ST. ETIENNE (rosenborg.info): "We dominated play all over the midfield, and were the better team by far. We created seven chances to their three, but we weren't good enough in the offensive and defensive thirds of the pitch", Erik Hamrén says.
A nervous French side - currently placed 17th in the 20 team French league - gave Rosenborg surprising amounts of space in midfield. Unfortunately the away side were not able to match their midfield dominance with crosses and finishing, which remained lacklustre throughout.
Rosenborg did come close to pulling one ahead right before the interval, but Mikael Lustig headed Swedish namesake Dorsin's cross mere inches over the crossbar. Steffen Iversen also tried his luck on a number of occasions, but never managed to create more than half-chances.
Rosenborg piled on the pressure in the second half, and Didier Konan only narrowly missed a bicycle kick early in the half. Instead the goalie captured the ball, and quickly set up a counter attack. After Alejandro Lago was sent reeling the ball ended up with Brazilian forward Araújo Ilan, who curled the ball neatly into the far corner.
RBK were undederred, however. Another big chance saw both Iversen and Dorsin scrambling to the far post, both failing to get the vital touch on Marek Sapara's promising ball. Instead, Saint Etienne hurt an offensive Rosenborg on the counter again. This time, Paulo Machado used his hand to gain control of the long pass, before lobbing goalie Rune Jarstein. The incident went unnoticed by the referee, who allowed the goal.
Kevin Mirallas later rounded Jarstein and slotted home a surprise 3-0 victory. The Rosenborg defence was clearly struggling, and Kris Stadsgaard's absence (knee injury) was sorely felt.
Roar Strand had the chance to score a consolation goal after rounding the keeper, but his left-footed, narrow angled strike hit the post and dribbled out to a goal kick. Efficiency - again - was the key word.
"We've been lacking the same qualities all through the season. Matches are decided at the goalmouths, and that's where we struggle. Better finishing would have won the game for us. We're lacking goalscorers," Hamrén observes.
Half way through the UEFA Group stage, RBK currently stands with only a single point.
"Our chances of advancing in the tournament are lessened when we fail to win matches like this one. But we will have to focus on one match at a time, and try to perform to the best of our abilities. After today's performance we are very, very disappointed not to bring home even a single point," head coach Hamrén says.
Match facts
St. Etienne
3-0
ROSENBORG
Ilan 58
Paulo Machado 63
Kevin Mirallas 76
Thursday 6 November 2008 20:45 UEFA Cup group stage, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St. Etienne
Attendance: 24,006
Rosenborg [4-4-2] Rune Jarstein - Mikael Lustig (Andreas Nordvik 89), Vadim Demidov, Alejandro Lago, Mikael Dorsin - Per Ciljan Skjelbred, Marek Sapara (Jo Sondre Aas 80), Alexander Tettey, Roar Strand - Steffen Iversen (Abdou Traoré 65), Didier Konan
