No Brage-ing rights as Bajen get done by Brage!

It was all set up lovely last night. A storming 3-0 away win to then Superettan leaders Assyriska – confidence should have been sky high! There was a decent crowd, many fueled by a few cheek post work beers, party time. Nobody told the Bajen players though who were not a shade of their mid week performances. In a word Bajen at home are gutless. No spirit, no direction.  Oh they have skill, some of our players are very gifted but there is nobody leading on the pitch. Nobody driving them on.

The coach Michael Borgqvist is motionless for most of the game. He needs to be communicating with the team during the game.  I have no idea what they do for training as the team looked like a bunch of strangers last night. Brage were nothing special and Bajen could have beaten these. It might have helped had Borgqvist not employed that godawful footballing tactic..the crab. Yeah you have seen it before, where they only move the ball sideways and then end up knocking it back to the keeper.  Would be interesting to see how many minutes of the 90 we spent in our own half.

There were however two good points from last night.

• Johannes Hopf. The no2 keeper had another solid game. Very confident considering he has made the move up form the youth theam HTFF. There was not a lot he could about the goal.
• They played Morrisseys ‘Every day is like Sunday’ at half time.

Worrying times for Bajen already. Then again this is Superettan.

Normal service resumed but Bajen go down fighting

Bajen 2 Elfsborg 3

Yesterday could and should have brought Hammarby a bonus point. I say bonus because Elfsborg are tipped to win the league and they showed why yesterday. They are a workmanlike but class act.

I dont think any of us were seriously expecting much from the game yesterday but we live in hope right?

Elfsborg supporters

Now I dont like to criticise referees but yesterdays lost the plot, very very amateur. Two of his most glaring mistakes could cost Bajen a place in Allsvenskan.

1. He gives Elfsborg a free kick for a fine tackle, they score. It was a beautiful free kick in fairness but nonetheless it should not have been given.
2. He gave Elfsborg a penalty, why, I dont know. Even the Elfsborg players werent sure, they certainly didn’t appeal for one.

That set it to 3-1, but an aggrieved Bajen reacted in style with the Brazilian Rafael scoring his first for the club. Great news the guy is clearly lacking a bit of confidence and is finding the football very different up here in the North. Hopefully that will give him the confidence to now go on and produce more.

A rare penalty for Bajen at home

So its 3-2 and you just got a sense that had the ref not ripped us off with that penality that Bajen would have got a point which would have put us 6 points clear of safety.

Hammarby players celebrate the equalizer

Castro Tello was superb yesterday, bustling and battling, he and Andreas Dahl are going to be vital for the rest of this campaign.

The Klack was a tense place for the last five mins as Bajen hunted for a third goal

All in all, we can’t be too unhappy as the team from Borås were a different class but a dogged Bajen could well have nicked a point yesterday. And that was without Igor Armas and Freddy Soderström Lets keep fighting guys!

Djurgården 0 Hammarby 1

Hammarby players celebrate after beating Djurgården

I apologise for taking so long to post this, but I had brutal encounter with Jagermeister last night. The ensuing hangover has rendered me useless today but I can’t stop smiling.

'We are with you everywhere' DIF supporters

It wasnt pretty, it wasnt class but who gives a fuck. We won 1-0, Hammarby who have had fuck all luck all year were leading 1-0 at half time without a shot on goal. Thankfully DIF gifted us with an own goal and the rest as they say is history.

Från Södermalm!

Tony Gustavsson is I believe the only Bajen manager to get 4 straight wins against Djurgården.

Igor Arnas was the big difference yesterday. DIF to be fair bossed the first half, the second half saw Bajen hustle the DIF players a lot more and get stuck in. Igor defended like a Trojan, the guy was everywhere if only we had 11 Igor Arnases. It was interesting to be sat on the Nörra Stand behind the keepers. Rami Shaaban is a very calm guy, its not something you appreciate at Söderstadion but you could really see him trying to keep the players cool, calm and collected.

Rami celebrates a win over Djurgården

6 mins of injury time was torture but it was a 6 min period in which Bajen could have scored. Of course us Bajare were convinced that DIF were going to score at the death and if we can be fair for a moment they probably deserved an equaliser.

Djurgården v Hammarby

I cant really write much about the game, it was scrappy but this win now moves us five points clear of DIF, GAIS are only one point behind DIF. There were some funny results in the Allsvenskan yesterday, Elfsborg lost to Gefle, Örgryte were one up against IFK, but they scored in the last minute to win 2-1 which means the bottom club are now 11 points below us.  Helsingborg lost to Örebro and Halmstad beat Kalmar.

This is encouraging for us because we have some stiff fixtures coming up, starting on Saturday against Elfsborg.

Djurgården fans must be really depressed today, they lost a derby, lost ground on a relegation rival, oh and a crowd of just over 15,000 was poor especially when you consider how much they must have spent on advertising the match in areas which are not their traditional support base.

