The war of words is underway for Wednesday’s NM semi-final between Brann and Stabæk. Central to the whole thing: The match must be played on grass. For the match to be played at Nadderud, did not go down well with everyone. The very quality of the lawn is what has seen the anger boil. Among other things, the track has been called a “potato fog”. The grass roots have not been able to see properly, after ice settled on the pitch this winter, the club says. The Brann players like to use the word field when talking about the Stabæk arena. The pitch at Nadderud has received a lot of criticism after the first Eliteserien matches. This photo is from when Stabæk met Odd at the stadium. Photo: Trond R. Teigen / NTB – If there is a war Stabæk wants on his field, then they will have it. We have warriors on the team who do what needs to be done, says Brann-winger Ole Didrik Blomberg. Has been talked about in the Brann camp Left back David Møller Wolfe thinks Brann will notice the bad mat. – With a little bump and bounce, there will probably be a mispass or two more than what I usually have. I just have to live with that, says Møller Wolfe. Brann has talked about the pitch, says the defender. – We cannot focus on that. We must play exactly as we plan. If we invite to a second-ball match and throw the ball into the air, it is to Stabæk’s advantage, says Møller Wolfe. Browse through the photos from the stadium here: This is how the Nadderud stadium looked on Tuesday. Same playing conditions as at the weekend – It will be smooth and fine when the match starts, and then it will be raked up after a while. Then it will be bumpy and uneventful, is Stabæk coach Lars Bohinen’s prediction. He thinks it will be the same playing conditions as when Stabæk took on Haugesund in the elite series at the weekend. – This is a field on which football should never have been played. It is worse than what they see on the TV screen, said FKH’s physiotherapist Ørjan Sørhus to Haugesund’s Avis after the match on Sunday. It was after FKH centre-back Claus Niyukuri had to leave with an injury after just forty seconds of play. Lars Bohinen thinks there is too much focus on the quality of the grass at Nadderud. Photo: Mats Torbergsen / NTB Change the style on home ground Bohinen says that Stabæk himself changes the style of play a little on home ground. – It means that I take less risk in our game. We actually want to have the ball on the ground and play a different type of football than we do here, says the Stabæk coach. Bohinen does not think it will be as easy for the away team to play “Fire football”, fast along the ground, at Nadderud as at home at Brann Stadion. Coach Eirik Horneland says they will still try to play as they plan. – Then we’ll see if we adjust along the way, says the Brann coach. He would like there to be a greater focus on the quality of bananas in top football. – I think there should be greater requirements for football pitches, because it is an important part of the product that I have to sell and offer. Fire coach Eirik Horneland believes there should be more focus on the quality of the surface in Norwegian football. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB Stabæk coach Bohinen, on the other hand, thinks there is too much focus on how the mat at Nadderud looks. – There is a lot of noise related to how the track looks, but despite everything, I live in Norway, he says. Wednesday’s match can be seen on news here.
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Major criticism of the quality of the Nadderud stadium before the match between Brann and Stabæk in the NM in football – news Vestland
