Schalke - Rosenborg

[Christian]

If you are out for a walk in Gelsenkirchen-city, you can think that S04 is already in the 1/8-finals. They think it´s easy to beat RBK, after beating them in Norway and after RBK´s 0-4 last stage.
Let them teach a lesson.
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Hilsen fra Tyskland

[2mas]

Schalke set for Rosenborg showdown

Mit bisher lediglich drei Treffern (beim 2:0 in Trondheim und beim 1:1 gegen Chelsea) haben sich Kevin Kuranyi und Co. die Möglichkeit auf einen echten Showdown gegen die Norweger erhalten.

"Jetzt haben wir das Endspiel, das wir uns gewünscht haben", freute sich Manager Andreas Müller.

"Die Italiener machen auch nicht viele Tore und haben im vergangenen Jahr immerhin die WM gewonnen."

(...)

"Trondheim wird aber eine ganz schwere Aufgabe, denn auswärts sind die bisher richtig gut aufgetreten", weiß S04-Kapitän Marcelo Bordon und spielt auf Rosenborgs 2:0-Sieg in Valencia und das 1:1-Remis in London an.

Artikel lesen: Auf die italienische Art

[2mas]

Rosenborg are on second place in the group before the last match day. Who had thought that after the draw in August? I guess noone.

We have already secured play in the UEFA Cup, which was our initial objective, so the showdown against Schalke is kind of a bonus for us. Hopefully the players too feel less pressure this time. Before the Chelsea match everyone in Norway talked about beating them like Valencia, even though a draw should have been the best we could hope for.

After the 0-4 loss everyone is back on the ground, and I think there is a more realistic approach to this match. Even though we are unbeaten away in this Champions League campaign, we know it will be very hard to get our precious point in Gelsenkirchen.

Compared to the two glorious wins against Valencia, Schalke are a much better organized team. Incredibly Rosenborg managed to surprise Valencia in the away match with our new 4-4-2 formation. We played the same way in the first match against them too, but they seemingly didn't expect us to attack them in Spain too.

The Chelsea match however showed that the players are not really used to play 4-4-2, and get in trouble when the opponent is well prepared and able to outplay us. Our midfield was slaughtered, and gave the defence big problems.

As said, Schalke are quite the same as Chelsea when it comes to clever organization. Therefore Rosenborg are considering going back to our classical 4-3-3 formation (UEFA.com lists us in front of Ajax as typical 4-3-3 club teams!). In European away matches this formation tends to be more like 4-5-1 because the wingers are more defensive. We know of course that a draw is good enough, and I guess my fellow RBK supporters agree that headless attacking play will be foolish.

We played the same way against Chelsea in London and I guess the gameplay somehow will be the same: The home team having the ball, trying to get to good goal attempts, while Rosenborg will be focusing on the counter attacks and set pieces.

The tactics worked well at Stamford Bridge, and our 0-1 lead at half time was quite fair. With a bit more skill and luck, we could have scored once more on our good attacks just after the break. Instead Shevchenko scored, and it was "power play" for Chelsea the rest of the match.

Our biggest challenge both on Tuesday and in the follow-up in February (either Champions League or UEFA Cup) is the fact that the Norwegian league ended 3 November. Rosenborg have played 18 matches in European cups in the period of December until March, and just won twice. Our last away point came in Athen ten years ago, when we should have won and go through to the quarter final. Instead Olympiakos scored on a bad freekick in the 87th minute, making Juventus in another group the next best runner up. One of the worst moments in the Rosenborg history!

