Five straight losses after the summer break, eight straight Allsvenskan matches without a win and a penultimate place in the table.
The weak form curve made last year’s successful team Mjällby act yesterday, when head coach Christian Järdler and assistant Alf Westerberg were forced to leave. Anders Torstensson will take over temporarily until the Blekinge team finds a permanent solution.
Christian Järdler now tells Fotbollskanalen about his first thoughts and feelings after the news.
– Of course you are disappointed – that’s the feeling you have. A sad message to receive. But there is no point in being bitter, it does not help. They (the board) have made the decision they think is best and there you are in a position that you can only accept it, he says.
What explanation did you get?
– They thought it was the right time to do something – to change and change coaches. That is what you do as a change then.
Did you feel it?
– Both and, you could say. I was aware that the trend right now was bad. At the same time, we made a pretty strong spring and showed that we matched the best teams. We finished the spring with five straight without a loss, so we have still shown that we keep that level. Now we have a slump, but then we still met Malmö and Norrköping – strong teams – during that period. Already on Saturday here (away against Örebro) there is a good opportunity to take a win, so there I would have expected to get that chance. So it was a bit unexpected that way.
Mjällby has acted in the summer window and picked up the Spaniard Carlos Gracia in the defense and Amin Sarr (on loan) and Sam Johnson in the attack. With these reinforcements, Järdler is convinced that he had managed to reverse the negative trend Mjällby is in.
– It is very easy to compare for me who was with both last year (then as an assistant) and this year to compare the troops. Mjällby AIF scored 44 goals in the Allsvenskan last year – 48 in total but four were own goals. Of the 44 goals, Besard Sabovic, Moses Ogbu and David Batanero were involved in 30. You can calculate for yourself that the offensive had an extremely heavy loss, says Järdler.
He continues:
– Then we lost Viktor Agardius to Norrköping, Jesper Löfgren to Djurgården and sold Eric Björkander to Turkey. Only Max Watson is left of the midfielders. If you lose three of four midfielders, plus the three players who accounted for two thirds of the points going forward, then everyone can calculate that it is a very tough loss.
Did you feel that your expectations were raised too hard after fifth place last year?
– No, I do not really think so. Maybe from outside people, but I do not think the club expected a top spot again. On the other hand, as often happens for smaller clubs when you do something very good, you have lost the best players. Succeeding in replacing them is the tough part for small clubs. If you lose six regular players who pushed it, it will be very tough.
What do you think of your first 13 matches in the Allsvenskan?
– I think we have been stable all spring, the first eight matches. We were not crackling in any way, we were not efficient enough, but we were very stable. We conceded a few goals back and we scored in all but two games, so the spring was good.
However, the restart after the European Championship break has not gone as well for Mjällby: five losses out of five possible.
– Then we unfortunately got into a worse period after the break with a 1-2 loss against Sirius in the 85th minute that stung. There are four challenge losses where we are close all the way in, so that way I can feel that we have been good enough to take points in many matches. We had a lot of margins with us last year, but we have not had that this year. David Löfquist has a free kick in the post against Norrköping in the 85th which will be 1-1 otherwise. Against Gothenburg away, we miss free position and shoot in the crossbar that had become 2-2. Goals in both matches and two points extra, it would have felt like a good start to the autumn, says Järdler.
With what feelings do you leave Mjällby?
– I have enjoyed myself very much in Mjällby. I have really appreciated the work environment we had in the office, with a damn good drive and commitment, a good energy, so I have nothing bad to say about Mjällby as an association. I’m pretty sure with Carlos Gracia, Sam Johnson and Amin Sarr in, that they’ll fix this.
What will happen to you in the future?
– First and foremost, I will spend time with my family and gather some strength in it. Then I will take the opportunity to train myself to become even better and take advantage of the free time I get. It is very difficult to have time to educate and improve yourself when you are in the middle of running a team in the Allsvenskan.
Furthermore, Järdler does not want to speculate on what kinds of jobs he can imagine in the future.
– It is far too early to answer. I have certainly not started thinking about anything next step already. I got rid of the job I had yesterday and have not even been to Strandvallen and picked up my stuff yet. First of all, I want to finish it and then we’ll see. I’m passionate about football and leadership, but we’ll simply see where it goes.
Christian Järdler coached Öster from 2018 to 2019 before he became assistant coach in Mjällby 2020. Previously, he also coached Ängelholm and Värnamo.
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