Molde kicked off the season determined to be among the challengers for top places and a 100% start in the opening three games raised the optimism among the fans. Yet a crushing 4:0 loss at main rivals Rosenborg in the next game, when they seemed to have a great opportunity, had a lasting impact in the weeks to come.
The team struggled to lift themselves after that setback and dropped too many points against inferior sides that they should have been beating, most notably away losses to Ranheim and Kristiansund. That poor run of form left the team some way off the top places, with Rosenborg and Bran setting the pace, and they never really stood a chance of catching them for the rest of the season.
That said, some things clicked nicely for Molde as the season went on and none more so than the emergence of teenager Erling Håland as a reliable scorer and game-changer. He announced his arrival to the scene with a stunning hat-trick to consign title-chasing Brann on July 1 in the one of the most eye-catching results of the season.
Molde began to play some superb football after that as goals began to flow and the additions of quality players like Pawel Cibicki and Magnus Wolf Eikrem allowed Solskjær to rotate the squad without losing out in quality. Another thumping win over Brann bookended a streak of four wins in five and moved the Blues to third in the table. They had a bit of a blip in August, with two losses on the streak, but remained the most aesthetically pleasing and in-form side in the league in the final couple of months, wining eight of their final win games.
There is little doubt that Molde were the best side in the league in the second half of the season, with Håland and Erik Hestad developing into key players with consistent impact, and will be actually quite frustrated that they missed out on the title.
