Eliteserien 2008

[Gerrit]

I also have the impression things have gotten better since Hamren arrived, but I dont want to blame the previous coach too much, after all he was doing a bit of an unthankful job being a coach on interim basis. I do think we would be fighting for the championship now had we had Hamren in charge since the start of the season, but I guess that is just guessing...
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

What happened to Stabaek this weekend in Stavanger? They were 4-0 behind with only 50 minutes played

Our own results are getting better and better, I got confidence we will finish top 3. Would we be able to make another spectacular comeback like in 2006 when we came back from 10 points behind and still finished ahead of Brann??
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Bakklandia]

They became one man down pretty early, and Viking scored on the following penalty. Stabæk was furious at the referee for the red card, and forgot to play football.

Then Viking got an very easy match.
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Det er bedre å stupe ut i smørøyet enn å gå rundt grøten!

[Skotten]

Great result and great attendance!

I wonder if Hamren will want to keep Berisha permanently following his good goalscoring record at RBK.

[Gerrit]

Well, especially since it is unsure how long we will have Iversen in Trondheim, I would try to get Berisha permanently. It is too early to really say if he can really be the next big striker, but his start was convincing enough and I doubt he would cost a lot of money to transfer him permanently. Given his potential, I would go for it. Priority however should be keeping Iversen, as I still feel without him goalscoring would be an achilles heel. He has 2 years of contract left, so the club should let him stay at least another year (we can still get money for him if we sell him 1 year before end of contract, selling him already in winter would be a huge mistake IMO). Maybe an Iversen-Berisha frontline could be just what we need to become champions again next season.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[mrstpatsfc]

i also think bes and iversen will rip up the tippaligaen between them next year should bes stay.

[Ballahl]

Director of Sports Erik Hoftun, said that Besart Berisha is not in the future plans for Rosenborg BK.
At the end of season Besart Berisha will return back to Burnley.
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- Rune Hauge er ingen kjeltring, men tvert i mot en grepa kar. Han er den ærligste mannen jeg kjenner. Jeg har aldri vært i tvil om at han var uskyldig, jublet Stig Inge Bjørnebye og fulgte opp:

- Rune var forut for sin tid.

[mrstpatsfc]

it could still change though,you never know in football

[Gerrit]

If the club board says this rather than it being a rumour, I am afraid it will likely be true Guess we should focus on keeping Iversen in Trondheim (and in Norway) right now, and meanwhile look out for a second lethal striker. If we really need to rule out Berisha, then lets not lose time and keep an eye on other options, but if there is any chance to keep Berisha then certainly look into this option. For him, playing in the Tippeligaen looks more interesting than the English lower leagues Id say, I wonder if they already asked him for his own preference already?
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[RBKalle]

But do we really need English Lower League material???

More or less every striker that was around Lerkendal over the last decade or so went on to have a decent international resumè, so I don't see a reason we should just settle for a "best of the rest" attitude with Berisha.

Or with that Cooper guy we had to fight for with frigging Cardiff...

Berisha hasn't hinted a lot in his stay so far, albeit he hasn't had that many chances, so if those in charge at the club feel he has no future there, it's time to look for other options.

Also taking into account Ivers isn't getting any younger nor healthier, so it's time to build up for the future.

[Gerrit]

Iversen is still of capital importance for us in terms of scoring goals. He has 2 years of contract left, so I would try to sell after one extra season. Gives us the chance to look for a decent replacement, he can help us to the Norwegian championship one more year with his goals, and with one year contract remaining we still get money for him. I would only consider selling next winter, but keep him in Lerkendal one more season.

As for the best of the rest attitude: correct, but Cooper is not best of the rest. I got several friends in the States who love soccer, they all said Cooper is one of the brightest prospects of USA soccer. They all said he is capable of getting big in Europe. If he is motivated and sees RBK as his stepping stone and first European experience, then I think he would have been great for us. Unless it would bring a bunch of Yanks, or even worse Texans, to RBKs stands But I would have loved to get Cooper, he seems to be very talented, easily scores, and thus a gem as his first transfer to Europe should not be too costly and with very big chances of selling him for much more money after a few seasons in the bright lights of Lerkendal stadium.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[RBKalle]

Well, hadn't the words of praise I here hear about Cooper been the same I've heard before about: Lassiter, Adu, Donovan and many others, I'd probably drool at the thought of having Cooper at Lerkendal...

Bringing in yet another untested player isn't really something RBK can risk.

I think it's smart taking a gamble or two only if the role is already covered, and well, with at least one viable backup with previous experience in the league.

The gamble was won with Konè, it's turning out for the better with Konan Ya too, but with Ivers spending more time on the injury list than on the field, how easily could betting on the wrong horse backfire and badly?

Moreso, what's the point of selling Steffen for two quarters and a dime [let's face it, we won't get big money for him at that stage of his career], while he could be a great tutor/mentor for younger strikers?

IMO the key is buying a striker who's already established in Tippeliga, keeping Ivers as "luxury filler", trying to keep Konan Ya as long as possible, fostering a couple of local youngsters AND one or two Long Shots.

