Ghosts above Trondheim / Rosenborg-Stabaek 2-3

An embarrassing show was played on Sunday evening between Rosenborg and Stabaek . We have indeed lost 2-3 against the team placed second last season in Adeccoligaen (the second division in Norway of course). A match that showed the weaknesses of our team, a team that can not score wihout 2-3 players, essential to get results during the season. 

One of these is Chibuike , that started on the bench , and when he entered, took only ten minutes to score the 2-3. Another player who played very well on Sunday's match, (that was the last pre-season friendly), was Gamst Pedersen , the newcomer , who signed the goal of momentary 1-2 . The third player that I would count is Bille Nielsen , but it must still find his best physical condition . The match seemed to be easy for Rosenborg ( That would be the limit, seeing that the opponent played in the Adecco last year ), which was very dangerous in attack, in particular at the 5', when there was an interesting cross, but Soderlund headed very weakly, and so the ball couldn't enter in. However the reaction of Stabaek didn't wait, and at 16 ' scored with Boli . The action of the opponent's advantage denotes the weakness of the defense department of Rosenborg . The action that leads to the goal in fact stemed from a ball throwed towards the half of the field , that surprised the two central defenders ( Reginiussen returning from injury to the heel, and Ronning, returned after six months cause of an injury ). The defneders didn't opposed to the opponent, which easily overcomed the goalkeeper Lund Hansen. 

The two defenders didn't seem to understand each other, neither of them tried to hinder the attacker , who was able to run through them and be face to face with the goalkeeper . Perry had said this week that his team had some evident defensive problems, but it seems he does not want to do anything to better the situation. On the other hand it is also true that the two central defenders didn't play togheter from six months, but that does not justify the behavior that they took throughout the match. I've seen a team that's already tired, and this is particularly serious at this point of the season, that the league it still not started. Perry during the pre-season had said he would have worked in a way that he would have led the team to be in top condition quite before the summer. It seems to me that this plan is already stillborn . In fact, the only one who seems to be in good condition is Gamst Pedersen , who has not done the preparation with Rosenborg this winter. 

Rosenborg hardly got a reaction to the goal, and the most irritating player of the day was, undoubtedly, Mix Diskerud . The U.S. National player, played without desire , even if he had a chance to equalize, but he missed, pulling a ball on the defender. That's didn't sound like him , seeing his enormous ballistic qualities .  

On the ongoing of the action , Reginiussen tried to redeem himself from the preceding error kicking with a powerful shot that touched the top of the crossbar . I can not say that Rosenborg did not tried to equalize , because it had occasions during the match, but it lacked a little courage and a lot, too much imprecision in the penalty area . Imprecision that was personified in the figure of Soderlund , which even Sunday not lived up to expectations, but missed a goal practically made. Didn't Rosenborg score? So, Stabaek did, trying to have some fun to the audience (his audience of course, not our).  Still goes on the disastrous day of Reginiussen , which that made a foul into our pnelaty area . The referee assigned a penalty. Penalty that was scored at 30 ' from Stephens . After three minutes , however, came the equalizer, with Gamst Pedersen . After a cross by Bille from the frontline, an unfortunate touch of the defender of Stabaek promoted Pedersen, that from outside doesn't wrong : 1-2 . Luck still does not assist the defense, which gets caught by the corner. The usual Boli,  headed the ball on a cross and the ball slowly came into the net. Rosenborg - Stabaek 1-3 . 

The first half was over (thankfully), and Perry continues to hold the same eleven on the field. Maybe he is satisfied with the performance of his team, as opposed to the fans. Both during the first half, that during the whole match , Rosenborg kept losing the ball in the attacking actions, giving the opportunity to the opponents to do a counter-attack. The pace was incredibly low, which could encourage opponents, who controlled the match. One of the few opportunities to reopen the match it had the usual Pedersen, that with a free-kick was almost to score. But there was a great save by the keeper of Stabaek . Riku Riski also tried to redeem his match, but his shot was blocked by the goalkeeper with his fists. 

Perry finally decided to change something, and Svensonn entered in place of the evanescent Diskerud, and Chibuike for Reginiussen . The only smart move of the match , because Chibuike scored at 85 ' after a great counter-attack action ended with the passage of Midtsjø for the Nigerian. The match ended, but we all are very disappointed, becuase this match reflected a state of agony of ours. Maybe we are slowly returning to our origins, when Rosenborg was nothing more than a small team from the suburbs. Hopefully I will be denied , I'd be happy to apologize.

