And all that we got was just one goal. For all that possession and the number of shots, all that we got was just one goal. I didn’t see the match, so it’s going to be some second hand stuff on the match and some first-hand stuff on the result. There’s no doubt that it’s a very poor result and even embarrassing to an extent but there are always positives even in the most negative of events.

You know all about the negatives, so I’m not going to spend too much time on them. Not only that, I didn’t see the match for 90 mins. So, I can’t really make a good judgment of how we played. To blast them based on the result, goal videos or highlights, is not quite my style. One thing I have to say is that Rosenborg scored a very good goal. The biggest negative from this match is not the result but the way in which this result could impact the morale and confidence of the team. It was one of those days when nothing goes right for you.

sheva_rosenborg.JPG

Now the positives. Shevchenko scored. The header had his class written all over it. Good job. By the way, I happened to see the highlights of the Blackburn match and I thought Sheva’s miss was awful. Anyway, he has kind of erased that with this goal. But if you ask Jose, he would swap that goal for this one for sure.

We created chances and loads of them, in fact. From the commentary, it looked like there was only one team playing football. With 63% possession and mostly in their half, we have done well to get 29 shots – of which 6 were on target and another 6 were saved by the goalkeeper and a few hit the post. Any other day, we could have seen at least 3 goals. But that’s how football is, you draw with Rosenborg in midweek and beat Man Utd the same weekend (well, I wish!).

[video]http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/394HMtmAakpZGldIq[/video]

This is match day 1 and to talk about topping the group or qualification to the knockout round, is freaking too early. Stay away from that kind of discussion. If you’re still worried, rewind to champions league 06-07. A certain team drew with a lowly team away and lost at home 0-2 and ended up with just 10 points and still lead the group. An then, they went on to win the champions league. Yes, the champions AC Milan were beaten 0-2 at San Siro by Lille in the last champions league.

Jose Mourinho is obviously upset and I believe all the players are and rightfully so. It must have been quite embarrassing to mess up this gift of ‘playing Rosenborg at Stamford Bridge’ as your first champions league match of the season. Jose feels worried about the lack of goals now than anything else.

Of course I am alarmed. I am not happy. We cannot score goals and secondly I have no good news from the medical department. So I have to fight with these players to make the team the best possible. I am disappointed but the history of the game was simple – we had 20 chances and scored one goal. So maybe we need 40 chances to score two and 60 to score three. Our 20 chances were not enough to score two goals. It is not my strikers, it is my team. My team played against a team that in my opinion did its game. Like smaller teams do when they visit the better teams. They come here to defend and are organised.

But Chelsea produced 20 chances and got one in the net. We can speak and speak and speak but we could not score more than one goal. Nobody is happy. This was the kind of game you have to win. The kind of game you have to win at home against the weakest team in the group. So it is not a good result. But we are not scared of the situation in the Champions League. Maybe it is now more difficult to be first and maybe we need four points against Valencia. I don’t think it is a drama – for me the drama is that in the last three matches we have dominated games but scored just one single goal. Our defence conceded a goal from a set-piece where every player knows his responsibility. Somebody made a mistake but I am not going to tell you who. We could not score two goals in 20 chances and could not defend one single free-kick.

Any guesses on who he’s referring to? Based on the video replays I think the people involved were Cech, Terry, Kalou and Joe Cole. And most probably he’s referring to Kalou for not jumping to clear the ball or block the vision of the striker or simply cause some kind of discomfort.

Not sure if this would become news, anyway, Roman appeared very relaxed and happy all through the match, even after it ended in a draw. If you’re too worried about Roman’s ‘match behaviour’, then you should real this super-long interview by Peter Kenyon in the official Chelsea website. Among other things he says Roman’s target is to win two champions league titles by 2014 and this interesting piece linking Roman and Jose:

And I think he’s (Roman) the best possible thing that could have happened to Chelsea. When you meet him, most people would not recognise him or believe he is what he is. He’s thoughtful, he’s strong. He’s been a very, very successful businessman so never underestimate him. But he’s very different to how anybody would portray him because nobody knows him. The press (about Roman) is pure speculation, because actually nobody knows him. Certainly none of the press know him.

I think we all believe that what we’ve got here is something that we can demonstrate that we’re the best. And that’s not winning everything. There’s loads of speculation that if we don’t win, José gets fired. That’s not the way we think. It’s about building and it’s about winning it in a style, in a manner, which I think is befitting of the best clubs in Europe. And it’s building that dynasty. And that’s what Roman wants to be part of, Chelsea becoming part of Europe’s dynasty.

In other champions league match day 1 news, Liverpool held at Porto, Valencia beats Schalke at Mestalla, Madrid beats Bremen at Bernabeu, Milan defeats Benfica at San Siro. Of all these matches, I got to see the Liverpool match (yuck!) and it’s fair to say that Porto dominated the game so well and even if they had won, Rafa would not have had much to complain.

So, this defeat to Rosenborg sets up nicely for the weekend clash at Old Trafford. I’m curious to see how Chelsea would respond. Wait for United to beat Sporting Wednesday night, they will be the hot favourite to win the weekend premier league clash. Write off Chelsea at your peril.

[tags]Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Champions League, UEFA Champions League, Peter Kenyon, Roman Abramovich, Jose Mourinho, Rosenborg, Andriy Shevchenko[/tags]