TFT Issue 3251!

You know, I thought Vejle would struggle at Aalborg BK earlier this week. It’s the first time this season where I can genuinely say that I thought they’d be outsmarted because Aalborg BK can be very good on the ball because of their midfielders. Vejle’s quality lies in when they have the ball; without it, they’re a bit too vulnerable for my liking. So, yeah – not a good team for Vejle to face. However, Vejle continued to astound the Superligaen by befuddling their hosts, winning 2-1 in the process. I thought they’d do well this season, Vejle, but not as well as they have done.

So here they are, the newly-promoted team, sat at the top of the ladder. I would be pretty damn amazed if they were still there six months from now – or even six weeks from now – but they’re certainly making the most of the early season malaise shown by other teams. For example, Brondby have played well but haven’t defended well enough, FC Midtjylland have been focusing on Europe, and FC Copenhagen have already changed managers. Still, credit must be given where it’s due. Few teams are promoted to this league with any kind of intent to push for Europe, never mind stay up – but Vejle have a plan, and it’s working.

I couldn’t say that their plan is all that complex or unique, either. It’s just that most Danish teams don’t spend the kind of money they did pre-season. They’ve been clever with it, though – I’ll give them that. Normally, in such situations, teams are inclined to just buy attackers in a bid to outscore teams. Vejle have spent money in attack, bringing in Ghana’s Dwamena, who is far too good for this level – and it shows. Allan Sousa has bagged most of their goals this season, but Dwamena is the essential one for me. With those two, impressive Albanian youngster Mucolli, and even Henrique (out tonight) as backup, they’ve got options. 

In midfield, they’ve got last season’s heroes in Sweden’s Montiel and Albania’s Ramadani. The latter’s fellow countryman Hetemi has played more often, and new Iranian midfield controller Eztolahi (yet another that is too good for this level) ensures that they see enough of the ball to trouble their opponents. In defence, the idea is that Milosevic and Ojala will be the centre-back pairing, and I love that notion because they’re both good, experienced, and alert. They’ve got a lot right, Vejle, and their performances this season perfectly reflect such.

There’s a good combination of what was already there plus what has arrived, and the cohesion is there for all to see. They look confident, they’re creating chances readily, and even falling behind has not fazed the newcomers. They’re not perfect, but they got a lot more right than most, at least for now. I’m sure they’ll have bad runs this season, like all teams do, but there are no signs of it being soon. This is a good attacking team with a great deal of flair players and natural playmakers, not to mention good finishers. Dealing with them is really hard, and it’s something I can’t imagine Randers doing right now.

I think this is a good test for Vejle though. Although they’re not in the mixer for actually winning silverware, Randers are the kind of team that can be found rather commonly at this level in the sense that they’re battlers, they’re consistent, and they are mentally strong. They tend to find themselves without quality more than with it, but when they do have it, they’re a real handful. This season, I’m not so convinced by the Randers squad. I opposed them with SonderjyskE last time out, and the fact that the visitors beat them despite having ten men tells you that they’re not that hard to beat if you focus and work hard. Vejle can do that, hopefully with eleven men!

Like I said for their last game, I’m just not sure what Randers’ purported route to goal is this season. It seems like they’re going to leave it all down to Kamara, which is not ideal. I like the guy, and he’s a handful, but he’s not a good finisher. They’ve clearly plumped for brawn and speed up top rather than finesse, and without the right level of support, it’s going to expose them as a weak team in attack. They don’t have enough in midfield, though! I mean, you can look at the games they’ve lost this season and say that they’ve had hard games – true, but that’s never stopped Randers from being competitive before. They’ve stopped themselves from being competitive this season by not signing players in the right areas, and that’s why they’ve failed to score against both FC Nordsjaelland, or even against SonderjyskE when their opponents were down to ten men.

As is always the case, Randers are no more than a couple of players away from being very competitive in terms of where the points go; they’re naturally competitive on the pitch anyway. However, until those signings arrive, I can’t really take them seriously, and it genuinely surprises me to be able to say that as I class Randers as a very smart team that uses their limited funding wisely. This season, though, their squad does nothing for me. They’re not making life easy for their opponents, but they’re still losing games. Playing that way against prolific Vejle looks to have a touch of inevitability about it, really.

Therefore, I’ve got to back the home win at 13/10 here.