Tromsø looked to build on a superb second half of the previous season, when they superbly bounced back to beat the drop, but instead started the season with a stutter and lost the opening two games. Yet promising manager Simo Valakari soon managed to steady the ship and some impressive displays at home earned the team useful points and lifted them up the table.
The apex of their campaign came rather early in the season when they claimed five wins out of six, including victory over Rosenborg at home. At that point, the team was aiming to challenge for the top places but instead, they lost their rhythm and momentum after the mid-season summer break and struggled badly for the rest of the season.
The loss of striker Runar Espejord, who scored six goals early in the season and played quite well, hit the team quite badly and his replacement Mushaga Bakenga never managed to quite replace him. The system proved ineffective in terms of getting goals and indeed a poor run of five losses in a row has saw them slide down the table.
The team managed at times to battle back from the disappointments but never again managed to get on an extended run of form as the lack of motivation and energy in the side showing, with the Northerners settling for a mid-table finishing.
At the end of the season, they will back at it with some regret and disappointment as they had the potential to really challenge for something big this season but never quite managed to fulfil their potential due to the lack of squad depth and enough ambition.
