It is crunch time for Sweden. They have played four World Cup qualifying matches but have just one point. Direct qualification is already out of the question — Switzerland or Kosovo will take that. Jon Dahl Tomasson was sacked as head coach on October 14. “Football is results-based and we have reached a point where results are not enough,” said Kim Kallstrom, the nation’s Head of Football.
To have any chance of securing a place in the play-offs in March, Sweden must win both of their matches next week: Switzerland (November 15, 7.45pm) and Slovenia (November 18, 7.45pm). Concerningly, the Swedes have scored just two goals across those four qualifying games.
“At the beginning of the campaign, there was such a positive sense about Swedish football,” former Sweden defender Jonas Olsson tells Sky Sports. “We have probably the best team since Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Freddie Ljungberg, with Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres, Dejan Kulusevski, Anthony Elanga. The team, player-for-player, is excellent.
“They have tried to go a different way with Swedish football; normally it has been very 4-4-2, with a very organised, very defensive approach. Now, they would like to play a bit more attacking football. The problem has been they have been too open and a bit too naive, I think.”
Olsson believes the tactical shift is valid given the personnel, but questions the timing. “It’s valid to change it because of the players they have available, but I think you have to take small steps into it. Looking at the first four games, they were too open and they got punished too easily.”
He says Sweden should play to the strengths of their biggest players and find balance in a more attacking approach. “I also think they have defenders who are more suited to playing high up the pitch, with Isak Hien, who plays for Atalanta, and with Victor Lindelof. The generation before had defenders — like me, like Olof Mellberg — who were comfortable sitting deep, defending the box. They definitely should go that way, but they have to do it with a balance.”
The two November fixtures will be the first with new head coach Graham Potter in charge. The 50-year-old was appointed on a short-term contract on October 20, just over three weeks after he was sacked by West Ham. Olsson suggests Potter was an obvious choice once he declared his interest and salary wasn’t a factor. Potter’s link with Swedish football — from his time at Ostersunds — and his coaching staff, including assistant Bjorn Hamberg, mean supporters see him as “one of their own,” Olsson says. That connection, alongside Potter’s leadership, could help build harmony, but Sweden “don’t have the luxury to see the long-term perspective. They need to perform now, in the two games coming up.”
Potter confirmed Liverpool striker Alexander Isak was “fit and available for selection”, but Viktor Gyokeres is absent from this month’s squad with a muscular issue. If the duo are fit and firing, most would fancy Sweden’s chances. “It’s about getting them involved in the game, putting him in good positions as often as possible. That wasn’t the case with the former manager,” Olsson says. “He wanted to play a high-pressing line, but they didn’t manage to do it. The amount of times Isak or Gyokeres was on the ball was very limited.
“Potter has to find a way to get them more involved, whether that be pressing high or whether that be being better in transition. Another issue was with the formation the former manager played, with one striker. It was a 3-4-2-1 formation, with Isak as a dropping striker, but I think they will play with two strikers now. The chemistry between them hasn’t been good at all in the national team, not in these four games or the games in the summer, so that’s something to work on when Gyokeres is back, but I do think a change of formation will be a first step towards that.”
Sweden have not qualified for three of the last four World Cups — and Olsson warns it would be a shame for players in their prime to miss out. “When we got drawn into that group, with all due respect to Switzerland, Slovenia and Kosovo, everyone felt this was a good draw and we should be able to get, if not first place, then second place and go to the play-offs. In that context, it would be a massive disappointment, but also, looking at the main players, Gyokeres is 26, Isak is 25, Kulusevski is 25 as well. This is their prime; the next World Cup, they will be closer to 30 and who knows where they will be then. For all those reasons, it’s vital Sweden qualify for this one.”