AIK failed to defend their title and despite remaining in the title race until the penultimate round crucial defeats against direct rivals at the end of the season proved costly and eventually the defending champions missed out on medals and Europe altogether.
AIK played catch up from early on after average start to the season – (W2 D2 L2). Still impressive run of (W10 D2 L1) between rounds 7 and 19 saw the defending champions even climb in first place at the beginning of August.
However, a lot of these wins were undeserved and the general play of the team remained unconvincing. The main playmaker Larsson was not as good as he was in 2018, also the top goalscorer from the title winning 2018 Goitom didn’t open his account for the new campaign until round 15!
Added to that the fact that captain Sundgren left the club in July and also AIK’s involvement in Europe and the obstacles proved too much.
Despite not playing very well AIK remained very solid defensively, with their back line very well protected by the tireless workhorse Kofi Adu.
The matches that decided the fate of the season were in rounds 24 and 29, with AIK losing both those away games against teams that finished right above them. At the end of September 1:2 defeat vs. Hammarby pretty much ended the realistic title chances and 0:2 defeat on visit to Malmo in the penultimate round ended the top 3 chances.
Too many displays in 2019 looked laboured and refreshing the ageing squad must be main priority this winter, with AIK burning to get back to the top 3 in 2020. They won’t be distracted by European commitments next season too.
