Definitely improved a lot last season under Pioli. Who they then decided to get rid of.
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Definitely improved a lot last season under Pioli. Who they then decided to get rid of.
Would be rather difficult to squeeze 35k people into to anywhere without a direct bus route or airship....
(For the purist), hypothetically would SRFC have considered using the part 'owned' national association football ground at Landdowne Rd sponsored by Aviva Insurance, if current SARS-CoV-2 restrictions werent in place. Tallaght Stadium is a fine home ground for any club, but as a league have clubs moved beyond the lure of added income in favour of real home advantage even for what on paper is a huge mismatch? No agenda to the question, simply interested in opinion on the pros or cons of things.
If this was normal circumstances I think Rovers would be mad moving the game to the Aviva. And I wouldn’t want Dundalk to move the game either if we had such a high profile opponent. Why give up your competitive advantage to satisfy people who don’t care about your club. And realistically anyway, I don’t think AC Milan would fill the aviva.
That's the 3rd away draw in a row we have got this year in europe, if we get past the Andorran side. We should be favs for that, but one game at a time, will still be a tricky tie, but certainly its one of the more favourable all the same.
Should we advance, the Sheriff game will be obviously much tougher, but looks like they will defibnitely lose home advantage for that, and if we can regain form and confidence, might have a chance, they are not the same standard of their sides from 3-4 years ago, then again neither are we. They will still be firm favs for that game mind.
Real pity Rovers can't have fans at that game v Milan, but obv same for all other sides across Europe, maybe Coleraine wouldnt have beaten Maribor on pens away if they had partisan fans there, who knows, in one off games you will always have a chance of an upset, less so in two legs as the bigger team will generally find you out in the second leg.
Anyone know what's odds the Inter team from Andorra are for the game?
Definitely worth a tenner If the odds are decent. dalk are a mess.
Are they any better than Cobh?
Good draw for Dundalk.
Terrible draw for Shamrock imo. Fair enough the draw has a bit prestige about it, but who cares about that. Europe is a cash cow and LOI clubs need to milk that the heffer dry. Reminds me of 2012 when Chelsea were playing in Champions League final, if they won the CL we went straight into 3rd round of Europe instead of the 2nd round. Loads of people saying it would be great to go straight into the 3rd round but give me a round below and a tie against a winnable team any day.
I suppose ordinarily AC Milan would be worth more than going through a round
Plus in the end of the day a trip to the San Siro with your LoI club is worth more than just money
But yeah, in this year, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth of a draw.
Part owned leashold interest. The IRFU still own the ground. Be mad not to take the opportunity to move game if they were sure they would pass the breakeven figure by a good margin. It would be a great spectacle.If there was substantial TV money it would make sense to play it in Tallaght. Lets hope they really put it up to them.
The memories are more important than the money, especially in the LOI where you can guarantee the club will blow the money sooner or later. One of the biggest disappointment that Cork City fans talk about from our recent run in Europe is that we never got that big European away day.
We played Legia and Genk and those were incredible stadiums, and it was interesting following Genks success in Europe that year but we look at Rovers getting Milan, Juventus, Spurs. Going back 10/15 years these draws were more common. We played Red Star Belgrade, Drogheda drew Dynamo Kiev. Derry vs PSG, Shels against Deportivo, Pats vs Hertha, Bohs against Kaiserslautern. Obvioulsy its all subjective and some of those are more appealing because they come from big leagues rather than any specific European pedigree.
Its the nature of European competition in the current era. UEFA doing everything it can to help the bigger teams/countries and make sure they are in the later rounds and the rest of us can fight it out for several rounds for the privilege of a couple of spots between the bottom 20 leagues or so.
So for Rovers to actually draw one of the most famous teams in World Football, but to do so in a year where their fans can't attend, there is no away leg etc, thats a real stinker. In a normal year you want the best chance of progressing, or alternatively the money spinning draw against a team like Milan, and so often we end up in the middle, drawing a tough but unappealing team from Norway or Cyprus or something along those lines where the chance of progression is slim, but you aren't selling the ground out either.
In a perverse, and very selfish way I'm somewhat happy we're not in Europe this year so I don't have to miss out on it, its my favourite time of the year usually. of course it looks like it will be a while until we get back there
It's good that the current players are buying into the new guys philosophy, but you need a new crop of players, cos I think we both know your flogging a few dead horses there, no?
As for the question asking if a team in European competition is better than a 1st division LOI team..? I can only assume you were a cleaner in the college, and not actually studying there.
A few yes but majority of that side won a league title in ease just over 12 months ago.
