A guy on Reddit yesterday posted this little essay with regards to Glimt and their home advantage:
I thought it would be useful to try to discuss a few of those myths and fears concerning the home advantage of Bodø/Glimt. Hopefully this will be helpful in maybe giving us a little more positive outlook on the away game.
I see their home advantage as a combination of three factors. One is of course the weather and the climate. As we know, Bodø is situated some way north of the Arctic Circle, and the weather conditions can be quite harsh. The climate in Norway is the main reason why we don’t have football seasons running from August to May, but when a Norwegian side is in the latter stages of a European competition, they are made to play during the winter. Winter is for skiing – and for European nights, it seems.
Aspmyra is a very open stadium, and it can be quite windy. On the harshest nights, games there can be an extremely cold experience. This has without a doubt been an advantage for Bodø/Glimt when they have performed a few of their so-called giant killings. On May 8th however, the weather in Bodø will be something every Premier League player should be very used to. It is possible to have snow in May in Bodø, but I doubt it happening this time around (and we will not get a repeat of that FA-cup tie against Forest back in the day). In short: If we lose, we can’t blame the weather.
The next factor is the mindset of the teams that have come to Aspmyra. Especially a few years ago, when they fought their first European campaigns, many teams came to Aspmyra without really knowing what they could expect. Mourinho suffered his greatest ever loss there, but he didn’t do it in a crunch game. He fielded a heavily rotated side and just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. I’m not saying that every team that has visited Aspmyra has taken the task too lightly, but some of them definitely has. This should in no way be an issue next week. If we don’t do our homework before a crunch European semi final, we might as well try our luck in synchronised swimming or table tennis instead.
This leaves me with the third and final factor that I want to address in this write up. The dreaded plastic pitch.
Yes, it is artificial grass, and it has its advantages and disadvantages. If you aren’t used to playing on this surface, it may constitute a challenge. However, the main issue isn’t that it is dangerous for the players. It isn’t. Van de Ven’s hamstrings should be fine, and the quality of this surface is very good. What we should be most wary of is that such an even and predictable surface enables a team to play very fast, and the passing can be incredibly precise. During the 6-1 game against Roma, Glimt scored at least two goals where their experience and knowledge of the surface really made the goals. They played impossibly precise balls through to the right wing, and this is extremely difficult to defend against. For us, this means that the margin for error is lower than usual, but again – if our players are unable to cope with playing on a smooth and even surface that is approved by UEFA, then maybe we should try to get our money back on a few of them.
Then, I hear you say, why is it that average Norwegian teams put up more of a fight at Aspmyra than the likes of Olympiakos and Lazio are able to do? It’s not like Lazio underestimated Glimt?
I see it a bit like when you are playing chess with your friend, who is much better than you. You are getting very used to his openings, and you know a lot about his mindset, so you are getting tougher and tougher to beat although he maintains an edge over you. But when he plays against someone who doesn’t know him, he is able to do more damage. Norwegian teams are very used to playing on artificial grass, and they know how they best should defend against a team like Glimt. If we look at the first few games this season, Glimt overpowered KFUM in the last half hour of the game. Clearly Glimt have more stamina, and they are relentless against their compatriots, but they don’t always brush them away right from the off. Spurs should be a way better «chess player» than Glimt, but even Magnus Carlsen needs to prepare well. So should we.
This became a long text, but I will end it with a few thoughts on how I want us to approach the game at Aspmyra. First and foremost, we need to train on our own 3G pitch. It is absolutely vital that the pitch is watered, which I assume goes without saying, but a plastic pitch that is watered is nothing like a dry plastic pitch. I liked Ange’s setup where he invited Glimt to play and to make mistakes. They will do that at home too, and we could see that there are vast differences between the sides man to man. Furthermore, stay close to the central midfield, especially the man in the middle. Step on toes, bully them, disrupt their play. Glimt will be attacking, and they have a few very good distributors. Stay close to them. And, lastly. We were physically superior and it showed right from the off. Now let’s finish the job. Let’s bully them some more.
As you can see, I am very optimistic as everyone should be after getting a two goal cushion in the first leg of a European semi final, and of those three factors that constitute Glimt’s impressive home record, we should be well equipped to handle all of them.