Our winter record:

06.12.95: Blackburn - Rosenborg 4-1
04.12.96: AC Milan - Rosenborg 1-2
05.03.97: Rosenborg - Juventus 1-1
19.03.97: Juventus - Rosenborg 2-0
10.12.97: Olympiakos - Rosenborg 2-2
09.12.98: Juventus - Rosenborg 2-0
07.12.99: Real Madrid - Rosenborg 3-1
29.02.00: Dinamo Kiev - Rosenborg 2-1
08.03.00: Rosenborg - Dinamo Kiev 1-2
14.03.00: Bayern München - Rosenborg 2-1
22.03.00: Rosenborg - Real Madrid 0-1
07.12.00: Rosenborg - Alavés 1-3 (UEFA Cup)
26.02.04: Benfica - Rosenborg 1-0 (UEFA Cup)
03.03.04: Rosenborg - Benfica 2-1 (UEFA Cup)
07.12.04: Arsenal - Rosenborg 5-1
06.12.05: Lyon - Rosenborg 2-1
15.02.06: Rosenborg - Zenit St. Petersburg 0-2 (UEFA Cup)
23.02.06: Zenit St. Petersburg - Rosenborg 2-1 (UEFA Cup)

2-2-14 in 18 games and 16-38 in goal difference don't impress anyone.

But stats are not useful before anyone breaks them!

[Christian]

Schalke will obv. play like this:


- - - - Kuranyi - - Asamoah - - - -

Özil - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Raktic
- - - - Ernst - - - Bajramovic - - - -

Westermann Krstajic Bordon Rafinha

Neuer


Jones misses the match because of yellow cards, Pander is not recovered for full after an injury.
Løvenkrands and Altintop start the match outside, but can be used as a kind of "joker".
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Hilsen fra Tyskland

[Gerrit]

Does anyone have an account at aufschalke-forum.de ? I tried signing up to see if someone carpools back to Berlin afterwards (where I have to be for work the next day) but my account at that forum doesn't get activated... Does any of you have an account there?

Without the carpool I have to catch a night train and basically go to work the next day without sleep So I'll better try finding a carpool partner back to Berlin.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[attach]

Yes, PM sent.

[Gerrit]

Thanks!

Just in case I find nobody to carpool with: can we leave the stadium right after the game or will we have to wait a while until the Schalke fans are home? In case we can leave directly, I could take a taxi to the train station and catch a train before midnight, allowing me to catch some sleep before the new working day...
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[2mas]

I guess only those with Norwegian passports are let out.

As I expected earlier on, Rosenborg will play 4-5-1 tomorrow. These players were used on the training session at Arena auf Schalke tonight:

Lars Hirschfeld

Fredrik Stoor - Bjørn Tore Kvarme - Vidar Riseth - Abdou Traoré

Alexander Tettey
Marek Sapara - Per Ciljan Skjelbred - Roar Strand - Steffen Iversen

Yssouf Koné
But most likely Strand will play on the left back in his 100th Champions League appearance. Riseth is also said to be move to the midfield. A possible line-up is therefore:

Lars Hirschfeld

Fredrik Stoor - Bjørn Tore Kvarme - Christer Basma - Roar Strand

Vidar Riseth
Marek Sapara - Per Skjelbred - Alexander Tettey - Steffen Iversen

Yssouf Koné

[2mas]

The pressure is on the German team who could still miss out on the UEFA Cup spot should Valencia CF defeat Chelsea in the evening's other match.

"There's no favourite but perhaps playing at home gives us a little advantage. If we perform at the same level as we did against Chelsea then we can win. Rosenborg are defensively strong but perhaps their loss to Chelsea makes them less confident at the moment. Also there are no more league games in Norway, so they have not played for a while."

Read more: Slomka tells Schalke to grab chance

For veteran defender Bjorn Tore Kvarme, the clash with Schalke could be his last in a Rosenborg shirt with the player uncertain whether he will return to the pitch in 2008.

And despite what happens on Tuesday, Kvarme admits the Norwegians can be proud of their achievements in this season's competition.

"No-one expected us to get many points beforehand," the 35-year-old told the club's official website.

Read more: Must-win for Schalke

[Jon Irenicus]

Christian: Are you Christian Doering?

[keschaa]

Hey, im guessing it was you on the norwegian television today Christian..

Really good spoken, Norwegian is not the easiest language.

Fun with a RBKweb user on tv
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at ease

[Jon Irenicus]

What hunk said. You spoke really well.

