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.