With five weeks to go before the start of the new season in Eliteserien, I thought it was time to begin looking at the 16 teams competing this season.
Bodø/Glimt will be defending their first ever title with the added bonus of some Champions League qualifiers to look forward to in the Summer.
Lillestrøm and Tromsø are back in the top flight after one season out, they replace Aalesund and Start who couldn't survive their first season after promotion.
With plenty comings and going already in the transfer market, and no doubt more still to come, lets start by taking a look at our defending champions.
2020 Position - 1st
Stadium - Aspmyra Stadion (5,635)
Head Coach - Kjetil Knutsen
Club Captain - Ulrik Saltnes
Bodø/Glimt became the first ever champions of Norway from the North of the country when they stormed to the title last year, breaking all sorts of records along the way. Most points, most wins and the most goals were all broken, as only Molde could beat them in the season as they recorded 26 wins, scoring 103 goals, reaching 81 points in 30 games.
Phillip Zinckernagel was the star with his 19 goals and 18 assists, but he has since moved to Watford, meaning the two star wide men from 2020 have departed. They coped after Jens Petter Hauge went to Milan mid season, but can they cope without both their creative forces.
Kasper Junker is still there, the top scorer from last season in the league with 27 goals, but he is keen to move and although it didn't happen in January, the likelihood is he won't be here passed the summer.
Sondre Fet after his excellent season on loan from Aalesund has joined permanently now, and so far they have added two other players to the squad. Young striker Erik Botheim was highly thought of at Rosenborg, but his loan didn't work out at Stabæk last year, so he has been allowed to leave.
The other signing is left back Axel Lindahl from Degerfors, who last season played in Superettan, the second tier in Sweden. Interestingly he played right wing in the friendly against Brann recently, so potentially he could be used further forward. He did manage 9 assists in the league last year from left back, so he clearly has creative quality.
Star Man
Although it is hard to say Glimt have one star man, as the team ethic and style is a big part of what they do, but Patrick Berg is the deep lying midfielder that makes it all work.
His ability to break up play is as good as anyone in the league, especially the speed with which he transitions in defense.
But added to that is his calmness on the ball, he very rarely gives it away, and also the fact he looks forward with his first pass in the offensive transition.
He is the link between defense and attack, and he allows Saltnes and Fet either side of him to get forward and into the box.
There is thought to be interest in Berg, which isn't surprising, but he is here, and the lure of Champions League football potentially with his home town club must be pretty exciting.
Conclusions
Glimt caught everyone by surprise last year with the dominance they showed, and I think they will find it very tough to replicate.
With so many players with interest from elsewhere, it will be interesting to see who they keep all year. Berg, Bjørkan and Junker in particular might all have their chance of a decent money move, and it is hard to turn that down.
They have still got good quality in midfield, and Vetlesen who signed mid season will be strong for them this year I think. They will be up challenging again, just because of the way they play and the defense and midfield they have.
But I think this year, they might just find it difficult to maintain their levels, and possibly could fall in to the clutches of a couple of big spending teams.
Prediction : 3rd
Molde have possibly the best midfield trio in the division, only Glimt and Rosenborg can run them close, but the main man is at the head of the trio, and that is Magnus Wolff Eikrem.
Eikrem is the creative number 10 in the team and he is given license to play pretty much wherever he wants in the system. Hussain and Aursnes are very good central midfielders that allow Eikrem freedom behind the striker.
He has the best vision and awareness in the league, and although he lacks that sharpness and pace he might have had earlier in his career, at 30 years old he is still crucial to their success.
Seven goals and ten assists last season in the league, he sometimes struggles to play two games a week, so the shortened season meant he wasn't playing every single game.
This year I expect his numbers to improve as he has more recovery time between league games.
Conclusion
Molde were well beaten by Glimt last year, but it was such a special team that probably won't replicate it again.
Molde have showed how good a side they are with the Europa League run, and with the defense and midfield they have I think they are favourites to lift the title this year.
They have excellent young full back, two good strong central defenders, a great midfield 3, and they have quality in wide areas too.
Ohi and Sigurdarson will need to score goals, that might potentially be a weakness for them, but this team has goals from everywhere, and they will be very hard to beat.
Prediction - 1st
