{"id":6724,"date":"2022-10-05T22:25:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T21:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6724"},"modified":"2022-10-07T00:14:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T23:14:09","slug":"arctic-flash-in-north-london-autumn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6724","title":{"rendered":"Arctic Flash in North London Autumn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We can safely say that unlike Grieg, Ibsen, Munch, Hamsun or in relatively more modern times Liv Ullman (a personal favorite), Jo Nesb\u00f8 (a Goonerholics\u2019 community favorite) or Magnus Carlsen, the Arctic harbor town of Bod\u00f8 is not something by which Norwegians are likely to introduce their country.  With a population of less than 50,000, this town, one of the northernmost in the world, is not something your regular tourist to Norway may plan on visiting. However, like many such apparently nondescript places in the world under the surface of the quotidian, you can find stories and facts by which to remember it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such fact I found is that it is the only city inside the Arctic Circle to have a temperate four-season climate, with highest and lowest recorded temperatures being 30.7 Celsius and -18.5 Celsius. For a Bostonian that\u2019s a temperate range indeed. Dear reader, if this fact doesn\u2019t impress you enough to stamp its presence in your memory forever (or at least until the next drink) you should definitely be able to remember the diplomatic scandal of the \u201cBod\u00f8 Affair\u201d from 1818 that rocked the then dual monarchy of Sweden-Norway over an English company engaged in \u2013 not an entirely unusual phenomenon in those days — illegal trading in Bod\u00f8 and creating lasting disharmony between the different populations of the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there is the football club, FK Bod\u00f8\/Glimt, who having been formed 106 years ago, have only recently started to experience sustained success in the context of the entire country though they had always been one of the strongest teams in the Northern Norway set-up. Whereas Norway\u2019s domestic top tier league started in 1937, being called Norgesserien back then, the first participation of Bod\u00f8\/Glimt came in 1963, in the third division. They eventually earned promotion to the first division in 1977. Since then, except for a sustained period in the second and third divisions between 1981 to 1992, and some other relegations in between, they have mostly played in Norway\u2019s top tier \u2013 now called the Eliteserien, having been the Tippeligaen until 2016 \u2013 winning the domestic top league for the first time in 2020, and then again last season in 2021. Currently in the 2022 Eliteserien, after the end of the 24th<\/sup> match out of 30, Bod\u00f8\/Glimt is sandwiched in second place between Rosenborg and Molde, the two more traditional superpowers of Norway\u2019s domestic football, trailing 15 points behind Molde. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As domestic league champions, Bod\u00f8 did qualify as a potential group candidate for the 2022-23 Champions League, and made good progress all the way up to the final play-off round \u2013 defeating Faroese, Northern Irish and Lithuanian champions along the way \u2013 only to lose out to Dinamo Zagreb. Last year also saw their greatest European success, going all the way to the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League, losing out to the eventual champions, Roma. Right now, they are standing tall at the top of Europa League Group A, having beaten FC Zurich 2-1 at home after a 1-1 draw away at PSV Eindhoven in the opening week, when Arsenal beat Zurich 2-1 away at Switzerland thanks to goals by Eddie Nketiah and the debutant Brazilian Marquinhos. Not having played in the second week, Arsenal is catching up from the second position in the group, albeit with one game in hand.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FK Bod\u00f8\/Glimt was named as FK Glimt when being formed in 1916, \u201cGlimt\u201d in Norwegian translates to \u201cflash\u201d, and their home kit is all yellow. It does conjure up images of a fast, high-pressing team with rapid movements on and off the ball, but it is the boys in the resplendent red-and-white that we hope will be upon the opposition in a flash, sending chilly Arctic waves of fear and trembling down their footballing spine, and sending them back with memories of wonderful hospitality away from the match, contrasted with memories of being completely dominated for the ninety minutes. I think topping the group should be a non-negotiable goal for Arsenal, to avoid having to play a Champions League group stage third-placed team to progress further in Europa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal has met clubs from Norway only on three occasions during many years of European campaigns: defeating Str\u00f8msgodset  (if you didn\u2019t know, that is where our captain Martin \u00d8degaard started his senior career at the age of 15)  away 1-3 and home 4-0 in the old European Cup second round in 1971, drawing away with Rosenborg 1-1 and then beating them 5-1 at home in the 04\/05 CL group stage, and just a couple of years back beating Molde 4-1 at the Emirates before losing away 0-3 at the group stage of the 20\/21 Europa. A couple of victories against this year\u2019s Norwegian opponents in consecutive weeks would set us up nicely to finish at the top of the group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it will not be easy. Bod\u00f8 is a high energy possession-based team, playing in an attacking 4-3-3 format, and they produced some impressive performances in Europe last year, in addition to winning their domestic league. This season, even though they have underachieved compared to last season\u2019s high watermark, they are still unbeaten in the group and will play with enough confidence. I found this tactical analysis \u2013 done earlier in the summer when the Norway domestic leagues were in full flight \u2013 about how their performances this season have dropped off compared to last season, and it is worth a read, if only to familiarize yourself with the team and their style:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 https:\/\/totalfootballanalysis.com\/team-analysis\/bodo-glimt-2022-their-struggles-this-season-tactical-analysis-tactics<\/a> . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They try to push the opposition in deeper blocks and focus on keeping a 4-3-3 structure in the opposition\u2019s half. They depend on their trademark counter-pressing to avoid being exposed to fast transitions, but against high quality oppositions who are willing to move up and take risks with the tactical security of technically strong players, the lack of pace in their backline is exploitable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard is such a strong technical player and it might be tempting for Mikel to start him against his fellow Norwegians, pushing the versatile Vieira to play the Martinelli role, as ESR is out at least until the season resumes at the end of the World Cup. However, I think with Reiss being fully fit and a key weekend match against Liverpool looming on the horizon, and given Vieria\u2019s own technical abilities, he would select this starting eleven:    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomiyasu \u2013 Holding \u2013 Gabriel \u2013 Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vieira \u2013 Lokonga – Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marquinhos \u2013 Nketiah \u2013 Nelson <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Lokonga playing a little deeper than the nominal 4-3-3 might suggest. \u00d8degaard, Martinelli, Saka, Jes\u00fas, Saliba, Partey and Zinchenko should all be on the bench as an insurance policy, in addition to the smattering of academy hopefuls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we can find an early rhythm and convert some of our initial chances, we should be able to win comfortably. I am hoping for a 3-1 victory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on Arsenal!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We can safely say that unlike Grieg, Ibsen, Munch, Hamsun or in relatively more modern times Liv Ullman (a personal favorite), Jo Nesb\u00f8 (a Goonerholics\u2019 community favorite) or Magnus Carlsen, the Arctic harbor town of Bod\u00f8 is not something by which Norwegians are likely to introduce their country.  With a population of less than 50,000, this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6724"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6741,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6724\/revisions\/6741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}