Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tromso are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Jørgen Bøe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Martin Lien, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tromso can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Casper Øyvann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alexander Warneryd 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Martin Lien after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
Viktor Ekblom is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The name of Alexander Warneryd has come up in conversations Tromso were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tromso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tromso know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Kaastrup was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Viktor Ekblom'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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tromso are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
David Edvardsson 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Casper Øyvann 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Tromso will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Half the programme played, position 2, 29 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 2, 20 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
David Edvardsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Casper Øyvann 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Vegard Erlien was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Leo Cornic is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
David Edvardsson 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Casper Øyvann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Edvardsson. 3‑1 against Mjondalen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Vegard Erlien was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tromso can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Villads Bertelsen commits to Tromso for another 4 years.
The dugout28 May 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Martin Lien kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
Player ratingsDaniel Braut beats them one at a time
Noah Berger 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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Martin Lien on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
That is the business done at Tromso until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marek Lašák has just signed for Tromso, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Casper Øyvann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.