Final Adecco-Update and Half-Assed Season Review

We realize that in light of recent world events it might be difficult to get exited about the Adeccoliga right now, but if you could just tear yourself away from the most recent leaks from David Nielsen's autobiography (which includes the startling revelation that while at Wimbledon our hero saw Vinnie Jones punch someone) for one minute then we'll tell you how it went down..

Odd Grenland couldn't really be arsed in their game against Sarpsborg Sparta, and lost 5-1. There's no reason to read anything at all into that result, seeing as they could have lost 76-0 and still won the league by a healthy margin.

Start for their part had given away a bunch of tickets to random people in other to fill their ground for the last day of the season, and freebee-loving Southerners were treated to a cagey 1-0 win over Notodden. Over at Sandefjord the final game was a bit of a dud as well, as a 0-0 draw with Hønefoss won't exactly have had the punters screaming for more.

The playoff-place went to... drum roll.. spring roll.. SOGNDAL. Yes, they comfortably overcame they ground-breakingly awful Hødd with 3-0 scoreline, and will face Aalesund in a two-legged playoff. 

Down in the relegation-battle Alta got out of jail, as their 3-0 away-defeat at the hands of Løv-Ham could have seen them relegated, IF Sandnes Ulf had gotten a win against NIL-Trysil. But they didn't, they lost 2-0, so Sandnes Ulf follow Hødd out into the frightening footballing wilderness that is the Norwegian 2. division. 

That leaves two games which didn't really matter, Bryne versus Kongsvinger and Haugesund versus Moss, and they ended 2-1 and 2-2 respectively.

Final standings here.

Our Predictions - Rubbish or not?

Soo.. let's play the game that every pundit hates: Compare pre-season predictions with what actually happened. But, since very few people can be bothered to make predictions on the Adeccoliga, we'll just have to do with our own.

The embarrassing bit first: We had Bryne and Kongsvinger down as potential promotion-chasers. Obviously things went all sorts of pear-shaped for both, and in the end they were both almost relegated. We also had Moss down as a team with an outside chance of making a push, which clearly didn't happen. Finally, we had NIL-Trysil down as a potential relegation-candidate, and as it turns out they were comfortably mid-table and never looked in danger.

Thankfully, the list of stuff we got right is much longer. Odd and Start went up, as predicted. Sandefjord went up as well, and while they ended up with more points than Start we feel the prediction that they might have a harder time getting there still stands as they needed to change their manager early in the season to get it right.

We did say about Sogndal that "if they can go on a good run they might be dark horses for promotion", which is exactly what happened; they went on a good run late in the season and ended up in the playoff-spot. 

Predicting that the likes of Notodden, Haugesund, Løv-Ham and Hønefoss would be mid-table fodder isn't much to gloat about really (though it should be said that Hønefoss did much better than expected), and even Bengt Eriksen could have forseen that Alta, Sandnes Ulf and Hødd would struggle.

All in all, with the exception of the meltdown-duo (Bryne & Kongsvinger), the season pretty much panned out as expected. A stark contrast to the Tippeliga, if nothing else. 

Fun With Numbers

This season's top scorer was, predictably, Odd Grenland's Peter Kovacs. The giant Hungarian notched up 23 goals in 27 games. 

In the other end of the pitch, congratulations to Notodden's Finnish defender Jukka Hakala who scored no less than three own goals. He was also sent off twice, which made him a joint leader in that particular chart as well. Better luck next time, Jukka.

Looking at the final standings, we notice among other things that Alta, who were a point away from relegation, actually scored more goals than Sandefjord, who of course got promoted. If nothing else, the Northerners had the testicular fortitude to keep attacking. We also note that Hødd only managed to win twice in thirty games, which is just jaw-droppingly bad. Another fun-fact: The second highest-scoring team in the league were Moss, but they still finished 9th. Go defense. 

Team of the Year

According to wildly unreliable player-ratings, this is the 2008 Adeccoliga Team of the Year:

Keeper: Espen Bugge Petersen (Sandefjord) - 24 conceded in 30 games is an astounding record, even with Sandefjord's impressive defense in front of him.

Right Back: Frode Lafton (Hønefoss) - Has had a solid season, and was along with his brother Lars Lafton one of the big reasons why Hønefoss where punching above their weight all year.

Centre Back: Clarence Goodson (Start) - Too good for this league. Everyone saw what happened to Start's form when he was ill.

Centre Back: Birger Madsen (Sandefjord) - Almost joined Viking before the season began, and there's a reason the ambitious Stavanger-outfit wanted him. Like Goodson, has no business being in this league.

Left Back: Alexander Gabrielsen (Sandefjord) - Came through the ranks at Viking but got fed up with waiting for a chance in the first team. Fjordball suspects they regret letting him go. 

Right Midfield: Umaru Bangura (Hønefoss) - Hey! It's that bloke who may or may not be Al Bangura's brother! And by the looks of it, he's quite good! Fancy that.

Central Midfield: Morten Fevang (Odd) - 15 goals from midfield. Very much the Frank Lampard of the division, only he doesn't come across as a complete twit.

Central Midfield: Asle Andersen (Sandnes Ulf) - Calmness and routine personified, the Sandnes Ulf-player/assistent manager consistently showed that a quick mind can compete with quick legs any day of the week.

Left Midfield: Henrik Furebotn (Sogndal) - Young winger who had a bit of a breakthrough this season, was a big part of Sogndal's late surge.

Striker: Peter Kovacs (Odd Grenland) - Big, slow and ugly as sin, but you can't really argue with 23 goals in 29 games.

Striker: Madiou Konate (Hønefoss) - 10 goals in 19 games for Hønefoss, but was sold and missed out of the last 10 games. Would quite possibly have fired Hønefoss into the Tippeliga if they had kept hold of him.

So there it is. Fjordball would also like to give an honorable mention to Bryne's Allan Borgvardt who has been pretty much their only good performer this season, the forward is the classiest of players and his intelligent play is a joy to watch. Also, Haugesund's DjeDje Victorien is a comedy-genius: He shoots from the most unlikely angles and distances, and you never know if the ball will end up in the top corner or in row Z. Sogndal's 65 year-old striker Håvard Flo continues to defy his birth-certificate, and is still pretty much unstoppable in the air. And lastly, Saprsborg Sparta's Øyvind Hoås, just because he's the Norwegian Peter Crouch.