Bajen lets remember were without two key players Castro-Tello and Söderstrom, they were suspended for picking up too many yellow cards.

Bajen need to believe they can stay up, they need to be hungry for it and some players really need to step up to the plate.

Many fans sang ‘Superettan här kommer Djurgården’ but we have to keep our feet on the ground, start scoring and picking up points.

click here for Djurgården v Hammarby photos

Forza Bajen!

Hammarby V Helsingborg

90 mins later this read 1-2

OK so we lost but I am encouraged. Today saw some fantastic attacking and defensive play from Bajen. The new players who came in did very well and injected a bit of desire into the team.

Pre match Hammarby

From the off it looked like Bajen were really up for this. Maybe the fact there was not the expectancy of a win as there was against basement clase Örgryte. Maybe it was the fact Bromma won the day before..maybe the fact that the new players wanted to impress and it was rubbing off on all the team or maybe Tony is finding the right formula to mentally prepare his troops.

Bajare!

Positives was the way that we attacked Helsingborg, the fact that we scored! And what a goal Anders Dahl curved in a free kick from just about the box. It was very welcome especially as one of the Brazilians was left shame faced as he missed an open goal from a few yards earlier on.

Bajen Attack!

Bajen were punished by a very clinical Helsingborg. Their first strike was a masterclass for the Bajen players in how to shoot on target. The second was a plucky goal, the advancing HeIF player advanced on Poppen after a strong whiff of offside and he cheekily chipped the Bajen keeper.

Tony Gustavsson thanks the fans for their vocal support

It did all seem a bit unfair as Bajen played some lovely stuff and didnt deserve to lose this one. At the end of the match, the Bajare faithful applauded the players off which made a change from the usual boos.

Hammarby players thanking the fans

I took a lot of photos on this one as I bought a new camera today. Take a look Hammarby v Helsingborg match photos

Örgryte hold Bajen to a draw, AIK narrowly beat GAIS

Another very worrying night for Bajen. We scraped a 0-0 draw thanks to some very poor finishing by Örgryte.

I thought we played a bit better than last week but again no potency up front. All very well trying to play a passing game but we are in the shit, its a dogfight. Örgryte will be dissappointed with a point wheras we looked to be hanging on for a point! Was this Tony’s gameplan after all?

AIK went on to beat GAIS, I hate being pleased at the Solna clubs wins but we have to take everything we get.

So we are two points above DIF and three points above GAIS. Still too bloody close for comfort. The problem we have is a complete lack of confidence upfront. Without Charlie we are fucked.

I do wonder, when I wake up if Tony will still be Bajens coach or will Bajen’s board take action?

Do Bajen really want to stay up?

Dear reader…if you dont like negativity then I suggest you dont read any further. I say it as it is and last night was a disaster.

Bajen lost to the bottom team Örgryte who havent won all season. This was a must win match. I wonder if anyone told the players?

You had the feeling it was going to be tough when Shaaban was out injured again.  No offence to Poppen, he is a decent keeper but I feel more confident with Rabi between the sticks.

Similar to the Häcken match, Bajen were stung soon ofter a lively attack. A very soft goal for the rich men from Göteborg, the defence were sleepwalking. Ok 2 mins in one down, 88 mins left to put things right. But Bajen couldnt put things right. If there was one Swedish word I heard been shouted last night it was ‘framåt’ forward! There was an English word being shouted a lot that began with ‘C’.

Bajen were nervy, too nervy! They were never comfortable on the ball and everything was rushed. A neutral would be hard pressed to guess who were the bottom team.

I wonder if Tony had told Bajen to play like a crab – sideways!

It was clear to all that when we got into attacking positions Örgryte were panicking. We had a few chances but you never felt that anyone was going to score.

Castro-Tello worked hard as did Helg before his was taken out by a stone age tackle. But the guys shoud have got the ball out to the wings more and crossed in. All too often we tried to come through the middle, where there was way too much traffic.

I watched Swansea in the old fourth division so I consider myself a connoisseur on watching crap football and last night was dire.  All it needed was Freddy Kruger to pop up and score a second and the nightmare would have been complete.

A lot of Bajen fans are calling for Tony Gustavssons head. I can understand this. I hate to do it and wont join in the chorus just yet. We actually have to play the bottom team Örgryte again next match, away so thats a big test. If we get nothing from that then maybe the Board have to act.

I can handle losing, what I cant handle is a gutless performance. We know Bajen dont have much upfront since Charlie left but this was the bottom team who hadnt won. No excuse. What was clear to me last night is that Hammarby does not have a leader on the pitch. We desperately needed an experienced head to calm down the players and get on with it but there was nobody there.

I have been a critic of Castro-Tello but I thought he played well last night in fairness. More of the same please mate!

