How Can Sweden Improve?

There are several positions where the Swedish team lo0ks vulnerable, are there any alternatives that can make the team stronger?

The fist and weakest link is the right defender where the reckless Alexander Östlund has played during the preliminaries. When he was a regular starter in Feyenoord you might understand that Lagerbäck choose him. But Feyenoord finally understood that Östlund isn’t a player for a top club in Europe and gave him to English Championship club Southampton. Ironically it is the former Southampton defender Mikael Nilsson that is his biggest competitor. Nilsson is a regular starter in Greek top club Panathinaikos and should be able to put Östlund on the bench in Germany.

In the midfield the most exciting question is who should play as centre attacking midfielder. Anders Svensson has been the first choice at that position since World Cup in Japan, but he has not impressed in his club team or in the national team lately. Kim Källström has been the first backup when Svensson has not been available, but he has not impressed when he got his chances. It would be exciting to see either Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Henrik Larsson in that position and make room for another attacker. As right midfielder Lagerbäck has alternated between Niclas Alexandersson and Christian Willhelmsson but none of them seems as a solid alterative, Henrik Larsson has played as a midfielder sometimes in his career and has the stamina to be a great midfielder.

With Larsson and Ibrahimovic Sweden has two world class forwards, but it is also there we have the most exciting alternatives. Three youngsters hope that they during the spring will make it impossible for Lagerbäck to leave them outside the starting eleven. Zlatan Muslimovic has impressed in Messina and if he starts to produce more goals it is just a matter of time before Lagerbäck has to try him in the national team. Johan Elmander in Bröndby has an incredible working capacity and can be used both as a right midfielder and as a striker. Recently Marcus Rosenberg has showed a fantastic form in Ajax and is their top goal scorer. Rosenberg will try to show Lagerbäck that he is a man for the starting eleven when Ajax meets Inter in Champions League.