Rogers
Gannon
Boyle
Hoare
Leahy
Shields
Slogget
McEleney
Duffy
Colovic
Hoban
Add in Dan Kelly, Cleary, McMillan, Dummegan, Massey and that's a solid base to start with
Flores, Murray have been 2 disappointments especially Murray as you can tell theres a top player there, too many injures
You don't turn into a bad team overnight, just like throwing away a 13 pt lead didn't make Rovers a bad team
I guess it shows 12 months is a long time ago in football. Your team are going backwards at an alarming rate, and added to that is a disastrous recruitment drive to replace the old warhorses. This has left dundalk losing games in Europe to dreadfully weak opposition as well as now being seen as a viable source of 3 points to pretty much every team in the LOI. This contrasts sharply with the previous 5/6 years for dundalk.
However optimism, it seems, is never in short supply for dundalk fans, so the best of luck to ye.
Bit early for gloating PC if we lose against bohs and in oriel dundalk could be 3 points behind with 6 games to go....
Generally speaking the opposite is the case. Worst case scenario is usually the default point. There are few Dundalk fans that are not pretty worried about this EL game, one that we should win, but no absolute expectation. There does need to be a bit of back to basics eg Sheilds just being a spoiler in mf, and figure out who is the best creative combination with him. Build confidence and they are more than capable of moving the ball about at a higher tempo. I've written off the league, cup is about the draw, Europe is watching between fingers. Off the field things must have been pretty toxic, why doesnt matter much now, just hope that things are improving even in small bits. Generally talk locally is that the players like the new coaching team. Training is fresher, new ideas and methods. That could all change in weeks never mind 12 months. All very wait and see, which we have been doing from the start with Peak6.
Rovers have gone a bit off the boil too, but no crowds, commanding position top of the league, it happens and being out front brings its own pressure. I can see points being dropped be it at Bohs and/or Dundalk, but especially with Dundalk, picking up full points to get within reach for the run in is unlikely.
I'm fairness sbgawa, it's not a case of gloating about Rovers winning the league, it's about how the wheels have come off dundalk being the out and out best team in the league.
They are the 3rd best team in the league now, and it's down to some poor decisions-clearly the backroom stuff going on is a hindrance to their continued success.
Either Rovers or boez will win the league this season.
It depends on him really. If he wants to be taken seriously as a decent manager, he'll tell the players that we're the best team in this league, and Milan are playing this game, at this time, for a reason, and lay everything on the line. If he decides to go down the "realistic" road, the players may as well go home.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
If Tallaght was good enough to play Real Madrid and Juventus, it's good enough for AC Milan. It took Ronaldo, Raul and Real Madrid 85 minutes to win in Tallaght. It took a missed penalty for Milan to leave St. Mels Park on level terms. Of course we know what the result should be, but there's no second leg, there's no away goals to worry about. These are knockout Cup ties, there will be surprise results somewhere in Europe on the night.
Sorting out the TV rights is less challenging than sorting out tickets, but this game should be automatically covered by the existing Irish rights holders for the competition. They love to boast of showing "every game live", when in practice it appears to be just a handful of games on the night, and a selection of goals shown from a handful of other games, to a selection of available viewers. They should not be leaving Rovers to sort it out. The club already has enough work to do.
[QUOTE=mypost;204674
Sorting out the TV rights is less challenging than sorting out tickets, but this game should be automatically covered by the existing Irish rights holders for the competition. They love to boast of showing "every game live", when in practice it appears to be just a handful of games on the night, and a selection of goals shown from a handful of other games, to a selection of available viewers. They should not be leaving Rovers to sort it out. The club already has enough work to do.[/QUOTE]
Probably goes without saying but every single bit of this wrong.
They were probably still in disbelief at getting muck on their fancy shoes - maybe having a top ground isnt everything;)
Tallaght is fine to host any team, I was just wondering whether there would be any temptation to move to a bigger venue under different circumstances. It's not entirely uncommon for some European clubs to nominate stadia different from their domestic games. I think Rovers will be a surprise outfit for Milan, hopefully they are barely bothering to scout. I think in the end Milan will win at a 0-2 or 1-3 but a shock is not impossible and certainly a solid performance is probable. Will be interesting to see how SB answers the conondrum of how to get at them. It was a disaster last season for Dundalk when we decided to keep it tight and target the last quarter of games, believing Qarabag especially would tire. The obvious tactic is to play this like an old fashioned away game, sit deep and organised, hit on the break and make set pieces count. I would love to see SB decide that the team is good enough to go at them from the off though. It wouldnt be what they'd expect.
