The current live table has Rovers in line to face Molde or TSC. The winners to take on Legia or Cercle Brugge.
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The current live table has Rovers in line to face Molde or TSC. The winners to take on Legia or Cercle Brugge.
Larne beat Gent and Hearts messed up at home to bottom side Petrocub and are out.
The Conference League is great. Far more interesting than the more predictable Champions League. And the league phase rather than groups has worked well I think. Lot of change to the standings even into the last few minutes. Hearts being one example with that late penalty they concededQuote:
Originally Posted by ger121
Second greatest league in the world
Very exciting.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Completely agree. Hadn't realised Jagiellonia were playing Olimpia so, whoever scored were overtaking Rovers in the table.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
For Rovers playing nearly 6 weeks into the off season, is nearly like players going to the World Cup for seasons that finish in May. Next round in the middle of February. The Europa League will be more taxing when LoI clubs qualify for that! While also more rewarding! With 2 more league phase rounds at the end of January, it'll be early in preseason. Munster clubs are thinking ahead by being familiar with Munster Senior Cup rounds in January.
Think you would want TSC. They were dead and buried at 3-1 after 75 minutes against Noah but turned it around to slip through in 24th.Quote:
Originally Posted by legendz
Knockout phase playoffs: TSC or Molde
Round of 16: Cercle Brugge or Legia Warsaw
Quarter finals: Chelsea or Vitória de Guimarães
The shape of Rovers quadrant of the draw. Having fully deserved being seeded for the knockout phase playoffs, hopefully they can make it count. Get to the Round of 16 and they could be playing to setup a tie with Chelsea again. The season opener against Bohs could be useful for familiarity with the Aviva! ;)
Seems a bit mad to have a pot with just two teams in it. Its almost like doing a draw just so they can do a draw. You would have thought for fairness that 9th plays 24th, 10th v 23rd, etc.
Thats what i was thinking.Quote:
Originally Posted by redobit
Maybe they wan to have the ability to avoid problems the way they do in the bigger draws by keeping teams apart where there could be troublle, Serbia/Croatia maybe.
If it was just 9th plays 24th they cant interfere for better or worse.
TSC definitly the easier of the two options for Rovers.
Will be awkward now with the Bohs match in the Aviva in between the two legs of the playoff.
I suppose the team will be rested by then.
I don't think they do that from the knockout stages anyway, do they?
Though granted you don't usually get Spain v Gibraltar or Armenia v Azerbaijan in the knockout stages.
I guess clubs just want a jolly in Zurich. Draw's today isn't it?
1300 CETQuote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
So about an hours time
Rovers get Molde, away first. Tough game, Molde beat them 5-0 over two games in 2022 but both teams appear to be in different places since then. I’d say it’ll be a more even match up than a few years ago
I would not fear that draw! Yup the seeded side should be favourites but we know how it can be for LoI in Europe but its a chance and Rovers should have belief after the group. Not sure there'd have been worry about pre or early season rustiness in Europe when switching to summer season. Soooo crowds up, sell-out signs happen, 1m people through the gates, 30k+ at cup finals in the national stadium, 8 figure grant for league ground development, real knockout football not this preliminary stuff, GLITW alternative reality....
9 points was a fair expectation after the league phase draw. Rovers in fairness delivered and picked up 2 bonus points along the way.
Molde were in pot 2 when the league phase draw was made. Higher than APOEL and Rapid Vienna. Molde beat Larne 3-0 (H), lost 2-1 to Gent (A), lost 3-0 to Jagiellonia Bia?ystok (A) ranked lower than Borac, lost 0-1 to APOEL (H), drew 2-2 with HJK (A) and beat Mladá Boleslav 4-3 (H) ranked lower than Rovers. No world beaters on that form but will be a tough test.
Rovers have already done great. Getting to the Round of 16 would cap it off and reflect well on the league around Europe.
Molde will be out of season too, so fair game
It seems so obvious to say it, but, none of the recent feel-good vibe, being a couple of bends in the road away from a complete paradigm shift, would have occurred under Saint John. Shams at last look like they know how to handle Europe now after years of very poor defeats and lukewarm performances. It's a steep learning curve, but it looks this season that they've really learned something invaluable for the most part. Now it must be qualified that Rovers were absolutely losing the plot early on in the EURO campaign against the Icelandic crowd, with them missing a tie-winning penalty, but they've improved so much since then. The propensity for gifting soft, no work required, goals away like Santa Claus, will always be in LOI sides in Europe, but Shams really stepped up this Euro season. It's not a bad time to be alive as an LOI fan.
I’ve already bought tickets for Bohs v Rovers on 16th. I might extend my trip home now. A House are playing in Whelan’s on 22nd too. This’ll require serious negotiations with Mrs. Stutts.
