League of Ireland in Europe 2014

[Stuttgart88]

250 bought tickets in Warsaw. There'll be more Polish there supporting Pats than Legia apparently. They're not well liked by the rest of the country

Doesn't sound like it!

[CityRebel]

I don't know what's worse, that cow bell or vuvuzelas.

[nigel-harps1954]

Game over.

[DannyInvincible]

Ack, that was coming. Pat's have been all over the place.

[nigel-harps1954]

Conan Byrne having a stinker and Hoare made an absolute meal of that attempted tackle leading up to the goal.

[ger121]

How often have we seen this in the past. Great 1st leg away performance, followed by a poor showing at home. Hopefully we don't see the same tomorrow from Sligo

[SPXcyan]

So incredibly easy for Legia tbh, the small pitch seems to be our downfall against such quality everytime to be honest.

[MeathDrog]

Few Pats fans on twitter are now blaming the venue.

Pats have been outclassed tonight, straight up.

[nigel-harps1954]

Awful performance from Pat's.

[DannyInvincible]

The forced venue change by the Gardaí can't have helped, but Pat's have been over-run tonight. A couple of half chances, but not much else to shout about. Legia always looked a lot more threatening from the outset. The longer it's gone on, the sloppier Pat's have gotten at the back.

[DannyInvincible]

What a shocker.

[Sligo Hoops.]

Alan Cawley on 2fm earlier said Pat's (if they progressed) would go on to dominate Irish football for the next ten years on the strength of the €1m they'd potentially earn. When I heard that I knew they were doomed. Sure that's what some deluded board members up Whitestown Way thought after our Europa exploits in 2011.

[DannyInvincible]

I didn't think it could get any worse. Byrne's own goal just summed matters up. Hopeless defending and very disappointing all round.

[Sligo Hoops.]

The forced venue change by the Gardaí can't have helped,

Ah yeah, blame the Gardaí. It was they who wouldn't let Shels play the forces of darkness in Tolka in 1998.

[Straightstory]

At least we'll be spared Celtic coming to Dublin.

[White Horse]

It's a bitter result to swallow for Pats but there is no shame in being beaten by a better side.

However, I knew they were beaten once I saw Derek Foran starting.

[DannyInvincible]

Ah yeah, blame the Gardaí.

Well, I'm not a Pat's fan so it's not as if I'm trying to shift blame elsewhere or anything... It was a terrible performance.

Nevertheless, I do think it's fair to question the merits of the forced venue change. I don't see how it can have helped. As far as I can see, it was a decision that failed to take into account the best interests of St. Pat's and Irish football. It was a bad decision and placed the hopes of Pat's secondary to matters of convenience (under that old "health and safety" chestnut). Richmond Park has handled full houses (and even violent behaviour in the Setanta Cup) before. It's important for psychological reasons and for reasons of familiarity to play your home game in your own ground. Is the Chief Superintendent a football man?

[nigel-harps1954]

At least we'll be spared Celtic coming to Dublin.

This is actually a good point. How embarrassing it would have been for Pat's to be easily outnumbered at their 'home' game by at least 10 to 1.

[luiz]

This is actually a good point. How embarrassing it would have been for Pat's to be easily outnumbered at their 'home' game by at least 10 to 1.

My memories of back when I lived in Dublin are that the polish community was quite big. Once there was an Ireland X Poland friendly in Aviva where it would be safe to say that two thirds of the supporters were polish. I believe that there was a quite respectful "away" crowd today, wasn't it?

[Martinho II]

that game tonight was an embarrassment to the league. Forrester and Conan Byrne werent even in the game at all. I blame Liam Buckley for this-he hasnt learnt from them losing at home after getting a decent draw away last yr! Also the Gardai didnt help matters

[Sligo Hoops.]

Also the Gardai didnt help matters

What. Don't tell me Mick Moody is back playing with Pat's ?

Tallaght is a soulless venue. Despite home advantage in Europa in 2011, it did us no favours. Class always wins out.

[oriel]

Thought Foran was absolutely dreadful in defence and overall their defending in the last 25 mins was just shocking. It must be very disappointing overall considering what was on offer in the next round.

It's rare a big side in Europe messes up twice, and we could be in for a hiding tomorrow who knows, but good luck to the 3 left, they will all need it.

[TheBoss]

Before the 2 matches, I thought Legia were a lot better in terms of their quality but realistically, they are a pretty average team. Obviously, they have a better quality of player than Pats but there were not that far ahead.

