There was excitement and high aspirations for the season ahead at Molde as the charismatic Ole Gunnar Solskjær returned for a second stint at the club where he won two league titles only just a few years ago. The expectations were that Molde would challenge for the title after the disappointing previous season and they actually made a very strong start, unbeaten in the first six and winning four of them. Yet the performances were not that good and actually all of the early opponents were very mediocre and beatable sides. The weaknesses in the squad soon started to crystallise and it soon became clear that the Blues lack the depth and quality in the squad to compete for the title with a much more complete Rosenborg side. A few disheartening setbacks took away a lot of the confidence from the squad, with lowly Sarpsborg handing them a 4:0 hammering and Haugesund scoring three goals in the final ten minutes to come back from three goals down. The defence, once thought to be the team’s main strength, was underperforming badly as experienced players like Vegard Forren and Ruben Gabrielsen were making serious mistakes. Solskjær was constantly chopping and changing and the lack of any consistency in the starting 11 damaged the players’ own belief in the system and themselves. The star player Mohammed Elyounoussi struggled to impress in the early games and then was sold to Basel midway through the season, depriving Molde of one of their few dangerous players. Results took a major turn for the worse in the summer as they lost five out of six games in July and August, drawing against bottom side Start in the other. Mistakes were being made all over the pitch and Solskjær seemed incapable of finding the right solutions. But he did find some way back in September as four wins on the spin suddenly put Molde back in contention for European places. Summer signings Bjorn Sigurdarsson and Christopher Remmer were having positve impact and there was finally a bit of momentum surrounding the team. But it quickly dissipated as they mustered just a single win in the last six games. Yet they headed to the last game of the season still in control of the battle for the fourth place, knowing that a win at Lillestrøm would get the job done. But a meek performance and a 1:0 loss resulted in failure for Molde and they have lots of work to do over the close season to come back as the force that they once were.
