The 18 minutes that broke the week
AIK 1–4 Västerås SK at the Nationalarenan. Four goals conceded in 18 minutes of the second half, a 1–0 lead thrown away, and parts of the crowd gone before the whistle (5). Kristoffer Nordfeldt did not soften it: "Det är under all kritik" (5). That is the week. Everything else is detail.
AIK stay fifth on 32 points from 20 games, goal difference -2 (5). This was the chance to close on the teams above, and it went the other way.
Two seasons in one stadium
Twenty days ago this was a team that had beaten Hammarby 3–2 and drawn 0–0 away at Malmö FF. Johan Hove scored the penalty that put AIK ahead, and then the same team looked like it had never defended a lead in its life (30).
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The penalty itself was the pivot. Assadi, on his first Allsvenskan start, played the ball in and the referee pointed to the spot. Västerås were furious at half-time, and Mattias Hellisdal said straight out: "Det är inte straff" (17). Whether you think it was soft or not, you do not concede four goals in 18 minutes because of one decision. You concede them because the structure disappears.
Jens Magnusson, Mamadou Diagne, Ismet Lushaku and Boudah scored. Boudah, once of Hammarby, celebrated in front of the AIK end and said it was planned "till hundra procent" (3) (29). The match was stopped because of objects thrown from the stands (11).
The squad is being held together with tape
Half an hour before kickoff, the news was already bad. Kevin Filling, the 17-year-old who has been AIK's best attacking outlet, is out for the rest of the season (7) (22). Riveiro's response was telling: "Vi kan inte göra exakt samma sak" (7). When your coach has to say that about a teenager, the offensive plan was built around one kid.
Then Bergquist came off at half-time, and the tendon above his knee is now under investigation (9). Set that beside Eskil Edh's return from yet another injury (16) and Hausner, on a loan that runs only to the end of the season, asking to stay because he wants to train his way into the starting eleven (6).
Five defenders, three of them questions marks. This is what a collapse like Saturday looks like from the inside.
What to watch against Mjällby
Mjällby AIF at home on Wednesday, 19:00 CEST, then Halmstads BK away on 20 September (fixtures). Mjällby sit where AIK want to be, and the squad is short at the back and thinner up front without Filling.
The interesting question is Riveiro's shape. Assadi is starting to settle, the language barrier easing and teammates switching to English for him (18), and Ali is out of contract at the end of the season saying he wants to stay (35). Youth and contracts, both unresolved, on the same pitch as a title race AIK have just been pushed out of.
Wednesday is the response. Nothing more to say until then.
