Hello Motherwell-supporters
We are looking forward to seeing you in Odense for an exciting match, and hope it will be two good games, with a lot of travelling fans from both sides.
A little info about Odense. The town itself is a bit spread out, but the city center is quite concentrated. Most of the hotels in Odense are in the city center, so that shouldn't be a problem. A couple of your supporters have already inquired about hotels at our forum. In this tread are a couple of recommendations:
http://ob.dk/forum/thread/418801.aspx
When you are in Odense, the easiest way to get to the stadium is by bus from the central station. Alternatively it's about a 30-minute walk from the city center or train station.
As for troublemakers and such, that is not really our style. Not a lot of hooligans (if any), and if you act respectfully towards the city and its inhabitants, you should be met with friendliness in Odense.
A little about the team:
We have Roy Carroll on goal, who stated that one of the reasons he came to OB was to ressurect his failing career. So far he has done just that, with performances ranging from the solid to the great. He won "The golden cage" for best goal keeper in the league for his first half-season.
Our defence is build around dane A. M. Christensen and norwegian A.R. Haaland. They are very experienced, but not as fast as they used to be. (Which wasn't much to begin with ) The backs are young norwegian E. Ruud on right, and experienced dane (and team captain) C. Sørensen on left. Both are good in the offensive aspect as well, with Ruud filling in on the wing in case of injuries.
The midfield is usually comprised of a diamond formation, with former Man. U and A. Villa player Eric Djemba-Djemba in defensive midt. He has been very solid in that position, and has consistently been one of the best midfielders in the league. The wings are usually icelandic R. Gislason on the right, and young dane J. Absalonsen on the left. Both are fast and both have a great workman-like attitude to the game, combined with a good shot.
The attacing midfielder is dane H.H. Andreasen, who is more of a box-to-box workhorse, than a brazilian-style technical midfielder. Has great heading game, though.
The attack is build around nigerian Peter Utaka, younger brother of Portsmouths John Utaka. He is one of the leagues most dangerous strikers, with 42 goals in 78 games for OB. His partner in this season had mostly been targetman Henrik Toft (dk), who unfortunately is injured pt.
With Toft out, the likely partner for Utaka is swedish-gambian Njogu Demba-Nyrén. (Who is c***, but you did not hear that from me. )
Our coach, former EC-winner, and captain of the danish national team, Lars Olsen, favors a controlled, physical game with contra play and a lot of wing play.
As for how good we are ranking-wise, I would say that we are not as good as Celtic or Rangers, but we should hope to match any other team in the scottish league. I would rate our chances at 60-40 to OB, depending on whether or not we get our midfield to work as a team in the next couple of matches. (Which has been a problem in this season)
Hope you all found this little primer interesting, and we are looking forward to seeing you in Odense.
Best wishes
An Odense Boldklub fan.
