FC Midtjylland coach Mike Tullberg has explained how the World Cup has affected the team's plans for Thursday's match against Besiktas. Martin Erlic was only trained for a few days before the match, but Tullberg chose to substitute him in from the bench in the second half.
What happened?
Martin Erlic is back from his summer break and it was FC Midtjylland's plan to have him watch the entire away match against Besiktas from the bench. But due to the early red card to Friday Etim, Mike Tullberg felt forced to change the Croatian midfielder in from the bench in the second half of the Europa League qualifying match.
Why is it important for FCM?
- We would have liked to change the system earlier, but the World Cup has stretched our legs a bit, says Mike Tullberg. - Martin Erlic has only trained for a few days, so he should not have played at all, but I felt that we needed a five-backline against their 4-3-3 formation with three men in front and one in front, so we did not lie with six down on the last line.
What comes next?
- Instead, we got the three defenders to protect the area, where Besiktas also scored in, as we were still in a four-backline. It was unfortunately not possible to change earlier, says Mike Tullberg. - I have thanked Martin for playing a half, because he has just arrived from his holiday. That's how things are. There has been a World Cup, and we have started earlier.
FC Midtjylland has a 2-3 loss to Brondby (2026-05-17) and is 7 points behind Aarhus in the Superliga. In the season, the team has scored 72 goals and conceded 36 (+36 goal difference). Their next match is against Lyngby (away, 2026-08-16).
