– From the first day of meeting with Smerud, a new standard was set for the way you work football. That’s what Jonas Grønner says, who was news’s expert during the U21 EC this summer. Earlier this month, it became clear that former U21 national team manager Leif Gunnar Smerud will hire the women’s national team until 2023. Friday started with a 1-1 draw against Austria at the Ullevaal stadium. Grønner has himself played under Smerud and seen the U21 boss in action up close. He was Smerud’s captain for several years and thrived under the wings of the Roglander. Leif Gunnar Smerud and Norway face Portugal in the national league on Tuesday at 19.15 – the match will be broadcast on NRK2, news TV and news Sport. – Not having come across similar Grønner, he remembers he was quickly impressed when he made his U21 debut in March 2014, the same year Smerud was brought in as head coach for Norway’s second best men. – I think he came in with a lot of good ideas and in many ways revolutionized national team football with his game, and his approach to the way he worked football. It was something I hadn’t come across before, and something that was very fascinating, Grønner remembers. LIKES THE WORKING WAY: Jonas Grønner has first-hand knowledge of how Leif Gunnar Smerud works as a coach. He likes what he has seen. Photo: Jon Olav Nesvold / NTB The former centre-back remembers particularly well a sequence at the player’s hotel in Azerbaijan, where the U21 national team was to play one of the first games under Smerud’s leadership. – He connected the PC and showed us a “PowerPoint” none of us had seen the like of. He set a standard where we were just like “wow, this is really cool”. It was so professionally and coolly executed that the players sat on the edge of their seats and it was like the sound of a church, recalls Grønner. – The team needs it now Smerud will try to get the women’s national team on track after a couple of turbulent championships in recent years. The Rogalender will basically rent the team for the rest of the year. After Friday’s draw against Austria, there is an away game against Portugal that awaits on Tuesday. Although the players have not spent many days with Smerud, they consistently report a good impression. – I would say that his strength is that he is very good one-on-one with the players. Look, talk and come up with what he wants from us, so that it is quite clear to each and every one of us what the role is and what to think about before the match, says Ingrid Syrstad Engen. – He seems very smart and thinks a little about the health of the human body, not just football, football, football, says Tuva Hansen. – I think he is clear in the way he plays. I think that’s what the team needs now, a clear game idea. He is also good at communicating with players and is clear about what he wants, says Frida Maanum. Smerud himself has also experienced a good response. – If I have to judge from what I see in training and in matches, then it is accepted, understood and embraced. I am happy about that. Laughs after the public washing up: – Must have thicker walls 00:46 Molde must enter a “spider-infested” dressing room 01:10 Unstoppable Pellegrino 00:35 Insect “buzz” in Formula 1 00:46 Show more Hugsar special lecture Smerud’s ability to set high demands and get the best out of people is something Geir Jordet, professor of sports psychology at Norway’s Sports Academy, has noticed on his body. He recalls with a smile when Smerud invited him to give a lecture for the U21 national team a few years ago. – Before the lecture, we talked about what he wanted to achieve with the lecture, and he said that he wanted to touch and move the players emotionally and physically, not just intellectually or cognitively. This was very different from what I was used to, where trainers who invite to a lecture mostly just state a topic, and I myself decide how this should be communicated, Jordet tells news. FULLROSAR SMERUD: Geir Jordet is full of praise for Leif Gunnar Smerud. Photo: Tom Balgaard / news Smerud’s order caused him to attack the lecture with a large dose of awe. – I even finished working for a week straight to prepare for this little half hour with the players. And with Leif’s help along the way, I stretched myself more than I ever have. The result was good. Leif challenges good players in the same way, where they experience very high demands, but then get help and support to achieve these demands, Jordet believes. He tells news that he has known Smerud since they met at Norway’s sports college over 20 years ago, when Jordet was a student and Smerud played football in what was then called the Tippeligaen. – One of the most important backers They have helped each other several times with professional contributions both ways, – Everyone who is with Leif quickly realizes that he is very knowledgeable, extremely well-read and extremely intelligent. Leif is also a creative problem solver and communicates effectively and precisely. In addition, he is incredibly ambitious and aggressive, and has good values and sky-high integrity, says Jordet. – There is no doubt that Leif is one of the most important men behind Norwegian top football in the last decade, and he will have his share of the credit for many of the good movements we see in Norwegian football now, he adds. Smerud himself describes himself as a person who does not accept 99 percent, only 100 is good enough. He remembers well the talk Jordet mentions, and says he understands that it “wasn’t the most pleasant preparation period”. – Sometimes you have to give those around you not just what they want, but what they need. Whether one is a professor or a top athlete, what we do for a living is to become “pusha”. And what perhaps makes the difference is hitting on an emotional level. It must hit for real. Many may say that “now we have to work hard”, but when you really feel what it is, my experience is that people then take steps they might not have thought they would be able to take, says Smerud. PS! Before the match on Tuesday, Portugal’s coach Francisco Neto has consulted with Rui Jorge, who coaches the U21 men for Portugal. – We know that the coach is very smart and good, says Neto about Smerud – a compliment Smerud accepts with a big grin: – It is clear that they have an understanding of Portugal, so I take it with great humility.
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