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Second win and that means:

1 - Italy 2:0 244:205 +39
2 - Sweden 2:0 219:195 +24
3 - Macedonia 2:0 279:268 +11
4 - Slovakia 1:1 287:271 +16
5 - Lithuania 1:1 217:235 -18
6 - Czech Rep. 0:2 221:229 -8
7 - Armenia 0:2 224:246 -22
8 - Cypres 0:2 180:222 -42

Italy, as expected, without a lose and with a strong performance. Slovakia is back after their lose during the first game day. And the two biggest surprises are Macedonia and Czech Republic. The first one sits behind us and is only because of the point difference third, and the other ones started with a 0:2 and face already elimination.

About our game:
A very nice minutes destribution and because of that we have really low ratings. But they doesn't matter. The important thing is, that we won with a strong defense and that we can move forward.
During his second NT game, Säfen finished as the leading scorer of the team. Birgersson had a really nice stat line too. So our first young prospects are moving nearer to the NT and hopefully, they will improve more and more.
The game showed again that some of the players could use a couple of skill ups here and there. But either they are already capped or to old. But with the younger generation coming closer, we should get a new quality of players...

Update:

Current situation:
1 - Spain - 951,0
2 - Serbia - 912,2
3 - France - 707,8
4 - Slowakia - 651,3
5 - Czech Republic - 602,1
6 - Poland - 597,1

7 - Latvia - 363,0
8 - Slovenia - 333,2
9 - Belgium - 318,8
10 - Finland - 290,3
11 - Ukraine - 278,1
12 - Greece - 256,4

13 - Nederlands - 255,5
14 - Turkey - 253,2
15 - Hungary - 243,1
16 - Switzerland - 238,3
17 - Bosnia&Hercogovina - 226,8
18 - Israel - 226,1

19 - Italy - 224,1
20 - Sverige - 222,2
21 - Austria - 215,4
22 - Germany 212,1
23 - Portugal - 210,3
24 - Russia - 206,3

25 - Bulgaria - 202,2
26 - Estonia - 198,7
27 - Macedonia - 194,2
28 - Belarus - 186,6
29 - Croatia - 177,1
30 - England - 172,8

Standing: 14.06.2016

Despite winning, we lost two places and some points. Two seasons ago, we had a win against Slovenia and this win was more weighted than the game against Cypres. It works like this:
win agaisnt Slovenia (season 33) -> +7 pts
win against Cypres (season 35) -> +4,5 pts
The 7 pts from two seasons ago are crossed out and the 4,5 pts from this season takes its place. So bottom line is that we lost some points.

The next game is against Lithuania. They are better than their WR suggests and I expect a very difficult game against them.

With our loss today, we are back at square one.
Macedonia lost too, so there are four teams with a 2:1 standing. And all four compete for the second place behind Italy.
The injury of Widerström was no help. But I have to say that Gijon did a great job. The idea behind the line up was, to use our best defenders and the offensive trio on SG-PF. The defense worked. Lithuania scored only 88 points on a 39% FG shooting. Our problem was the offense. Martinsson couldn't score effectively and his passes couldn't find the right players. Mazzolini struggled a lot. Only Everland and Sandbom were around 50% FG.
Säfen showed great potential again. After last week, he scored 10 points on a 5-7 shooting today. I hope that his progress will be as great as it is now and that he will be able to fill in a starting spot at the end of this season.

There is no other group which is so balanced like ours. It's the most exciting one, but also the most challanging.

Update:

Current situation:
1 - Spain - 946,6
2 - Serbia - 912,6
3 - France - 703,0
4 - Slowakia - 644,5
5 - Poland - 596,2
6 - Czech Republic - 594,4

7 - Latvia - 362,7
8 - Slovenia - 333,5
9 - Belgium - 299,0
10 - Finland - 291,8
11 - Ukraine - 281,3
12 - Greece - 267,1

13 - Nederlands - 254,1
14 - Turkey - 253,4
15 - Hungary - 242,5
16 - Austria - 228,7
17 - Bosnia&Hercogovina - 228,0
18 - Germany 224,7

19 - Italy - 224,5
20 - Portugal - 224,4
21 - Israel - 223,2
22 - Switzerland - 222,2
23 - Sverige - 220,0
24 - Russia - 207,3

25 - Macedonia - 192,9
26 - Bulgaria - 188,8
27 - Belarus - 187,8
28 - Estonia - 183,0
29 - England - 170,8
30 - Lithuania - 169,7

Standing: 21.06.2016

Our loss cost us a lot of places -.- Starting from rank 16 and down to our rank 23, there is only a difference of 8.7 points! 8 Teams compete against each other and every game day the ranking is mixed again.

