Jon Dahl Tomasson - no longer Sweden coach

[davulsukur]

Well he's been sacked now. Not really surprising, with the way it seemed to be going, it was probably the right decision.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/clyl5906qnzo

Pretty scathing from a Swedish Journo:

 

Quote

Daniel Kristoffersson, football reporter for Swedish newspaper Sportbladet

Everything has gone wrong. He has implemented a system and tactics that we do not have the players for. We have lost to Kosovo twice having not scored a goal - even though we have world-class players like Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak.

He has made players like Lucas Bergvall, Gyokeres and Isak look like Sunday League footballers. We could have expected a lot more from the Swedish national team. He hasn't got anywhere near what the players are capable of. He was a dead man walking after the Kosovo game.

Before the qualification we were comparing this team to the one that was close to beating the Netherlands in the 2004 Euros quarter-final. Then, we had Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson, Freddie Ljungberg, Olof Melberg - a fantastic team. If you look at the clubs the players play for and how they have performed, this is one of Sweden's best teams. But the results are some of the worst. That's 90% up to the coach.

He came in with high promises to play attacking and high possession football, but he has been very naive with the defence. Over the years Sweden have had one of the best defences as a team. But Jon Dahl Tomasson promised attacking football and he completely forgot what Sweden stands for - being solid defensively.

 

[K-Hod]

We played some incredible stuff under JDT, I just wish he’d have been less stubborn and more pragmatic defensively.

Still, weird that people have some sort of beef with him, when he was, like any manager that works under them, hamstrung by the owners.

[joey_big_nose]

57 minutes ago, CheshireRover said:

I think there's a lot of managers very much like JDT at the moment, in a similar age bracket, who know nothing beyond "their way". Martin & Amorim fit into this category. Stubbornly only playing "their way", and somehow being proud of not having a plan B, which just makes them look ridiculous.

The reason that Ferguson was the best was he wasn't scared to play 5 in midfield and a lone striker away in Europe, and then on the Sunday play a front 3. He was flexible and did what worked for the players he had/opponents they had coming up. 

Yeah, the ultra possession "pep ball" period is coming to an end. Going back to a much more direct style. I think the watchability of the game should improve as a result. Long periods of suffocating possession by one side is not much fun.

[roverblue]

15 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Well he's been sacked now. Not really surprising, with the way it seemed to be going, it was probably the right decision.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/clyl5906qnzo

Pretty scathing from a Swedish Journo:

 

 

Not surprised he hasn't lasted and don't expect him back in English football. Nice guy but has no idea how to setup a team defensively.

[Herbie6590]

The Guardian 

[Parsonblue]

38 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Well he's been sacked now. Not really surprising, with the way it seemed to be going, it was probably the right decision.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/clyl5906qnzo

Pretty scathing from a Swedish Journo:

 

 

Sounds very much like his time with Rovers.  His inability to get the defensive side of the game right undermined his good intentions in terms of attacking football.  Also sounds like the players lost confidence in him in the end.

It would be interesting to see how successful he could be if he appointed an assistant who was a good defensive coach.

[jim mk2]

Tomasson took us within goal difference of the play-offs - the closest we've got since coming down from the PL. Some of the football was beautiful to watch and he oversaw one of the best nights of football and excitement I've seen in many, many years in the FA Cup victory over Leicester City at the Kingpower. Fantastic.

For that I'm grateful. Wish he was still here - working with a board that backed him

[sharpysharps86]

Would be quite amusing if he ended up at Rangers after that press conference he did when Malmo manager 😂

[DE.]

I was, at times, slightly more critical than most of JDT's tactical nous whilst he was here. Nonetheless I understood he was an inexperienced manager learning on the job with us. First season saw some minor experimentation in play - second season felt like he was just being stubborn because the project had been undermined by the owners and he wanted to be sacked. Difficult to make much of a judgement on it. If he'd been backed in his first season I think we'd have made the playoffs, which would have been very impressive considering his relatively limited tactical flexibility. Alas, we'll never know. I appreciated his candour and always felt he was on the fans' side rather than the board. Wouldn't have done much for him professionally here, but it was nice to have someone willing to take the board to task (and deservedly so). His repeated jabs about the coach farce were particularly amusing. 

I was surprised he went to international management after us. Weird move for a manager his age with mostly club experience. In hindsight, the wrong move. Will be interesting to see where he pops up next. Don't think this will be his last job, and I assume he'll return to club management next. 

[Tomphil2]

It's a result driven business not performance or stats.

At Ewood certain stats will get you the job and keep you in it regardless.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 hours ago, StHelensRover said:

I never really liked JDT that much, found him incredibly smug, cocksure and then increasingly stubborn and one-dimensional once it all went pear-shaped. I wonder whether any other British or top European sides will be back in for him, or whether he'll be managing in Scandinavia again.

He was never backed by our clown board when it mattered, agreed, but I'm not convinced he would have taken us up anyway. I think he only knew one way to play and was eventually found out. We were gung-ho in attack which could be good to watch, but stank the place out defensively. While he hadn't been backed properly in the summer, I'm not having that his second season was anything other than an aberration, I think we would have gone down under him, only Rotherham had conceded more goals when he left and we were the only team not to beat them that season. 

I'm glad he's spoken out to a wider audience about the shambles he faced while at the club, anyone highlighting it is doing us a service, but it was only to save his own blushes, not because of any loyalty.

I'll never forgive him for that performance at B*rnley, it was men against boys, we were bullied, taunted and absolutely buried by them, it was vile, he takes a lot of the blame for that. That must have been what the 5-0 felt like in 2001. Then the 4-1 defeat the following game at home to Preston. That combined was unforgivable and he didn't seem arsed.

He lost me after the Burnley game. To not come out and apologise after that shambles told me a lot.

[NeilInBristol]

I would welcome him back unpopular opinion it seems🤣

[Tomphil2]

1 hour ago, NeilInBristol said:

I would welcome him back unpopular opinion it seems🤣

Not without a budget of at least 10 million i wouldn't.

Personality wise though he was a breath of fresh air.

[MarkBRFC]

Yeah as mentioned earlier in the thread, the time here for JDT has been and gone.

Does make me laugh all the snide remarks you see about him from Rovers fans on social media etc, like he was a huge problem for the club.

There's times where I think the owners hit the jackpot with parts of our fanbase unfortunately.

[superniko]

2 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Yeah as mentioned earlier in the thread, the time here for JDT has been and gone.

Does make me laugh all the snide remarks you see about him from Rovers fans on social media etc, like he was a huge problem for the club.

There's times where I think the owners hit the jackpot with parts of our fanbase unfortunately.

There's a really weird fanbase on socials - I think all clubs have it, but it has me pulling my hair out.

I saw comments like...

"Worst manager we had in the 15 years of Venkys" - erm...Hello Steve Kean and Owen Coyle

"Made Eustace look good" - Subtle dig at Eustace too, as obviously it's never the common denominator (ownership/board) that are to blame

At the end of the day, by all metrics, he got us closest to promotion and closest to a Cup trip to Wembley than any other manager since we were relegated, and that was all in the 1st season before the powers that be wanted to put a stop to it