LOI In Europe 2021

[Philosophizer]

Well Rovers were 2nd best all over the pitch for 40 mins, then just upped their game for the last 5 mins and caused Flora a lot of trouble. Deserved goal.
Finn was the only 1 who was playing well until the last 5 mins I thought.
Rovers will need to change something tho to keep the tie alive. If they keep this personnel in this shape you feel Flora will expose them again.

[pineapple stu]

Yeah, half-time has come at a good time for Flora I think. They were struggling a bit the last few minutes, but they can regroup for the second half. There's another goal in it for them if O'Brien goes to ground like that again. For Rovers, do you go for 2-2 knowing you're risking a 1-3 deficit? I think they have it in them to go for it; they just need to keep it tighter at the back.

[ontheotherhand]

Brutal first half from us. Gary O'Neill is AWOL and Towell must have been reading this forum as he is giving them no respect at all. Lack of a midfield is leaving us exposed on the break and Hoare is a poor replacement for Grace on the left side of Pico. Scales also seems off the boil, maybe with his mind on the transfer.

Beautiful finish by Burke to give us a chance but they are better than I expected and we are playing as poorly as we were at the beginning of the season.

[Philosophizer]

I think Hoare isn't doing any worse than the other CBs. They're just getting no cover whatsoever. Absolutely no cover from ONeill at the base of the midfield killed them for both goals. Criminal stuff at this level. Ya can't abandon defensive midfield and expect to get away with it.

[CorribsideSteve]

Mannus prevents a typical LOI in Europe goal concession. Rovers are creaking a little bit and looking like conceding a 3rd. They really need to score next.

[passinginterest]

Rovers still so open at the back is worrying. Scales seems to be way off his game, definitely looks like his head is on his move rather than the game. If Rovers can settle a bit though I can see them getting chances again in the last 15 as Flora get a bit nervy about protecting the lead.

[Dalymountrower]

Rovers central defence getting ripped apart, Floras defence awful too.Great crack.
More goals here for both sides, 3_3 wouldn't surprise me

[Philosophizer]

Got out of the jail again. Sliced open right though the middle AGAIN. How has Bradley not changed something to tighten up the middle?

[Philosophizer]

Fiddling around switching Green for Gaffney won't be much good if you leave the centre of your team wide open.

[pineapple stu]

Fiddling around switching Green for Gaffney won't be much good if you leave the centre of your team wide open.
Mandriou for Towell seems to be the exact same sub?

[Dalymountrower]

Flora look to be holding out for the 2-1, lateral balls, passing back etc.There for the taking.

[paul_oshea]

If flora get to tallaght with a lead they'll pick rovers apart. Rovers have to draw this to dictate the flow of the game back in Dublin.

[CorribsideSteve]

Pathetic. Tie over.

[Dalymountrower]

Joey O Brien again, having a nightmare

[paul_oshea]

Messing about again at the back. Awful stuff. It's very frustrating the best team in LOI are not the best loi team in Europe

[Calcio Jack]

Pathetic. Tie over.

Really poor but can’t say it wasn’t coming

[Philosophizer]

Shocking stuff. To be honest they're lucky it's only 3-1 with the chances they've given up.

[Philosophizer]

Mandriou hitting the post just proves that Rovers have more then enough quality to hurt Flora. They've just been so poor when out of possession.

[pineapple stu]

Pathetic. Tie over.
I don't know. Big crowd and an early goal - or a second here - and you never know.

Lack of away goals doesn't help; Flora will get less jitters if they go 1-0 down.

Of course now Flora are fighting to be the first Estonians ever to reach the group stage and I think that'll motivate them more than if it were a first round second leg

[paul_oshea]

What's O'Brien doing ? Trotting over like holding onto a lead

[CorribsideSteve]

I don't know. Big crowd and an early goal - or a second here - and you never know.

Lack of away goals doesn't help; Flora will get less jitters if they go 1-0 down.

Of course now Flora are fighting to be the first Estonians ever to reach the group stage and I think that'll motivate them more than if it were a first round second leg

Perhaps you're right, and Rovers surely won't be as poor next week, but you're also spot on about the Estonians.

[paul_oshea]

3 lads all bunched together and no one makes a run. Are they wrecked tired or what? Theres a nonchalance to the whole thing

[pineapple stu]

Perhaps you're right, and Rovers surely won't be as poor next week, but you're also spot on about the Estonians.
Yeah, that's not to take away from the fact that Rovers have to improve of course. Another daft pass out of defence there - they can't play worse than this surely?

[pineapple stu]

That's a big goal now.

Flora will be regretting those one-on-one misses big time

[CorribsideSteve]

Well ... what a lovely goal from Scales. Are Rovers still in this?

Edit: No

[Philosophizer]

Get in!! Ah bloody hell just as I was writing it Flora get another. Feck it anyway.

[pineapple stu]

Oh wow. 4-2. That's ridiculous. Just hang on for four minutes, but no...

[paul_oshea]

One of the worst defensive performances I've seen in Europe from a loi side in a very long time.

[Calcio Jack]

Really poor but can’t say it wasn’t coming

Sean Hoare just not up to it at this level

[holidaysong]

Rovers are just incapable of learning any lessons. Lad in the middle left absolutely open, similar to their second goal.

[paul_oshea]

Sure that was obvious out in Cyprus 4 years ago

[pineapple stu]

It's hard to watch this and see Rovers keeping a clean sheet in the return leg. So 3 needed at least in that case.

