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Caufield came out and says their pace and strength. Fair enough on the pace you cant really do much about that individual talent, but strength? Not in this day and age, no team shouldn't be getting let down on physicality. That was stuff of 10 years ago, in fact it was probably one of my first posts on this forum about being so far behind European counterparts in that area :D.
Another game, another goal. Oh no wait.
On another note, we now know what Bohs need in order to qualify for the Youth League.
There are 6 ties in the CL play-off round. Videoton v AEK is the only irrelevant one. Bohs need three of the others to come up trumps -
Red Star Belgrade to beat Red Bull Salzburg
PSV Eindhoven to beat BATE Borisov
Dinamo Zagreb to beat Young Boys Bern
Benfica to beat PAOK
Dynamo Kyiv to beat Ajax
Tough ask, I think.
Middle 3 would be the ones you'd back if you were putting money on it, top could go either way, bottom seems unlikely.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
I remember Shels losing 5 nil on aggregate to Brondby back around early 00's. They had chances in both legs to score vital goals but ultimately got swatted aside comfortably with Brondby rarely getting out of 2nd gear. It was to be one of the first of many times where I thought, "if only the clubs were a bit better technically etc". Pats got a similar pasting from Odense BK around that era, maybe 05? , one of their players afterward said that the difference between the sides was 'light years'. Nothing has changed, and if anything, the distance from our League to those ones light years from us, is only growing bigger by the year. The way Cork went out last night was a rehash of how Shels lost those matches, all those years ago.
I think that's a club thing to an extent, not necessarily something that's endemic to the league.
I remember three years ago when we played Slovan (granted, with ten men for an hour), the comments here and elsewhere were on how well we knocked the ball around and kept possession at times. Our best chance out there came at the end of a 23-pass move for example.
Now we ultimately lost 6-1 on aggregate (with three goals in the last ten minutes) because the part-time players were knackered, which shouldn't be an issue with the full-time teams. And of course Slovan were just better than us; particularly in UCD, they harried us and forced mistakes, which is what good teams do.
But if a First Division team can knock the ball around against better opposition with some success, then there's no excuse for Cork to be lumping it long or giving it away cheaply like they did last night, and in the other games this year.
I don't buy into all this negative stuff about the massive gap between our league and some of the other leagues.
Rovers should have gone through had Aaron Greene managed to hit the net as opposed to the post unchallenged from 5 yards
Derry won away (like Rovers) and were a goal away from going through.
Dundalk had a mare but you couldn't say it was a typical display
I know its all ifs and buts but depending on if you are a half glass full or empty person it is certainly not clear that the gap is either huge or increasing
I think above points are far, there was a good deal of bad luck in a lot of the performances this year in Europe. 3 away wins is usually good in most seasons but this only resulted in one tie win and that was expected.
Another angle to look back on, is asking if teams were happy with their performances, Dundalk yes at home to Larnaca but most definitely not away, (v Tallinn, Dlk expected to get through) Derry and Rovers as touched on above both won away but lost at home.
I think of the 4 performances by Cork, they can probably only be just about happy with one, home to Legia, not scoring in any of their 4 games will be the big disappointment, I'll counter this by saying ditto for Dundalk not scoring in both games v Larnaca.
Overall not a good season by our clubs, but not sure it's a massive cause for concern, learn from it, get better players in (if this is what it takes) and move on.
The Town made heavy going of beating Levadia Tallinn and didn't take their chances at home to Larnaca, who then strolled past Sturm Graz 7 - 0 on aggregate. S Kenny must have brooded, at least for a while, about good players leaving as free agents when Preston collected a six figure sum after 20 months for Daryl Horgan. While Irish fans continue to prioritize the English Premiership and Championship (and Celtic) LOI clubs won't hold on to their better players, and this summer's European results will remain the norm.
I think it's all about margins.Quote:
Originally Posted by sbgawa
We did have a lot of bad luck this year. But it's becoming a regular thing to bemoan 'what ifs' re LOI clubs in Europe. It's no accident that better teams seem to be a lot luckier than teams who aren't as good.