Zibaldone 22 March 2014 / Kalmar-Rosenborg 1-1

This week Rosenborg played the penultimate friendly, before the start of the season, against Kalmar , Sweden finished fourth last season. The match ended 1-1. This was the starting line-up:

Daniel Örlund ; Christian Gamboa - Dorsin - Per Verner Rønning - Jørgen Skjelvik , Mike Jensen - Mix - Morten Gamst Pedersen , Nicki Bille - Alexander Søderlund - Riku Riski .

Gamst Pedersen was in the starting line-up, the former star of Blackburn , who arrived few days ago free from Turkey. His was a good match on the wings , and made very good passes to the forwards, that however have not finalized the chances.
The first half was dominated by Rosenborg, so much that the Norwegian team takes only six minutes to score. Gamboa made a cross from the right, and Bille Nielsen ( former Rayo Vallecano and Reggina) with an overhead kick made the ball go into the net , thanks to the goalkeeper of the Kalmar, that made an  incredible fluff. Kalmar, during the first half of the match, seems to be not even entered in the field , and had only two occasions, but also because given away by the defenders of Rosenborg. Ronning, who had just returned from an injury that kept him away from the fields for six months, it is not in his best physical conditions, but it seems to be motivated and ready to give the best of himself. Skjelvik on the wing does his best, going backwards and forwards on the left, creating many chances to score, not realized by Soderlund . Mix ( Mikkel Diskerud ) plays a decent match, but seems to have no desire to play, probably because it was a friendly. Perhaps it is still alive the controversy between him and the society, which didn't allowed him to play one of the last friendly against Ukraine with his national team . Who was completely outside the match was Riku Riski . The newcomer had raised many hopes in the hearts of supporters, playing a very good match after his arriving in Trondheim, but now seems not to be at the level of a team that wants to win. The common hope is that he wakes up early and shows his full potential .
Bille tried to do his best, but it is clear that he cannot play in that position. It is not a wing , it is a central striker , and so must be . Always tries to do the best thing , but it is often difficult , and it's not coincidence that  scored when he was central.
At 30 ' , however, Kalmar scored,  and from that moment on dominate the match until the end. Perry when the match ended sayed: " My Rosenborg has many problems in defense." Luckily he noticed it. Everyone noticed it, from months, but the situation does not seem to be changed. The return of Tore Reginiussen is still a mystery , and maybe Dorsin is ready for retirement. Rosenborg left too much spaces to Kalmar , which advanced and wrong on more than one occasion . Fortunately the Kalmar is not the Real Madrid, and they wasted many chances to score, when the forward was alone in front of the goalkeeper .
In the second half entered Chibuike , the "diamond" of this team, but failed to change the match as he had done in the other friendlies.
A game that does not add anything new, but had at least one positive element: Gamst Pedersen , the man who, with his experience, can lead this team to victory.

Zibaldone 15 March 2014

Here I am again to talk about, of course, Rosenborg. Tomorrow we'll play against Kalmar FF, the real first test of the season, and we won't have some players, that are still injuried. 
Tore Reginiussen is still injuried, he had also to stay on ultrasound, in order to see when he could come back, but from the medical staff it is said that we've to keep calm, because it's better to have him at the best, even if this would mean to have him later on the weeks.
Perry had to compose the defense with Gamboa, Ronning, Dorsin and Skjelvik. But Ronning is still not ready for the whole match. Indeed this will be the squad, with the 4 defenders Perry tested: Daniel Örlund-Cristian Gamboa, Micke Dorsin, Per Verner Rønning, Jørgen Skjelvik - Mike Jensen, Mix, Gamst Pedersen - Nicki Bille, Alexander Søderlund, Riku Riski.

