LOI in Europe 2022

[Peaky Blinder]

Who let the ditch hurler in... hilarious reading....

[CSAD]

Do you follow another club or just Rovers?

I follow specifically my local team Cork City but I support Irish teams in Europe like they were my own team, hence why I can be objective in how poor Rovers have been consistently compared to Dundalk for example. Hell even Rovers in 2011 that won in Belgrade, took to lead against Spurs, fought back against PAOK to almost snatch a draw?where has a Bradley side ever managed something like that in a game of relevance?

[mcgonigle]

I can't get my head around what Rovers did last night. Obviously Bradley is prioritising the league but to what end?

They will go on and win the league but the purpose of that is to get into the champions path in Europe and give yourself the best chance to qualify for the group stages. And then what? Play a weakened side, look awful, take the money and repeat?

What about next season if they make the group stages again, which is very likely? Derry will likely be stronger and closer. Put out the 19s?

Norway isn't cheap. I'd be unhappy if I had travelled to that

[CSAD]

I can't get my head around what Rovers did last night. Obviously Bradley is prioritising the league but to what end?

They will go on and win the league but the purpose of that is to get into the champions path in Europe and give yourself the best chance to qualify for the group stages. And then what? Play a weakened side, look awful, take the money and repeat?

What about next season if they make the group stages again, which is very likely? Derry will likely be stronger and closer. Put out the 19s?

Norway isn't cheap. I'd be unhappy if I had travelled to that

Prioritizing a league that any half decent coach would have had wrapped up by now. Again it doesn?t reflect well in his coaching abilities. If Rovers are happy with scrapping a league they should be winning handily anyway then fine keep him but if Rovers ever want to go up to the next level they need to seriously consider a new appointment and Bradley is a right spoofer.

[Straightstory]

I'm gobsmacked at how awful Rovers have been away from home in Europe. Dundalk were so much better a few years ago. Molde had 26 shots on goal, to one attempt by Rovers (which went wide). A more realistic score would have been 6 or 7 nil. Gartland in commentary mentioned that Rovers' game plan seemed to be to allow Molde all the time and space they wanted on the wings and then just hopefully head away all the crosses. It was quite unreal to watch.

[Kiki Balboa]

Look, hate to be another one to pile onto Rovers...but...


They have a 5-point lead in the League and their next game is at home to a mid-table team - they have plenty of wiggle room (as much as they could expect), I do not get why they would be so cautious and set up their team to lose. Rovers should have enough about them to challenge that Group. It boggles my mind that they gave it up. And it is giving it up - they just constantly make excuses to underperform.

They play Gent before they play Derry. I could understand it then - maybe the group would have decided- and Derry is a 6-pointer. But he has now already played that card... If you do it too often, you are making a mockery of the achviement of making it to the group stages.

Can Rovers fans say they will ever be competitive in a group stage in Europe under Bradley? The answer is quite frankly no... There is always an excuse not to push on. You can say a lot about Bradley, but you can not say that he and this Rovers team are 'ambitious'. Maybe their aim is just to make money. Get to the group, get the 4 million, forget about it then.

I think Rovers fans definitley disagree with me, but I feel this Euro campaign has been a net-negative for the league. So many poor poor showings by the Champions, it has made it harder for the media and neutral fans to take LOI in Europe seriously- You can see that in the TV coverage last night

(Positively though, it again shows how a quite ordinary league-winning team should always now be making the group stages in Europe now that the Conference was introduced.)

[sbgawa]

I think for Neutrals (well at least the Neutral neutrals i.e not CSAD) this idea that the league is wrapped up is easier to accept than for Rovers fans.
a 5 point lead with Derry to come to Tallaght is potentially only a 2 point lead i.e nothing so what appears comfortable from outside feels anything but from a Rovers perspective.
The league could and should have been wrapped up by now but its harsh to blame that on Bradser, Mandroiu leaving was a blow and Jack and Burkey have a total of nine 90 minute matches between them this season and 19 and 9 starts in total in the league.
That level of creativity being missing has brought us way back. Ritchie Towell has had a number of injuries as well and only 14 starts. With Jack Burkey and Mandroiu missing most of the season he should have been starting every game but instead has been trying to play his way into form coming back from injuries.
The exact creative hub of the team is basically missing the year.
Retaining the league is the priority and hopefully qualify for group stages again next year.
With a (Hopefully) fully fit creative fulcrum back in action and a couple of additions with this years money i think we can have a real cut at it next year with the league hopefully secured earlier.
No matter how big the squad though you cant take the 3 most creative players out of the side and expect it to perform to its top level.

