Champions League, Matches - Written by BlueChampion on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 23:44 | 1,099 Views | 28 Comments | Add Comment
Rosenborg vs Chelsea | 28-Nov-07 @ 19:45 UK
The last time we played Rosenborg, it turned out to be an important day in Chelsea’s modern history. I don’t think it should be difficult for us to get a point or three this time but we have every reason to be serious about this match. Rosenborg has beaten Valencia fair and square at the Mestalla in the biggest shock of this champions league so far.
In team news, Drogba could be back. Avram secretively let out the secret. Return of Drogba could mean Avram persisting with 4-3-3. Sheva could be on the bench. By current form, I would put Joe Cole ahead of SWP on the right wing and Malouda on the right. If we take a handsome lead in the first half Kalou can replace Drogba. Midfield should be Essien, Makelele and Mikel giving some rest to Lampard. Surely Mikel because, he has the experience of playing in Norwegian conditions. Back four would be Terry, Alex, Belletti and Bridge.
A draw is enough in this match but Avram says we’d go for a win.
All my life in football I didn’t say we’d take a draw. We want to win even here. We know we are playing a very good team. We remember the first game, it was not so good for us, but most important is we qualify. The players like to win.
Must be joking, right? If I’ve spent 20 years as a football coach, I would have had numerous occasions where I’d say ‘we’d take a draw’. All legendary managers would have done this. It’s just getting your priorities right. ‘We want to win’ is a motherhood statement. Any team that comes to the pitch wants to win, no matter who the opponent is. But does that mean our tactics would be to win the match? For instance, if we equalise at the 70th minute, we would push for a win at the risk conceding another one?
Also, he wouldn’t miss a chance to touch upon the special one:
We are not happy from a draw at home, we remember this game, it feels like a long time ago, but half of the stadium was empty, and supporters were booing us at half-time. The result was not so good but since then we won a lot of games, and are in a better position in the Champions League.
Supporters booing us at half time? I didn’t know. I don’t think so. Read the last line of the last paragraph. This is where I lose patience on him. His constant message has been ‘he was bad for us, he left and now I’ve made everything work’. This kind of trumpeting stinks. I wish he does not talk about his wins until he wins a couple of league titles. By the way, that 1-1 draw against Rosenborg was one of the best matches of this season but still we couldn’t win even after 29 shots!
Back to this match, we are going to playing in Norway in sub-zero temperatures. It’s going to bloody cold and upsets have happened in such conditions. When Arsenal lost to CSKA in Moscow last season, weather was a deciding factor. The weather forecast in Trondheim says, it could snow tomorrow night while the temperature could be around ‘minus 5′ degrees!
Look at what Yssouf Kone, the Rosenborg striker says about the group and this Chelsea match:
When we saw the draw, we saw Chelsea, Schalke and Valencia. No one else thought we had a chance - now we do have chances to be the first in the group. Right now we have real confidence - we are not waiting for Chelsea and treating them as a big team, they have to take us seriously as we will give our best to beat them. We need to win against them; it will be a historic result if we beat them.
They hold an advantage in terms of form, morale, weather, home stadium etc. They have already beaten Valencia home and away. It’s clear, they want to beat Chelsea and make history. They want to top the group as much as we want. In such circumstances, we need to beat them tactically. I’m very curious to see how we would react to certain situations tomorrow. I’d like see intelligent football as against adventurous football tomorrow. I’d predict for a 2-0 Chelsea win.
Not sure if I’d be able to watch this match live. I might have to web-watch this match I guess.
28 Comments
1. BlueFan nr:1
2. bella
I couldn’t agree more with your comments on Grant’s attitude after every game when he refers disparagingly in thinly veiled terms about Jose. As if Grant was left with some giant mess to clear up and the club were going down hill and he has come along and after much hard work managed to rescue us. We got a draw against Rosenborg, well he got a draw against Schalke when we could have qualified so he’s partly responsible for one of the two average results we have had in this competition not that you would know that listening to him of course, it’s all been heaven since he came on board and it was all hell before hand.
He sounds very insecure of himself saying there is no way he would go for a draw, football is a little more complicated than that. Sounds like he is desparate to prove a point about his attacking credentials to Roman and that he would never dream of doing anything so pragmatic.
Put a sock in it Grant and when you have won back to back titles like Jose then you can start bleating on about how wonderful you are. I only hope you can be as “bad” for us as Jose was in your eyes - just shows how underneath it all he can’t resist throwing out cheap jibes.
You inherited a very good team, stop bleating on as if you took over some relegation bound reject.
3. Nihongo Blue
thats is why i do not go to chelseafc official site now. No need to get urself in a bad mood reading such statements. cant even enjoy a win after such remarks.
4. JoseHoliday
The CFC official website’s like North Korean propaganda now , or should I say , Soviet era Russian propaganda ? well RA grew up exposed to the stuff , didn’t he ?
