Gothenburg took a risky decision in the winter to appoint the 32-year-old inexperienced Asbaghi in charge for his first top flight job ever and despite the tough ride at times the Board deserve respect for sticking with the manager, which eventually saw Gothenburg’s very young team achieving survival.
All campaign Gothenburg had issues defensively, they kept a single clean sheet in the first 12 rounds, with the boss starting the campaign using three at the back, but come August he reverted to a 4-2-3-1 shape and this improved the stability slightly.
The pressure built after slow start to the season – just 4 wins in the opening 11 rounds – plus the summer break saw 3 very important players leaving as their loans expired. Goalkeeper Dahlberg and the start centre forward Engvall were major losses, as well as the talented winger Diskerud who was the team’s best player in 2017 and also started every game up until May.
Asbaghi did some good business to replace them though and the arrivals of striker Soder and inner midfielder Jensen from Zulte Waregem, plus the signing of two talented 18-year-old youngsters (Abraham and Yusuf) gave Gothenburg depth.
Probably the crucial results in terms of survival were achieved in 3 home matches in July and August when 3 wins improved the point tally and gave Gothenburg breathing space.
Unfortunately between September and November injuries to some important players, Calisir, Soder and Hysen missed many weeks in the autumn, saw Gothenburg achieving only 1 win in 10 rounds and they actually got a bit lucky to secure survival with 2 rounds left as they were in the midst of a three-game losing streak at that point. However, as those below them also kept making mistakes Gothenburg were spared late dramas.
Luck was definitely big part of the season and the most notable player that was Gothenburg’s lucky charm was playmaker Kharaishvili, who scored no less than 4 stoppage-time goals throughout the campaign that brought wins or draws and the Georgian singlehandedly gave Gothenburg pretty much half of their points in 2018.
Late in the campaign the 18-year-old Abraham and the 17-year-old centre forward Nygren also showed great promise and they seem to be the two newest young stars of the Blue and Whites.
