disastrous one but it certainly fell short of the expectations early on as the team just failed to really progress and get better after losing stars Aron Dønnum and Kristoffer Klaesson in the summer. They still finished with a very good home record but the lack of goals and real ingenuity in and around the box were there to see all season and are a issue that needs to be resolved. Dag-Eliev Fagermo will be expecting better from his team this season and will be hoping for less upheaval in terms of coming and goings, something that certainly stabilised the tight ship that he run last season. Fagermo likes to use one of the smallest squads in the division and it seems like this will be the case in the upcoming campaign, with 11 players used most often in the starting and no more than three or four reserves off the bench, with the rest players from the academy. This naturally runs the risk of an injury crisis derailing their season but the manager will be expecting his men to stay fit and perform up to their level, something that evaded them at times last season. The most notable new signing is Iceland centre-back Brynjr Bjarnason, coming from Italy, and he has the potential to challenge more established defenders in the squad for a starting slot, while Vegad Hedenstad and Petter Strand bring lots of experience and flexibility that should indeed help with the depth of the squad. Vidar Kjartansson had a poor season for his standards last year, getting a paltry five goals, but he can rediscover his form and the likes of Amor Layouni and Osame Sahraoui show more consistency, the team has the potential to challenge for the top three.