Marked for Sander Johansen
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces8 May 2028
The mood at Stabaek has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad8 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sander Johansen
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stabaek lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings8 May 2028
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sebastian Olderheim did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marius Lundemo and Stabaek agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Stabaek
Marius Lundemo 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.
Match6 May 2028
6 unbeaten for Stabaek
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Stabaek did not have in the autumn.
Squad8 May 2028
Fillip Jenssen Riise is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Stabaek will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Elias Olsson
“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.
Market8 May 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Aleksa Matić has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Stabaek.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 May 2028
Sander Johansen damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Market1 May 2028
Elias Olsson 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 Stabaek can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 May 2028
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sebastian Olderheim did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout1 May 2028
Marcus Mehnert: 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.” Stabaek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market1 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Kimi Løkkevik
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kimi Løkkevik will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stabaek the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 May 2028
A falling-out at Stabaek
Atli Þór Jónasson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Apr 2028
Three points for Stabaek, 2‑1 the final word against Sarpsborg 08 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces1 May 2028
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout1 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Gaute Vetti
“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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Joe Bell was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Squad
Stabaek are still strangers to each other
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Squad
No place for Elion Krosa in the new shape
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2028
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stabaek lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match22 Apr 2028
The drought breaks for Stabaek
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Haugesund were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Joe Bell 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 Stabaek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Apr 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
A 1‑0 win over Haugesund, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 Apr 2028
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Nothing got past Joe Bell
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Market24 Apr 2028
Nicolai Næss is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stabaek has been clear about where Nicolai Næss stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Stabaek
11 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Sander Johansen damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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 ratings17 Apr 2028
Sebastian Olderheim, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Julian Bjørkavåg: 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.” Stabaek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The terraces17 Apr 2028
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Jakob Vadstrup 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 watch17 Apr 2028
“I watch every Stabaek game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sarpsborg 08 runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Gaute Vetti is still paying for one afternoon at Stabaek
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Erling Bjorkan and Stabaek agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.