Preview of Aalborg Boldspilklub, this weeks European opposition

DanishWhite — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:39:00 GMT

Now, I am just going to be writing up a few lines on this fixture.

Aalborg (or Aalborg Boldspilklub as the clubs full name is) come from northern Denmark and is a city with proud footballing traditions (by Danish standards and compared to the city size. They have in fact done something Spurs never have, and that is qualifying for the CL, where they beat Panathinaikos and drew with Porto on the way, back in 1995-1996.

The team is enjoying a very good season so far resting in the league table in 2nd spot with the same point tally as the Danish football dynamo known as FC Copenhagen. This weekend they quite simply overran the technically superior FC Midtjylland side, AAB's local rivals, in an impressive performance, which however is likely to have drained some chalories in their players, especially considering their rather thin squad. For a comparative valuation, it should be noted that AAB by most observers is rated as playing slightly aabove par, approximately 10-15%, while co-league leaders FCK - who last year beat Man Utd as well as trunking Celtic in the CL - are playing at least 20% under last years levels. I therefore rate AAB as being distinctly weaker than the FCK known by the British fans.

The team lines up in a rather assymetric 4-4-2 line up, with a designated holding midfielder, a rather non-skillfull midfielder playing in the AM slot and a mercurial right winger who drifts a lot in the inside-right midfield position.

The team uses a back four in front of Danish/Moroccan keeper Karim Zaza, a tall and quick keeper. Two unspectacular players are RB Olesen and Captain Danny Califf (Oz). Both are consistent and solid but would struggle in the PL. Inside left stopper is Danish u21 captain Jacobsen who is a bit better IMO and faster too. He will without doubt be marking the quicker of our strikers. He also tanks in free-kicks and penalties in for fun, in old-school David Unsworth style. The back four is completed by LB Søren Pedersen, who is a volatile and very attacking minded fullback though with a distinct nasty streak and foul temper.

The midfield is a tactical bastard but works out very well for the side. It is anchored by Risgaard, whose main assets is probably his spirit and tactical discipline. He also plays occasionally as CB, and his playing style reflects that. Ahead of him is Agustinussen, a very unothodox player, who is tall and lanky but not skillfull nor very quick. The best that can be said about this central axis is that they do click quite well and that they somehow have the ability to become a better unit than the sum of their parts. Both contribute at set-pieces well, though. Lately AAB have been using Andreas Johansson, formerly Wigan, in the AM role to great effect too, and he is a player with good vision who will need to be screened to prevent him from feeding Nomwethe and Curth with deep passes. The teams tactical set-up is mostly determined by their use of the inside left midfielder. When the team has a catious approach they utilise Enevoldsen, at very hard working and promising winger tucked inside. He is player of low stature but quite strong and quick on the turn and his pressing play is impeccable. When AAB plays a bit more attacking they use Swedish playmaker Lindström, who is a classis no.10 and quite a good player with very inventive passing and long shots. The midfield is completed by South African right winder Nomwethe, who is quick, skillfull and dangerous both on the crossing and in his shooting, a definite star of the team. He drifts a lot and his teammates are quite good at compensating for his occasional awol-runs. He works hard throughout games and is deceptively hard to shake off the ball.

In attack AAB just really have two names. Brazilian Mota signed from rivals Viborg has dissappeared completely from the radar somehow, and though he has all the attributes to be a top striker, even in the PL, he rarely gets a look into the side, grave professionalism problems being the official explanation. The main source of goals for AAB is swedish international of Balkan heritage Rade Prica. He is a tallish player with deceptive body strenght, a brilliant eye for play and finishes well with both feet and his head in particular. Though he doesn't jump high, he is good at finding his spots to striker from. Finally there is former danish u21 regular Jeppe Curth. He is a converted winger and his style reflects just that. Coupled with a good skill level - he was a youngster for many years in PSV - he has a brilliant eye for play, and is adept at ghosting in from wide on the outside of CB's when he's been back on the pitch to defend and close holes from Nomwethes escapades further up the pitch. He is quick and strong, and has a low point of gravity and he is thus very hard to shake off the ball.

...

As said I don't see AAB presenting anywhere near the level of opposition of FCK last year in CL (for those of you who would have seen those games). Furthermore I expect many players to be well knackered after sundays industrious game against FCM. Remember that these sides don't quite have the fitness levels of PL sides.

It is my impression, that Spurs will need to play quick and wide and that we need to move their midfield diamond around quite a lot. If that can be managed throughout the 1st half, the 2nd could well be a rout. We need our DM on the day to be able to track Nomwethes runs, which is why Zokora over Huddlestone is a must. The key to our atttacking will then be for Lennon to keep running at LB Pedersen who he should be able to beat comfortably, unless Pedersen has luck putting in some initial nasty tackles and put Aaron of his game. The key is furthermore to give Bale enough support to push up and be a crossing threat from wide seeing as Olesen is not quick or confident enough to push too far up. Then JJ and Steed will be in a direct duel in the middle against Agustinussen and Risgaard, which is a duel they should be able to win comfortably, if only they use their superior quickness on the ball with a bit of patience and common sense, really. Finally the key will be for our strikers to "switch" on AAB's defenders, so that Berbatov will stay close to Jacobsen - their best defender - so that preferably the quick Defoe or ditto Bent can make runs from inside left between Olesen on RB and Califf on RCB. Berbatov will need to stay close to Jacobson at all times, as he rather than their central midfielders is who starts up all attacks from deep.

Defensively the emphasis will be on respectively Lennon and the trio of JJ/DZ/SM to respectively keep Pedersen at LB occupied at the back and to push back their central midfield back sufficiently to isolate their strikers, who will have slim odds on beating Dawson and Kaboul head on. Finally some effort shielding from Zokora and some very concentrated defending from Bale will be needed to tame Nomwethe. Cutting off the midfield as described and long balls from Jacobsen will require the African to seek up play further back, and that really is the easiest way to defend against players like him.

Under the later Martin Jol this game could be a real banana skin, since AAB fields some decent transitional play from deep and some clinical finishing, and they really are a spirited side. However I don't think this early Ramos team lacks discipline like Jols ditto would sometimes do, and thus I do think we should comfortably edge them at home. I do hope that Ramos noted that they did match Sampdoria quite well earlier on, and that our top players like Berbatov, Lennon and Bale therefore will still need to play to their best ability to put things behind doubt.

2-0 Spurs, with Bent and Bale scoring.

DL's Blog

Preview of Aalborg Boldspilklub, this weeks European opposition