So it may look like just minor things are the difference for us every year in Europe. But the key point is that if it's happening most years like that, then the gap must be a lot bigger than if you look at single games in isolation. We're clearly not doing as well in Europe now as we were even a few years ago. Because each team loses one or two of its best players and we completely lose that margin which could make our sides 'luckier' in Europe.
That's the thing though, it was a really bad miss. And not to single Rovers out, but the lack of finishing ability when it matters from our clubs in Europe is a large part of explaining why we are in the doldrums. Cork missed a few chances against Legia at home. Dundalk, although they played better 2nd half against Larnaca didn't look like scoring despite looking half threatening at times, and labored against Levadia. Derry's result in Minsk was very good, but a poor home performance. In my opinion, it's mental collapse under pressure in both defence and attack that costs us progression. Coaching has to be geared toward mentally strengthening our League's players.Quote:
Originally Posted by sbgawa
It's mad that Dudelange beat Warsaw though. What does the luxembourg team have that Cork/Dundalk dont?Quote:
Originally Posted by mcgonigle
I think they've brought in something like 13 or 14 french and German players in the last coupl of years. So said Dan McDonnell on LOI weekly podcast anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by sparky12345678
Being German or French doesn't necessarily make you any good though.
Remember they still have 9 of the team that lost to UCD. Joubert, Malget, Stelvio, Turpel, Prempeh, Ibrahimovic, Schnell, Benzouien and Clayton. A tenth, da Mota, is still there but out on loan. 5 of those were on the pitch together in the away game against Legia.
So what you’re saying is UCD need to be guaranteed a European spot for the good of the league?
Not seeing a downside anyway :)
(On a serious note, give UCD Cork's budget and we'd wipe the floor with them. But obviously Cork have earned their budget, which is all part of football)
True, but if they've now got 5/6 new starting players from abroad they're obviously fairly good ones given their recent results.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Their geographical location and shared language must make it easier for them to bring in quality from the surrounding countries
Possibly. I won't pretend to know how good they are, but looking at wikipedia, Kruska appears to be good - 100+ appearances for Dortmund by the age of 21, although he's gone downhill spectacularly since then (he's 31 now) and signed from Werder Bremen's reserves. That said, the third flight in Germany would be better than LoI, so there's one decent player anyway.
Kakoko signed from Arka Gdynia in the Polish top flight; played for them in Europe last year where they lost on away goals to Midtylland. He's a late bloomer with no real pedigree in his background though - Wohlen in the Swiss second tier, Homburg in the fourth tier, Mannheim in the German sixth tier. (I'm discounting his youth career with Bayern)
And they signed a Serbian with 19 caps from Metz, but he only came on as a late sub against Legia, I presume as he's only just signed.
So they're three good signings - though the likes of Damien Delaney should arguably compare.
Dudelange have a budget of about €2m per year - probably similar to Cork's? Yes, being in the centre of Europe gives them access to more players alright, but I don't think the above factors really explains the jump up in performances. Legia are a mess too, and we caught them on the hop, all of which helps.
But I think as well there has to be an element of underachieving from Cork - not just that they lost all four games without scoring a goal, but that they did so so tamely. It really was 90s stuff - an energetic start handily soaked up, and a killer punch delivered relatively early on from which they never recovered.
If you're a French-speaking quality player, why would you want to play in Luxembourg rather than France though ? It would be like saying Northern Ireland can attract quality players from England because of a shared languageQuote:
Originally Posted by Philosophizer
For money? A job's a job. If you're offered more in Luxembourg (boosted by European money), why not take it?
Transport links between France and Luxembourg are a lot easier than between NI and England. There's also a decent population density, so more players to choose from. I don't think the comparison holds up much.
I read somewhere they have an investor (his name escapes me) who has pumped in serious money over the last couple of seasons. Would explain how they are getting results against teams like Legia.Quote:
Originally Posted by sparky12345678