Gais got off to a dream start at home against Kalmar and took the lead via Axel Norén’s header after one minute and eight seconds.
After that Grönsvart was unrecognizable – and Kalmar was the better team for large parts of the 90 minutes.
Several in the Gais camp were clearly disappointed with the effort after the match. At the same time, they were pleased that the team managed to take a point instead of losing, when the day’s form failed.
– That is a strength in itself. When we met Halmstad away and played a bad game, we lost 4-0. Now it was 1-1. If you have to look at something positive, it’s that we didn’t lose today. But it’s also a bit difficult to see it that way right now, says Axel Norén.
The Gais centre-back says that the team learned lessons from the HBK debacle before the summer break.
– We have talked about it. We are becoming a little more compact now that things are not going well enough, he says.
Goalkeeper Mergim Krasniqi fills in:
– It is one of our worse performances. But what is strong is that we have made such performances before and then we lost against Halmstad 4-0. Now it was still 1-1.
What lessons did you learn against Halmstad?
– I don’t know. Things change quickly in the Allsvenskan. There are small margins. If they had made it 2-1, it could just as well have flowed away, because then we have to go for it. But you never want to concede four goals. We talked about that right after Halmstad, and then we kept a clean sheet against Hammarby.
Krasniqi thinks Gais often gets a lot for free in terms of energy level when the team plays big games in front of big crowds. In other matches there is development potential on that front, he believes.
– We have to learn to take on the favorite position in the Allsvenskan and actually go and win these matches. We have a bit of a problem when we go in as favourites.
What do you need to do to succeed in that?
– “Fidde” (coach Fredrik Holmberg) gets to solve it. He solves most things. We do what he says, says Krasniqi with a broad smile.
