Jonas Kasper is a busy man. The assistant coach with Division 1 side Västra Frölunda has just returned from a training session with Premiership side Reading and is preparing for a week long training camp in Malaga with his team. As the Allsvenskan gets underway Monthly caught up with him to get an “on the ground” view on who’s hot and who’s not in the battle for SM Guld.

Monthly: Who is going to win the league?
Jonas Kasper: This year I am going for Malmö FF. They have a solid structure, good players and now a new manager in Roland Nilsson. Nilsson has good ideas and now a better standard of player to work with. I think he can get the best out of the skilful players that he has at his disposal.
Monthly: What about IFK?
JK: Of course, as defending champions they are right up there. They play a simple system and have some gritty forwards. Their new keeper, Kim Christensen, looks a great buy. They would have been well beaten by Malmö in the opening match without him.
Monthly: Who else is in the mix?
JK: AIK have a good young manager in Richard Norling. If he can get a system in place with his squad then they have a chance. Djurgården could be a dark horse this year too. Although many people are keen on Kalmar, I don’t think that they will be as prominent as last year. I think that Elfsborg are over reliant on Anders Svensson, Ishizaki and Ilola and haven’t much to offer beyond them. Also, Helsingborgs could be in with a shout if Henrik Larsson is motivated and the coach can get all the foreigners to work towards the same goal.
Monthly: Which teams will go down?
JK: While it’s easy to point to the newly promoted teams I can’t look beyond them. Ljungskile don’t have enough experience in their squad. GIF Sundsvall and IFK Norrköping will struggle to pick up the points necessary for survival.
Monthly: How do you think GAIS will fare?
JK: I’m speaking with a green and black heart on this one. Coach Magnus Pehrsson has said that they won’t be challenging for one of the top spots this year. They did well to hold onto Bobbie Friberg da Cruz but sold Markus Halsti to Malmö just before the deadline. They are too good to get into relegation trouble. They should finish mid-table looking up.
Monthly: Can IFK get into the Champions League proper?
JK: It’s not impossible but if and when it comes to the final qualifying round there will be some big names in there. They could possibly draw Liverpool or AC Milan. If they did get through they would struggle in the group, hoping to pick up a couple of home points and raise some revenue.

By: Micil Glennon