Things can only get better……as it cant get any worse than this.

In the second half, Tony brought on new boy Linus (ex Sundsvall, good record in the second division – Superettan) for the ineffective Nathan Paulse. It was a desperate move by the Bajen boss and had Linus scored or got an assist it would be seen as a master stroke.  But it wasnt, young Linus ran his guts out to be fair but it was obvious to all that he had not trained much with the team as they rarely found him with the ball or didnt pick up his runs.

Bajen Samba

I have to be honest that was the best forty five minutes I have seen Hammarby play for a long time! As you can tell my pre match post I wasnt convinced Bajen would do the business agains the Trelleborg ‘True Blues’. They were fifth in the table and Bajen have not exactly been in great form this season. Also with a month off for summer I had anticipated that both teams would be a bit rusty.

Notice the stuga on the top of globen...

I dont know what Tony Gustavssons holiday programme was but I like..the green and whites came flying out of the traps and for the first half completely outclassed Trelleborg. The addition of Dahl in midfield and former Leicester player Patrik Gerrbrand in defence seemed to give Bajen that steel that that havent shown this season so far. Bone crunching tackles, a few naughty challenges this is what we want!

The Bajen klack

Bajen scored from a lovely bit of attacking play that we have been starved off this season. Söderstrom tucked it away lovely though we all though he was going to sky it as it was a fast ball in. 1-0 Bajen felt lovely. A release of pressure for al the 9000 or so Bajen who were at the game in the sun but not for long…

Bajen in the sun...first half

No its not Trelleborg away support...this was the second half a real contrast form the sunny first half as a storm hit Söderstadion

During half time we were hit by a nasty storm, advertising hoardings flew everywhere, it was like a disaster movie. I have a quick video clip of this that I will upload soon.

It was amusing as the East stand emptied and when they came back the club had handed them raincoats but in light blue…the 15 Trelleborg fans must have found it amusing as blue is their colour.

Trelleborgs away support, all 15 of them ...bless!

We were all a bit worried that this onslaught of rain might hamper Bajens passing play…however within minutes of the restar new boy Gerrbrand stuck in a header from a corner…yes let me repeat that Bajen scored from a corner!!! At last!

wow an action shot!

Rami Shaaban looked very assured in goals and commanded his area well. I couldnt help but think of that awful GAIS match last year when Hammarby were coasting at 2-0 and they got done 2-4! Trelleborgs Peter Abelsson did pull one back, he squeezed the ball home from a tight angle. Fuck. Here we go, Bajen had a fraught few minutes, anything other than victory would have been a travesty, fortunately Bajen held on to take all 3 very important and shiny points!

Hammarby players thank the fans!

Tony got his tactics spot on, played some great substitutions, I cant pick a man of the match as they all played well. I was really encouraged by the fighting spirit Tony has instilled in the boys over the break. Here’s opening its not a one off!

Bajen Samba!

AIK v Hammarby

What an atmosphere!

I can quite honestly say I dont think I have watched a game in such an amazing way. The flares, the flags, the noise, this derby game had the lot.

In fact this AIK v Hammarby derby made the DIF derby look like a village cricket match!

As soon as we reached the ground there was running battles with the police, undercover cops throwing ‘fans’ to the ground and cuffing them.  Welcome to Solna!

I have taken loads of photos and a few video clips that I will post up over the weekend.

Unfortunately we lost, just to one goal. Many (including the Press) were talking of an AIK demolition job on Bajen but that never materialised.

AIK were technically superior to Hammarby for sure, but Bajen were without several key players, either through injury or because of the SSvFF’s draconian punishments.

What I particularly liked about the game was the Bajen spirit. Head Coach Tony Gustavsson is very disappointed at the way we lost but I felt Bajen worked really hard, true we had very little up front to really trouble AIK but Sema played very well as did Simon Helg. They did try to open AIK up and succeeded on a few occasions, we even scored to make it 1-1 but the ref chalked it off for an offside, hard to tell if it was from my perch at Råsunda.

Poppen also had a great game, though I think his head dropped in the last 10 minutes. He should have hoofed the ball forward rather than pissing about with throwing it.

AIK put a lot of pressure on Bajen, but the boys defended well.  They didnt actually get very much on target. They did breach the green and white defences in injury time which felt like a kick in the balls as you had the feeling that if Bajen could ride it out till half time they could get something out of this derby.

Usually half time entertainment is provided by marching bands, kids taking penalties, mascots but last night the ‘Solna Tattare’ ( I use that description because these were not genuine AIK supporters)  started throwing objects at the Bajen support from the top of the Eastern Stand. All very naughty, the Bajen fans needed no encouragement to start hurling chair seats at the AIK supporters. Then the flares came out, it was more like Sarajevo than Sweden.

How someone didnt get hurt I will never know. I have some video footage and if its ok quality I will stick them up.