[Gerrit]

In what way is Cooper an untested player? He plays in the MLS which may not be very well known in Europe but which is improving year after year and definitely on par with the European football except for England/Spain/Italy/Germany/etc. Many Europeans are not realising the steady improvement of soccer in North America. If Cooper is wanted by several European clubs while being one of the sensations in the MLS, then I doubt we can call him an untested player. I would have taken the risk if only MLS and FC Dallas were not making the transfer impossible.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[RBKalle]

MLS may have improved, but I would hardly call it a testing environment good enough to certify a player, moreso a striker, is ready for a decent European league.

It's the league where Darren Huckerby, of all people, is having a 0.5 goal-per-game season and has been brought in as a soccer legend

DARREN HUCKERBY!

Cooper can be great or can be a flop, the problem is RBK can't afford a flop up front, as the alternatives are few and unconvincing.

Tippeliga is such tight competition a team can't afford to drop the ball with a main player.

While I see bringing in "big names" isn't always the right choice (ask VIF ) it just can't always go your way when you keep on gambling on Unknown Africans and such players.

There's plenty of 100% guaranteed Tippeliga-strikers around, what about opening the wallet and getting one?

[Gerrit]

Tromso-Molde 4-4 ... Is ironically Molde going to do us a huge favour to get UEFA Cup qualification?

We got it all in our hands now. Winning the remaining games means a 3rd spot and European football Hopefully we wont throw this away anymore.

I hate to say it, but thanks Molde
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[mrstpatsfc]

fair play to molde.hopefully we can follow it up tonight with a win against stromgodset.confidence should be high following a recent run of good results.i dont see why we cant rally for second place.

have a look at the rosenborg-stroms preview at the following link

http://www.fjordball.blogspot.com/

its more of a joke about storflor than anything else!

[Skotten]

Hmm...not so good tonight. Traore could have won the game with that free header but overall, not quite good enough. Add to that, Stabaek sealing the title with a later winner in Bergen.

Argh, Baerum have deserved to win the title this year and I guess they will get confidence from playing in both their new arena and the CL next season. They are the benchmark it would seem although whether or not they can keep some of their better players remains to be seen.

[2mas]

Hopefully Stabæk won't give Tromsø a walkover in their last match. We need this bronze.

[RBKalle]

And another win (and 2 more points) thrown away for the lack of a decent striker...

A one-legged Steffen is more useful than a healthy Pelu.

I have the bad feeling we're gonna regret the points lost against godset and Brann, in matches we totally dominated, yet failed to win.

Congratulations to Stabæk for a deserved gold. The best team by far this year, playing a very enjoyable attacking football.

Speaking of bronze and UEFA Cup spot, any news about the 4th place/Cup Finalist situation?

[2mas]

No help from UEFA.

We need medal to qualify for the Europa League; fair play spot is the back-up.

[mrstpatsfc]

pity about the game,most reports i have read reckon we should have got the the 3points

credit to stabaek on winning league

[Gerrit]

Yes, well done Stabaek. However, it is not that good for Norwegian football. Stabaek is a tiny village team with less than 5000 die hard fans, and their stadium is too small to host European cup games. If they would survive the CL qualifiers or if they would play against a huge team in the qualifiers, they are obliged to play on neutral ground (Ullevaal ?? Not exactly near Stabaeks home town but probably the best solution). It is great to see how such a tiny team accomplishes a lot, but for the reputation of Norwegian football it will be a bit weird to see the country represented in the CL by a tiny club without any history and without a stadium that meets UEFA criteria. But yes, well done Stabaek, and I much rather see them winning the league than our rivals from Oslo or Bergen.

The points dropped against Godset could be crucial. Tromso threw away points as well against Molde but we failed to take advantage of that, it was like Molde did us a favour and we failed to accept the gift. If we still want the bronze, Tromso will need to lose points in the next game and we will need to win the remaining games. I dont see Tromso drop points against Stabaek now that Stabaek is already sure of the championship anyway, so Tromso will need to drop points next round. Otherwise I fear it will be a 4th spot for us.

I really cannot help but thinking that if Hamren were in charge since beginning of the season, we would be nr 1 right now and not Stabaek. Since Hamren came, things improved so much... If only he were in charge from the start of the season on.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[2mas]

Stabæk will move to Telenor Arena next season. They are from Bærum kommune, with 100k inhabitants.

[Bakklandia]

Bærum muncipality
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Det er bedre å stupe ut i smørøyet enn å gå rundt grøten!

[Gerrit]

Seems a waste of money when their current (smaller) stadium is not even sold out weekly.

Oh well, next year we should get the championship back, let Stabaek have their moment of glory and let them enjoy while it lasts... I am glad that during our few less good seasons no other club could grab the power. Both Valerenga and Brann failed to confirm their top status after their triumph, no club fills the gap that we are leaving, which is a good sign as otherwise I could see massive investments at whatever club was becoming the new power.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!