Marked for Rasmus Dalsgaard
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rasmus Dalsgaard
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HB Køge lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match18 Aug 2027
HB Køge march on in the cup
SonderjyskE are out and HB Køge go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match18 Aug 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. HB Køge scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
A brace, and Erkan Semovski takes the afternoon — 8.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Erkan Semovski provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market23 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HB Køge can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at HB Køge
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Momodou Njie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rasmus Dalsgaard
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HB Køge lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Daniel Job 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 HB Køge this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at HB Køge
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Tetteh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Erik Maehle after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Momodou Njie dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I want to play”: Kerim Sejdic speaks
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces9 Aug 2027
Supporters organise against the HB Køge board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad9 Aug 2027
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HB Køge lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Oskar Boesen: 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.” HB Køge have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at HB Køge
Nicolai Boilesen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at HB Køge
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Momodou Njie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch9 Aug 2027
“I did not go to SonderjyskE to sit and watch. I want to come back to HB Køge and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Victor Gustafsen 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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Kerim Sejdic 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.