FCK Weekly News: 4th – 10th October
The second international break of the season will have come as a welcome respite for coach Ståle Solbakken’s side, after a run of seven consecutive games over four weeks – which culminated in a dogged 1-0 win over Randers FC last Sunday – showing signs of jaded legs.
by Joe Short
On Monday, FC Copenhagen’s podcast Lion Hour was host to Thomas Kristensen, who reflected on a hard-fought win against Randers the previous day:
- We had the ball a lot, and it was us who created the most chances. However, we have to admit that they had the biggest chances. They have three or four good opportunities, commented the midfielder, who played a central midfield role in Solbakken’s 100th league win for the club.
- I always think we have fairly serious problems with Randers; they are really good on the pitch. They stand deep and defended really well – and we perhaps lacked a bit of sharpness today, which meant we didn’t play as fast as we usually do, and therefore it was hard to open up so solid a defense.
A month of hard football
Asked on his views of how the club had been progressing over the post month since the start of the UEFA Champions League, Kristensen had this to say:
- We have a tough fixture list with many matches and, while we played the Champions League a few days ago and got a great result in Athens, we can’t be complacent. Against Randers we went out to play an easy game on paper, and we did not play that well. However, even on bad days – where we might previously have thrown a couple of points – we now go out and get all three.
- It shows a lot about how much the club has moved on – that we’re so professional now. All games we play in we’re hard to beat, even on those bad days. We've had bad games this season, but we have not lost yet.
Further success for the reserves
The FCK reserves team was in action on Tuesday against AB in Bagsvaerd, where the Lions recorded another victory to continue their impressive start to the reserves season. Søren Frederiksen bagged the only goal of the game in the second half, while Morten Nordstrand accomplished 73 minutes worth of match fitness.
The Lion Hour podcast was host to another special guest on Wednesday, with Sports Director Carsten V. Jensen coming in to discuss several different topics. One of particular interest was the development of the club’s school of excellence and youth facilities:
- We found some years ago that UEFA was about to place new demands on how the squad would be composed during European competitions. Therefore we had to look at how we could improve (our youth set up). We would like to play with a team that can compete internationally, but it must also be with the majority of players from our own ranks. We know now that we must have a team of players of a certain class who play regularly, along with people from the School of Excellence as well.
The FCK scouting network
In order to achieve the UEFA goals of a certain number of home-grown players in each squad, Jensen described the efforts of FCK’s scouting network:
- Our network is really, really big. It goes back to 1992 in principle. We make sure to watch the football games we are interested in, ensuring we work in the markets where we are competitive in salary, etc.
- It is all about putting resources where you get most back. We make our imaginary teams in the leagues we cover, and we will make a summarization where our number one, two and three priorities are at the various positions.
In a relatively quiet second half of the week, FCK fans can look forward to a return to Superliga action when the side face OB, on Sunday 17th October. Meanwhile, Denmark will play their third game of the UEFA European Championships on Tuesday against Cyprus at PARKEN stadium.
