Oskar Thorvaldsson, FK Haugesund | This surprises the coach in Norway: – You are very concerned about it

The Icelander got a dream start to his coaching career in Norway this weekend, when his team emerged victorious in the first round of the Eliteserien.

The 50-year-old has taken over coaching responsibility at FK Haugesund and was able to return home from Skien with a 2-1 victory and three points in the bag after the meeting with Odd on Sunday.

– Unused

In the run-up to the season, he admits that he has come across some differences between Iceland and Norway.

– In Norway, you are very concerned about the results in the run-up – something I am a bit unfamiliar with, but I just have to respect that, says Thorvaldsson to Nettavisen.

The Icelander felt early on that those around him, including the local press, wanted results even before the season had started.

– There was a lot of talk about results. If you won the game, regardless of whether you played well or badly, that was more important, I felt. As in the first match against Vard, a match we perhaps did not take very seriously. After the match, I get the impression that the result was super important and that it would have been a disaster if we hadn’t won and that we would have had to stay at home for four or five days if we had lost. That’s what I felt.

– In the newspaper too, it was the results that were noticed. If you won 3-0 and had 30 percent of the ball, nobody noticed. Only the results were important. It was a bit like that, but I respect it, says Thorvaldsson.

– What can’t we do better?

He also brings his own focus on performance rather than results to the series.

After a strong 2-1 win against Odd at the weekend, the former Breidablik coach is absolutely clear that there is a lot of room for improvement when Nettavisen asks what can be done better for the weekend.

– What can’t we do better? replies Thorvaldsson.

– We can make the decisions with the ball better, and it looked as if we lacked surplus. There could be many reasons for that, but it was a bit like nerves got the better of me.

He singles out the elite league debuts of Mikkel Hope, Troy Nyhammer and Ismael Seone as positive, but overall hopes for a better performance against LSK at the weekend.

– It’s nice to have three points, but when you’re going to build a performance culture, you can’t just look at it when it’s good for you. You have to be a bit critical, even if the result is in our favour. We must improve on Sunday against Lillestrøm.

LSK had a bad start to the season, when Kristiansund BK ran away with all the points from Åråsen on Monday. The match between FK Haugesund and Lillestrøm will be played at 17:00 on Sunday.