The game ends in a goalless draw. Crucial point for our progress to the knockout stage. With Valencia losing at home to Rosenborg(?!), we are almost certain to make it. I watched only the first half and I can safely say that this was one of our worst attacking performances of this season.

Of course I’m happy that we’ve got an important point and we will proceed to the knockouts after dispatching the mighty Rosenborg at their backyard. I was very disappointed with our defensive performance in our last match against Wigan. And we all thought, we preserve some energy for the mid-week champions league game. I don’t think the ‘energy-preserving’ concept is as valid as it was last season simply because we have a very good fit squad to choose from.

In this match, we were poor all over the pitch. Defensively, we should have conceded a goal or two. Schalke were surely the better team and I don’t think even one soul who watched the match would have a different opinion. Bridge was good on the offensive but missed some important moments at the back, allowing a few chances from his side of the pitch. Cech got injured at around half time and Cudicini had to be brought on. It doesn’t look like a major one and it looks like Cech should okay soon.

In the midfield and in the attack, we could hardly string a few passes together and that’s the worrying part. Earlier in another post I had said that, no matter how much we concede, we look like outscoring the opponent every single time. In this match, it was a nightmare to see every move and every attack was so predictable for Schalke that they didnt have to play their best football to keep us quiet.

Avram did admit it was not our best game but I won’t buy his argument about the away game in a champions league. We are after all champions league contenders right?

We wanted to win but it was not easy. It was a very good crowd and Schalke needed to win because a draw for them is not good enough. This was not a bad result but not our best game. After so many good games in a short time, we can play one game that was not such a high-level game. It was an away game against a side that feels good at home and I can understand that, it is a good atmosphere here. The Champions League is not like the Premier League. It is not so easy to play away from home, especially when the home side needs points.

Please see this match highlights and decide for yourself.

Avram says that we wanted to win but we did not have that determination to make one decent in-the-face attack. May be we thought this is an inconsequential match. Even if we had lost this one, players must have thought we can always beat Rosenborg away and go through. A quick wake-up call: Rosenborg just beat Valencia at Estadio Mestalla, something we considered as a fantastic milestone result and they in fact won 2-0. Bloody hell!

Elsewhere, Liverpool crushed Besiktas 8-0 playing exactly the opposite way to ours. Very strong and decisive in attacks and solid in defending. Crouch scored two. I’m happy for him. I thought he was getting a raw deal from Rafa. Crouch is a matchwinner (I can’t believe I’m saying this!) and he should be used more often.

We’re on course for progression to knockouts but we certainly have some areas to work on. Schalke have simply corrected the mistakes that they made in the previous leg and we continued to play the same way. Time for some intelligent, tactical football.