In The Zone: How Bodø/Glimt gave Tottenham a scare
mercredi 1 octobre 2025
Résumé de l'article
UEFA Technical Observer Ole Gunnar Solskjær analyses how the Norwegian champions impressed on their Champions League home debut proper.
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Corps de l'article
In the first UEFA Champions League match in Norway since 2007, Bodø/Glimt came within ten minutes of a famous victory over Tottenham before eventually drawing 2-2.
For UEFA Technical Observer Ole Gunnar Solskjær, the Norwegian champions' connections in wide areas were particularly crucial to an impressive attacking display from Kjetil Knutsen's men.
Wing play in the Champions League was the focus of our latest insights piece by Sir Gareth Southgate, and in this analysis brought to you by FedEx, Bodø/Glimt produced another eye-catching example as their wide combinations and rotations repeatedly opened up a Spurs side defending in a low to mid-block.
“The rotations were impressive with the movement of the full-back, attacking midfielder and winger making it hard to defend,” said Solskjær.
Bodø/Glimt’s attacking patterns
Home coach Knutsen praised his team’s “high quality in our build-up play” and their attacking patterns are illustrated in the video above. Clip one offers an example from the first half, a shooting chance for Sondre Brunstad Fet created by an underlapping run from Fredrik Sjøvold.
Jens Petter Hauge’s opening goal is the subject of clip two and Solskjær highlighted the contribution of left-back Fredrik André Bjørkan, saying: “Hauge cutting inside to shoot is helped by Bjørkan’s unselfish overlap.”
Elaborating on Bodø/Glimt’s approach, former Norway striker Solskjær said this was a team with complete trust in a system developed over years. “They just wait for the opening, not forcing the issue,” he said. “Then as soon as Spurs lose their concentration and allow that run between the full-back and centre-back, with no defensive midfielder following, they play the pass. If not, they just move the ball and wait for it.”
“They are exceptionally good at what they are doing, very well coached,” said Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank afterwards, reflecting that his side ended up too deep at times.
Yet, as Frank added, the key to their late fightback was that they “kept moving the ball, kept producing situations from the side”. Indeed, the equalising goal gave another example of a full-back combining with a wide attacker with Pedro Porro’s run inside to feed Archie Gray in the lead-up to Jostein Gundersen’s own goal.
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Coaching observation – Solskjær on Bodø/Glimt’s wide combinations
“Typically, the three players rotating and combining are the full-back, attacking midfielder and winger. They need so much tactical discipline in making these movements, with passes at the right time and with the right ‘weight of pass’. If it’s not on, they move the ball back or inside and start again until their opponents don’t track the runner or cut off the pass in the right way.
“In the wide areas, there’s often one of the players who has the responsibility for the width, and one with the responsibility to make a run into space. This can be an overlap or underlap. Another often has the responsibility for supporting behind the play in case the ball needs to come back out. It doesn’t really matter who does what as they understand each other so well after years and years playing this way.
“I would also say that Bodø/Glimt often add a fourth player, either the defensive midfielder or the centre-back on that side, especially when they really have control of the ball and the opposition have dropped into a really low block. This way they very often regain the ball when it’s lost because the defending team have just one isolated player to play up to.
“Ultimately what you saw last night was a proper team effort from a Bodø/Glimt side who are very comfortable in possession, playing short connecting passes in their patterns. There’s no need for individual dribbling as they trust their patterns to build through the pitch.”
UEFA Technical Observer Ole Gunnar Solskjær was a renowned striker who won six Premier League titles at Manchester United, and scored the winner in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League final. He steered Molde to two league titles in his native Norway then reached the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League final as United boss.