While there are no rights holders for this stage, that doesn't mean there shouldn't be. The qualifiers, playoffs, group stage, and knockout rounds are all part of the same competition. If it's ok to show one part of it, the relevant broadcaster should be obliged to show the rest. That is standard procedure in order to buy sports rights.
TBh lads AC Milan isnt the patch of the side of the mid noughties when Liverpool got beaten by them in 2007 Champions League final. If my memory serves me right thats the last time they have reached a European Final.
The only big name playing for them top of my head is Ibramovic.
I think shamrock rovers will give AC a bit of a fright but AC will won just about. Its a few years since AC were last in Europe!
The keeper Donnarumma is a big name too in fairness. Italian first choice and successor to Buffon
I dont think it matters if AC Milan are not the force they were. Certainly here there will be a big interest even if based on past reputation. Their pedigree is recent enough compared to say Red Star Belgrade. Ibrahimovic would be a draw almost alone for the curious non LoI people.
I agree with mypost on the whole TV rights for qualifying rounds in that it is the same comp. But most games would only be of 'local' interest so I can see why the spoils are not divided up evenly. That said, it is daft that a game in Ireland gets no rights for showing a game outside of Ireland. BHD makes this even more relevant - AC supporters interest alone would be fairly big nubers, add Italian TV/streaming services, well it should mean that SRFC get a significant cut of TV revenue for a game in their own home.
Differnt times, but Bohs got a big pay day for the Kiserslautern game and would have piqued not much more interest than from their own fanbase. Currently, due to covid-19, its would make a lot more sense to be more balanced with TV rights though we know that football and fair distribution of money doesnt happen.
Rovers have zero chance against them. If you had been watching Serie A last season you will know that Milan have experienced a huge transformation under Pioli only losing 2 games in 25 in all competitions in 2020 playing an attacking brand of football. Taking Zlatan out of the equation the squad has been rebuilt and has an age profile averaging around mid-20's. They've experienced a huge fall for 7/8 years but they look like they're on the path to return to the Champions League for 2021/22
The reason for that is because this year the games are one off. The away team having the TV rights for the rest of the world is basically to balance out the loss of a home game to sell. Rovers would have been better off drawing Milan away in this scenario, then get to play in the San Siro and sell the international broadcast rights.
The home team own the rights to the broadcast in their own country. Whether it’s fair or not, I think that’s the reason the ownership of the TV rights for these qualifiers have been done like this. Obviously there’s no game to sell for attendance but what I’m talking about is the TV rights.
Could Rovers not make good money from adverts spread across the seats, flag style? Or even hung on the edges of the stands visible to TV cameras, assuming RTÉ or TV3/Virgin muck televise the match free? This would normally not be an option.
Ok got ye now. Certainly isnt fair and doesnt sound like it was thought through much - or the decision makers were from larger leagues and clubs with international appeal (Celtic eg) where international rights can eclipse home interest. Irish broadcasters pay nothing or little so obviously we have something to grumble about on this. I still think, irrsepctive of the change to one leg this season, home clubs should own the rights or to be properly fair and benefits as much as possible, it is a split - maybe vary the % split on a set of factors. Its odd arguing from the corner of SRFC finances but fair is fair and there isnt balance, even if every single person in Ireland were watching the respective 'markets' for rights are very different. Smells of FAI like bs!
Should have been left to the home club to arrange but revenues split something like 30/70 in the club's favour. This would have still left it "fair" when a home club from a small market had a giant away team but the away team still took the lion's share of the revenue.
I see rte are covering the game on rte2 and rte player.
It's quite a young team, with lots of key players around 21-3. Some of these guys could wind up at even bigger clubs in a few years.
Gianluigi Donnarumma is a 21 year old keeper with something like 200 senior appearances for Milan and 18 caps for Italy. He's not the heir to Buffon's throne, he's already ascended to it. His big brother is their backup keeper.
I don't know if they intend to play him or use him as backup, but Brahim Díaz is a talented forward who's played for Man City and Real Madrid (who've just loaned him to Milan). He hasn't had many competitive games yet, but he's still 21, and clubs of that magnitude must see something interesting in him.
Their captain is Romagnoli, an Italian centre half. Still only 25, he's played a bit for the national team, and presumably will play more if Chiellini retires before drawing his pension.
Çalhanoğlu is a Turkish winger with an eye for a goal.
Paquetá is a young Brazilian attacking mid, who has about a dozen caps for Brazil.
Kessié is an Ivorean centre mid.
So nothing to fear then for Rovers.