Thomas J

You Brits and your smug attitudes are incredibly hurt when you lose a Football match and get all up in arms about what "must be wrong" about the management. How about giving Norway some damn credit? They were the better team, deserved their win, and their tactics worked flawlessly. Norway let England run around in the heat and tire out, then blaze on forward when a good opening came up. This is not something new. The Norwegian seniors have done this since forever. Knowing that possession means absolutely diddly squat as long as you are in control defensively and can use the chances you get with efficiency. And there's no beating 100% efficiency, is there? The reality of it was that England never troubled Norway's defenders. You could have brought your best players and still come away with a goal or less. Also fed up with reading people saying "well we beat Norway twice in the qualifiers" blah blah. When in reality those were very close games and Norway was the only team to score against England in that very qualifiying group.

Hooiveld on a yellow and overall not very good defending, I think we will see Forren today.

According to the flag in your avatar you are Swiss. Which means you should have seen the match between Switzerland - Norway in October where Forren was man of the match with 3 headers in the woodwork and complete lockdown on your dead balls. Or don't you watch your national team? Anyway, Forren has the highest peak level of all the four, Fonte second, but current form and selection should indicate Hooi and Yosh are more fit and 'on a roll', so to speak.

**** game, 25-4 in chances in favour Norway, the worst kind of game where the best team is facerolling the opposition and they still lose. On days like these I bloody despise football. Man of the match: Albanian goalkeeper. Good news for Saints fans though is that Forren had an excellent 2nd half, fashioning four big chances out of the deep with his excellent defense-splitting passes. Not enough today though.

At least none of the centre backs can take the blame for that goal, the only person who could do anything about that was maybe Riise (if he rushed out to intercept) or Jarstein (but he's nowhere near a good enough goalkeeper to stop a rocket like that) Norway is still by far the better team, I just hope they can stop being so damn unlucky in the final quarter of the pitch.

One half played between Norway and Albania in tonight's world cup qualifier at home. Forren starting, and has been cool & composed in the back with Hangeland, mostly. He did give away two fouls a bit sheepishly but apart from that has been ok. 0-0 at HT with Norway dominating possession. I will say though that Forren does not look as sharp as he did against Switzerland before Xmas, he's definitely not at the top of his game. So no, he's not 100% match fit, but this match should surely help getting him closer to a game for Saints.

In my opinion, that's exactly what any club with the luxury of being able to do that, should do. However, you have a Spanish coach now with a fanciful ego, and will probably be trying to make a diamond shape or asymmetric wings concept work with the express intention of trying to walk it in instead. If you had an Italian or German coach, maybe. There are many reasons for why Juventus has been one of the most consistent game winners among the continent's top clubs lately, their tactics being at the very top of that list. (Their individual players certainly not "stellar", though a couple outstanding and the rest above average) 3-5-2 is a typical formation where you can always get goals no matter how "on form" your strikers are, as team goals are more likely, both from crosses and shots from midfielders. All with the least risky sacrifice of defence. I think if Saints adopt a 3-5-2 you can become one of the strongest clubs in the premiership, but as usual, you need a coach that can make it work.

He's on now. Came in after break. Shockingly, for Brede Hangeland and not Reginiussen who played poorly in the first half. I hate Ukraine. They have all the worst qualities from the world's football cultures They hit the ground as easily as the Spanish They play dirtier than the Serbs and Czech When ahead, they waste more time than Italy All that with greedier tactics than Germany That aside, looks like a typical Norwegian february performance. Even if most of the players are from non-domestic clubs.

He's not. He's on the bench. If you were arrogant enough to think someone who's not starting games for their club would be starting on their national team, think again. It's not Norway's job to prepare players for their club, it's the clubs job to prepare players for the national team.

Have you lot bought Forren to let him rot?? What is this clownery, he should be starting, much less not even figure on the bench! I am absolutely shocked!

Um, Brede has 1 year + the period up til summer left. At least that's what the Norwegian newspapers have been saying. If they're wrong then that's fine, but it has nothing to do with my comprehension of anything.

30 I believe. Snap him on a 5 year contract you pretty much own him for the prime of his career. I actually think based on that he will be under 10 mill as well now.

Brede Hangeland is letting his contract run at Fulham, I bet Fulham will be trying to sell him in the summer. Which means, if you really have 12-15 mill lying around, you can have Hangeland & Forren together both on club and national team. The last time two Norwegians partnered in both club and national team was Ronny Johnsen and Henning Berg, at Manchester United in the nineties. They were ace, and IMO Forren and Hangeland are even better. They would be such a classic partnership too, one is ball playing and technical with a great passing foot but also a good challenger, while the other is a beast in duels.

You will eat those words. This time next year you'll be saying he's your very best player, mark my words. But your passive-aggressive attempt at trolling amuse me, if not make me pity you slightly for the narrow mind you obviously have.

Forren has confirmed to a Norwegian newspaper that he's watching tonights game from the stands. I really wanted to see him in action here, but next weekend isn't far.