Even the Giles review on the official site is plain boring !
Well I guess that’s our lot now.
KTBFFH ( in our own way )
5. JoseHoliday
The CFC official website’s like North Korean propaganda now , or should I say , Soviet era Russian propaganda ? well RA grew up exposed to the stuff , didn’t he ?
Even the Giles review on the official site is plain boring now !
Well I guess that’s our lot now.
KTBFFH ( in our own way )
6. mister
yeeeeee i’m not alone then . . i dunno what’s grant’s problem? what’s he trying to prove and to who? really he wants to paint a picture that we were rotting in hell and he came and rescued us . . bulls***
it’s quite the opposite . . we were in heaven and we don’t know where we are know. under JM we would have never thought anything below No.2 in the league. now we have settled for a top 4 finish and that’s not because JM has left that’s becuase Grant won’t take us anywhere.
i’m hearing that liverpool might sack rafa and go for JM. if JM takes over at Liverpool, we can forget about the title for some seasons.
Mr. Avram Grant - shut up and do your job. win titles and trophies before you open your mouth again. we’ve heard enough.
7. sack'd
if we draw or lose tonight sack avram before sunrise. that’s what we did to someone who won us 6 trophies in 3 years.
8. joeblue
get off the pedal BC, evry time its the same deal ,u disecting Avram’s comments and praising the so called self proclaimed ’special one’, if disecting coments is what u r fond off , the so called special one should be strapped , gagged and whipped for his insolence and arrogance, hah talk abt hipocracy…………when he used to blurt crap it was all hunky dory, now when Avram says something , u ‘loose patience……’———–wow………
9. arthur
joeblue . . BC is right. you are wrong. Read this too, JM is a genius.
10. JoseHoliday
Grant’s problem he don’t wanna take responsibilty for anything that goesa badda . Thata meansa all ova the wins are cosa him anda all the losses are cosa evryone elsa esp : Yours Truly ” JM
Also Jm being the England manager would be funny hey guys ?
Them two squabbling over players for games : AG goin , No NO he and he aint available … he’s a litle injured , I need him .. for Champions league the FA cup …. we are hit by injuries ..etc…. etc …… I lost the EPL and everything elsa cosa JM…. etc…….
JM saying for love of country , victory and glory , how dare u turn down my orders……. THAT WOULD BE THE LOL LOL LO L of the decade !!!
11. JoseHoliday
Actually it would be a smart move by JM.
Practice being a national team manager b4 he coaches Portugal.
Getting to be with the wife and kids lots more .
Getting maximum media coverage around the world cause he’d be at EPL games and getting to say lotsa soundbites
Scouting for players for in the EPL b4 his next move to Inter , Real , Barca.
And he could have his contract only up to the 2010 World Cup .
And Chelsea would benefit and glow too.
Go for it JM ! Whatcha think guys ?
12. joeblue
jst because u say so arthur dosent mean it is right, be a rational person for a change and stop following the masses………………..
13. joeblue
and joseholiday, i think the height of hipocracy is never ending , especially on this site, now ppl r blaming AG for not taking the blame, well guys guess thats something he has inherited from his sucessor , u shld be used to such excuses and garbage till now, it had been 3 yrs under the ’special one’……………….lol
14. joeblue
i meant predecessor……………..god forbid.once is enugh………………lol
15. JoseHoliday
BTW BC could we have on the site , you know, a place where we could read where when India / HKG standard time etc the next Chelsea match will be ?
Hi there Joey blue !
Whatcha think of Ten Cate ? He looks enthusiastic abt being at
the Ol’ Chel of Sea , don’t you think ?
Love to read ur analysis of what they’re doin with the team too !
16. arthur
for all that jose talked he walked too. he delivered in porto and then talked again he delivered in chelsea as he talked. grant should deliver before he talks like this.
17. Chris
Essien will undoubtedly be getting a yellow card tonight if we win. If he doesn’t, then the two yellow cards he has will be carried over to the knockout stages. The last time Essien was suspended in the last 16, we ended up being eliminated by Barcelona. I doubt the management will be wanting to take that risk. Getting a yellow card today means he will only miss the Valencia home game, which will hopefully be meaningless from our perspective.
I’m agreeing with BC for a 0-2: Joe Cole and Drogba.
Team (433):
Cudicini
Belletti Alex Terry A.Cole
Makelele
Essien Lampard
J.Cole Drogba Kalou
Bench: Hilario, Ben Haim, Mikel, SWP, Malouda, Shevchenko, Pizarro.
Pizarro needs to start more games in my opinion.
18. mike ayad
my predicted team :
———————cech———————–
belletti——alex————JT——–bridge
————————————————–
——————–makelele—————-
———essien—————-lampard—–
–J.cole——————————malouda-
———————Drogba——————-
I would though like to see a 4-4-2 with sheva and drogba but this is my predicted team. We should win this but i dunno i feel this is gonna be one of those games 
i would like to see kalou and sheva play.
