Marked for Eskil Graasten
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Jul 2028
Eskil Graasten damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
No sign of nerves from Élohim Kaboré at 21 — 7.88
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Élohim Kaboré did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match1 Jul 2028
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Peter Reinhardsen 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Mamour N'Diaye 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.
Match1 Jul 2028
Three points for Sarpsborg 08, 1‑0 the final word against Odd in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Élohim Kaboré is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Sarpsborg 08 will try not to make too much of it.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eskil Graasten
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sarpsborg 08 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Sigurd Rosted
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sigurd Rosted will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sarpsborg 08 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Peter Reinhardsen 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sarpsborg 08 know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Mamour N'Diaye 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.
Match24 Jun 2028
Three points for Sarpsborg 08, 1‑0 the final word against Sandefjord in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Kimi Løkkevik
“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
Squad19 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eskil Graasten
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sarpsborg 08 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Jun 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against IK Start, and it could have been more.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
No sign of nerves from Élohim Kaboré at 21 — 8.64
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Élohim Kaboré did not need any: 8.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Eirik Wichne beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Leander Øy: 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.” Sarpsborg 08 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Danny Amankwaa
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danny Amankwaa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sarpsborg 08 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Mamour N'Diaye 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Harald Nilsen Tangen 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2028
Eskil Graasten damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market12 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sarpsborg 08 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match10 Jun 2028
4 matches without a win for Sarpsborg 08
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sarpsborg 08 are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Peter Reinhardsen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Sarpsborg 08 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Nilsen Tangen 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.
Match10 Jun 2028
0‑1 to Tromso, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Bjørn Inge Utvik asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.