As first seasons go it's been an odd one. First he breaks a record for best start ever by the club then goes on the longest without a win run in the clubs history. When we are on it we look a really good outfit but I've not felt this level of fear about crosses into the box since Clangers moved on. All in though, a cup semi,a cup final and euro football next season isn't too shabby as long as you don't dwell on what could have been.
Regardless though every report from Sweden I heard (which was 3 or 4 to be clear) all said "you need to give this guy two years before you really see what one of his teams is all about". I've had that in my head all season and I'm not going to start judging him overall until spring 26. The problem I think we have at the moment is that gegenpress systems by their very nature operate on fine margins, particularly when it comes to defending. I'm no coach but best I can tell is that for these systems to work properly, whether it's in defence or attack, players need to be positioning themselves correctly as second nature which takes time to coach into them. This aligns with the "give him two years" advice 2bf. I will say this though, as some of you may remember I watched a good few Elfsborg games before Jimmy left and 100% that team could defend. The first game I saw was against Malmo where Elfsborg had about 20% possession in the 90 but won 3-1 and looked in complete control (I remember being genuinely shocked when I looked at the possession stats at the end given how the game had played out). With that in mind I am hopeful we will start to see the defence tighten up as next season progresses. If it doesn't though Thelin is fucked. I do agree a strong start to 25/26 isn't needed to keep Cormack on board but if we get into January and still really powderpuff at the back Thelin is going to need to start looking over his shoulder.