LOI in Europe 2022

[pineapple stu]

Sligo down to ten and still just the one goal up, so nervy finish coming there

[ger121]

Some more points in the Co-efficient kitty

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Any win with our record is welcome. Hopefully beat them on Thursday also. Better team tonight.

[placid casual]

Closed out the win handily enough after going down to 10 men - looked a silly mistake from the defender and a definite red card. No mistakes in the home leg and you should go through.

[pineapple stu]

Derry with a solidarity red card.

Uphill climb now

[pineapple stu]

And 2-0 Riga

Derry in big trouble now

[ger121]

Not looking like a good night for them. The season has really come apart in the last few weeks. Looked unbeatable for a while.

[joey B]

Derry 2 down…

[kksaints]

Very soft red card for Matty Smith.

[pateen]

mura 2 1 winners away this evening

[Burnsie]

was there a headbutt or something from Smith that the camera didn't quite catch , after the initial shove (after which the director cut to a wide angle)

Fairly inexplicable decision otherwise

[TonyD]

Tuned into the start of 2nd half of sligo game - looks like they are playing a pub team, and should win the tie handy enough.
As for Derry.. The absolute state of the pitch.. Is there a hosepipe ban on in the brandywell?
The pitch looks almost as bad as oriel pk, and that's saying something. How do Derry expect to play ball and showcase their talents on that, as the look devoid of touch and confidence from what I have seen so far.

I hate those pitches. I’d ban em all if I had my way.

[ger121]

That is very poor from Derry at home.

[Straightstory]

Looked as thought they were playing on concrete. Derry second best all night, even before the very harsh 'red kyard.'

[ontheotherhand]

And they're the only good side in the league? Doesn't bode well for the rest of us.

[joey B]

Riga looked a very decent side,bad draw for Derry that one...

[pineapple stu]

Some more points in the Co-efficient kitty
We started the year dropping from 40th to 42nd when the 17/18 coefficient scores were dropped.

We've gained one place back this week - passing out the North, who got one draw from games in Slovakia, Wales, and two in Gibraltar.

Two wins seems is better than most this week, strangely.

Pat's skipping a round won't help for that part of course (though it will help their own seeding)

[DCWA]

And they're the only good side in the league? Doesn't bode well for the rest of us.

We had been as stated in other threads - the league is back to having no good teams as we are now garbage.

Pitch was garbage performance was garbage, we are garbage, Riga probably pretty decent enough side I’d say although we didn’t test them to find out.

Bring back the league cup.

[ontheotherhand]

We had been as stated in other threads - the league is back to having no good teams as we are now garbage.

Pitch was garbage performance was garbage, we are garbage, Riga probably pretty decent enough side I’d say although we didn’t test them to find out.

Bring back the league cup.

There you are! Welcome back. Good to garbage eh? I thought the results didn't matter? Good luck in the away leg any way. Not over yet.

[outspoken]

Any time you mention a pitch after a bad result for your own team on it people over look it as sour grapes. I said it last season when Longford played up there on a really warm day, the pitch played absolutely awfully. Bone dry, irregular bounces all over the place. It's a totally crap pitch as are all astro pitches in this league. Even in Oriel, they water it before games but if it's a proper dry day like today you're ****ing in the wind

[CorribsideSteve]

Tame and timid from Derry. A repeat of 100 LOI games in Europe where the team in question have zero cutting edge, fall foul of the 'dark arts' of the game, and get picked apart by an average team that they make look like world beaters.

[DCWA]

There you are! Welcome back. Good to garbage eh? I thought the results didn't matter? Good luck in the away leg any way. Not over yet.

I pop in sporadically but it is certainly more fun when Derry are doing well (not a common occurrence over the years)

Results don’t make a good team of course.

It is over unfortunately although I appreciate your well wishes.

My interest in this thread is all but over but hopefully you will catch me in another again some time soon.

I am turning my attention to the GAA for the weekend - a proper sport!!

[legendz]

Tame and timid from Derry. A repeat of 100 LOI games in Europe where the team in question have zero cutting edge, fall foul of the 'dark arts' of the game, and get picked apart by an average team that they make look like world beaters. Seems fair.

[Philosophizer]

Have the matches this week shown up that our players are lacking a bit of savvy getting sucked into red cards.
Sligo and Derry both had reds and Gaffney should def have had a red and probably a lengthy ban too. He kicked a lad in the face (albeit lightly enough), but it was a ridiculous loss of self control. And then to admit it on camera was very naive. Would you ever see a pro from another league do that?

