Robin Olsen has failed to make an appearance for Aston Villa this term, but a lack of game time with the Premier League side has not impacted his place in the national team.
The 32-year-old started twice for Sweden in this month’s international break, where they lost 4-1 to Serbia and settled for a 1-1 draw against Slovenia in the UEFA Nations League.
Sweden’s failure to beat Slovenia meant they finished bottom of their group table and that meant relegation to League C of the competition. This has not pleased the Aston Villa keeper.
Speaking to Viasat after the tie against Slovenia, Steven Gerrard’s man didn’t hold back when expressing his thoughts.
When asked about the mood in the dressing room, he said: “To be honest, I don’t know. I went straight to the physio room to be at peace. So, I haven’t been in there, but I can imagine that it was quiet. It’s hard to say now that we’ve gone out. If you look at it positively, it’s a step in the right direction, but I mean… I’m ashamed that we’ve gone down. Really,” Olsen said.
“It’s really, really tough. I don’t know what the explanations are,” the custodian told Fotbollskanalen.
“I don’t want to stand here and make excuses, because that’s easy to do. We’ve lost a few players but brought in some new ones that look interesting. But of course, we have not lived up to our expectations and not everyone else’s either. It’s a big, big disappointment.”
Sweden have failed to win their last five matches. Olsen has been unable to pinpoint what is wrong with the national team.
“I don’t know, it’s hard to say. Before the Serbia game I had expectations that we would do well given that we went back to what we have been very comfortable with. But we got a real slap down there (4-1 loss). You could say that we delivered okay today, but at the same time it’s a game we have to win,” Olsen explained.
