Obsessed!Originally Posted by El-Pietro
well going by Rover's fans logic when commenting on another club,
Couple of things here.
1. I think wherever you got your stats you were reading arseways. First Division Champions 2016 Limerick FC lost those two games against derry and shamrock.
2. This period from the Sligo game on (when Russell had been allowed assemble something resembling a squad. Seriously I could post a typical starting eleven from before August that season but I don't want to distress any of the readers here.)
Anyway where was I - ya that final twelve games when we had a few players. First Division Champions 2016 Limerick FC picked up 23 points in those games. For a comparison John Caulfields title chasing cork city, with much greater resources, managed to pick up 22. Not a dig (I would be digging up from the First Division after all) just the easiest comparison for a cork fan.
I don't get this obsession with the goal a game thing. Wexford conceded over a goal a game last season. Go give out to them. I've already acknowledged Russell teams can't defend. If you look at his record with us that's patently obvious. His team's are set up to score more than the opposition. It's simple it's not really debatable. He is what he is.
It's worth bearing in mind aswell that our multi million pound squad has exactly one centre half who is near good enough and two broken goalkeepers, one physically and one mentally. Now of course you could argue that's Russell's fault he should have went out and signed a decent centre half to partner Williams. But he didnt. Because he'd rather use that money on Aaron Greene. Because that's the way he likes his team's to play.
We've average around 1200 in this most remedial of First Divisions. Would we be doing it grinding out the one nils under a Pat Scully? I honestly don't think so.
These things happen in cup football though. Which is essentially what the playoffs are. I've never seen the game in ballybofey but our home leg should have finished around 5 2 which would have maybe been enough going up there. It was your classic bridge too far in the end. We'd all been saying it in the lead up to the end of season some of our players were wrecked from the previous few months. Dean Clarke and Vinny Faherty were absolutely gassed for example. In the end it told.
The die was cast last season when our chairman had a series of breakdowns between January and March. Russell and the players were treated abysmally. It was always going to need a miracle after that start.
I copied and pasted from soccerway and then just typed the goals conceded into an additional column in excel. I did it very quickly so it is quite possible I read those results backwards. That means that you kept one clean-sheet for an entire season. Derry should be ashamed.
Your points total was incredible, I've acknowledged that. It is indeed better than ours over the same period, though we had very little to play for as the season went on and you were scrapping for your lives. I was actually stunned by your performance at the Cross, you caught us napping and we couldn't keep up with your pace that day.
As for Wexford, I predicted that they would struggle this season and would probably finish bottom because I didn't think Furlong would score enough goals to keep them up. I was right on that, he has 3 goals, but the rest of the team stepped up, and Longford were much worse than anyone could have predicted. Still despite all their spiritied performances they are second bottom with just 12 points from 17 games (tied with Bray) and 8 points below Finn Harps.
Wexford also were not running away with the title in the fashion that Limerick have done. Your scorelines look like something out of a 5 a side league and are scarcely believable.
This is perfectly fine, he can set his teams up anyway he likes. He will have won the division with an entire series to go, if not more and he will deserve credit for that. I'm sure its fun to watch, City were fun to watch under Stuart Ashton, we'd win 4-0 one week, lose 4-0 the next, then win 5-3. Highly entertaining, but I'm glad we went with a more pragmatic manager in John Caulfield.It's worth bearing in mind aswell that our multi million pound squad has exactly one centre half who is near good enough and two broken goalkeepers, one physically and one mentally. Now of course you could argue that's Russell's fault he should have went out and signed a decent centre half to partner Williams. But he didnt. Because he'd rather use that money on Aaron Greene. Because that's the way he likes his team's to play.
We've average around 1200 in this most remedial of First Divisions. Would we be doing it grinding out the one nils under a Pat Scully? I honestly don't think so.
My point is, as fun as it is now, there are some serious problems, and if I were a Limerick fan I would be concerned about his ability to keep you up in the Premier Division. Yes you had that run towards the end of last season but a large part of that was momentum. I don't think even the most optimistic of Limerick fans thinks if you had that side for the whole season you'd have kept up that run of form.
You mentioned Wexford and I think this is a good time to bring them up again. John O'Flynn has 11 goals in 11 games. I'm a huge Flynny fan. The last few seasons when he was with us was hard to watch. Many of my fellow supporters wanted him to be given more of a chance, they said he'd come good if he played more regularly, and maybe there is some truth in that, after all he is flying in the first division. I, and others like me, however think he was no longer the same player. Not just his record with us, but his performances, and his record in his last few seasons in England made that clear.