Someone said that at midfield we have many problems, because we have so many players, like Mike Jensen, Jonas Svensson, Mix, Daniel Berntsen, John Chibuike, Fredrik Midtsjø, Pål André Helland and Bent Sørmo, the "magnificient seven". I've to say that Midtsjo could be a great resource for us later on, as subsitute of Gamboa. He demonstrated against Levanger what he can do as fullback, but we've to see him against a stronger team. With the Kalmar could have been a good chance to see him, he could demonstrate how he good he was, but Perry decided in a different way. Maybe he'll shift him as fullback during the match. 
I insist on Midtsjo because Perry tested so many players as fullbacks, but nobody did like Midtsjo did (I repeat, Midtsjo played against a weak team). He tried Mikkelsen, Dorsin, but none of them did well. Now, that we've find out a good substitue, he didn't test him. 
In that list of midfielder, there's Helland. But Helland is a forward instead, we all know it. 
He could be considered as lateral midfielder if Perry played with a 4-2-3-1, or something like this. But Perry insists on the 4-3-3, and so that problems doesn't exist.
But reading the squad we can see a great surprise: Gamst Pedersen as midfielder, lateral midfielder. Yes, he can be a midfielder, but as I could see, he's very good at attacking. We have so many forwards, Perry in the last matches used to place in the field a lot of strikers, but according to me in the wrong roles. 
Bille, for example, did very bad when he played as a wing in attack. And we've to consider also that he broke up with his girlfriend, and maybe he could not be perfect tomorrow. But he's a professionist, we know it, and he'll have to play at his best. 
Perry still wants try Soderlund as pivot, with Riku near him. No comment, I wrote about Sode many many times in the past.
What make me laugh, is that Perry seems to test new kind of squads and modules, but indeed nothing changed during this pre-season. We've seen only players shifted in many roles, but nothing clear. The match we played demonstrated two things, according  to me: the first one, that we need Chibuike in every match, and the second one that we cannot play with the 4-3-3 at all. Using almost 4 forwards, it's impossible to win, we could have perfect halfbacks, but we don't have. Mix is very good, but he cannot work lonely in the defensive phase. 
Concerning Mix, still goes on the discussion with the society after he wasn't allowed to play with his national team against Ukraine. Hoftun maybe is yet thinking about a way to sell him. 
In this week Arni Vilhjálmsson trained with us, but the society rejected him. As I wrote on twitter, starts the countdown to see when he'll become a talented. Hoftun pay attention. 

Finally, it turned out that Rosenborg asked to have the UEFA Supercup in its stadion, at Lerkendal, in 2017, for the centenary of the club. 

Zibaldone: 9 March 2014

Hi everybody, today I've to talk about the friendly match against the Levanger, the former team of almost half of RBk team. Ok, I overdid, but many players played with the Levanger, before they went into out team. They were Svensonn and Ronning that played yesterday. 
But now, le'ts plucked up the courage and tell the match. I must do it. Unfortunatly.
First of all: we won. That's no obvious. We won 5-2. That's seems we didn't have any problems. This is wrong, we had many problems, and we had problems playing against a team wich surely hadn't many talents.
Let's analyze.

The squad.

We played with the usual 4-3-3, but Perry put a very offensive squad, one of the most offensive I've ever seen. The midfield and the attack were formed by five strikers, or almost forwards: Helland, Chibuike, Mikkelsen, Soderlund and Bille. The question come it easily: why Perry didn't try the 4-2-3-1 module? It was the perfect day to test it. Indeed he put almost all the forwards he had (but Riski that was injuried). I don't know why he didn't try the 4-2-3-1, but it was. 
The defenders were Midtsjo (another player tested in the place of Gamboa, after the debacle of Mikkelsen), Strandberg (substitued by Ronning, wich finally played after the bad accident he had last summer), Dorsin finally in the right place as fullback and the "new entry" in the role, Jensen. Jensen played as a central defender, but it was clear that he couldn't play there. Another epic fail signed Perry, fortunatly during the pre-season. Some supporters said that in this matches we had to use the youngsters, in order to gain them more experiences. I don't agree with them, in our situation we have to find out many way of playing, in order to win when we won't have Gamboa and Mix, or anyone else. So we have to try our players in other roles. But Perry every time got wrong. You can be wrong with Mikkelsen, with Dorsin, but sooner or later you have to do the right thing. Jensen is a midfielder, and there he had to play. We had problem, of course, on the opponents cross, because our defenders (expecially Jensen) were in the wrong place in the wrong time. 
And the opponents were not very good at playing, we all know this. And we could see it when Soderlund scored. Ok, If you are a bit smart you are able to comprehend that I didn't like very much Soderlund, but that's my problem, don't attach importance to it. Soderlund indeed could wrong almost two goals, that were more difficult to got wrong that to scored. Lonely in front of the net, he was able to head in the wrong way and not to score. That was incredible. 
We wrong many things in that match, but the most significative was the one that brought to the 2-3. Sormo was able to wrong a very easy passing, feeding the ball to the opponents that, he couldn't believe it, scored. 
But Sormo is young and he have to gain some experiences, isn't him?
About youngesters, we could see the young, (I would say the kid) John Hou, that played with the first team. A dream that came true for him. We hope to have found out a good player.
Mix played as an halfback, and he was the only midfielder that could defend, instead of attacking. Mix wasn't allowed by Hoftun and the medical sector to play with his nation team against the Ukraine, because he couldn't play the last two matches, because he was injuried. Mix was a bit disappointed, but played the same. 
I was disappointed by Bille, that played very bad, but he wasn't his fault. Perry made him play as a wing, and he's not able to play in that position, and we saw it.
I just want, in order to conclude the analysis, to talk about Midstjo. Maybe we have found out a good fullback, a good substitute. He had good overview, good passing, calm with the ball, and he was extremely good to challenge the man. I've to remind you we played against Levanger, but indeed he played well.

