Marked for Anders Sønderskov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Mar 2028
Mats Köhlert in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
James Ampofo gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Frederik Alves falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Oscar Buur knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oscar Buur trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Oscar Buur wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Esbjerg have no good answer.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager makes Mikail Maden a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Esbjerg. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Feb 2028
Esbjerg up to position 3
39 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Jens Martin Gammelby was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch28 Feb 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Esbjerg, and 5 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Esbjerg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anders Sønderskov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Peter Bjur has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Peter Bjur has written the date down.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Feb 2028
Peter Bjur in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Esbjerg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Frederik Alves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patrick Tjørnelund, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Gustav Grubbe knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Esbjerg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market14 Feb 2028
The window shut and John Kolawole is still in the building
Esbjerg spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. FC Midtjylland moved on, Muamer Brajanac reports back to Esbjerg, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Esbjerg close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Esbjerg asked and FC Copenhagen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
An order from above at Esbjerg: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
10 new faces, and Esbjerg are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Esbjerg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Tjørnelund is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Mats Köhlert has moved up it.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Julius Lucena: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esbjerg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Esbjerg
Jens Martin Gammelby and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match18 Dec 2027
Lyngby left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oscar Buur, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Muamer Brajanac's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Frederik Wind left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Esbjerg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anders Sønderskov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Marked 4.93. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Market20 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Muamer Brajanac’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Oct 2027
Esbjerg up to position 2
21 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
“I did not go to HB Køge to sit and watch. I want to come back to Esbjerg and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Lasse Vigen knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lasse Vigen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Lucas From’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Esbjerg needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market11 Oct 2027
The name of Muamer Brajanac keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Esbjerg say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A wage question at Esbjerg
Benjamin Hvidt has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Esbjerg will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Esbjerg
Abdoulaye Camara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Anders Sønderskov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Esbjerg asked and Brondby said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Patrick Tjørnelund falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Isak Määttä is in the works
Esbjerg have made the call to Bodo/Glimt. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Kjell Peersman is in the works
Esbjerg have made the call to KAA Gent. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Malmo FF: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Oskar Boesen gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.