Kim Hellberg’s Värnamo – A Tactical Analysis

Kim Hellberg’s IFK Värnamo are one of the most tactically inventive sides in Scandinavia, let’s have a look at them shall we!

Introduction

Although up to this day, I’ve not written a single article that isn’t based on Portsmouth FC, I decided I’d start to branch out a bit, and write about a variety of sides across the planet that I find interesting.

This journalistic voyage takes us to the town of Värnamo on the river Lagan, in Jönköping County, southern Sweden. This town is home to Allsvenskan side IFK Värnamo, a team with one of the smallest budgets in the Swedish top flight, yet have consistently punched above their financial weight since their promotion a few years ago.

This article will detail their tactical identity, both in and out-of-possession, and will end with an interview with the ingenious Kim Hellberg, a man I’m incredibly grateful to for giving me his time. Now, enough set-up, let’s dive in!

“Our football is very much principal or concept driven, rather than system and formation driven” – David Selini (Värnamo assistant manager) on the ‘Nordic Football Podcast’

Build-up

With both goal kicks and build-up, Värnamo always have a vertical focus, and with that in mind, an important question must be asked. How do you create the conditions to make that happen? You might lure them out to create space, or maybe you want them to drop?

In order to do this, Värnamo utilise some incredibly unique routines (especially from goal kicks), and have quite an interesting way of coaching these moments. In training sessions, the coaching staff do a lot of 11 v 11 work which allows for a battle between build-up and pressing, which the players in training have the opportunity to create solutions for, so by extension, will be able to adapt to opposition changes in-game.

They have a principle they call “following the press”, when an opposition player moves, for example a winger jumping out to press an outside centre back, it informs IFK that they need to do something to react to that action, thus manipulating the opposition press. For example (image above) if the centre back is on the ball, he may play a 1–2 with the fullback to drag out the wide player, and then immediately pop a pass behind them to meet the blindside run of the 6.

A term that has gained popularity over the last few years is that of ‘artificial transitions’, which essentially means when a team recreates the conditions of a transitional moment, whilst in sustained possession. De Zerbi’s Brighton are the masters of this, but IFK also utilise these artificial transitions in order to gain territory once the opposition press has been beaten. As seen above, a brilliant way of creating the conditions of an artificial transition is through up-back-through combinations, playing a slower initial pass, followed up by two of a higher tempo to beat one, or multiple, lines of pressure and then get out via the wide areas.

Attacking

Normally with these tactical analysis pieces I can reliably say that team X will play a X-Y-Z formation in-possession, and a X-Y-Z-X formation in build-up, but that isn’t really the case with IFK. As I mentioned earlier, they don’t have a system, but operate based on principles (An English equivalent would be Liam Manning). That’s not to say they think shape etc. isn’t important, but rather that the ‘numerical formation’ is overstated, and that the positioning of their players is the important detail.

Due to the regularity of zonal marking structures in the modern game, IFK believe it is important to be adaptable in your shape from week to week, positioning your players in the areas where you can best effect the opposition’s defensive structure. Positional rotations are common in Hellberg’s side, with players popping up in different spaces in order to make their attack unpredictable.

Hellberg’s IFK side always look to control the centre of the pitch, but as a per Newton’s third law, “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”, meaning that teams will naturally adapt their shape in order to deny Värnamo control of the central spaces.

In the image above this, we have a hypothetical situation, Team Red setting up in a 5–3–2 out-of-possession with IFK matching them with a 2–3–5, positioning players predominantly within the opposition block and between the lines of pressure (both vertically and horizontally), and four players in the wider channels to both: A) Offer passing angles to access the spare man, and B) Potentially luring out the opposition 8s upon receiving the ball

However, let’s say Team Red change their shape early in the game to completely block off access to the IFK front five by dropping into a 5–4–1 block. Well due to IFK being principle-driven, rather than system-driven, the players and coaching staff should be tactically intelligent, and adaptable, enough to potentially react by moving to a 3–1–6, and executing potential movements in order to enter the box with control, by giving the players the conditions to make these box entries and adaptations as comfortable as possible.

“We try to get into the box as much as possible with control” — David Selini on the ‘Nordic Football Podcast’

As per David Selini, Värnamo’s attack is predominantly coached and thought-up by Kim Hellberg, who is able to create incredibly detailed attacking patterns and strategies that are dependant on how they feel they can effect the opposition.

“It’s about creating conditions to create the best possible to score goals” — David Selini on the ‘Nordic Football Podcast’

Within their coaching, and their ideology, Hellberg and co. always seek to create the conditions to empower their players to be in familiar situations, and in training sessions seek to build problem-solving skills and decision making, so that (as we touched on earlier) the players are able to adapt from situation to situation as they are well taught in their core principles.

Out-of-possession

Both with and without the ball, Hellberg’s side is required to be incredibly proactive. This is especially true in their pressing and counter-pressing as they believe you should never wait for the opponent to give you the ball, you need to go out and take it yourself. This intense press is reflected in the data, with Värnamo being third in the Allvenskan this season for PPDA (10.56).

Due to their desire to play vertically and with speed, you naturally lose the ball more often, so it’s crucial to position yourself in a way that is conducive to a successful counter-press. This can be achieved through close distances in-possession, so you can quickly react and regain the ball following a transitional moment, but also through intelligent defensive and pressing structures.

