Odd were hoping to build on a good previous season when they were the only team capable of living with Rosenborg at the top end of the table before collapsing eventually. Yet they looked pretty cumbersome and devoid of energy from the early games of the season, playing with little ingenuity and movement, and mostly looking to stay compact at the back. The team had a very poor start in away games, losing three in a row without scoring, but managed to stabilise a bit and four wins in a row, all based on very solid defending and hard work across the pitch, managed to keep the team relatively close to the top places. But this good run did not last and indeed the All Blacks dropped into a really poor level at the start of the summer. Three goalless draw in a row were then followed by a humiliating 5:1 loss at the hands of Aalesund and soon after that a 2:0 defeat at the hands of bottom side Viking. Dag Eliver Fagermo seemed unable to express his views of how the team should perform to the players and there seemed to be a real disconnect. The sale of prized asset Rafik Zekhnini in the summer further deflated the mood around the place. Odd did get better in home games in the second half of the season and actually secured a number of narrow victories in front of their fans that keep them somewhat in the battle for the European place. Yet Odd never really seemed to turn a corner this season and continued to play in the same functional way that has been good enough to earn them a few wins against lesser sides but has proved mostly unsuccessful against the better ones. A sixth-placed finish at the end of the season is hardly something to be too disappointed about but the fact that they finished as the worst scorers in the entire league, with less than a goal per game is striking. Indeed, this team finished just sixth points clear of the first team outside of the drop zone and that shows that there was not much to choose between mid-table sides and the Skien outfit were just part of the mix, instead of standing out this season, and need to show progress next year.
