Sweden began its 2026 World Cup qualifiers with a 2:2 draw with Slovenia and a 2:0 loss to Kosovo.
Sweden's coach, Dane Jon Dahl Tomasson, faced harsh criticism, especially after the loss to Kosovo.
In an interview with "STV Sport", published on Tuesday, Tomasson explained what went wrong two weeks ago.
"We didn't play like Sweden, we didn't follow our principles. We didn't play like we trained. Actually, it's quite simple, we didn't look like Sweden. That's why we didn't play well, we didn't cope with Kosovo," Tomasson said.
"We didn't play fast, we played slow, we had a lot of ball touches."
Some of the criticism was about the one-on-one style of play and that Sweden pressed too high up the field.
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"The players want to play this way. I'm trying to create a modern and offensive way, which the players love. Of course we didn't do this last time, but we've shown it many times before. I think we had eight wins in ten games before this defeat," Tomasson said.
The well-known Dane is self-critical. He took responsibility.
"I wasn't good enough at giving information to the players, we didn't do what we talked about, we didn't do what we trained, so I have to be clearer in the future," Tomasson said.
The 49-year-old points out that Sweden has had good results ahead of the first two World Cup qualifying matches.
"I think we should stop here and divide the matches. Against Slovenia it was a very good match. We know how we conceded goals and immediately after the first half we talked about it and it will not happen again. We conceded goals at the end, but we played a very good match against Slovenia, which we should not forget. The Slovenes did not lose in the European Championship, they only lost on penalties, and we were not even in the European Championship," said the Swedish coach.
"It was a terrible match against Kosovo, it wasn't good at all and we are very disappointed. But we have shown many times that we can come back."
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After two rounds, Switzerland leads the group with six points. Kosovo is second with three points. Sweden and Slovenia have one point each.
Tomasson has faith in his team.
"Football is always pressure. I love pressure, it's part of the energy. It gives me good energy. And I believe that anyone who has been part of the elite environment cannot live without pressure. It's a perfect thing to have pressure, in victory or defeat. Of course it's better to win matches, but maybe when you win matches you're not the best in the world and when you lose matches you're not the weakest in the world. For this reason, you need calm, focus on the journey and reliance on facts," he says.
Sweden will face Kosovo on October 13 in Gothenburg. Three days earlier in Solna, Sweden plays Switzerland.
Tomasson says he has a plan on how to win the matches against Switzerland and Kosovo.
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"I have a lot of confidence, of course. We have a plan, we don't panic. We look ahead and everyone showed that after the loss to Kosovo. We threw it in the trash that day immediately and moved on," said Tomasson.
