Caribou & Kräfta: Norwegian & Swedish Football Chat!

We're both still looking for that almost-guaranteed but highly-coveted Champion's League spot but we're both not as close as we'd like to be! Gameweek Nine surely gives us that chance to get closer to that goal with some nice fixtures to sink our teeth into. We're looking back at the relevant statistics from Gameweek Eight as well as looking for season-to-date standout performers. There's a lot of players who have been consistent so far, but there's also some good players who are finding their feet a bit more recently! We give our 5 Definites and our Yet to Return picks as ever, and as you can bank on being the case every week, we cover pretty much everything we can think of to make sure you're ready for the upcoming Gameweek!

The Allsvenskan continues to surprise us with more strange results as Häcken lost 3-1 at home to Kalmar, Hammarby fell victim to a resurgent AIK, losing 2-0 in Stockholm and Djurgården lost 2-0 to newly promoted Halmstads, prominent centre forward Edvardsen remaining an unused substitute for the away side! We go over the standout players, clubs and statistics of Gameweek Three as well as looking at the season as a whole to date. As ever there's key debate questions and we look ahead for the upcoming Gameweek Four, pinpointing who we recommend to get the most of out some juicy-looking fixtures ahead.

Neither of us played a chip this week and as we recorded before Lillestrøm beat Godset 4-3 on Wednesday 19th April, we were unable to discuss how that fully played out during this episode. We look back at Gameweek Two (bar the above result) and ahead to Gameweek Three, and as well as giving player recommendations there's also some reviews of the games from the previous round. All games will be covered through end-of-week articles to be published on the website, so make sure you visit cariboukrafta.com! There's a couple of players we think look good for this week you perhaps won't have considered and I'm very confident that ReindeerHotdog's captaincy pick for Gameweek Three will not be too popular!

Following Rosenborg's 1-0 home win against Viking in the 2023 Eliteserien season opener, we got talking to Rosenborg centre-back Sam Rogers. Sam followed ex-HamKam manager Kjetil Rekdal to Rosenborg at the start of 2022, and has been an important part of the Trondheim club's defence ever since. We got chatting with him about what we can expect from the club in 2023, how they'll be looking to improve on last season and how his role could potentially change this season and what kind of impact that will have on him and the rest of the team. We also talk about his international debut for the USA men's team earlier this year and how that can push him on to have an even more successful season. There's even some more quickfire questions at the end plus much more!

Gameweek Seven has been and gone and despite both of us reaching the 100+ club it feels like we missed an opportunity to get even more points! We look ahead to Gameweek Eight, and as ever go through all the best odds, teams to target and which players we'll be backing. There's also a more trimmed dive into the statistics but we don't leave too much to the imagination! Yet to Return, 3 Definites and our captaincy picks are also features in this episode as ever. Good luck and hopefully green arrows are aplenty!

Our 2023 was our second most popular podcast episode EVER, so hopefully our follow-up episode can be just as popular! We look back at the opening games of the new season and go over any players who stood out and why we should be interested in them for Gameweek Two as well as who we should avoid. There's a double gameweek for a couple of teams, but we think it's one don't need to invest in for a couple of reasons! We go through all of the most pressing issues for the upcoming gameweek and discuss how best to handle a couple of tricky situations involving an injured player, a blanking player and potential in players we certainly weren't considering during pre-season!

Gameweek Two is done, so it's time to look ahead to Gameweek Three! We go over some pressing statistics from the relevant players as well as try to make sense of some early season form for some of the teams. There's always going to be certain questions most managers want answering so we're hoping we've covered you this week with our new debate segment - we discuss the pressing issues and give you something to think about rather that simply saying whether you're right or wrong! We're focusing on bringing you all the info you need without any bloating - this episode absolutely does that! Check out the website as usual, for more information: www.cariboukrafta.com

The Eliteserien is BACK after what feels like the longest time! We're giving you a pretty in-depth preview to this season in this 69 minute long episode... We look at the best teams from 2022 and the top performing players, along with a whole host of other helpful bits of information to give you the best start to the 2023 Fantasy campaign. Timestamps: Basic Rules/Scoring 00:00:54 Fantasy League Code 00:07:29 2022 Season Recap 00:07:59 2023 Predictions 00:18:21 Players to Choose for this Season 00:34:05 Our Teams & Captains and Outro 00:58:20 Make sure you check the website throughout the season as we'll be looking to add as much additional content as possible on a weekly basis!