[ger121]

Rovers away have been awful as we know but I would reserve overall judgement until after the groups have completed.
They?ve two home games to come and they are a different beast at home. I know the argument could be made that the Ludogorets and Ferencvaros ties were over by the 2nd legs but there is no way Ludogorets played to be 2 down in the 89th minute and Ferencvaros did not go out to lose so Rovers earned those wins in my book.
That Djurgarden point at home is looking better by the week and I think they?ll go for it at home to Molde and especially Gent, who aren?t all that great. If they finish on 4 or 5 points then the picture looks a lot more rosey then it does now.
Are they Dundalk 2016, no. Not sure they are even as good as Rovers 2020/2021 but winning the league again, making the groups and some points in the bag would have to be viewed as a very successful season.
Then can build again for targeting group stage qualification next season and improving on their displays from this year. I?d say we?d all like to have their problems.
Now I am off to wash myself as I feel very unclean after this post.

[RealJohn91]

The reaction from the Rovers fans in this thread has been nearly as embarrassing as their team's away performances in Europe. Plenty of very valid points being ignored and shouted down for some reason.

[oriel]

I said this to a Rovers mate and I stand by it.

I`m not buying the holding players back for the league game on Sunday, thats b/s, with respect to Shels (hard working team), they were never going to beat Rovers in Tallaght on Sunday.

My point is, Rovers are not 'having a proper go' at the group stage, and that's disappointing for the league, almost (so far) just turning up and being ultra cautious, never making that extra effort to try and win a game. They have injuries, but who doesn't, they effectively have 2 teams, we effectively haven't had a striker since Mid August !!!

Dundalk in 2016 is the yardstick and will be hard for any Irish team to match those performances, maybe Rovers will beat 4 points in last 3 games, but I doubt it. High point was beating Macabi 2-1 and going second in the group that night, and still retaining the league.

Fast Forward to 2020, a patched up team, abs and utter chaos behind the scenes and still performed 'reasonable' in the group, yes lost all 6 but scored at least once in all games apart from Arsenal away, even that was 0-0 at 44 mins, again that team 'had a go' plus should have got a result in Vienna (lost 4-3) and then won the cup a month later, so even for all their limitations they could still battle on two fronts.

Back to the point, why have Rovers seemingly 'given up' on the group stage?

[MichaelCherrito]

I wonder if Rovers’ stance would have been different had the league season gone from August to May instead of February to October.

[CSAD]

I think for Neutrals (well at least the Neutral neutrals i.e not CSAD) this idea that the league is wrapped up is easier to accept than for Rovers fans.
a 5 point lead with Derry to come to Tallaght is potentially only a 2 point lead i.e nothing so what appears comfortable from outside feels anything but from a Rovers perspective.
The league could and should have been wrapped up by now but its harsh to blame that on Bradser, Mandroiu leaving was a blow and Jack and Burkey have a total of nine 90 minute matches between them this season and 19 and 9 starts in total in the league.
That level of creativity being missing has brought us way back. Ritchie Towell has had a number of injuries as well and only 14 starts. With Jack Burkey and Mandroiu missing most of the season he should have been starting every game but instead has been trying to play his way into form coming back from injuries.
The exact creative hub of the team is basically missing the year.
Retaining the league is the priority and hopefully qualify for group stages again next year.
With a (Hopefully) fully fit creative fulcrum back in action and a couple of additions with this years money i think we can have a real cut at it next year with the league hopefully secured earlier.
No matter how big the squad though you cant take the 3 most creative players out of the side and expect it to perform to its top level.

Except you forget Rovers under O?Neill and Dundalk under Kenny had no problem performing on both fronts?why? Because they actually had competent managers who could adapt and get the best out of their squad, something Bradley isn?t capable of I?m afraid.

Perform to their top level?.not performing to that level is one thing?producing the sh!te Rovers have produced away from home this season is a whole other story, to describe last night as anything other than embarrassing is just deluding yourself. Yes they are missing some players here or there but it?s situations like this that truly test the strength in character of the players in the squad and the coaching ability of the those in charge and throughout this season we?ve seen that the squad is severely lacking on both fronts. Also I?m sick of all the bollock excuses, all we here from Bradley is ?we need to improve??where is the improvement? If anything last night is the worst of the worst so far, they made a pretty bang average Molde side look like a EPL side.

[EatYerGreens]

Your beekeeping teacher wouldn't like you using twitter either.

Surely Bumble would be more his thing ?

[ontheotherhand]

I follow specifically my local team Cork City but I support Irish teams in Europe like they were my own team, hence why I can be objective in how poor Rovers have been consistently compared to Dundalk for example. Hell even Rovers in 2011 that won in Belgrade, took to lead against Spurs, fought back against PAOK to almost snatch a draw?where has a Bradley side ever managed something like that in a game of relevance?

Cork? Had you down as a bohs or dundalk man. Now I have to read your posts in a Cork accent. That's gona make them even harder to take to be honest.

And look you have some fair points. I've outlined before why I still like Bradley but it's obviously been poor away from home in Europe.

As for the league being wrapped up....lads...take a look at the form table and fixtures. The team Derry built is looking very strong. It ain't over by a long shot. We were great against a poor Sligo but otherwise awful the past few weeks and even months. There's criticisms there for the manager too but it's hard as a hoop to go in too strong when you know what he's going through.

[sadloserkid]

While we're confessing here I'll admit that, for some reason, I thought CSAD was a Derry fan.