[Engelsk]

Kone goal! 2-1...
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thecomplexii.com - Founded 2005

[Skotten]

Well, you have to credit Schalke tonight. I thought when Kone scored we might havea shout but it wasn't to be. I liked how we kept our discipline for the 90 minutes and we also passed the ball very well. We did however not create enough and the goals we lost were poor.

Still, who would have taken three famous results against Chelsea in London, Valencia home and away whilst not forgetting the fact we're in the UEFA Cup?

Overall, a good campaign and I was delighted to at last see RBK in the CL. (Although the result was one to forget.)

[Troilonge]

Such a horrible match it was. All the goals (our included) was a result of very bad defending. A deservly win, tho, and I must say that the homefans were great. According to the commentator are there only 260.000 humans in Gelsenkirchen.

[Kjello]

In the city of Gelsenkirchen yes, but in the metrepolian area there lives around 1,5 million people.

[Christian]

Thanks for the comliments. Nice to hear.
Yes, I am Christian Döring.
When was it send, right before the match?

Sadly the match was lst tonight, but we are still in EC - and maybe it is easier in UEFA-cup than in CL. But the money would have been nice to get. Maybe we`ll get something from Schalke as we helped them on rank 2 by beating Valencia Just making fun.
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Hilsen fra Tyskland

[Christian]

BTW, the first match that RBK lost with me at the stadium. Now it is 4-3-1... Not bad at all. And at Lerkendal still "ubeseiret": 4-2-0
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Hilsen fra Tyskland

[Lloyd]

Watched the match tonight (local time), and thought Rosenborg looked sharp and could (should...) have earned a draw. However, with defenders like that you are not going to qualify for the last 16 in the best football tournament around (including the world cup). It was painful to look at a player like Christer Basma, just by getting rid of him you would probably strengthen the squad before next season

While you looked good in possession, the players kept passing the ball sideways or back to the defenders, which allowed Schalke plenty of time to organize the defense. Overall, I am really pleased and proud of your performance, all credit to you Somehow though, I feel as if you spoilt a chance to get into the last 16, and I am fearful it might be years until the next chance of reaching the last 16 will present itself again.

[Troilonge]

Schalke is absolutely one of the places I wanna go to sometime. What a stadium and what an atmosphere. Gorgeous I used to support Bayer 04 Leverkusen in Bundesliga, but they have like 20.000 at the crowd. The Schalke fans were great in Trondheim too. Better than Chelsea, and the four Valencia fans (even tho they were good-looking ).

[2mas]

I think the home match against Schalke was the key match when things ended up as they did. A reasonable draw at Lerkendal and we had gone through...

[Troilonge]

One second asleep from the knockout round... We didnt deserve any point from that match, tho...

[Engelsk]

A shame RBK are out of the CL, eh.
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thecomplexii.com - Founded 2005

[Christian]

Well, I have the trust that we are back again in two years. But then again just for fighting for the 3rd place. This was the biggest chance in the last years - and we just had to play better at home vs. Schalke...
Now we have time to build a new team, hopefully a quite young one with 3, 4 older players like Strand or Iversen (if I am allowed to call him "older"). Then we have to give them some matching in UEFA-cup in 2008/2009 and maybe we`ll get a new era! But it´ll be hard.

[Gerrit]

Disappointed with the loss, but proud of the campaign in general. After all, we had to survive two qualifier rounds, we were drawn with 3 giants in the CL group... If someone told me we'd finish 3rd, after that draw I would have screamed hurray. Most people thought we'd finish 4th with 1 or 2 points maximum. Well, we're 3rd and we kicked Valencia out of Europe. I think overall we can call our European campaign a success.

Now hopefully we can survive a few more UEFA Cup rounds. Of course the first round will come when we have only started the next season preparation, while most other teams are in the middle of their own season. So maybe a team like Helsingborg or a Russian team would be good, because they will also have just started their new season. I rather avoid teams from Italy or England or so, as I would prefer an "easy" opponent first and then get the big teams a few rounds later.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!