If he comes up and scores 15 goals next season I'll hold my hands up and say I was wrong, and I'd love to be proven wrong, as long as he doesn't score too many of those against us! I don't think I'll be wrong though, I'd be surprised if he managed more than 7 or 8 for a whole season, which would be decent, but that's me being optimistic. Like Furlong, I think he has found his level, which is a harsh thing to say, especially about the most deadly finisher I've ever seen in the LOI, but I think it's true.
I agree with some of what you say, but I think it's worth pointing out that as soon as we started scoring and winning, Russell was very hesitant to tinker with the team too much. He didn't want to change formations or even personnel if possible. It's not as if he wasn't concerned with the goals being conceded, but he felt he didn't want to risk our chances of survival by making changes that would make the team less attacking.
The number of points we won from that Sligo match on would suggest that was a good decision to me.
His decision to limit changes in personnel meant that a lot of our players were spent by that stage. We could see in the games against Derry and Rovers, we had very very little left. Lynch, Clarke, Faherty, Duggan, were all wrecked. More than anything else, the lack of a decent centre-half killed us.
As I've said in the Limerick forum, I'm not too concerned with the goals being conceded. In other circumstances I would be, but we're still going to run away with the division. I am sure our current squad will be slaughtered by at least half the teams in the premier if we don't bring in a number of quality players, especially defenders. We don't need to do that yet, as the squad we have now is enough to win the first division easily.
Whether Russell is of the same opinion, I don't know. What Russell does between the end of this season and the start of the next one to improve his squad will be the key. I don't really think he deserves criticism for not already building a squad that will keep Limerick in the premier next year when we are just over halfway through the current season in the first division.
Last edited by osarusan; 05/07/2016 at 12:41 PM.
Our squad wouldn't cut it in the Premier.
We'd stay up comfortably because at least four or five of the other teams are awful.
But it wouldn't be very pretty.
As it is we have:
Two broken goalkeepers.
A fairly decent pair of premier full backs.
One centre half.
One excellent premier midfielder, one good one and one fairly decent one.
A decent premier winger.
One striker who simply cant play every game.
Add to this two or three premier substitute standard players.
And eight or nine lads who would have no business in the premier.
It'll take serious investment to push on for the top four. Which is what I firmly believe we should be doing. The league can't stay this terrible forever like.
It's not up to me though. It's up to coco the chairman.
When a team like Limerick is decimating all in front of them why unnecessarily fork out wages now for additional defenders/players that are obviously not currently needed. We are just beyond half way of the 2016 season so there is plenty of time for Russell to address defensive frailties. He can bring Pat Fenlon in as his assistant or defensive coach to work on ruining Limericks attacking style as we know that attractive football is anathema to Nusty (can we continue slagging Pat off and analysing or speculating or being obsessed with Shamrock Rovers under Fenlon rather than sidelining the thread entirely with a fans Munster derby? Not that watching a Corks fan's obsession with Limerick and Limerick fans *****ley retort is not intriguing if for no other reason but WITH the parallels earlier in this and other threads involving Rover's fans and a pick of other club's fans).
Didnt realise p-r-i-c-k-l-e-y was a bad word!
Last edited by Nesta99; 05/07/2016 at 3:59 PM.
Jeez, exaggerate much? You'd swear we were losing 4-0 every second week under Ashton. Our league record under him: P10 W7 D1 L2 F21 A15 Pts22.
Our 2 defeats were 2-1 away to shamrock and 4-0 away to Dundalk. Not the same as the picture you are trying to paint. Its just a pity he couldnt take the job instead of JC.
It is if you spell it with an e.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
I stand by my point. We were entertaining but I'd prefer JC long term. Besides he didn't want the job. He didn't even want to get the coaching badges.
But why? More goals > less goals
Tried it without the 'e' too! No matter.It is if you spell it with an e.
Winning games and competing for trophies > than being entertaining but losing
Bradley confirmed as Caretaker coach
Caulfield has done a great job building a solid foundation at cork but he's not the man to win them a league title.
Please, please let this happen, Jeffrey in running for Rovers job: http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepa...er-_-509521223
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
Not sure that's fair. Dundalk have been exceptional in recent years. Being best of the rest no small achievement in itself.
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
Hearing it's a done deal with Hooperman coming in as assistant.
We had enough points in 2014 to win the league most years, and we're not far off that again this year. Last year we fell away when it became clear we couldn't catch them.
With Roddy as assistant manager. Comedy Gold!
Always thought the Sun was similar to Waterford whispers, this proves it
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