Or absolute desolation for Bologna.
Printable View
Yeah, would help if I could spell Bologna.
Agreed. Overall though, a higher chance of LOI making the group stages of a European competition.
They most certainly will be bothered about the logo if the prizemoney isn't the same. If prizemoney for the new ECL group stages is comparable to EL group stages, I think it will be a very positive development for the LOI.
That's exactly it, isn't it?
I would be surprised if the prize money was the same as the EL to be honest (even before any covid downturn). It seems more likely that the EL prize money would increase (which it surely will anyway as they're going from 12 groups down to 8) and ECL prize money would be lower than the EL now (but probably still higher than, say, what Rovers got in 2011) It would seem to defeat the point of creating the third tier otherwise.
I like the idea overall - though to be honest, it looks like the LoI sides will still struggle to qualify (league champions aside) as at least 10 of the 32 group spots will be teams that didn't start in the ECL. There's four rounds to get through and even as it is, it's a very good achievement for an LoI club to win two rounds. This might well help us get through one more round on average, but that's still a good bit short.
I had in mind a competition with, say, no clubs below 10 in the UEFA rankings, and much more chance of smaller clubs reaching the groups. But that's probably a bit optimistic in hindsight.
Pardon me for asking a silly question, but what is it that has Dundalk so confident they will make the Europa League this year?
Have they bought a new goalkeeper/centre half/passing midfielder that I haven't heard about?
They have to win 2 more games to qualify, yeah?
They have got about as easy a draw as they could get in fairness. Always gets the hopes up.
They will need to get rid of the shyness in front of goal which has dogged them the last couple of years though, and which was still noticeable against Celje and Inter.
Is the game on the box?
I don't think most of us are that confident actually. I give us about a 30% chance against Sheriff (and I would consider myself to be an optimist!).
OK, the good draw for the playoff round might have gotten the hopes up a bit more but sure it's the hope that kills you in the end.
If we do manage to get past Sheriff then I will be making no apologies for ratcheting up my expectations. So one more game away from losing the run of ourselves and then being brought crashing down to earth by Brian Gartland managing to hit one into our own net via a Georgian players arse in the last minute of injury time to lose 1-0.
OK cool, so is it felt that sheriff are better than the team you'd meet after that. Handy if that's the case.
It would certainly turn dundalks season around anyway.
Sheriff are bankrolled by dodgy money I believe. Then again in European football who isn't these days eh!
There's an ever-present threat of some sort of Gartland captiulation haunting Dundalk's chances in Europe. Would be nice to see him score a crucuial goal from a corner instead. Is this the first time an LOI side is playing a Moldovan/Transistrian side since Zimbru 1999? Sorry Pat's fans that dread to remember.
Ah, the good old "We won't lose 5-0 again"
Yeah, first time since then (although UCD were a penalty shoot-out from playing in Chisinau in the Youth League in 2017)
Sheriff have made the group stages four times in the last decade, though only once in the last five years. They were knocked out of the CL by Qarabag twice in the last three years though, so they shouldn't be that far ahead of Dundalk (they lost 2-1 this year and 3-1 in 2018/19, while Dundalk lost 4-1 in between)
Their home record is quite good though; you'd have to hope it being behind closed doors will help Dundalk a bit.
I do remember reading about this new competition a long time ago but it went out of my brain rapidly! I do remember the old three european competitions .Think UEFA were hasty in madness in getting rid of Cup Winners Cup so welcome move for me!
Had a few quid on dundalk to qualify.
Sherrif are not world beaters, favourite for sure but not 3/10
I’m not as confident. Obviously they’re not world beaters but I think they are a level above us. They have just signed a player who played against us in the Europa League group stages for Alkmaar, so that gives an idea of their level. I think we can do it but as ever we need be more clinical in front of goal and we need to avoid silly mistakes at the back. The usual requirements for an Irish team in Europe I suppose.
It may just be a tendency to be over-optimistic on my part, but I see our chances as being closer to 40%.
Filippo Giovagnoli appears to have steadied the ship over the last 4 weeks - even if the performances have been only marginally better than adequate, the 3 successive wins and new regime appears to have had a positive impact on the squad.
Although Andy Boyle's suspension is unfortunate, Patrick McEleney's availability - probably from the bench - adds another creative string to the bow. From the players perspective, they know a win lifts them back to he rarefied air of Europa League Group Stages possibilities, while a defeat could leave the season in a negative tail spin.
Obviously a lot also depends on the quality and attitude of the Shefiff side - it looks like a stream could be confirmed later today.
Brian Gartland to get his 51s goal for Dundalk with a 90th minute bullet header
An illustration of what I mean, is that if the European Conference League was in place this season, Dundalk would have the safety net of on ECL playoff even if beaten by Sheriff this week and would be guaranteed a Group Stage place in one or other competition with a win.
It's clear what the preference would be and the EL would have more money and prestige, but I don' think clubs would resent or reject the additional income and euro experience - do you?
I've been out to both places, moldova and transnistria, not sure what the incentive is to go there really unless a family connection. Its very poor, and the football isn't up to much out there. Regardless of the money being pumped in, these teams should not be posing problems to Irish sides in reality.
In fairness, "money being pumped in" makes a huge difference to any football club. You can't just ignore it.
Their players are made up of journey men from various lower level European leagues or Africans and South Americans(ive always advocated for LOI sides to setup loan schemes with SA teams - just like the learning English in Dublin thing). I doubt it takes much to get them over to a country like moldova and paying them more than they are getting back home, but enough to get a visa. I dont know the visa situation in Moldova, but I know that any moldovan can apply for a romanian passport, perhaps there's another way around and this is the carrot thats dangled in front of them around moving to "Europe".
