Find the stability - take the gold!
By Håvard Lindheim, 5 April 2005, 12:41
The start of the season is just around the corner. What do we think of the 2005 season?
A commentary from Åsmund Sjøberg of rosenborg.info
Last season was, without a doubt, disappointing for most RBK supporters. With this statement alone, one sees what high expectations we RBK supporters have. Yes, we entered the group stages of the Champions League. Yes, we won the domestic league for the 13th time in a row. Still we manage to be disappointed? It probably seems like madness to foreign readers. I think that even clubs like Barcelona, Arsenal and Bayern Münich would be somewhat pleased with a season ending in a domestic championship and qualification for the Champions League.
But we, the faithful Rosenborg supporters, manage to classify the season as weak, disappointing and other negative things. However, we share the view with the club direction. As the group stage of the Champions League was halfway finished, and we were in the lead in the domestic league, two rounds from the end - one decided to fire the coach. After that manoeuvre it should be hard for the direction to say anything similar to "spoiled supporters" with too high demands. Should one judge what happened last autumn, the direction has at least as high expectations as the supporters.
And maybe it's just this fact that keeps RBK the leading team, year after year ... ?
All winter I have felt that this will be a season where we yet again show who the masters are. We will play that type of football that RBK did in the heydays some years ago, and anew we will go forth as the definite number one in Norway. Many wants us to fail. We won't let that have any negative effect, but rather let it be an inspiration to further growth and gung-ho in fights against over-excited opponents on the away fields.
What I hope we won't get, is the lability that marked us throughout last season. Great shows in single matches were followed by rotten efforts in the following. We saw that from the pre-season on, where one had nasty losses against Kongsvinger and Hammarby - and in another match around that time crushed Djurgården thoroughly. In the league, the labile prestations continued. The tendency in the first half of the season was that one got a fair amount of points home at Lerkendal, but failed in the following away game. The most stabile period was in the weeks just prior to and after the summer break. Here, the team picked important points, qualified for the Champions League and at times played wonderful football. Then autumn came, and the only memorable moment was the final match, at Lerkendal, on 30 October, where Rosenborg barely managed to secure yet another championship.
This year I hope for a broader and more even squad. And, that the comeback of Nils Arne Eggen and Bjørn Hansen in the coach team - and the experiences from last year - makes us more stable. Yes, I know we can't expect to win every match, but I hope to avoid those tremendous differences in quality from one week to another. To be honest, I think that the key to the gold might lie in finding this stability. Repeating good prestations give a self confidence that may ensure even matches to be won.
As for the squad, I agree with Sports Director Rune Bratseth - it is very good. Wether it's the best of all times, I am not sure. We should have had another midfielder. Apart from that, it is not hard to see that with this year's team, Perry shouldn't have problems finding resources on the bench, if some of the starting 11 should have a bad day. I just hope that we won't see unneccessary murmuring from those players that don't get to start most of the games. That's a real challenge for RBK. With this broad squad, it is a gigantic challenge for the coaches to keep everyone fit, ready and pleased. But I both hope and believe that the players are proffessional and patient enough to handle the high level of competition in this year's RBK. This is the way it has to be, if the team shall be able to satisfy demanding supporters - and not least, the expectations from the club itself ...