In this week we bought a player but lost another one. Brede Moe went to the Bodo Glimt, because according to him, in this team couldn't show him off the good player he is. 
But we finally bought Gamst Pedersen, that yesterday had the conference press, and said that he's very ambitious, and he wants to win everything with the Rosenborg. We hope this. 
But what can we do with another wing? We already have Mikkelsen, Helland and Riku. Ok, he has experience, but he's old too. Did Hoftun the right choice? We've just seen in these years the "good" choice he did, but I'm hopeful. Gamst indeed has problems right now, and according to the society it would be foolish to start too hard and make him play, but within reasonably short time we'll probably get him fit to play.

Rosenborg-Odd 1-3

....

You cannot see a good team in the pre-season but... I really hope that we play in this way because we are not fit. But Perry said that soon we would have been really fit. I'm starting not believing it.

It was a year we didn't lose in Abra Hallen, but against Odd we did. 
Something that jumped out it was that on the opponents cross we couldn't take the ball at all. And it's a great problem, maybe one of the main problem of this team.
Perry still wants Dorin as central defender, but he cannot play there at all! Not only for the owngoal, but also because he's not able to move in that zone. Dorsin played for a life as a fullback, and now, that's finishing his career, he cannot settle into central defense.
We were carried by the Odd, that did most of the game. Before the owngoal they crossed perhaps twice, and took us unprepared, untill finally they scored. In a previous chance for them, the forward was lonely in the area, and easily could head, but he didn't take the net. Dorsin wasn't able to mark the forwards, lost his position, but he wasn't the only one. Skjelvik too did the same thing in the second goal, but I'll talk about it later on.
We were absent minded, but maybe something was clear: we have not players in the role they are best. 
Bille cannot play as a wing, as I said Bille can play as pivot, maybe at most as playmaker (but we have Chibber that's the best in that role).
Soderlund... I'd rather not to talk about him.
Riku disappeared. He did only one good match then vanished. I really hope he soon get fit. Because i hope the all team isn't fit.
But it was also a problem the concerned all the squad, because Gamboa too easily was overcomed by the opponents. 
After the second goal we lost our minds, and the situation got out of our hands, and happened the Orlund presented the goal for the 0-3, passing the ball to the opponents.
But maybe the real main problem is that without Chibuike we aren't in the match. But we cannot play every match with Chibuike at the top, also because Chubike won't be able to play every match at the top (we saw it in the last season: as he got out of fit, we lost the league).
I think this season could be the last season of Mr. Hansen, I hope. Because, yes these are friendlies, but something jumped out in this pre-season, tattically, is that we don't have a midfield. The opponents easily overcomed our midfield, and the matches we won, was because we had Chibuike that was the only one that ran, intercepted the ball at midfield, and passed the ball to the forwards. But, as I said, we cannot relyed on him. 
But the society gave us a present for this loss, we bought Gamst, a youngester.
Seriously, the experts says that he can be the difference beetwen the gold medal and the silver one. Are we fighting for any medals? I didn't see it...
He's a man with experiences, he's a wing, well-know because he played for almost ten years in the Balckburn. He's expertises, yes, but we have three wings (Riku, Helland and Mikkelsen) and I cannot see him as a regular. Yes, indeed, he's a good player, but this is the king of the problem in this society: we don't have money to buy anyone. It's useless to complain, we should turn back to 2004, and take the philosophy that Hoftun gave away. We have to focus on the youngsters, in order to create a competitive team, like we were many years ago.

Zibaldone - 25 Feb 2014 (Waiting for Rosenborg- Odd)

Few considerations about the match we are going to play against the Odd. First of all this is the squad, the starting line-up

Orlund-Gamboa, Moe, Strandberg, Skjelvik- Jensen,Mix, Berntsen- Bille, Søderlund, Riski

1) Perry understood that Mikkelsen couldn't be a fullback (fortunatly) and put Gamboa in the place of the wing forward. As we can see Dorsin is out of the starting line-up, so Perry give Moe the chance to show him off. Moe said that he's much improved during the last season, and so he's sure he can do very well this year. Perry several times in this friendlies rejected Moe as central defendor, preferring Dorsin, that instead is a fullback. Now Moe can shows him off, and we are all hoping he can demonstrate what he's able to do in the field.

