Malmö FF will play its final men’s match of the spring when Halmstads BK visit on Saturday, with the club’s interim coaching staff having only three training sessions, two of them closed, to prepare the team. Guillermo Molins and Mario Chavez led the staff at training, joined by goalkeeping coach Zlatan Azinovic, Ola Toivonen, and the physical performance team headed by Matt Umney and Aidan Spurling. Former scout Juan Raggio also took part in the work as MFF’s new first-team analyst.
Robin Olsen is available again and is in contention to play, according to Molins, after being active throughout the week. Three players were already ruled out: long-term injuries Pontus Jansson and Anders Christiansen, plus World Cup call-up Taha Ali. Arnór Sigurdsson and Ricardo Friedrich were also absent from Thursday’s training, with Sigurdsson working in the gym. Three young players, Anton Höög, Gentian Lajqi and Antonio Palac, were missing as well. MFF P19 have a match on Sunday, but Lajqi and Palac are suspended there after red cards.
Neither Malmö FF nor Halmstads BK has any suspended players for the senior match. Malmö do, however, have two players one booking away from suspension: Theodor Lundbergh and Andrej Djuric.
During Friday’s open training, Malmö continued to use a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 shape, similar to the team’s previous match. Molins said the staff had spent the week focusing on the most urgent improvements while avoiding overloading the squad with too much information. He said the team would likely look different in some ways on Saturday, but that the players had embraced the approach and appeared calm, stable and ready.
The starting lineup has not yet been finalized. Molins said the coaching staff had worked late in the coaches’ room to find the right balance for what the squad could absorb in three days, and that the players had responded well. He said supporters would have to wait until Saturday at 5 p.m. for the final explanation of the team’s plans.