They were superior in speed of passing/movement and physical strength but all other aspects of the game were below if not the same level as Pats. The 2nd half in the 2 leg was the only difference between the sides over the 2 legs. Legia pressed Pats and played long balls which surprisingly worked as Pats kept getting caught out by them. You'd have thought the likes of Fahey and Brennan would be good enough to get on the ball and pass the quickly when under pressure but they failed to take control of the midfield when it was there to taken control of due to Legia pressing rather than controlling. But when they did get chances to pass it, the wingers were not up to it and due to the wingers not effecting the game, Fagan was left stranded.

All of Legia's 6 goals were atrocious from a defensive point of view. I think a 5-0 home defeat to a team like this that played OK on the night is truly unacceptable as the tie was there for them, it really was but they failed to deliver in that now crucial 2nd half. Celtic should easily dispatch Legia based on their 2 dodgy performances.

[Fivesilver]

Alan Cawley on 2fm earlier said...

One of the key signs that you're about to take delivery of a cartload of horse manure. I hope he still has the receipt for that crystal ball.

[jinxy lilywhite]

Unfortunate for pats and sorry to see any team lose like that because they are better than a 5-0 defeat to a polish team.
I wonder how much the Sell-thick draw distracted them.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Unfortunate for pats and sorry to see any team lose like that because they are better than a 5-0 defeat to a polish team.
I wonder how much the Sell-thick draw distracted them.

Clearly they weren't. On the night.

And stay classy Inniskeen.

[Duggie]

could they not have the electronic advertising boards for league games. why do we have to make everything look good for european games and not for league games.

[jinxy lilywhite]

Clearly they weren't. On the night.

And stay classy Inniskeen.

And same to Ardeeeee heyyyyyy


On tonight's matches I think we have two much to do to get back in the tie. Reckon split will just do enough to get by.

For Sligo and Derry they have grew at chances. It's a cup final for both sides. I think Sligo need to treat this one like a 0-0 and nothing fall into the trap of trying to hold on.
Derry should go for broke.

[PartySaint]

Legia are just a better team than us, we couldn't get close to them and when we did have the ball they pressed us so quickly we lost it straight away, nothing to do with where the game was played, once it went 2-0 it was game over. Ah well.

Best of luck to Dundalk, Sligo and Derry tonight, a decent result for one of them might cheer me up a bit.

[born2bwild]

From 20 minutes in Pat's couldn't get near them - pity.

Great to see both stands jammers - not an atmosphere you get very often in LoI grounds.

[DannyInvincible]

could they not have the electronic advertising boards for league games. why do we have to make everything look good for european games and not for league games.

They cost money and I would imagine advertisers/sponsors want to be sure their investment will be worthwhile. The Polish television company broadcasting the game live in Poland probably had something to do with them. A lot of the ads featured appeared to be in Polish. Electronic advertising boards at League of Ireland games wouldn't reach a wide enough audience to justify such expenditure from the perspective of, say, RTÉ and potential advertisers.

[PartySaint]

Yeah it was all the Polish tv who sorted them out, Pats got something like 7k per ad for them from the Polish things that were advertised.

[DannyInvincible]

Tallaght is a soulless venue. Despite home advantage in Europa in 2011, it did us no favours. Class always wins out.

Sure, class will win out more often than not, but aren't you contradicting yourself if you're now acknowledging the forced venue change might have done Pat's no favours?

[Duggie]

They cost money and I would imagine advertisers/sponsors want to be sure their investment will be worthwhile. The Polish television company broadcasting the game live in Poland probably had something to do with them. A lot of the ads featured appeared to be in Polish. Electronic advertising boards at League of Ireland games wouldn't reach a wide enough audience to justify such expenditure from the perspective of, say, RTÉ and potential advertisers.

every year we get a taste of how goods things could be then it's snapped away from us!!! even small things like the electronic boards look so much better when you watch on tv. aah well now back to the crappy old boards nailed together and out of place with grass growing over them.........:shut:

[Sligo Hoops.]

[QUOTE=DannyInvincible;but aren't you contradicting yourself if you're now acknowledging the forced venue change might have done Pat's no favours?[/QUOTE]

Methinks UEFA requirements had more to do with change of venue. Derry apparently will play next round in Showgrounds should they progress. Don't think any Garda involvement with that one 😜. I think Pat's were on a hiding to nothing, regardless of venue. The focus seemed to be on Celtic, not the game they had to play. At least there was European football in Tallaght, something the the Hoops won't see with the current incumbent in the dugout and incumbents on the board.

[PartySaint]

Methinks UEFA requirements had more to do with change of venue. Derry apparently will play next round in Showgrounds should they progress. Don't think any Garda involvement with that one . I think Pat's were on a hiding to nothing, regardless of venue. The focus seemed to be on Celtic, not the game they had to play. At least there was European football in Tallaght, something the the Hoops won't see with the current incumbent in the dugout and incumbents on the board.

