Marked for Patrick Sorloth
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Aug 2028
Patrick Sorloth damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market21 Aug 2028
Marcos Acuña hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tromso can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Aug 2028
The deal that would have taken Adrian Evensen-Jensen to Odd has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Tromso with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Troy Nyhammer and Tromso agree another 4 years.
Squad21 Aug 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 Tromso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Viktor Ekblom 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 ratings21 Aug 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces21 Aug 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Troy Nyhammer has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Aug 2028
Patrick Sorloth damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Market14 Aug 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.
Market14 Aug 2028
Tromso say no — this time
The offer from Bodo/Glimt for Federico Losas was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Tromso
Casper Øyvann 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ruben Yttergård Jenssen, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Leo Cornic 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.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market14 Aug 2028
Odd are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Tromso will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match12 Aug 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Aug 2028
Patrick Sorloth damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tromso can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
No sign of nerves from Troy Nyhammer at 21 — 9.16
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Troy Nyhammer did not need any: 9.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match5 Aug 2028
Nobody wins at Tromso
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Viktor Ekblom 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.
Market7 Aug 2028
Add another name to the list: Bodo/Glimt have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Federico Losas. The answer from Tromso has not changed — yet.
Match5 Aug 2028
A 2‑0 win over Valerenga, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“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.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jul 2028
Patrick Sorloth damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Squad31 Jul 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 Tromso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Viktor Ekblom 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.
Match29 Jul 2028
Bodo/Glimt left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Jul 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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Marked 4.57, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Marked 5.52, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Marked 5.64, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Tromso
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jens Hjertø-Dahl commits to Tromso for another 5 years.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Tromso
Casper Øyvann 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.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Tromso
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bilel Aouacheria 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Stian Singh has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market12 Apr 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Patrick Sorloth is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Apr 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Morten Ajer has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.