[placid casual]

The sligo one was a mistake at last man back and he had to take him down. Couldn't see what smith did for Derry but looked fairly innocuous.
Gaffney admitted he connected with the guy but it was an accident. His looked the worst and yet he stayed on the pitch. Go figure.

[paul_oshea]

2-0 to the pub team now.

Mad stuff

They're actually not really a pub team anymore reading that article on the42

[Stuttgart88]

Nice of someone else to "let the league down" this year

[D24Saint]

The first leg of the tie Pats are waiting on ended up Sfintul Gheorghe 1 - 2 NS Mura.

[D24Saint]

Max Mata winner gives Sligo Rovers advantage over Welsh rivals in Europa Conference League - Independent.ie (https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/max-mata-winner-gives-sligo-rovers-advantage-over-welsh-rivals-in-europa-conference-league-41823235.html)

"Park Hall in Oswestry, Wales"

Basic error by the Indo, Oswestry is in England not Wales.

[oriel]

Two decent wins so far, and Sham Rovers should be capable of another one in Malta, and Sligo at home also, these are all good for the overall league coefficient, you hardly get anything for a draw.

I looked it up and that was Sligo's only second ever away win so that's good going, these are very hard to come by, we got two away wins last year but again its rare it happens consistently.

Disappointing for Derry, but Riga are no mugs, big investment into that side in recent years, we just scrapped by them (on pens) in 2019, also I note the only decent foreign player that P6 bought for us in 2021 played for them last night, Jurkovskis, the right full, very good player, he is Latvian Internationalist.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

It’s also only our fourth ever win

[pateen]

Two decent wins so far, and Sham Rovers should be capable of another one in Malta, and Sligo at home also, these are all good for the overall league coefficient, you hardly get anything for a draw.

I looked it up and that was Sligo's only second ever away win so that's good going, these are very hard to come by, we got two away wins last year but again its rare it happens consistently.

Disappointing for Derry, but Riga are no mugs, big investment into that side in recent years, we just scrapped by them (on pens) in 2019, also I note the only decent foreign player that P6 bought for us in 2021 played for them last night, Jurkovskis, the right full, very good player, he is Latvian Internationalist.

Why didn't ye keep him Oriel? He played well last night

[outspoken]

Why didn't ye keep him Oriel? He played well last night
He was good going forward but my God he was a woeful defender. Remember him being totally shown up against Longford in a game last season. Better off to give someone like Leahy a run than wasting wages on some fella because he has international caps for a poor side

[Nesta99]

Going by the money that was offered to the imports Jurkovskis was probably on stupid money. Good job the policy was also short term contracts for these players.

[CorribsideSteve]

Seems fair.
When you've been watching LOI in Europe since 1999, you get the feeling that you've seen this movie before.

[Nesta99]

When you've been watching LOI in Europe since 1999, you get the feeling that you've seen this movie before.

It must have been the reboots that had LoI teams go toe to toe only for a defensive calamity to undo 90+ minutes of an effective performance. The difference between Dundalk playing BATE one year was not coping with the dark arts, eg Rodionov, BATE'S main goal threat, poleaxed Dane Massey with a blatant elbow to the face the 2nd leg of the first tie. got away with it one the pitch and his club new how to keep him out of trouble. Following year we were savvy to their acting up and but used it to hang on in the 1st leg and then to frustrate them when ahead in Tallaght. We were criticised domestically for effective 'game management' by other supporters after. I doubt the Welsh were up to much but Riga were a piece of work when we played them to stalemate, slowing thins down in the heat ourselves and really bugging them. It why I think at times, with a couple of games under the belt, Irish teams get a better grip on things as often, certainly in the earlier rounds we are not vastly inferior.

[oriel]

Why didn't ye keep him Oriel? He played well last night

Jurkovskis was on the classic P6 one year deal, thankfully most they signed on this were rubbish and left, but Stanton was another exception, Scottish lad, would kept him, but Jurkovskis was always going after his 12 months.

[redobit]

https://mobile.twitter.com/SSEAirtricityLg/status/1545436353164464135

Good highlights there of the Rovers game. McGinty made a good save in the first half tho that wasn't shown.

[Nesta99]

Any issue with the pitch.....

[pateen]

Do I jinx it for Sligo Rovers by booking a train to Motherwell

[Philosophizer]

https://mobile.twitter.com/SSEAirtricityLg/status/1545436353164464135


Good highlights there of the Rovers game. McGinty made a good save in the first half tho that wasn't shown.

Cheers for the link. The result looks about fair based on those highlights.

