Usually if a footballer was called a salmon, the metaphor would be to explain that he goes in the opposition direction to others, working relentlessly hard.
However, Denmark manager Åge Hareide has used the difference in salmon quality to talk about player production in the country, and to set Christian Eriksen apart.
Speaking to Danish magazine Euroman, Hareide explained: “In Norway, we have salmon farming. The best salmon get the best price, so it is in football.”
But Eriksen was referred to as a “wild salmon”, and Hareide also touched upon the crticism the Tottenham player receives.
For a long time, some in Denmark have thought Eriksen’s national team performances simply aren’t as good as what he produces at Spurs.
When the suggestion of Eriksen not playing as well for the national was put to Hareide, he said: “No, I say the opposite: that he has played well for Tottenham. It is very important. ‘And then we use you just as you are used at Tottenham,’ I say. We need all the positive adjectives.
“About the national team and Christian Eriksen. If all write and say that Christian Eriksen plays poorly in the national team, it becomes a truth eventually.”
The new concentration on trying to fit the country’s style around Eriksen, rather than squeezing the Tottenham star into a Danish system that wasn’t working anyway, can only be helpful.
The previous manager, Morten Olsen, criticised Eriksen both publicly and privately, and because he’d been in the job for 15 years it wasn’t as widely rubbished as it may have been.
In September of 2015, Olsen was very critical of the Spurs player: “With so many matches he must be able at a high level to pick up the ball and help to control the game. He has not now, and therefore we blame him. And he must be able to handle the criticism, and he does, too.
“It’s a brutal world out there, otherwise you have to play at another level. It is not Ajax no more. It is no development. He is only 22 years old, I know. But he has been four years in the national team and had a fantastic season for Tottenham last year. So with the tools he has, he must stand the criticism. He has also been told by us.
“…He must fix the mistakes he makes. I remember his first two touches of the ball in the second half. It’s something you can criticise a player like Christian Eriksen for. It should not take place. He must not make the mistake, it is sloppiness.”
Eriksen’s agent defended the player, understandably, and things calmed down, but it would be no surprise if the footballer is thrilled at how things have changed with the Danish national team.
