On the ninth matchday of the Icelandic Pepsi Max deild HK Kópavogur played a tough away game against Fylkir FC, who are currently third in the league. After the home-side (Fylkir) opened the scoring through Parfitt-Williams, HK quickly took the lead with two goals from Valgeir Valgeirsson in seven minutes. In a dramatic second half, where HK missed a couple of enormous chances and maybe deserved a penalty, Fylkir came back and managed to score two goals giving them the three points in a 3-2 win.
Both sides set up in quite a defensive 4-2-3-1, which at times looked like a 4-4-2 with the wingers dropping back and attacking midfielder Ásgeir Marteinsson staying a bit more forward.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, re-watch
- D – Below average in this match
Valgeir Valgeirsson
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Icelandic
- Age: 17
- Date of birth: 22/09/2002
- Current club: HK Kópavogur
- Career: HK Kópavogur
- Position: Right Wing
- Secondary position: Right Wing-Back, Right Back
- Preferred foot: Right
Valgeir Valgeirsson debuted for HK when he was just 15 years old and became a regular first team player for them last season. Valgeirsson played as the right winger/right midfielder against Fylkir FC and did very well considering he is just 17 years old. Valgeirsson stuck to the sideline mostly, but made some intelligent runs to the middle, which allowed him to score his second goal.
Valgeirsson scored two goals, but didn’t have an outstanding game. It was clear that he is way above average when it comes to technique, but the young winger seemed to struggle with HK’s playstyle. HK tried to create overloads on the wings, but struggled in the small spaces that they created. The defenders often skipped the midfield with a lot of long passes, which weren’t successful.
On the ball Valgeirsson did very well. He displayed great technique and easily beat his opponents with some good dribbles. Valgeirsson attempted eleven dribbles against Fylkir and completed eight. Since he is quite small and agile the Fylkir players struggled get him off the ball. After a while they just started fouling Valgeirsson to prevent him from driving forward. Valgeirsson worked hard defensively as well, but made some reckless tackles, which resulted in a deserved yellow card.
He prefers his right foot and used his left foot only when absolutely necessary. As you can see in the images below him not having confidence was most clear in the 21st minute. After he beat his man in the box by cutting inside he decided to pass the ball even though he was in a good position to shoot.
Physically there is a lot of room of improvement for Valgeirsson, but that is no surprise since he is only 17 years old. Valgeirsson also needed too much time to decide his next move at times, which resulted in a loss of possession on a couple of occasions.
Rating: A1
It is clear for me that Valgeirsson can play higher than the Icelandic league. He has been linked with multiple teams in the Danish league, which would be a good challenge for him to really improve.
Birkir Valur Jónsson
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Icelandic
- Age: 21
- Date of birth: 02/11/1998
- Current club: HK Kópavogur
- Career: HK Kópavogur
- Position: Right Back
- Secondary position: Centre Back
- Preferred foot: Right
Birkir Valur Jónsson played as the right back against Fylkir and put in a good performance for HK. Jónsson was often found in the opposition’s half, but tracked back well when Fylkir took over possession. As expected from an Icelandic full back, Birkir Valur Jónsson has mastered the art of long throws, which is always a good thing to have as a player.
In build-up Jónsson wasn’t involved too much and he often chose the simpler passes back to centre back Leifsson or a simple forward pass to Valgeirsson, which wasn’t a bad thing. His short passing was fine, but he also played some smart long balls behind Fylkir’s defense.
Defensively Jónsson did quite well. Standing at 6’1” he isn’t the tallest defender, but he still did very well in the air winning five out of seven aerial duels. In 1v1’s he did well too, but he lacked some aggression, which caused him to lose duels he otherwise wouldn’t have done.
Birkir Valur Jónsson pushed up the pitch quite a lot, he made a lot of runs to be able to receive the ball in the final third and put in a couple of good crosses. He possesses enough pace to be able to beat his direct opponent, but missed some technique to stand out in the small spaces.
Rating: A2
I’m not sure Jónsson has the potential to play in the T5 leagues, but he could surely be an asset for teams in bigger Scandinavian leagues.
Birnir Snaer Ingason
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Icelandic
- Age: 23
- Date of birth: 04/12/1996
- Current club: HK Kópavogur
- Career: Fjölnir Reykjavík, Valur Reykjavík, HK Kópavogur
- Position: Left Wing
- Secondary position: Right Wing, Attacking Midfield
- Preferred foot: Right
Left winger Birnir Snaer Ingason had an alright game for HK. Ingason was most dangerous when he cut inside from the left onto his favored right foot.
Ingason displayed a decent level of technique. His first touch was fine and he completed some effective dribbles, passing his opponents. Birnir Ingason was pretty composed on the ball and did well to find the easier option when under pressure.
Despite his good technique Ingason still lacked some qualities to really dominate the game for his team. He cut inside to the middle multiple times successfully, but didn’t seem to have very good shooting to punish Fylkir. He tried to avoid using his left foot and it was clear why when he put some poor crosses in with it.
Rating: B1
For the Icelandic Pepsi Max Deild Ingason is an alright player, but there are too many aspects in his game that he needs to improve on for him to succeed on a higher level.