[brendy_éire]

Disappointing for Derry, but Riga are no mugs, big investment into that side in recent years, we just scrapped by them (on pens) in 2019, also I note the only decent foreign player that P6 bought for us in 2021 played for them last night, Jurkovskis, the right full, very good player, he is Latvian Internationalist.

Jurkovskis was great last night. Quite impressed with that Riga side, who won at a canter.
We were never in the game, reduced to a few timid free kick efforts.
The red card was pathetic, there was nothing in it, and the Riga lad did exactly the same thing as Smith, so they both should have been off really.
The ref was very whistle happy, but you have to expect that playing Europe.

I don't think we can have any excuses from last night. We were comfortably beaten by a side that's of a much higher quality than we are. They five international players starting yesterday, were more physical than us, and technically better.
Disappointing, but I suppose that's just the luck of the draw.

Can't say I'm expecting anything from the second leg. Riga would need to have a serious off day, and we'd need to be very lucky.

On a side note, reading that Shamrock Rovers are flying out of Shannon because they couldn't get Dublin or Belfast. Meanwhile, Riga's charter went into Dublin, not Derry. Can't make sense of that.

[outspoken]

He was good going forward but my God he was a woeful defender. Remember him being totally shown up against Longford in a game last season. Better off to give someone like Leahy a run than wasting wages on some fella because he has international caps for a poor side

After Leahy's performance last night I wish to withdraw the above statement 😂

[CorribsideSteve]

It must have been the reboots that had LoI teams go toe to toe only for a defensive calamity to undo 90+ minutes of an effective performance. The difference between Dundalk playing BATE one year was not coping with the dark arts, eg Rodionov, BATE'S main goal threat, poleaxed Dane Massey with a blatant elbow to the face the 2nd leg of the first tie. got away with it one the pitch and his club new how to keep him out of trouble. Following year we were savvy to their acting up and but used it to hang on in the 1st leg and then to frustrate them when ahead in Tallaght. We were criticised domestically for effective 'game management' by other supporters after. I doubt the Welsh were up to much but Riga were a piece of work when we played them to stalemate, slowing thins down in the heat ourselves and really bugging them. It why I think at times, with a couple of games under the belt, Irish teams get a better grip on things as often, certainly in the earlier rounds we are not vastly inferior.

Good points overall there, especially regarding Dundalk's handling of BATE. Its unbelievably frustrating watching how naive LOI lads are at getting baited into stupid card generating BS from the other teams, giving away soft fouls that are usually cyniically exploited with dramatic overacting by opposing players which all serve to kill momentum etc. Some might feel the Derry s/o was incredibly harsh, but it was really dumb retaliation from him when his team were already struggling. LOI teams often seem to lose easily in Europe to teams not much better than them, but are mentally tougher and more intelligent tactically. Hopefully your theory holds sound and the teams cop on as the rounds progress.

[sbgawa]

Bohs unlucky to lose 2 to 1 in Berlin. They should be able to go through if they play well in the home leg.

Bohs fans on social media enjoying the pat on the head from Union Berlin for turning up.. bohs board will be pleased , East Berlin is still semi communist. Onward to victory for the commisariat

[legendz]

Rovers second leg in Malta will be shown on the RTÉ News channel.

[D24Saint]

Rovers second leg in Malta will be shown on the RTÉ News channel.

Good to see RTE making an effort.

[D24Saint]

Bohs unlucky to lose 2 to 1 in Berlin. They should be able to go through if they play well in the home leg.

Bohs fans on social media enjoying the pat on the head from Union Berlin for turning up.. bohs board will be pleased , East Berlin is still semi communist. Onward to victory for the commisariat

Great novelty for the Bohs fans that traveled in huge numbers apparently. It’s good to see fixtures like this.

[EatYerGreens]

Max Mata winner gives Sligo Rovers advantage over Welsh rivals in Europa Conference League - Independent.ie (https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/max-mata-winner-gives-sligo-rovers-advantage-over-welsh-rivals-in-europa-conference-league-41823235.html)

"Park Hall in Oswestry, Wales"

Basic error by the Indo, Oswestry is in England not Wales.

Although it is in one of the bits of Wales that the English nicked. You even see streets in Oswestery with Welsh language names.

[RealJohn91]

Great novelty for the Bohs fans that traveled in huge numbers apparently. It’s good to see fixtures like this.
Yeah it's class. Not even mentioning the fact that there was four away trips in Europe that were missed out on for obvious reasons when the club hadn't qualified for Europe in a decade. Of course the fanbase is going to make up for lost time.