Ceres

I live in Denmark, and Eriksen made it clear that he is quite clever about his career and was aiming to take it slow, step by step... so he was not at all interested in moving straight from Denmark to England, but quite deliberately chose Ajax, because the Dutch league is not all that physical and Ajax is known as the "Dane" club in Holland, quite successfully picking up lots of young Danish players.... before he said yes to Tottenham, he had also said no to a much better offer from Manchester United, quite simply because he found Totteham to be a perfect match and first step, when finally moving to England. It's exactly the same with Pione Sisto from FC Midtjylland ... FCM had wrapped up a £5 million deal with West Ham and they also admit that they were ready to sign Vaclav Kadlec as his replacement, but told the media that Sisto turned down the offer (though not naming West Ham), not because of the money, but because he did not feel it was the right step at this point in time ... so he was hoping for Ajax or FC Porto, but FCM did not accept their bid.

Signing an Icelandic NT defender would probably have more sense than spending this much money on a Dutchman who is fairly good at passing the ball and going forward but not really that good at defending ... The Netherlands are an oldboys team at an all-time low regarding new talent ... they did not qualify for the last U21 Euro finals and VvD was no success at U21 level either ... he only played 3 underwhelming games for the Dutch U21's which they lost by 3-8 score in all ... 2 lost friendlies and one being a U21 qualifier and home loss against Scotland in 2011.

If you had been real smart, you would have been looking at the best XI from the U21 Euro finals and signed Jannik Vestergaard from Werder Bremen, instead of looking in Scotland ...

FC Midtjylland director of football has now said that they were negotiating a "last-minute" deal, but chose to turn down the offer on Erik Sviatchenko, even though it, in the end, was a fairly good offer, so apparently he do not have a release clause ... or it could be that it's only a winter transfer window release clause, which some Danish clubs use from time to time ... in any case, they turned down the offer ... while it was Sisto who turned down West Ham ... according to the FCM director of football, the Europa League group stage has made it easier for them to keep their players a bit longer ...

FC Midtjylland were resting their young winger Pione Sisto and CB Erik Sviatchenko in the Superliga this weekend .... according to reliable Danish media, FCM agreed on a £5m offer from West Ham, but Sisto turned down the offer when they were to negotiate the personal terms ... Sisto said - "I have not told the media that I have said no to West Ham or any other club. My answer is, that this is something that I will keep between myself, FC Midtjylland and my agent." ... the other news is that Norwich have made a £2.2m offer on Erik Sviatchenko, which according to rumours is going to trigger his release clause, but he has no commet, except that he may stay or could be leaving, if the right offer turnes up.

In that case Sviatchenko should also have looked terribel for FCM so far this season, considering all the bidding and transfer rumours going on in this transfer window, but he has been able to stay focused, which I guess is also a good sign ... so I dont really buy that excuse when we are talking about more than just one poor game.

He was terrible in the CL qualifiers against Malmö, so I'm quite shocked that you would be ready to pay this much ... on a side note, Norwich just made a £2 million bid on FC Midtjylland CB Erik Sviatchenko ... I believe he has a release clause that is making him a cheap signing ... btw, the last CB sold by FCM to an English PL side was Winston Reid to West Ham and Sviatchenko is better in my opinion ...

Usually FCM are lethal at set pieces, but do not score all that many goals in open play, so 3 CBs did prevent FCM from doing much damage from corners and their long throw-ins ... unfortunately FCM are also quite efficient if you make a defensive blunder or two in open play ... perhaps the real lesson learned is that you should make a bid on Erik Sviatchenko ... he is the best Danish centre back at the moment ... ahead of Agger and Jores Okore ...

Danish top football is all about cynical tactics ... so the style of play always depend on the opponent ... FCM is actually a good short passing team, if they believe it's to be to their advantage tactically, but they knew in advance that they would lack the speed and the physical advantage of an English PL side, so first and foremost they were going to drag down the pace at any cost, which they did to perfection ...

Which is also why they are leading the Danish league ... Defensively they are very strong and they only need a few opportunities to secure a win or a draw ... or as the old Liverpool legend Jan Mølby said during the first leg, then this Southampton team simply lack the creativity and flair to be able to surprise the FCM defense, though they got the speed and a physical advantage of an English PL side.... and this also seemed to be the consensus during this second leg .... so the Danish commentators never really seemed all that worried ...

