The 2016 season of Allsvenskan is officially underway. This afternoon I covered the home premiere for Stockholm’s AIK as they welcomed GIF Sundsvall to Friends Arena.
AIK’s coach Andreas Alm is facing a lot of pressure this season. After a string of top four placements, the fans are demanding that AIK win the league or that Alm be shown the door. With those demands hanging over his head I bet that Andreas had hoped to kick off the new campaign with a better result. AIK was only able to play Sudnsvall to a draw.
I did both halves with AIK attacking towards me. In the first half it felt like Sundsvall was having the better of them. So much so that I was considering staying put at the half in order to have Sundsvall attacking towards me in the second. After forty minutes Rúnar Már Sigurjónsson gave the visitors the lead, but AIK immediately drew level through Fredrik Brustad.
In the second AIK was considerably better and probably could have gone on to secure the full three points. Carlos Strandberg made his debut for AIK and came close to being the match hero as he had two fantastic opportunities to score.
After this match part of me wonders if AIK can fill the void left after the departure of striker Henok Goitom. On the other hand AIK has overcome plenty of slow starts in recent years and by September they always seems to be up near the top fighting for the title.
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