Goodnight Irene
Shels finally have a striker on, in Boyd
Mipo is woeful
Goodnight Irene
The old LoI problem when playing up - get a head of steam, create some chances, get picked off on the break
Ach. Tough to concede the 2nd against the run of play. Not a bad performance all the same.
And there goes the tie
Paaatrick's Agletic
And then there was 3.
Just as I was looking for my post predicting a 2-0 win
Absolute howler there - I presume from Ledwidge for not looking where his keeper was rather than Healy for lack of comms. Not that it matters in the end of the day
The bloody cheek of Ledwidge there - blaming that goal on the keeper. Woeful header from Ledwidge. Just own your mistake!
The defender is having a laugh if he thinks its the keepers fault there.
A real brain dead moment.
Its is, cour clebs need to create about 5 good chances to take one and that wastfullness will always undo all the great work. It was similar against Linfield only they werent up to the ruthlessness either, missed chances especially 1 on 1. Any club here, indeed even up to international level, finds or develops a really clinical striker will earn a club serious money one way or another. Im obviously thinking of Elding....
That's a shame after Shels looked like they were capable of making a game of it in the second half.
They'll be disappointed when and how the conceded goals 2 and 3 but Qarabag are just a level about them. They just lost to a better team.
Shels huffed and puffed second half but those two teams were just miles apart when it came to final product. Still hilarious people thought they had a chance.
Shels will want to hope Razgrad beat Rijeka next week cos I'd say Razgrad will do the same thing to them. Though Rijeka hardly a handy tie either given they did the double last year. They might be hoping for a nice Conference League playoff draw
Jeeez thats bad. Money well spend![]()
Thought packed Tolka Park would make Kazachs wobelling...
Shels are the weakest champions we’ve had in a while. Were never gonna get anywhere , even if the clown hadn’t resigned. They need a really favourable draw in PO round (as do Rovers) but as an unseeded team hard to see them getting through
Shels are definitely a mid-table team this season.
That said, and I only caught the second half, I thought they played some good football and looked threatening at times. Maybe it was a bit naive (or maybe worth the risk) to open up and push for the equaliser. Other teams might have sat back, kept things tighter, and taken their chances in the second leg.
Still, that third goal is hard to shake.
It’s one of those where the scoreline feels both harsh and justified at the same time. Reminded me of some Dundalk games from last year...
Overall, across the League of Ireland, we’re still lacking quality and guile in the final third. The general standard of play has improved massively, but we just don’t have the same cutting edge you see in other leagues. We can hold onto the ball well, and be defensively solid for large periods, but we struggle to create chances against the run of play and don’t convert enough of the half-chances we do get.
Maybe there is not enough pace in our teams or cant switch it up the passing enough, I dont know.
From what I’ve seen of the Icelandic league, that’s the biggest difference between them and us.
Rovers were the exception to it last year. They looked they could score at any stage of any game. Having a player of Johnny Kennys standard really makes a huge difference in how you can play in Europe.
On the final third I think this is a bit of a phenomenon across all leagues to some extent at the moment. Any player who has a half decent season in front of goal almost immediately moves up to the next level available to them. If they thrive there it's not too long before they move up again. Look at Bohs recent striker history Georgie Kelly, great season immediately moved to the UK & suffered with injuries since. Promise Omechere (winger converted to striker) decent half season & moved to the UK. Johnny Afolabi, good season immediately moved to Belgium. It's not just Bohs either Shels lost Moylan after a really good season and have struggled to replace him, Graydon at Derry is a good example of this as well. Played well at Longford got a move to Derry, played well there got a move to Fleetwood IIRC. This has always happened to some extent but the dearth of top level talent in the final third seems to be exacerbating it at the minute. You look back on some players who spent the majority of their career in the league and wonder how the likes of Rory Feely and Ciaran Kelly got moved to the UK and had relatives success and better players in the past didn't.
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