What amazed me was how long it took the police to get up there and stop the hooligans from lumping the objects down on the supporters. A good five minutes which is a long time when you are being attacked.

I think this Bajen team, in spite of the setbacks are starting to build a real camaraderie and a fighting attitude which will serve us well.  Last night Hammarby reminded me of the Scotland team in the mid to late eighties and early nineties. They knew they werent as skilful as other teams but they had the passion and I think Bajen showed that.

Its now a months break for the Swedish season, bloody shame it was just getting interesting!

We didnt have any trouble on the way home and it was peaceful though what amazes is me the police allowing AIK and Bajen fans to leave at the same time and be in the tube station together.

In England the Police have fans seperated so far apart that you need binoculars to see an opposition supporter.

Cant wait for the next derbies though!!

Stalemate at Söderstadion

As I mentioned in my brief preview for the Halmstad game, on paper this had a draw written over it but this is Allsvenskan and you can often throw the form book out of the window.

I think a draw was a fair result yesterday, what impressed me was Bajens resiliance, ok lets face fact 2 of our defenders are out injured but Bajen doggedly stuck to their task of keeping HBK out.

Halmstad impressed me. They knocked the ball around well, especially after the interval, their corner kicks were very threatening and probably some of the best set plays I have seen in Allsvenskan. So it was a shame we gave them 9 corners as they were laser targeted into our goalmouth. Fortunately Hammarby stayed strong and focussed.

Monday James impresses me, just back from injury and he got stuck in. Good heart on that boy, I also like the fact that he tries to start attack with his clearances..one day we will get on the end of one. Ok nobody like long ball but I will take it if it keeps Hammarby up.

There was also a very strong penalty shout, Castro took a great ball from Söderström and tried to round the Halmstad keeper who managed to get a touch on it, it looked like he also made contact on Castro-Tello but I have some sympathy with the ref. I am a qualified Level 7 English FA refereee and I have seen this given and not given. I think the fault here was with the Assistant Referee who seemed to be asleep for most of the game and didnt assist the ref.

For the above reason I do not like to criticise refs, but I saw a shocking decision from Mr Ingvarsson today. A ball was played up the wing, HBK had pushed up the half way line, for once Söderberg spun his man effectively and was away, scampering towards the Halmstad goal when the ref blew for a free kick to HBK! Incredible! There was not even a shout from the Halmstad players – baffling!

The attendance was pretty disappointing, the klack was full of course but the gate was only 8110. It was a bad time to have a Saturday match, it was on terrestial tv and also its a bank holiday weekend…I sometimes think the Bajen fans have a point when they feel everyone is out to get ’em!

Still I am happy with a point. Its 7 points from 9 and more importantly 3 clean sheets, very important for confidence.

Next week its AIK away and without some of our key players every Bajen fan knows its going to be a tough one.

BP 0 Hammarby 1! That’ll do nicely!

I saw a rare Bajen victory last night and it was an away match. Fortunately I didnt have to travel that far as the Söder Bröder were playing Brommapojkarna.

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t classy but it was an important victory for Bajen.

Bajen players thank the fans at the end of the match

Bromma is in the west of Stockholm and they play at Grimsta IP. Forget Man U, Real Madrid and Swansea, Brommapojkarna are the largest club in Europe in terms of the number of active teams of all ages. Its reported that in 2007, they had 247 teams and over 3000 players!The journey on the Tbana took for ever, I came straight from work, getting some funny looks in Östermalm as I had my Bajen scarf on.

The ground in the distance

The TV Gantry

I had to get to Johannelund station as this is the nearest to Grimsta IP. It took about 45 mins, I followed a few Bajen fans as I had no idea where the ground actually was.  Just as well, I wouldnt have a found, it was in the middle of a big park, nice setting but the ground was awful for Allsvenskan standard, I have seen Cambridge City play at better stadia in the non league!

The pitch was shocking, more akin to a rugby pitch and the ball actually bounced like a rugby ball as well and you knew that this game could go either way. Before the match I wasnt confident Bajen would win. I thought a nice shiny point would do us but Lolo Chanko had other ideas as blasted into the net 8 mins from time to give us a precious 3 points and our second derby victory of the year

more like a cricket ground!

.Although Bajen are having a lot of trouble off the pitch and the goal is to stay in the allsvenskan, I love the way the fans dont barrack the manager Tony Gustavsson, and I loved the way he ‘gees up’ the fans, he certainly seems Bajen through and through.

Shit ground no fans!

Players that really stood out for me were Traore who threw himself in front of everything and Poppen, the keeper who pulled off some great saves to keep Bajen in it.

Of course psychologically this was massive, a win without star striker Charlie Davies who has been banned for five matches by the bastards at the SvFF, it certainly seems like everyone and everything is against Bajen this year…but that only makes us stronger!

The team thank the fans