Football Season Guide

Vålerenga had a pretty reasonable and generally impressive first season back after promotion last year as they avoided any major drama and were a sound and even slightly boring mid-table side for the best part of the year. They got off to a very strong start and while they lost pace after the first month or so, they maintained a solid base level that kept them in and around the top six until the closing stages. Now Geir Bakke and the fans are expecting bigger things from the team as they look to make a play for the European places and become the side that profit from one of the big guns having a down year, as it may well happen. The building blocks are there for Vålerenga to become a better and more reliable side as they have kept hold of key players in their side, namely Fabrice Ambina and Henrik Bjordal in midfield, Aaron Kill Olsen at the back and youngster Filip Thorvaldsen up front. They also added some good depth in the ranks with the addition of striker Ole Sæter and in left-back Kolbein Finnsson, who is expected to take the role of the departed Vinicius Nogueira. Lucas Haren and Magnus Westergaard also bring more depth in midfield and as a whole the squad loss quite well stocked in most areas, with the exception of the wing roles. Bakke has numerous years of experience in this league and knows how to maximise what he has and at the moment this Vålerenga side looks quite good in most areas and definitely with the tools to achieve something memorable like a finish in the top six and give the fans reasons to celebrate. That should be balanced with the reality of them still not being at the level of the top three sides and the main potential portal for them is the high expectations of the fans and in the case of a slow start, the increase of pressure than can bog them down.