...so why don't you kill me?

Season over för Örebro SK.  We're in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light.

The final game was a succint, cruel, summary of this anno horribilis.

I am not thinking of the pre-game injury of Valdet Rama. And not on the tentative goalkeeping on the opening goal.

Three things in the second half really exposed what kind of team Örebro SK is 2011.

• The neat passing game that made us dominate the game up until the penalty box, where no one seemed interested to make runs, to shoot, to do anything put keep on passing the ball.
• The inevitable counterattack where Alvbåge slips and the ball bounces off the shin of Haginge and into the goal.
• The beautiful, speedy, one-two and the lethal finish from Paulinho at a moment when the game was already lost.

I am sure you have all noticed that a team on a losing streak seems to have less luck. Freak goals conceded on stoppish time, strange penalty decisions against them, badly timed injuries, and more than anything what seems to be an invisible force preventing the ball from finiding the back of the net.

It's not supernatural. A ball gets deflected many times during a football game. A player with a mind set to win does not question a deflection: he acts upon the opportunity, or, if he is a defender in the penalty box, he gets rid of the ball.  On the contrary: when Haginge saw Alvbåge slip on Saturday, and the ball bouncing towards his shin, I bet he had time to think: "Oh no, he is slipping, what if the ball slips through now and I can't control it. I can't score an owngoal now, then  the season is over". I'm sure he would not admit it, he may not have any noticed it, but he did.  Patrik, it's your cowardice that holds you frozen, not the Gorgon's power.

The ÖSK attacking game showed the same lack of killer instrinct, the same sort of loser mentality.  I want to see an ÖSK team where every player when attacking is confident that his team will score.  Therefore, he runs, he looks for positions from which to shoot, he feels creative.

Örebro SK under Sixten Boström, let's face it, has learnt how to pass and control the ball, but always had a tendency of becoming static around the penalty box.  But this season, they are not only static.  They are undetermined.  The fear of missing overwins the hunger to score.

It is only where there is nothing to play for that Paulinho suddenly mixes cool with creativity and scores one of the best goals of the season.

Because when this team can relax and play with confidence, there is no team in Sweden that is naturally a better team.  This years squad was one of the best we ever had, and certainly a squad strong enough to challenge for the title.

Our fans are currently ranging against everything and everyone.  The players are crap, the coach is crap, the club management is crap.

I'm sure there is some merit in lots of the criticism but before the kickstart the chainsaw, let's try and analyze the situation.  Let's try not to forget that essentially these players, this coach and this management is what brought Örebro from the dungeons of the second division and into a Europa League spot in 5 years or so.

Likewise, the way the club tries to blame everything on injuries and two sold players is nonsense.  Of course it would have been easier if we had all our players available, but that does not explain how we lost nine leads in 30 games.  It does not explain why Marcus Astvald, last year an Under 21 international, on the year he should have his big break through, looks like the football pitch is the last place he wants to be.

So what is it? How do we fight our way back into the light?

There are technical aspects we need to work on, for sure (movement, lads!) and with two players sold and two retired we need to do a bit of squad rebuilding, in particular in midfield.

But there is only one key aspect.

We have been lacking inspired leadership this season.  Coach Boström, whatever you think of him, will not make his team eat nails in the dressing room.  He is more of a technical director than a match coach.  Either he needs an assistant coach that can make the players walk the extra mile, and do so with confidence, or he needs to find leadership on the pitch.  I think the latter option is the right way to go.

If we look at the team today, the key players can be split in three groups:

• The mercenaries: sold Bedoya, sold Almebäck, deserted Alvbåge, and those who are still there - Rama, Paulinho).  They will never really care about us.  But they want to win.
• The loyal soldiers: Wikström, Kihlberg, Antonnen, Hagine, Astvald, Nordback, Wowoah.  They are locals, they do care, but lack the charisma to be the leader of men
• The bohemian: Nordin Gerzic.

It is in him, Nordin, that Boström should find his deputy.  If I were Sixten, I would sit down with Nordin this week and say: "you are our best player, you are our most important player, and no player has a heart that pounds stronger for this club.  Next season, we are taking you to the next level, and that means that you take Örebro SK to the next level.  You will be the captain, and I want you to really encapsulate everything what a captain should be.  If Valdet Rama is sloppy in the defensive press, if Astvald is hanging with his head, if Berger is hesitant in a tackle, if anyone is seen out drinkning beer to often, I want you to feel that that is your responsibility and I want you to let them know what you think of it.  I want you to let them know that this is Örebro SK, and 2012 is the year we get our revenge."

If we see that kind of Nordin next year, we will not squander nine opening goals.  We will not feel the game is lost if we concede that opening goal.  In a league like Allsvenskan, that can take you a long way.