Comment | HJK plows deep – the reason is clear

Helsinki The football club started the final week with a gentle tailwind in its sails. The stormy and confusing winter was behind us, as was the embarrassing defeat to KuPS in the opening round of the league.

The victories over FC Lahti and IFK Mariehamn gave the first indications of the renewed team's potential. This week, SJK and Haka met. Four points would be the minimum expectation from two weeks of away games. Six would already give a signal that this is where the Club comes from.

It was the other way around. Both matches ended in painful draws.

It doesn't take much for HJK to say that the club is in crisis. The team is on the brink of that once again. And entirely his own fault.

Let's recap a little of the week's offering.

The second period of the SJK match – all the way to the pressure at the end of the seinjoki and the equalizing goal – was this season's strongest hint so far of what the coaches Ossi Virta and Ferran Sibila they want from this team.

The attacking was fast, several chances were created and the finishing was successful. The match was under complete control until the last minutes, until the Club's players had a complete panic. SJK pushed the game forward, HJK melted.

The haka match was part of the same continuum that even Luke Plangen the first league goal did not save.

The head coach Power and de facto head coach Sibila are both in a new situation: in charge of a big club, where talks about processes and game development fall on deaf ears if there are no results.

After the Haka game, Virta was buzzing on HJK's website about missed goals and recycling of players. Three games in eight days, it was a tough place when you had to change players a bit.

Wake up, Ossi. HJK will play two matches a week from the summer until the end of the year, if it performs according to the goals, i.e. goes far in Europe.

You should get used to recycling and the match rush, quickly.

The cold fact is that HJK does not have time to build or process, at least not at the expense of the result. You have to be able to build and produce the result at the same time, or we will look for someone who can replace you.

HJK's problems in the game can be summed up easily: the special situation defense is miserable, the balance of the game is lost, there are problems in the defense and the offensive game is inconsistent at worst.

The club's real problem lies elsewhere.

In progress the current situation is not the fault of Sibila and Virtra. The reasons are the CEO Aki Riihilahti and athletic director Vesa Mäki. The catastrophic reporting and presentation in connection with the naming of the coaching team and the uproar that followed is unparalleled.

In other words, a hole was dug under Sibila and Virra – their own stupidity – well before the season started. Of course, it leads to wonder and pain if the results are not immediately top-notch.

Time is a precious resource at HJK, and with their own communication, Mäki and Riihilahti emptied half of the sands of the hourglass with their arrogant appearances and weak information.

The Spaniard hasn't always been at his sharpest either. Sibila at the Veikkausliiga opening ceremony said no Zinedine Zidane too had a Uefa Pro coaching qualification when he started at Real Madrid.

Well, it wasn't, but Zidane had quite a few other tricks to earn himself trust and time.

Sibila was Malmö's second coach, who had no experience managing men's national teams. There's definitely a difference.

Last HJK has started the season just as slowly in 2014. Sixten Boström had just piloted HJK to the championship in the previous season, but a concussion in the spring took away even a little of the line.

When Mika Lehkosuo freed from Hongan's smoking ruins, HJK acted quickly and mercilessly. The master pilot was allowed to take off at record speed. Lehkosuo coached the club to the championship and to the group stage of the European League.

Sibila's work at the club has only just begun, but supporters are already protesting their dissatisfaction. Criticism comes after every bad result and poor performance.

HJK is certainly not considering a change of coach yet, but the regret in the club's top management is growing. They are probably asking right now what was done in the winter.

Mäki will surely also be in the spotlight. The current coaching structure was his idea, and traces of Sibila's licensing mess lead to his door.

HJK is not a club where you will practice being a head coach or sports director. The results of the early season tell the reason quite clearly. Sibila, 35, may even become the head coach of Real Madrid in the future, but very soon it would be appropriate to show that he is not in too tough a place too soon.

Sibila and Virra still have – probably – a lot of time to turn the team's course. The fact is, however, that they are swimming against an ever-increasing current. The direction of the flow reverses only with profits. With impressive profits. And ending the explanation.

Since the winter, I have repeatedly come across the same question about the club when talking to league insiders: why did it have to be this way? There was no reason for such risky moves.

Translation: HJK has no reason to be in such a bottom position. The problems are completely self-inflicted.