“We try to dominate as many minutes of each game as possible and to be proactive in having the ball, progressing attacks, and then taking it back directly after losing it” — Kim Hellberg

My interview with Kim Hellberg

In this penultimate section of the article, I had the opportunity to ask Kim Hellberg himself many questions about his philosophy, coaching style, and football education. I’m incredibly thankful to Kim for not only giving me his time, but the depth of his answers is something I’m very grateful for. I did very well to limit myself to only seven questions, I hope you enjoy the invaluable insight he gave me!

Question: As a young manager, only 35 years old, what do you feel are the pros and cons of getting into management at an early age?

Answer: Of course, when starting early you have a chance to develop over time and try things out, evaluate, reflect and then come up with new things. Additionally, you also get exposed to tough leadership situations that you must learn to handle in the long run. Those aspects are examples of two positives. A con when finishing you playing career early is obviously that it’s difficult to get that player perspective that can be beneficial in some situations.

Question: Who are your biggest coaching influences, and what did you learn from each one?

Answer: I worked as an assistant at IFK Norrköping under Jens Gustafsson and Rikard Norling and took a lot of inspiration from them in terms of leadership. I have also learnt a lot from my father Stefan who worked at IFK Norrköping for the best part of three decades. In pure football terms, I try to take inspiration from all corners, but over the last few years it’s mostly been from Guardiola and De Zerbi.

Question: Some of your goal kick routines are very interesting, what importance do you place on build-up and goal kicks as part of your tactical ideology?

Answer: Our principles in open play build-up and from goal kicks are the same, but a goal kick is an interesting moment of a game since the play is stopped and we as the attacking team have an opportunity to put ourselves in ideal positions based on the defensive positions chosen by the opponent. The rules regarding box entry from pressing players also gives us an advantage in being able to create time for players to construct attacks that is more unpredictable in open play. Additionally, some teams don’t choose to press us high in open play yet they do from goal kicks since they probably perceive of a chance to win the ball close to our goal. As a result, goal kicks might be among the few occasions where we get a chance to beat a press and then break at speed in large spaces.

Question: In the league you’re massively overperforming your budget, what is the key in order to get the best out of your squad and resources?

Answer: The main thing is that we have chosen to play in a way where we take control of our own development as individuals and as a squad. We try to dominate as many minutes of each game as possible and to be proactive in having the ball, progressing attacks, and then taking it back directly after losing it. Obviously, we then have to train in a way that allows us to improve which is the reason we have multiple double sessions a week which are all football on the pitch. Us coaches also spend a lot of time providing video feedback to the players as a collective but also in the form of individual meetings with each player.

Question: As someone who wants to coach in professional football one day, what does a normal Kim Hellberg training session look like?

Answer: Our training sessions are based around players making a lot of decisions in situations that might arise in games. As coaches, we aim to create situations which the players will recognize in games. By orientating themselves in such situations in training, the players also interact and interpret the game together with their teammates, which help build relationships among the players. We do a lot of compact possession games with plenty of obstacles such as plastic mannequins in the playing area, different zones and rules. We also do a lot of technical training where the players get a chance to harness their individual qualities in controlled settings with plenty of repetitions. These sessions are usually carried out in smaller groups where the players work against coaches in different situations to retain the decision-making element.

Question: Following on from that, I heard your assistant coach David Selini say you do 11 v 11 in training, and allow your players to construct their own build-up structures, and then the other 11 have to react to that. What kind of skills does this help players develop?

Answer: We feel 11v11 is the way to improve tactically as we go head-to-head with ourselves where both sides want to have the ball, want to create with the ball and want to press high. As a result, we have a naturally-created battle between build-up and pressing. This means that if the pressing is good, the attacking team must tweak something and that creates a new challenge for the pressing team. When we come to matchday, the hope is that the players can adapt to problems posed by the opponents on the pitch themselves by recognizing situations without instructions having to be shouted from the side.

Question: How do you build relationships with your players? And what would you say your leadership style is?

Answer: We try all the time with different tools, the video feedback and training planning being two, to show the players that we do everything in our power to help them improve. We aim to build an environment where everyone does their utmost to improve and that means placing demands on the players in terms of their approach to training, the activity and bravery they need to show to take the ball in difficult situations and take risks which are easier to hide away from. With the work from us and the demands on the players combined, we hope that the overall environment is very good with strong relationships.

Conclusion

So we have arrived at the end of this Scandinavian leg of the journey, and personally, I loved the process of putting this piece together. I wish I could’ve discussed more, and added further detail (mainly on the OOP section), but hey that’s life, and for my first ever non-Portsmouth article I feel it went pretty damn well.

To summarise, both in my own analysis, the research I carried out, and my conversation with Kim Hellberg, his Värnamo side are one that are incredibly flexible in their structures and patterns, but overachieve in the league through staunch commitment to their principles; dominate the centre, dominate the game, dominate the controllables.

Kim, and David Selini, are coaches I’m absolutely certain will thrive in elite level football, and in the next few years will be coaching in the best leagues in world football (If they’re reading, please manage Portsmouth FC one day…) and their partnership is one I’m sure will develop and prosper for years to come.

Thank you so much for reading this article, below is the link to the episode from the Nordic Football Podcast featuring David Selini that I often quoted throughout, it’s a fascinating listen and gives so much insight into the day to day running of IFK Värnamo.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/24ELtzqEIh0LdXPXs5yYCf?si=Jp2iNMWrS62ew7nasW2v8Q