19. JoseHoliday
@ 7
Sack AG ? just because he drew against Rosenborg a team that saw off Valencia home ande away ? No, never ! He’s a good bloke for all we say abt him , trying to make his way in life like all of us .
The sad thing is that he has that stone-like expression and looks , how should I say it , old , yeah ancient , not that I’m a looker myself , but compared to most footy managers , ughhhhhh…..
Get rid of that paunch I say……..
20. JoseHoliday
Joeyblue
isn’t it funny that u aint a JM lover and I aint exactly an AG supporter either ?
AG ’s comments are not exactly innocent and when BC says so , or thinks so , so what ? He’s ( AG’s ) a fox ( altho a fat one ) and knows what he’s doing or rather saying .
Anyways …..
Do you think Chelsea is gonna turn into like one of those clubs in Brazil where we have a “dance of the coaches ” every other year or so ?
And how are we ( CFC ) so different , beautiful , smooth , or feared on the playing field than b4 ?
Notice that RA aint around that much as b4 ?
I fear that the momentum at Chelsea has gone and we turn into new Real Madrid minus the trophies
21. Cashif
This won’t be the lineup but:
————————Cech————————-
Beletti——Alex———Carvalho———-Cole
——————–Essien/Mikel——————–
——–Joe Cole——————-Lampard——-
——————-Pizarro—————————-
————-Drogba————-Kalou————–
This is for me, the team to get us playing some real flowing stuff.
Even though Essien isn’t at his best in that holding position, I’d pick him over Mikel at the moment. MY REASONS IF ANYONES BOTHERED:
BODIES IN MIDFIELD–
We can have the safety of the 3 midfielders the way Avram Grant likes it, but Joe Cole as one of the 3 midfielders should give us more attacking options than the usual mikel, essien, lampard midfield.
WIDTH–
Beletti naturally comes forward a lot and Joe Cole can move wider if there’s any need for some extra width on the right. Cole and Kalou to get forward wide on the left. Kalou likes to get in from that left side so he’d be switching from central (supporting Drogba) to wide left during the match.
PLAYMAKER–
Since Gudjohnson has been gone we’ve not used that player in the space behind the forward evn though we have someone who can play there in Pizarro. Everytime I’ve seen him play, he’s linked up well with Drogba, Cole and Essien. Joe Cole, Pizarro and Drogba are close to the same wavelength IMO and getting them playing together regularly will really help us in the ‘breaking teams down’ department.
Ah well….I suppose I can keep dreaming…. KTBFFH!!!!!
22. RBK
Please, do not make this game a discussion about weather conditions! Tonight’s game will most likely be played in a temperature around the freezing point. Thus there may be snow in the air. These kind of temperatures should be no new thing to any Premier League player! Comparing this game to the almost mythical one you had against Tromso some years ago is not realistic. That’s a town well inside the arctic circle, with snow as early as September, and well over a hundred kilometers north of Trondheim. Much more prone to extreme conditions. Norway as a vast country geographically. And there’s certainly no reason to use the weather as an excuse today, it won’t be much more exotic than your typical January PM match at Stamford.
Also, the Norwegian league ends in late October. Rosenborg haven’t played a real competitive game since their last CL match against Valencia three weeks ago. So much for you argument about form. Chelsea should have a clear advantage. Check the facts.
23. RBK
That should be thousand, not hundred, kilometers 
24. Blue Champion
RBK - Warm welcome! I assume you’re a Rosenborg fan.
It’s 11 degrees in London and 0 degree in Trondheim. This is a sudden drop of 11 degrees. Of course premier league footballers would have played in 0 degree temp, but to be in 11 one day and 0 the next day is something uncomfortable. And, we’re not going to use anything as an excuse. Let me remind you, we are Chelsea FC and you’re Rosenborg. Few wins in champs league and you carry a tone like you’re Real Madrid.
Your league got over in Oct and you’ve not played for the last three weeks (now, there’s your excuse!). Thanks for the info. Going by the results of the last 7 or 8 matches played by you, of course you’re in good form. So, you have a very well rested and trained squad, all set for this match. Very good.
By the way, this is your dream season in champions league. Have fun as long as it lasts.
25. RBK
Weather report 30 mins before the game: English PM winter season conditions! Just over the freezing point and light rain. And no, I don’t think we’re the new Galaxticos, I’m just tired of the climate here being the main focus every time an English teams plays here.
No Chelsea supporters will be killed by polar bears.
26. SH.IBRAHIMI
we’re winning 2-0 Didier DroooooGba.”
27. SH.IBRAHIMI
the first goal was brilliant shot..
28. SH.IBRAHIMI
ohhhhhhh what a goaL from ALEX 3-0
what if chelsea loose, u think avram will get sacked? if thats the case i almost hope they loos cause i cant se avram doing anything postive in long terms.
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