While Portugal vs Sweden on Thursday was just a friendly, it was an important game for the latter, as it was the first game in charge for Jon Dahl Tomasson,
There was a desire to make a real impression, but the likes of Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski were left sorely disappointed as they were hammered 5-2 by Roberto Martinez’s men.
After the game, the Spurs star had a chat with the local media, and revealed his frustration at the result and the performance of some of his teammates, speaking his mind to Aftonbladet.
The Tottenham forward had some choice words directed at the defence, who were all over the place and allowed their opponents to have too many chances.
He said: “We don’t defend as a team, we don’t defend hard enough, we don’t help each other. We have to be better. It’s not okay. The defence has not worked for a long time now. It’s not just a game or two, it’s been like this for a couple of years now. We need to address it.”
He added: “I am disappointed. It’s not fun to let in so many goals. You have to defend the goal with your life. To lose like this is the worst thing in the world. It burns in me, when I play and now afterwards.”
Kulusevski was actually very excited to see how Jon Dahl Tomasson’s plans were going to work, since the ideas were very similar to those put in place by Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham, but while the latter had some success in his early days at his new club, the same cannot be said for the former Blackburn boss.
Sweden will next face Albania in another friendly on Monday, which should be a tad easier for them to get the ball rolling.
