The Dane brushes aside the potential significance of missing injured star players like Victor Nilsson Lindelöf, Robin Olsen, and Emil Forsberg. Nor is he – at least not outwardly – disturbed by Emil Krafth's late withdrawal.
He chooses to focus on the players who are present. And part of the work ahead is to create a winning mentality in the group.
We are in a competitive situation and it's always a shift from training matches to when it starts for real, he says.
Now it's about finding a winning mentality and being clinical in these two upcoming matches.
Unstable Defense
Sweden has played four training matches under Tomasson's leadership. The result is one win, against Albania, and three losses, against Portugal, Denmark, and Serbia, with a goal difference of 4–10.
It has been a feeling-out process, a search for the players to find their way in Tomasson's interpretation of how football should be played. The performances have varied greatly in the matches, but one common denominator is clear. The defense has been too unstable.
It's not good to concede ten goals in four matches. We need to get it out of our system, we can't concede goals like against Serbia. It's simple principles around how you defend, says Tomasson.
His mission is to take the national team back to the B-division in the Nations League. After the meeting with Azerbaijan on Thursday at the Tofiq Bähramov Stadium, Estonia awaits at the Strawberry Arena in Solna on Sunday.
We want to win all the matches we play, and when we don't win, we get disappointed, then it's okay to criticize us when we don't win or perform worse.
"Must Be Ready from the Start"
In the European Championship qualifying last fall, the national team suffered a crushing 0–3 loss to Azerbaijan in Baku.
I've seen that match, and it was a nightmare start with an early goal against and being down 0–2 early. We must be ready from the start. We know that Azerbaijan is a tough place to visit. Belgium and Austria only won by a single goal (in the European Championship qualifying).
He doesn't intend to reveal who will replace Robin Olsen in goal. Nor whether he will continue with Jens Cajuste as left-back. The reason is simple: Azerbaijan shouldn't get any advantages.
Goalkeepers: Viktor Johansson, Stoke, Kristoffer Nordfeldt, AIK, Jacob Widell Zetterström, Derby.
Defenders: Ludwig Augustinsson, Anderlecht, Alex Douglas, Lech Poznan, Isak Hien, Atalanta, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Lille, Edvin Kurtulus, Ludogorets, Ken Sema, Watford, Carl Starfelt, Celta Vigo, Linus Wahlqvist Egnell, Pogon Szczecin.
Midfielders/forwards: Yasin Ayari, Brighton, Lucas Bergvall, Tottenham, Jens Cajuste, Ipswich, Anthony Elanga, Nottingham, Niclas Eliasson, AEK Aten, Viktor Gyökeres, Sporting Lissabon, Alexander Isak, Newcastle, Dejan Kulusevski, Tottenham, Hugo Larsson, Frankfurt, Sebastian Nanasi, Strasbourg, Gustaf Nilsson, Club Brygge, Anton Salétros, AIK, Mattias Svanberg, Wolfsburg.
The men's Nations League consists of four divisions, where the best teams play in the A-division and the worst in the D-division.
Sweden was relegated from the second-highest division in 2022 and now plays in the C-division.
The group stage will be decided in the fall, and it's about winning the group to be promoted directly to the B-division.
The group runner-up will play a playoff in a double meeting (home and away) against a third-place team from the B-division in a battle for a spot in the second-highest division in the future.
The two worst fourth-place teams in the C-division's four groups will be directly relegated to the lowest division. The two best fourth-place teams will play a playoff against two second-place teams from the D-division.
Sweden's matches in the C-division:
Thursday: Azerbaijan (away).
Sunday: Estonia (home).
October 11: Slovakia (away).
October 14: Estonia (away).
November 16: Slovakia (home).
November 19: Azerbaijan (home).