On Monday we will play against Macedonia. They beat Slovakia and the Czech Republic! The have a strong game shape and it will be the next hard game. To be honest, this group has almost no easy games. And I think the first three games showed us, that almost everyone can beat everyone.

Update:

Current situation:
1 - Spain - 943,4
2 - Serbia - 910,8
3 - France - 701,2
4 - Slowakia - 636,9
5 - Czech Republic - 597,1
6 - Poland - 593,8

7 - Latvia - 365,0
8 - Slovenia - 330,6
9 - Belgium - 295,5
10 - Finland - 292,7
11 - Ukraine - 278,6
12 - Greece - 266,1

13 - Turkey - 265,9
14 - Nederlands - 251,5
15 - Hungary - 241,3
16 - Israel - 240,0
17 - Germany 239,8
18 - Portugal - 236,4

19 - Italy - 223,7
20 - Sverige - 218,3
21 - Switzerland - 217,3
22 - Bosnia&Hercogovina - 212,7
23 - Austria - 212,6
24 - Russia - 206,7

27 - Macedonia - 192,4
25 - Bulgaria - 203,3
28 - Belarus - 174,3
26 - Estonia - 195,8
29 - Crotia - 165,9
30 - Andorra - 165,6

Standing: 28.06.2016

After Mondays games there was again a lot of movement in the third and fourth group. We improved from the 23rd to the 20th place but the point gap is growing
The difficult games don't benefit us and we can't win with high blowouts. Every game is a fight and the next three games are going to be crucial. We will play against the 4th and 5th of Europe and the last game is against Italy, currently unbeaten.

Wows! That is a rough schedule ! Looking forward to seeing some good games!
Almost wish that there was a bonus for team chemistry - Strength of Schedule * Win/Loss coefficient.

That is a rough schedule

That's the second season in a row, that we have such a schedule. Other teams have an easy time and cruise through their games and we have to fight until the last second to win.

The last two games were both a loss. The first one against Slovakia was a close one and the game from yesterday a deperate battle. Before the game against the Czech Republic, I had to change the line up. Martinsson was sold and his GS dropped. Mazzolini had a low GS too. Molner was injured. I wanted to recruit Wedling... but guess what? He is injured too. I had no other option but to play with Säfen as a PG. He is really good for his age, but not strong enough to compete with the NT guards... yet.
It's a shame that we can compete with the strongest teams but in the end we still lose Sandbom is currently THE elite player of the team. And he will turn 33 years next season. I just hope he can push the skill downs back for 2-3 seasons.

The roadmap for the rest if the season:
Next monday is the last game against Italy. After that I will start again to improve the WR. We lost some points and a lot of ranks because of this unpleasent schedule. It's time to get back to higher ranks.

After a disappointing season I had some time to look at the roster and the next steps. From my point of view, we hit a gap now. The few players which can perform on a higher NT level had bad game shape or are already old.
Akersten and Sommarborg will turn 36 years next season. And I won't nominate them anymore.
Martinsson is already 33 and every friday is a "please no skilldown" day. He will play next season but I expect skill downs
Sandbom will turn 33.... and that's maybe the most dangerous thing for us. During the last three seasons he showed that he is the go to guy. He scored on a elite level. And we don't have an equal replacement for him yet. Birgersson is almost at his offense level... but not on the defensive end. Öby is to one sided and Gijon a pure defender. So every skilldown of Sandbom will be a punch to the face of the NT.
Mazzolini... from the skillset definetly a world class SF, had GS problems, again. He will turn 33years too and I don't know if I can rely on him. During the next weeks I will start looking for another option. Molner, Tunggard, Wedling... Maybe a combination of them.

I'm very happy with the developement of Säfen. He made a big jump during the start of the season and I hope he will get some ups until the start of the new one. His game shape was always high, so he will be a big help in the near future. At the end of the season I will scout every player from the list again. And it could be that there will be some new and young faces in the NT. There were already some promising candidates.