Molde looked well-placed to defend their title after a superb previous campaign and managing to keep the nucleus of their squad intact. They looked pretty impressive from early on and barely dropped a point, winning eight and drawing one of the opening nine games. There was some superb attacking threat and constant creativity and pressure from midfield, with Erling Moe's side keeping up the pace from last season.
However, it quickly emerged that they had a real rival at the top end of the table as Bodø/Glimt were winning games at a similar rate and showing some top quality football as well. Thus, the meeting between the two sides was a big occasion and Molde came unstuck, suffering a 3:1 loss.
That defeat suddenly kicked off a very poor run of form as the team lost seven out of the next ten games. That woeful run of results allowed Bodø to move well clear at the top and pretty much end the race for the title before the halfway point of the season.
Molde seemed unable to juggle European assignment with local ones at that stage but did find their groove again in the autumn and finished the season on a very good run of nine wins in the last 11 games. Thus, they finished comfortably second and will surely be back in the mix for the title next campaign, having seen that extraordinary opponent take this season.
Injuries and fixture congestion played a part in that but this team has too much quality and is the one to beat in Norwegian football.