That is an endless art for sure but there should be no more apologies when it comes to football and good live tunes!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Can’t say how much I enjoyed Thursday but the two daft goals still really frustrate me. I got down to Putney Bridge area, as kindly suggested here, at around 6 to see the Rovers fans being escorted en masse over the bridge towards Chelsea. I presume they walked the whole way to the stadium. The police presence was very heavy all night, probably rightly so. I still wore my colours though - but zipped up my coat in the stadium area. I was in the home section.
Got the tube back from Putney Bridge to Fulham Broadway where we had a couple of pints before going in. The Rovers fans were being escorted into the ground at this point, greeted by F the IRA chants from the home fans in the concourse area.
I took my seat in the East Lower in the section beside the Rovers end. Both defensive calamities happened just in front of me as did the bogroll barrage at the corner flag. I couldn’t help go “Yes” when Poom scored and immediately two stewards quite forcefully reprimanded me. Lovely Chelsea fella in front of me told them to chill, nobody cared and it’s only football etc.
Atmosphere was pretty tasty though. Republican chanting isn’t to my taste but at the same time I loved how the Rovers fans showed no respect for who they were playing or where.
I hope many more nights at places like this lie ahead, for all Irish teams.
My photos are on X if anyone cares.
What are the dates for the 2 Molde games, and are they confirmed now?
13th and 20th Feb. The aviva match against bohs is the 16th
Thanks. Home or away first?Quote:
Originally Posted by sbgawa
Away first, benefit of finishing top sixteen
Rover's can definitely take them, but I'd be worried in the off season that one squad will improve and one will really struggle to stay at its current level.Quote:
Originally Posted by legendz
Based on quality of opposition, ease of access to away leg, cost of trip to away leg, attractiveness of town for away leg…… all point to very disappointing draw on what was a 50/50 hit.
only positive is that they’re out of season too but think it’s gonna be v tough. Need to manage 1st leg
17.45 kick off. Not too bad
If Rovers still had a few of the big hitters they lost, you would fancy them over the 2 legs.
No idea what state Molde would be in pre-season,so very hard to gauge. They did lose to Pat’s of course but could have had the tea-lady starting in that game for all we know. All I can say is they were really poor in the League stage and snuck in at the end.
If the tie is still in the balance for the 2nd leg then there is a chance as Rovers do a have a good home record.
PP have Molde as 1/3 odds on to qualify, not sure I`d agree those odds, would make Molde slight favs though, but Rovers still have a good chance i think.
We played them in 2020, went 1-0 up or back to 1-1 in Tallaght, but lost both games ,they were big lads I remember that.
Just on the Pats match v Molde. I’d be surprised if they didn’t have pretty much their first 11 out. I’m assuming the whole purpose, from their point of view, was to play an Irish side before playing Rovers. In that context it really wouldn’t make sense for them to play a seriously weakened team. So I would take the result as a positive omen for Rovers.Quote:
Originally Posted by ger121
Bit mad that Molde are seven weeks out from the start of their league campaign still. There's pre-season and there's six week out.
Seems a long way out alright, not sure where most Norwegian clubs based but Molde in Central Norway, I'd say their league starting is due to climate.
Looked it up, avg temp is still only 0c in March !:cold:
Been a very poor off season for us. No idea what to expect tbh
Makes sense with their weather though. I've just checked and every night this week has below zero temperatures, with daytimes not much higher. Plus Molde are only a quarter of the way up the country in terms of latitude. There are 4 teams located further north than them - 2 of which are in the far north, inside the Arctic circle (Bodo/Glimt and Tromso/TIL). So you can see why they leave it until the Spring to start their season.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
See that shamock rovers are above the club rankings than molde. If rovers had their same squad from end of last season I would give them a chance. Now Im not sure on what to predict.
Looks like we may to have to name next years thread 'LOI in Europe 25/26'.
I was more confident about this tie a month ago from a Rovers perspective. Part of me feels Molde will be much more used to this off-season approach so will know how to approach it. The other part of me thinks that if it's both teams first game this season the rust will favour the away team if they can sneak out with a clean sheet.
Not sure what will happen up there on Thursday. On paper i think we are weaker this season coming but lots of our so called big names were weapon for most of Last Season. Mandriou now needs to step up and show us all the promise from a few years back. Jack needs to get back to the player he was when in the Ireland squad, you would hope/think Matthews at the back is a step up from Sean Hoare, Danny Grant not sure what to expect and Michael Noonan 10 novenas being done each night to make him as good as young kenny.
9/1 to win seems pretty big all the same
Rovers not one for the away wins in Europe, so I am not surprised they are out to 9/1. A draw would be an excellent result.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nah Nah Nah Nah