2) We have, also in this match, injuried so many players: Reginiussen and Selnaes (as you can read here) but we have still injuried Strandberg, that probably won't play against Odd. What I wonder is: why we have so many players injuried? This is a great problem, and I think could be a big danger all along the season. We haven't many players indeed, and so if we have injuried the only players able to play, we are out of the games. I have to remind that this summer we have to play the european qualifications for the Europe League, and going in this way we won't able to do great thing (remembering also that in summer Mix and Gamboa will be out for the World Cup)

3) Berntsen said he's ready to compete with Selnaes and Mix for a role in midfield. I saw Berntsen in the last match against Sudnsvall: yes, he didn't drive me crazy, but at the end did a nice match. But I don't know how he can compete with Mix and Selnaes. He can compete maybe with the last one, but just because he's always injuried (it's just a joke, I'm hoping we can have him soon of course )

4) Riski did very bad according to me the last match, maybe against Odd can show him as the player we hope he is. Fast, precise and insidious. Not like the last matches. I'd rather have Helland as pivot and not Soderlund, but, let's see what he can do. Seeing this squad (the strikers sector) it comes to my mind that during the match the module can change. Starting with a 4-3-3 he can become a 4-3-2-1 or a 4-2-3-1 with Bille as playmaker, however he can play behind the two forwards. Maybe Perry put Soderlund because he saw that every cross in the area was sliced by the forwards, nobody took the ball. Soderlund maybe can do this kind of job.

Rosenborg-Sundsvall 0-0

As I said in the last post, we had problem with some players, that couldn't play because they were injuried. They were Mix, Reginiussen, Saelnes, Soderlund and Strandberg. So we played with the usual squad (4-3-3) but as fullback Mikkelsen, and Berntsen from the beginning. The other "new" thing was Dorsin as centrale defender, but we've seen him in that role in other matches yet.

It was a very boring match, of course, but we must trust Mr. Hansen, who said that he's preparing the team to gradually improve during the season. I wish he's right. 

In order to analyse this match I will consider three players: Mikkelsen, Bille and Chibuike.

Mikkelsen

No, if Perry had any doubt about Mikkelsen as a substitute for Gamboa during the World Cup, I sincerely hope that he has quickly realized that the thing cannot be done. Mikkelsen is a forward, not a fullback, and it was clear during the match. He was ever in attack, and rarely came back in defense when opponents attacked ("attacked", tried to create some small problem to us, just to create a minimum of show).

They easily overcame him, like in one occasion for them, when Mikkelsen sliced the ball with the head and the opponent went in the area. Fortunatly the opponent wasn't CR7, so he didn't score.

Perry understood the problem Mikkelsen could create in that role, so he made him go in attack, replacing Riku with Gamboa in the second half.

Obviously Perry had to do this, because Riku never entered in the field yesterday, he was really out of the game. He slept all the time, and when he took the ball, every time did the wrong thing. It was really incredible, and of course he was replaced. 

But the problem reamin: who can replace Gamboa? Dorsin is used as substitute of Reginiussen, and we haven't a real fullback who can replace Gamboa this summer. If he won't buy someone in the next transfer market, safe bet we'll run the risk of coming to a bad end.

Bille

Bille, according to me, is an excellent player, if he wants to. But in that squad (4-3-3) he rarely find a good position to play. During the match he often played as playmaker 

(untill Chibuike came in replacing an absent Svensonn), but when he had to come into the area (in order to take the ball with the head and then score) he didn't do it, and nobody took the ball that Helland or Mikkelsen crossed. 

I think it's better to play with a 4-2-3-1, because with the 4-3-3 we can win only if we meet weak teams or the midfielder go into the area to score. But this rarely happen with our pkayers, Chibuike is a good player, but he stopped himself when he has the ball, in the borderline of the area, and seldom he come inside. Mix the same, is more a halfback, and Berntsen, as we saw yesterday, like Chibuike, doesn't come into the area. The only one who can do this is Bille, but isn't in a good mood I think, and the other one is Soderlund. I'd rather not to talk about Soderlund.

Chibuike

Just few words about Chibuike. He brings the light in the team when he plays. Yesterday, as he entered, made only good passes; and as playmaker, he was an excellent assist-man. We've to make him resign the contract with Rosenborg, very soon, because without him, it will be very hard to win something.