Sisto is top class, but has only turned 20 ... so in some games he only show his exceptional skills a few times, while in other games he makes all the difference ... He is 3 years younger than Eriksen, but with the same kind of talent and skills ... this is from last year, when he was only 19 : [video=youtube;jp-kJS114uM]

FCM were doing what they do best ... they rely much on a solid defense/team-work and I would estimate that around 70-80% of their goals in the Danish Superliga is from set pieces and not from open play, except when their young star winger Sisto make his smart moves that usually attract the full attention from the defense, which also lead to the goal by Sparv. Sisto was the absolute shining star in the Danish league last season, at the age of only 19, but he only recently managed to obtain Danish citizenship, despite having lived here since he was 2 month old ... so his first action for Denmark was at the U21 UEFA Championship, but the Danish NT coach Morten Olsen has said, that he regard him to be as big a talent as Eriksen ... he did not show much in the first leg, but again, he is only 20. Otherwise, FCM are strong in the centre back positions, where Danish clubs produce lots of players for export ... At the moment Erik Sviatchenko is 3rd pick for Denmark behind Agger (when he is fit) and Simon Kjær, but ahead of Jores Okore from Aston Villa, so he is a wanted man by big foreign clubs ... long throw-in Kian Hansen actually was regular starter in the French league for FC Nantes last season, but though he was an instant success and quite popular, he left Nantes and returned home due to 'personal reasons' ... in midfield Jakob Poulsen is a hard working regular starter for the Danish NT, while Sparv is a solid Championship quality player, adding to a solid FCM defense ... then they also have the strong, skilled and very fast Nigerian Rilwan Hassan and few fairly solid Austrian and Swedish players ... and the young Swedish U21 UEFA Champion Kristoffer Olsson, who they surpringly managed to pick up for free last season from Arsenal.

A train ride from Copenhagen to Herning is far more expensive and will waste at least 6½ hour of your time traveling back and forth... obviousy, Aarhus in not Copenhagen, but Aarhus is the second largest city in Denmark and just as Copenhagen has some unique attractions like Tivoli and Dyrehavsbakken (of 1583) which are the two oldest amusement parks in the world, then Aarhus also likewise have an unique 3 star michelin attraction and other unique attractions that you wont find in Copenhagen or elswhere in Scandinavia. In any case, Aarhus is a much cheaper destination because it's as close as you could possible get to Herning by air and train and the the top attractions also provide room for you to bring your own food and beer, so that you do not need to spend money on resturant bills if you do not want to ...

Regarding a place to watch the game, if you have booked up and fail to get tickets ... then there are several downtown bars in Aarhus that would most likely show the game ... here are the most likely, so you at least have a chance to ask them : http://waxies.dk/ http://www.sherlock-holmes.dk/ http://www.thegoldenlion.dk/ (they did show Vitesse Vs Southampton) http://billabongbar.dk/Fodbold.aspx

The highlights do not seem to work ... but the only FCM player you need to worry about is 20-yo Pione Sisto : Otherwise, they are only dangerous at set pieces.

I'm from Aarhus and fully agree ... you can get from London (Stansted) to either Billund or Aarhus with Ryanair for around £20 to £35 I believe. Billund Airport is around 5 minute walk from Legoland, but the city itself is not worth a look .... Aarhus is the 2nd largest city in Denmark and is as close as you can get to Herning by flight and/or train ... Aarhus (or Aros back then) was founded as a fortified Viking settlement in the early Viking age and later reinforced by Harald Bluetooth ... unfortunately you are a bit too late for this years Moesgaard Viking festival, which is Scandinavia’s oldest and largest of it's kind : http://www.destinationviking.com/node/122 Though Moesgaard musem (a 20 minute bus ride from downtown Aarhus) itself is also worth a watch and right now has a special exhibition of China's Terracotta Warriors : http://www.moesgaardmuseum.dk/en/ Aarhus has also been selected as European Capital of Culture in 2017 ... so you are a bit early for that event if you chose to visit... though, Aaarhus has the 'one of a kind' modern art museum ARoS, that is unusal in the way it makes you interact and do it's best to stir up emotions, not least in it's dark basement that contains a series of very dark rooms with installations and in the roof "Your Rainbow Panorama", but you really need to be there to feel it : .... but if you are in a hurry, just passing through and and only have 30 minutes to spend, Aarhus also have a tiny small Viking musem in the very centre of the city, which actually is an excavation open to the public free of charge, but a bit hard to find if you do not know where to look, because of it's location, hidden in the basement of the Nordea Bank office : http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g189530-d243853-Reviews-Vikingemuseet-Aarhus_East_Jutland_Jutland.html ... then there will even be time to grab a pizza at Piccolina, which is the one of the most orignial slices of Italy you will find in Europe outside Italy itself, if you ask it's Italian visitors : http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g189530-d7706807-Reviews-Piccolina-Aarhus_East_Jutland_Jutland.html