While the biggest European leagues are currently in mid season, here in Sweden the season ended a couple of weeks ago. So now it's a perfect time to talk about the season, what was the buzz in the league, who overperformed and underperfomed?
Malmö won the league, no big surprise there since they are richer than any other team on the league. But this season was really special since we had two teams on the same points, so goal difference was the deciding factor to who was the champions.
AIK really overperformed if compared to the pre seasons bets from experts, but they fell short because they actually lost some games against team below them in the table.
Let's just go through a short summary of each team.
Malmö
Malmö was heavily favorites to win the league and every season they don't its a big failure. They have a solid squad that is designed to both handle Allsvenskan and to compete in a european context. This year they both won the league and qualified to Champions League, an amazing result for them even though they thought they would perform a bit better in the Champions League.
Malmö has overall the best squad and the best edge players. Johan Dahlin is the best goalkeeper in the league, but he had some problem with injuries this season which was actually a problem for them.
The defence is solid in Allsvenskan, but as we saw in Champions League they are a bit thin against stronger teams. Now they will probably lose Anel Ahmedhodzic as well, so they need to buy someone to replace him.
The middfield is superstrong with the superstar Anders Christiansen as their brightest starplayer, but players like Nalic and Rieks is strong as well.
The biggest question the supports have is if Malmö is gonna buy the loan-player Colak from PAOK. The price tag is 3 million Euro which is a lot for a team in Allsvenskan, but Malmö needs a star striker to lead the team in Europe.
Lastly its going to be super interesting to see who will replace Jon Dahl Tomasson as coach. He has really done all he can do for Malmö. Won the league twice, qualified to Champions League and brought up youngester and made them established in the squad.
Silly season
Not much will happen in Malmö, except if they sell some players. They need a replacement in the defence for Ahmedhodzic, and in my opinion they need to sign Colak. The next coach also needs to have a solid resumé and want to use Malmö as place to grow for bigger clubs.
Season score
8/10
Even though they win and qualifies for Champions League, they can't recieve a higher score if you look at their performance in Allsvenskan and i Champions League. They should be able to perform better, the demands on Malmö is sky high.
AIK
AIK season is really impressive if you look at where they were last season and looking at the squad. They have some top-players, but the squad is thin and was really fragile to injuries.
Bartoz has really built a solid defence and AIK didn't concide so many goals, 25 goals in 30 games is really good. But their problem has been that the strikers they have isn't really top quality. Henok Goitom is good, but is getting old and can't play 30 games. Stefanelli is uneven and maybe a little thin for Allsvenskan and Radulovic has not proven himself yet.
As I said the defence is the best in the league, Milosevic has just signed a new contract and together with Mikael Lustig and Sotirios Papagiannopoulos they form the best defensive block together with the keeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt.
The middfield is also solid if you look at the startplayers. Sebastian Larsson is still a class player and this season was a breakout season for Bilal Hussein. Erick Otieno is probably a defender, but his position looks more like a winger, has really made a amazing comeback and hopefully AIK can keep him.
If AIK want to challenge Malmö next season as well, they need to hope they can use Nabil Bahoui the entire season. A excellent player when not injuried.
Silly season
Nothing is needed for the defensive parts of the squad, but AIK really need to finds more options on the middfield and as strikers. Prime target is gonna be to find a heavy striker that can just smash in goals inside the penalty area. For the middfield they just need to find some options, because they are gonna double with european cup and Allsvenskan.
Season score
8/10
Looking at the pre-season bets and with the expectations AIK did a really good season. But AIK is a big club and their fans is never happy with seasons when they don't win any titles. Next season the expectations will be much higher both from fans and media, will see how they can handle that pressure.
Djurgården
Djurgårdens fans have been both through hell and heaven this season. During a long period of the season they were the leaders in the league and looked like they would win the league easily. But their form tanked during the middle of the season, and then they also lost both derbys against their rival AIK.
Fans also discuss if the sold the gold when they let Aslak von Vitry to Alkmaar, but this is just the reality of teams in Allsvenskan.
Djurgården has a solid teamplay were not many players are standing out except Magnus Ericsson Magnus Ericsson.
Their biggest problem was that they didn't get any of their strikers to perfom. Kalle Holmberg, Emir Kujovic and Joel Asoro didn't perform especially well.
Silly season
Djurgården needs to solve the situation with the strikers. Not sure if they need to adjust their tactic or just find the right type of striker for their system. The coaches need to sit down and try to figure it out. Otherwise nothing much will probably happen here if they don't sell. Edward Chilufya might be sold and then needs to be replced, the same with Hjalmar Ekdal.
Season score
6/10
It's hard for me to give Djurgården a score since their season has been volatile. But I know the fans are upset that they lost the derbys against AIK and that the didn't challenge Malmö until the end of the season. So I give them a 6 because I think a lot of people thought they could really do more.
This is part 1 of my summary of Allsvenskan. I'll be back for more before the season will start!