We're back for ANOTHER deep dive into all the relevant stats from the latest Gameweek, and while neither of us made the first group of 50 players to qualify for the Champion's League, we're both in promising positions to make it into the second cut! As ever we give our MVPs for Gameweek Six, as well as going over our scores, captaincy results and overall rank. The best fixtures of the upcoming Gameweek have been selected by our new member of the C&K cartoon universe - Olfie the Skunk - and he even has his own theme tune in this episode! Both defensive and attacking bonus points performance are covered as well as a selection of statistics covering progression, possession and passing KPIs. Our top choice for Gameweek Seven are discussed throughout the episode, with more context as we push on. There's also 'Yet to Return' and 'Top 5 Players' as well as who we will both be captaining, so if you're struggling to figure out what to do for Gameweek Seven this is the episode for you!

We both parked the bus in Gameweek One but it seems as though our driving skills left much to be desired! The logic may have been sound but unfortunately the results were not on our side and the end result was absolutely disappointing. But the season is long and 'Park the Bus' is arguably one of the most frustrating chips in any Fantasy Football game going, so getting it out the way early doors and avoiding potentially falling into the trap of ripping up our teams or even using it alongside a Wildcard could prove to be a blessing in disguise! Gameweek One stats are looked at as well as what we expect from Gameweek Two. Whatever you need to know about player performance from the first round of Allsvenskan 2023, we've got you covered! And we get you ready for Gameweek Two - all in just 30 minutes!

In this feature-length episode we cover the same things as usual but as an added bonus we dive into team performances and try to identify any weaknesses certain sides might possess as well as their strengths. We've made it no secret that we're both new to the league so seeing as five weeks have passed, now seemed like as good a time as any to take a lot at the slightly bigger picture and see if any patterns are starting to form. Regarding team discussion we look at possession and shooting stats both FOR and AGAINST each club in the league and use that information to help with our picks for this week. As ever we give you our GW5 MVPs, as well as our Yet to Return choice AND the FIVE players we'd both not want to be without this week before letting you know who we're both captaining for Gameweek SIX! Good luck and see you on the other side.

The Allsvenskan is back which means WE ARE BACK talking about all things Swedish! (In relation to football...) James (Eytexi) talks us through the rules and format of the game and as ever, picks his fixtures of the week and points us in the right direction regarding players and how to approach to first Gameweek of the 2023 season! There's the usual delve into some stats (from 2022) and there's some talk of new players at their new clubs, but we're not bombarding you with info here and this episode should hopefully help newer players ease into the league while providing decent information for regular players. We're introducing a NEW Fantasy Football game called 'Allsvenskan Weekly Roll' so if you fancy getting into our Hall of Fame and potentially winning another Fantasy Football game do stick around till the end of the episode, and sign up via either our Twitter page or website in the coming days! Let us know if you want anything else covered in the next episode, good luck and see you on the other side!

Gameweek Four was kind to us both as we finished with high weekly ranks and we look to take that momentum into Gameweek Five! As ever we go through the odds, throw all the relevant, tastiest, juiciest stats at you and make sure you know which players are standing out for all the right reasons. We cover the international break - we're not recommending players who won't be available (all information correct at time of recording) - and we've decided to carry on with our 'MVP' and and 'Yet to Return' segments for the rest of the season. We'll also give you our 5 players we will be backing for this week and as ever, good luck for the upcoming round and we'll see you on the other side!

