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: 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.