[Philosophizer]

Shambolic stuff. The defenders have been poor but all the Rovers players have been awful when Flora attack.

[CorribsideSteve]

One of the worst defensive performances I've seen in Europe from a loi side in a very long time.

A real, helpless, hapless performance defensively akin to what you'd have seen in the late 90's/early 00's.

[Nesta99]

Jaysus! Just as I was thinking Rovers had salvaged a decent result in an overall tie they go and conceded again Agent Hoare not showing enough at this level again. Rovers can still win the tie, losing it between the ears not in football ability. Those away goals could be key.....

[pineapple stu]

A real, helpless, hapless performance defensively akin to what you'd have seen in the late 90's/early 00's.
Good description. Don't think Flora are all that great either, but they're technically half-decent and are getting gifted chances, and you can't gift Longford the sort of chances Rovers are gifting tonight

How did Rovers beat Slovan?

[passinginterest]

Absolutely mad performance from Rovers. Bradley has to take a share of the blame for some of the tactical naïveté baffling that they’ve allowed Flora midfielders to run so freely through the middle over and over without addressing it. Unfortunately, too many individual errors too just adding to the tactical issues.

[TonyD]

Sean Hoare just not up to it at this level

Absolutely. Has proved that with Dundalk in previous years. Shockingly bad from Rovers defensively. Frustrating when they shown they are capable of troubling Flora up front.

[CorribsideSteve]

Good description. Don't think Flora are all that great either, but they're technically half-decent and are getting gifted chances, and you can't gift Longford the sort of chances Rovers are gifting tonight

How did Rovers beat Slovan?
Slovan were just rusty/half asleep still from their holidays, is what it looks like now.

[Dalymountrower]

I like that Flora team, no histrionics, break quickly and decisively.They are going to be well equipped to get a result in Tallaght.
Rovers centre mid and defence were truly embarrassing.

[ontheotherhand]

Absolutely brutal performance. We can do far better all over the pitch but I don't see us not conceding at home. 3-1 and take it to extra time and penos is about the only scenario I could see where we go through.

[pineapple stu]

Slovan were just rusty/half asleep still from their holidays, is what it looks like now.
Yeah, it's possible alright.

Who's that on co-comm - Flora "probably deserved the win"? No probably about it; that was dire stuff.

[Longfordian]

Good description. Don't think Flora are all that great either, but they're technically half-decent and are getting gifted chances, and you can't gift Longford the sort of chances Rovers are gifting tonight

How did Rovers beat Slovan?

Pretty sure you can, tbf.

[kksaints]

Shocking from Rovers defensively. Probably should have conceded more than four. Also Rovers didn't create a huge amount from open play. A lot to do next week and I can't see them not conceding. It's typical 1st Euro TV match of the season after all the previous good results and then Rovers produce a performance like that.

[Straightstory]

One of the worst defensive performances I've seen in Europe from a loi side in a very long time.
Couldn't agree more. To concede a fourth goal after clawing it back to 3-2 is unforgivable. OK going forward, but an utter shambles in defence.Really awful.

[ger121]

Rovers conceded more goals in one game than we did in 6. I just thought I’d point that out :-D Watched Flora’s game last week and knew offensively they were very good. Now they do give up chances too. Just not as many as Rovers. Tie over because they’ll score in Tallaght.

[CorribsideSteve]

Yeah, it's possible alright.

Who's that on co-comm - Flora "probably deserved the win"? No probably about it; that was dire stuff.
That's Graham Gratland I think. Yeah, the last time I've seen such a woeful away performance was Dundalk out in Larnaca a few years back, and in Dundalk's defence, that was a serious team they lost to containing ex-La Liga players, way better than Flora. I think Kenny played Hoare at RB that night, so he's a partial common denominator there. This was a very winnable match for Rovers, and they failed rather badly.

[Philosophizer]

Rovers got what they deserved. Such a disappointment. Very difficult to see them having any hope of going through now. I'd back Flora to score plenty more on the break again if Rovers play like that next week. Hopefully I'm wrong though.
I was genuinely hoping that our league winners could go on and qualify for the group stages of this new competition relatively often, maybe every year or two, but that was such a naive display it doesn't give me much confidence. It's the hope that kills you!
As Kerr said, Finn (and Mannus I'd add) the only defensive player to come out with credit.
As someone said earlier, the only explanation I can grasp is that Rovers must have been complacent. I've never seen them so poor in Europe. Did they start to believe their favourites tag?

[placid casual]

Dire stuff from Rovers.
Hoare & Joey were a mess. Did towell touch the ball in the time he was on.
Very naiive to be so open defensively, especially to the counter attack.
Tie over now.
Must do better next year if/when we get to this stage.

[ontheotherhand]

Hard to pinpoint with the emotions so high Philosophizer but as you said, midfield went missing and left the back 3 exposed. Vassiljev ran amok at times. Looks like Joey doesn't have the legs for this level anymore while Hoare is just not a good option on the left side of Pico. He's OK on the right but hasn't been good on the left. He was poor tonight and at fault for a few of the goals though it's hard to blame one man when the whole team was at sea. We should be better with Grace in there but can we score enough goals without conceding? Not based on tonights game but then...we've made things hard before and come back and that was absolutely the worst I've seen us in a long time so....the only way us up right?