Richmond was ok to stage a game in this round, 100% the Guards decision to move it and the right one from their end of things.

[adamd164]

Unfortunately the level of exposure the result has got in the media is largely down to the fact that Celtic were waiting in the next round, doubt they'd give a fiddler's otherwise.

The one positive is that their Ole Ole brigade and the FAI blazers won't get a day out in the Aviva at the expense of an Irish team.

[nigel-harps1954]

Derry apparently will play next round in Showgrounds should they progress.


Why? There's only 1,000 less seats in Brandywell than Showgrounds. They were able to play PSG, Gothenburg and all the others in Brandywell, why would they have to change it now?

[Roberto]

Because it will be a 3rd round game

http://www.derryjournal.com/sport/football/derry-city-latest/new-look-brandywell-will-meet-uefa-requirements-1-6191307

[DannyInvincible]

every year we get a taste of how goods things could be then it's snapped away from us!!! even small things like the electronic boards look so much better when you watch on tv. aah well now back to the crappy old boards nailed together and out of place with grass growing over them.........:shut:

Well, aye, they do look a bit more professional and sophisticated or whatever, but who were you hoping would throw their money at such ventures? There's nobody stopping you from stumping up the cash if you want... :p


Methinks UEFA requirements had more to do with change of venue.

Why do you think that? As far as UEFA were concerned, the ground satisfied all necessary criteria to be fit to host a game in the second qualifying round. It was completely the decision of the Garda Chief Superintendent, and that was in spite of St. Pat's making their objections and preference known: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish/2014/0703/628383-st-pats-champions-league/


I think Pat's were on a hiding to nothing, regardless of venue. The focus seemed to be on Celtic, not the game they had to play.

Maybe so. I was just saying the switch couldn't have helped in ensuring Pat's felt properly at home.

[DannyInvincible]

Why? There's only 1,000 less seats in Brandywell than Showgrounds. They were able to play PSG, Gothenburg and all the others in Brandywell, why would they have to change it now?

The PSG game was in the first round of the 2006 UEFA Cup, so the same stadium stipulations didn't necessarily apply back then. If I recall correctly, stadiums were formerly ranked by stars, from one to five, but I'm not even sure the star system was in place in 2006. As far as I can see, the Brandywell would simply have needed to pass a ground inspection of some sort and vaguely "measure up to international standards" to host the games in 2006. See article 9 from page 13 of the 2006 UEFA Cup regulations for further info on stadium conditions: http://kassiesa.net/uefafiles/2006-uefa-uc-rules.pdf

Can anyone confirm whether or not there were set distinguishing criteria (other than those rather vague ones mentioned in the 2006 regulations above) that stadiums had to fulfill in order to be deemed fit to host games in particular rounds in 2006? It would seem odd that there would have been little further explicit clarification in terms of which grounds were fit to host games in which rounds...

The Brandywell is deemed a "category 2" stadium at present. See page 18 of the Europa League 2012-2015 cycle regulations for further info: http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/Regulations/competitions/Regulations/01/94/62/40/1946240_DOWNLOAD.pdf


Unless stipulated otherwise in these regulations, matches in the competition must be played in a stadium which meets the structural criteria of the following categories as defined in the UEFA Stadium Infrastructure Regulations (2010 edition):

a) category 2 for the first and second qualifying rounds;
b) category 3 for the third qualifying round and play-offs;
c) category 4 from the group stage to the semi-finals;

The final must be played in a stadium which meets the structural criteria as defined in the staging agreement.

This article also outlines the key category distinctions featured in the UEFA Stadium Infrastructure Regulations (http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/Regulations/uefaorg/Stadium&Security/01/48/48/85/1484885_DOWNLOAD.pdf) pretty clearly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_stadium_categories

Are the Showgrounds definitely "category 3"?

[DannyInvincible]

Live stream of the Derry match on the Shakhter site: http://www.fcshakhter.by/novosti/1349-translyatsiya.html

[DannyInvincible]

Yes! City 1-0 up. Patterson, I think.

[bennocelt]

ha just missed it, had to check livescore to see if it wasnt an error, what a start

edit ffs

[Yossarian]

Yes! City 1-0 up. Patterson, I think.

That's a fantastic start.

[DannyInvincible]

Bah, 1-1. Headed down to a free man in the box to volley it in. Poor defending.

[ger121]

What a start! Our sides seem to prefer playing away from home.

[Yossarian]

Ah jaysus.

[DannyInvincible]

That's a fantastic start.

Livescore saying Michael Duffy scored and not Patterson. The picture quality isn't great, the commentary's in Belarusian and the sun's in my eyes watching even from here!

[Acornvilla]

1-1's not bad at this stage anyway, Now Derry know that any sort of win and they're through.