Is Djurgården back on track? After four matches under coach Mark Dempsey they have pulled in 2 wins, a draw, and a loss. Not the biggest turn around, but a clear improvement after the 5 consecutive losses that lead to Per Olsson being fired. It’s also been just enough to move Djurgården out of the relegation playoff spot, which is clearly the one and only goal for the remainder of this season.
This game is one that Djurgården should never lose, you are playing at home against a decisively weaker opponent. The match marked Andreas Isaksson making his return debut and playing from the first minute. He did well enough, but Djurgården’s defense seems easily confused and I don’t see him helping to improve that. Gefle’s goal seemed like a clear example of that.
For me the most impressive in this match was Michael Olunga. Michael has had the tough job of replacing striker Sam Johnson and having to do so in run of games that brought mostly negative results. In this match you could see how bad he wanted to get on the score sheet. I included two frames in this post from his reaction to two missed occasions on goal. That is the kind of hunger I like to see in a striker. Ready to tear apart the goal in order to score. I was happy when his work paid off and he scored the winner.
Djurgården’s next match should be a simple away game to last place Falkenberg. Getting a full 3 points in that game is going to be crucial for them because after that they face complicated matches at home against Malmö and AIK and then away against last year’s champions Norrköping. Unfortunately for Djurgården coming out of those 3 matches with 9 points still seems like an impossibility.