Id be surprised if they were being paid much more than the top players in the LOI. Be great actually if all that information was made available by UEFA as a regulation like companies house or something.
Probably all correct.
Doesn't mean Irish clubs should have no trouble off them though.
Not sure that is quite correct. If Dundalk, for example lost to Celje at CL QR1 stage in 2021 - they go straight into the ECL Q rounds. They won't have a second safety net.
It will be crucial going forward to win CL QR1. Then if you lose in the EL quals in either QR2 or QR3 then you will have an additional safety net of ECL Quals. But you have to win CL QR1!
I did a big excel spreadsheet on it when first announced. Can't find it now :(
Probably mentioned already but in terms of group stage places
Currently its a total of 80 - 32 CL 48 EL
Under the new system it will be 96 places - 32 CL 32 EL & 32 ECL
So an additional 16 places, but with at least 1 team from all the major leagues going into the competition qualifiers directly. I'm not sure exactly how many will be reserved for the champions path - i think its 5 but stand to be corrected on that.
Wiki says 10 teams will parachute from the EL play-offs straight into the ECL groups. That's a mix of champions path (11 of the 20 play-off teams) and EL starters (9 of 20)
So that would reduce to 22 the group slots available for 3 of the 4 LoI sides.
Not at all Zeki, you just shifted the goalposts in the argument when you were proven wrong, as though youd created your own little world. I wasn't speaking in the physical sense either, so not sure why an infraction was warranted. I am fully aware of the "new" Conference league, but I'd be surprised if that goes ahead in the next 2 years.
I'm sure its been costed etc, but i still cant see how the ECL is profitable for UEFA, be interesting to see what figures they have on sponsorship etc. My assumption is its more break even than anything else and therefore the money available for clubs until much further progression is minimal if any, just covering costs. But i suppose playing against a better calibre of player is always a benefit too. I reckon its something that will last 3 years maybe and then be disbanded.
Meanwhile in Transnistria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kVn...aldandbankrupt
I dont like that guy, hes often got mixed up in which country he is. And always plays the poor piper tune of the country its a bit disingenuous. I've seen him get lari and moldovan currency(leu) mixed up before and other simple silly mistakes. He usually has a good looking translator (in non russian speaking countries) with him to get the hits.
When Derry played Dinamo Minsk of Belarus a couple of years back, the Minsk website was literally laughing at the state of the roads up north and the fact that Belfast International Airport smelled of cow sh!t (presumably farmers nearby had recently sprayed slurry). There are probably people in Tiraspol right now chuckling about the state of Dundalk :D
If the wealth of a country was directly translatable into its football, we'd be better than teams from places like Portugal and Greece.
Going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Sheriff will win comfortably.
Mostly just to annoy the couple of Dundalk fans who have been close to unbearable on here recently..
I agree, the conduct of the players v Inter under the circumstances was certainly stoic as necessary. While I dont think discipline is an issue for us, the behaviour of the Inter players was an (excessive) reminder of how European team milk everything they can. Experience is crucial in those circumstances and indeed, as much as goes against the grain, it is something we have drop to also at times imo. I think game management is the general term for player being ars*s.
I certainly hope that the teams puts in a big performance and progress. They are capable and can match aspriations but Im not feeling the swagger thats needed at all. Hence the hail mary hope on this occasion. Not something to have been used to but under current albeit improving form, a narrow win at a midtable Shels, Cobh in the Cup, and a 0-1 win against an Andoran side, to me means that we havent been really tested by a top outfit under the new coaching team. I do tend to sway on the fearful side of things and I dont think EL groups will be achieves but in saying that I wouldnt rule the possibility out. I havent seen Sherriff play but all things considered with us this season I couldnt make a shout for any more than a 30% chance of progression. Maybe I'm unnecessarily keeping my expetcations to a minimum so disappointment wont be as acute but I will always hope too of course. The hail mary hope is all mine, the team isnt going to go out with anything but the belief that they will win. A goal and settle after, grow in to a grove, and keep the error count down and we can be hopeful. I think we are still brittle enough that if we go behind we could ship a few by the end of the game. Soooo my prediction is for Dundalk to be 2-0 up and then they put us through the wringer by conceding 1 in the last ten and are just hanging on....
It looks like the game will be streamed on the same website as last weeks game. It’s listed on their schedule now.
https://www.laola1.at/de/ott/de-at/schedule
I've been told only as they were confident they would get through without him McEleney would have travelled last week.
He will start IMO with Shields and Slogget behind him
One thing he can do is excel in Europe 2016, best player V Rosenborg in Oriel, best player when brought on v Slovan in Tallaght
I really don't know if Filippo Giovagnoli is a good coach or not, but he certainly appears to have lots of sensible and grounded things to say.
Of course he is only pointing out the obvious to his players when he talks about what winning tonight could mean
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2020...dalk-fortunes/Quote:
"We have to be honest, this is the game that can change a season. It can make this season unbelievable for them. Not for us because we're only here a month but for them it can be an historic game.
While I take your overall point you can not compare a country with the weakest economy in Europe, a developing country, with developed nations like Portugal, Greece and Ireland. Moldova is an extremely poor country and lacking all kinds of infrastructure that we take for granted in most of Europe. So whilst we might have a better and more functioning economy than Greece or Portugal, and yet they have better football leagues, there is nothing to compare in terms of living or anything else with Moldova - and that's the point I am trying to make.