After their impressive championship run last season, AGF has well and truly been brought back down to earth in the Danish Superliga.
On Wednesday evening, the Aarhus side lost 0–2 on home turf to last season’s title rivals FC Midtjylland, and AGF are still searching for their first league win after six rounds of play.
While FC Midtjylland now top the table with 14 points, AGF has secured just three, sitting neck-and-neck with Lyngby near the relegation zone.
Jakob Poulsen and his team can hardly dispute the fact that Wednesday’s rescheduled match in Vejlby ended in an away victory as the visitors came out flying, scored early, and maintained the pressure for much of the game.
Even before Friday Etim scored the opening goal in the 11th minute, he had already squandered a golden opportunity.
When Philip Billing set Etim up for another chance with a sublime through-ball, the Nigerian remained cool under pressure, chipping the ball over the onrushing Mads Hedenstad.
Shortly thereafter, only the crossbar prevented Cho Gue-sung from making it 2–0 and pushing AGF even closer to the brink.
The Midtjylland side showed no signs of missing key player Dario Osorio—who had transferred to Crystal Palace overnight—while Franculino, the subject of transfer speculation, had been left out of the squad at the last minute.
After a shaky start, AGF found their footing a bit more, though this did not translate into any major chances before the break.
Frederik Emmery started the second half brilliantly, but despite some fine efforts, AGF’s standout performer was unable to beat an in-form Elias Olafsson in the FCM goal.
Denil Castillo, on the other hand, managed to find a way past Mads Hedenstad at the other end, blasting a rocket into the roof of the net after 55 minutes of play, and the Danish champions never recovered from that.