As part of our pre-season content, we sat down with Viking FK CEO Eirik Bjørnø and talked about the 2022 season and what went wrong, as well as looking ahead to the 2023 campaign and why Viking fans should be one of the most optimistic sets of fans in the league. We look at the key statistics that point towards positive and negative trends and there's also discussion about who the stand out players will be this year and what kind of impact they can have if given the chance. We also ask Eirik some personal questions towards the end of the episode. We really enjoyed recording this, so hopefully you enjoy listening to it. Date of recording: 14/03/2023

We carry on our American journey and this week we look at the stand out players across the defensive and offensive bonus metrics for the season so far, as well as the usual stat dive in previous episodes. 'Weekly MVPs' and 'Yet to Return' are two brand new features we're introducing! Weekly MVP: We give our top players from each Fantasy position for the week just gone, and an overall standout, star performer from those 4. Yet to Return: Recommendations of players to own for the upcoming gameweek who are yet to register a direct goal involvement (assist/own goal assist or goal). We've also got our first advert of the season, from a familiar name. Don't forget to check out the website (cariboukrafta.com) and the Instagram and Twitter accounts!

We're spending a bit more focus on midfielders this week and who we should absolutely be taking with us into Gameweek Three. We've got all the usual stats and talking points that we've dove into in previous episodes but as we're learning more about the league and the players, we're starting to notice some slightly lesser-known, lesser-talked about players that we might be overlooking... As ever home advantage plays a huge part as do the Champion's League fixtures, times of the games (especially for goalkeeper selection) and the fact we have to react to all this news around the rolling lockouts. Our teams are going to change between recording and kick offs, but there's some players in there we really do think we can't go without!

Still out in uncharted waters, but just about able to keep treading water for the time being, we go over the stand out players and statistics of Gameweek One as we look ahead to reaching dry land in time for Gameweek Two. With a main focus and impetus on defenders in this episode we cover a lot of the statistically strong players and why they may or may not be a good pick for this weekend. There's talk of value picks, players that are impossible to ignore and general discussion about the first week of the season from our own points of view. The 'Eyetest' will crop up from time to time and it's a great way to put certain statistics in a box and label it 'Context' rather than letting them run riot with next to no meaning at all. Next week we'll be talking about more of the same but with the key focus shifted up to midfield options!

Dr. Stefaan Vossen is part of one of the most well-known, respected healthcare families in Europe - one of his uncles being none other than Dr Jean Pierre Meerseeman who was Medical Director of AC Milan FC and the founder of the world renowned sports science institution, MilanLab. We discuss his upbringing, the link with his famous uncle and some interesting cases he's had over the years. He's the founder and Medical Director of 'Core Clinics' and treats both members of the public and hundreds if not thousands of professional sportspeople, including Danny Webber. There's a great deal of insight into his journey, his profession and why it matters within the world of sport.

We got chatting to Chattanooga FC front man Markus Naglestad about all things ranging from the 3-3 pre-season draw with Atlanta, to which teammate he'd most like to be stuck on a desert island with. He's had an interesting career which has seen him play for multiple clubs at multiple levels in Norway - in particular a very successful stint at Egersunds IK, scoring 26 goals in 28 appearances - but has become something of a fan favourite in the USA after returning 27 goals in 48 goals for his current club. In a brand new format we hit on the high points of his career, his aspirations and the differences between football in Norway and in the States.

ReindeerHotdog and Eytexi venture into unknown territory and kick off 2023 with a NEW Fantasy Football game - the MLS! As it's a new league with new challenges, the rules and format of the game are dissected, bonus points avenues thoroughly dived into and a C&K first in that match odds (Bet365) will be used to form the basis of determining favourites every Gameweek. So, even as amateurs, we're confident we can bring you all the relevant information along with the juicy statistics and our invaluable input (...) to ensure you get all the headstarts you need to kick off strongly in this year's MLS Fantasy Football! Remember to keep up to date with our MVP posts on Instagram (@caribou_and_krafta) as well as follow us on Twitter (@CaribouKraftaPOD) for any updates and other information throughout the season. Join the C&K Fantasy League here: https://fantasy.mlssoccer.com/#classic/leagues/21585/join/EEX6PE3N