Bodø/Glimt criticized for failing to act as injuries mount: “Then all you can say is good luck”

Bodø/Glimt are heading into one of the busiest stretches of their season with only 15 fit outfield players available. In northern Norway, the club is not yet being declared in crisis, but many believe it is balancing on a knife edge.

The squad is smaller than it was before the summer transfer window. Glimt sold four players and signed two, and now cannot fill the bench for some Eliteserien matches. For Friday’s away game against Fredrikstad, coach Kjetil Knutsen has 15 healthy outfield players and two goalkeepers.

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They are balancing on a knife edge here.

The schedule leaves little room for more injuries. Glimt face Fredrikstad, travel to Bayern Munich on Sept. 10 and host Sandefjord on Sept. 13. They then play Brann away before the international break. The club must defend its league lead while also beginning its Champions League campaign.

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The four matches coming up before the international break are critical for Bodø/Glimt. They cannot afford to drop a single point because Viking refuse to lose.

Freddy Toresen, a journalist at Avisa Nordland who follows Glimt closely, described the next four matches before the break as critical. Viking’s refusal to lose means Glimt cannot afford to drop a point, he said. If two more players are injured against Fredrikstad, the Bayern Munich match would follow immediately. “Then all you can say is good luck,” Toresen said, adding that the team can no longer absorb more injuries.

Toresen called the transfer window extremely surprising. He said people around the club had expected Glimt to pursue a player like Emil Breivik and a centre-back, but neither deal materialized. Knutsen does not discuss squad-building in the media and instead focuses on the next match, while sporting administrative director Håvard Sakariassen handles those questions.

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And now it would take only two players in the starting eleven going down against Fredrikstad on Friday night. Then it is Bayern Munich on Thursday. Then all you can say is good luck.