Hertha Berlin vs Saint Patrick's Athletic

[Drogman.]

I expected Bohs to do well this year, and enlighten us how it would be better for the league if Drogheda were able to nick a Euro spot?

Cause it'll mean that there'll be more Irish teams competing in Europe

[OneRedArmy]

Good performance and a lot better effort than what Derry put up against the French side PSG. .

Yeah, I mean 2-0 is a lot better than......err.....2-0.

Herta are a better team then PSG having an ex Liverpool like Andriy Voronin so playing against the likes of him they can hold their heads up igh.

Ah, Voronin the Liverpool legend, he certainly set the Kop on fire and they were sad to see him go.....

Here's the PSG team on the night. Landreau, Rozehnal, Mendy, Paulo Cesar, Traore, Armand, Drame, Cisse, Frau, Pauleta, Kalou.

I'll see your Voronin and raise you Pauleta.

And for the final nail in your ill-informed, trollbot coffin, PSG finished that season ranked 24th in the coefficient table.

Hertha were last seen at number 77.

Over to you.....

[TheBoss]

Pats defended really well in the game, Hertha had hardly created a chance despite scoring 2 goals which were slightly unlucky from my point of view. Pats kept the ball well at times but were unable to do that through ball to get in behind the Hertha defence. I thought looking at the first half, Pats could win the game in the 2nd half but not to be.

[geysir]

And for the final nail in your ill-informed, trollbot coffin, PSG finished that season ranked 24th in the coefficient table.

Hertha were last seen at number 77.

Out of interest, how come the Brandywell was passed for purpose against PSG but afaiu Inchicore wasn't for the return leg against Hertha?

[razor]

Thought Pats did well, first goal a brilliant piece of indivdual skill and the 2nd was a lucky deflection, a brave performance, they're still in it but only just.

[OneRedArmy]

Out of interest, how come the Brandywell was passed for purpose against PSG but afaiu Inchicore wasn't for the return leg against Hertha?

We have the brightest floodlights in the League IIRC so they passed the 1st round minimum lux rating. I assume Pats aren't bright enough?

[robertob]

I was yesterday live in Berlin and was not unhappy after the 0:2 defeat. Becaus I saw a great guest team! St. Patrick's Athletic played very well. I Think the second part of the first half was absolutely brilliant. pats played with a lot of power. Unfortunately they forgot to shoot.

All in all I think all EL fans can be proud of this team. St. Pats played so good as possible and was a hard adversary for Hertha BSC.
Best player for me was Keith Fahey. Fantastic performance of him in the central midfield.

[finnpark]

I was yesterday live in Berlin and was not unhappy after the 0:2 defeat. Becaus I saw a great guest team! St. Patrick's Athletic played very well. I Think the second part of the first half was absolutely brilliant. pats played with a lot of power. Unfortunately they forgot to shoot.

All in all I think all EL fans can be proud of this team. St. Pats played so good as possible and was a hard adversary for Hertha BSC.
Best player for me was Keith Fahey. Fantastic performance of him in the central midfield.

Yes, How Keith Fahy is not an International is behond me. By far the best player on the pitch. The best performance Ive ever seen from a LOI player in Europe

[Stevo Da Gull]

Yeah I thought that Fahey was great for the first 70 mins, arguably man of the match.

[robertob]

Hope Trap has watched the match yesterday! Because Faheys performance was a lot of better as italien Serie B level...

[pete]

RTE should have shown the game on TV. I doubt Setanta out bid them unless they already had the rights as part of another deal. I don't expect RTE to show the early rounds of Europe but once teams get further they should cover.

Their quality for EL Weekly may not have been great but I think TV3 give very good coverage to the league as very often LOI games are top of the sports bulletins. I think Pats were top sports story this morning.

[TonyD]

I assume Pats aren't bright enough?

Hey, I resent that. We're quite an intelligent lot you know.

Oh and Pete, TV tree had Pats featured alright this morning, after they'd covered Liverfluke and Chelsea. and I think. Disgraceful. Peter Collins did find time to mention the result during RTE s Premiership love in last night, just. The papers this morning were more or less the same story. I expect no better at this stage but it really is outrageous.

[Saint_Charlie]

I expect no better at this stage but it really is outrageous.

The morning of the match i was listening to SPIN 1038. For the first time in my life I actually texted in a radio show because not only did they lead with the english teams (which is understandable given their popularity), they didn't even mention that Pats were playing.

I texted in reminding them that there was an Irish club on that night too. They didn't mention it in the next sports bulletin either. Such a lack of respect for the game here. Of course if we had managed to get a result they probably would have been the official radio station for the home leg...

[finnpark]

Elfsborg won 4 0 against Malmo tonight

[pete]

Oh and Pete, TV tree had Pats featured alright this morning, after they'd covered Liverfluke and Chelsea. and I think.

I was probably half asleep so I am sure you are correct.

Elfsborg won 4 0 against Malmo tonight

Swedish sides who lose to LOI sides (Malmo 2004 & Djungarden 2005) have a good chance of winning their league.

[finnpark]

Dynamo Kiev drew 1-1 with Arsenal

[saintmaniac]

Pats looked very tired for the last 30 minutes out there. Lot more heart in the Drogs performances to be honest. 2-0 is not a good result people! It's a loss with no away goal. putting three passed Berlin is a big ask. Shame for Pats but someone said it earlier consistency is becoming a factor in LoI euro adventures.

I'm sorry but that is absolute ****e. Just back from Berlin now. I don't know what quantifies "heart" in a performance to you but I thought we had it in spades. I didn't see the full Kiev-Drogheda game but it's ridiculous to try and compare or set one side against each other in that respect.

I reckon we were a bit tired near the end, it was a massive pitch and there is no comparison between it and most pitches the team are used to play on. We play in Richmond every second week, it could be most nicely described as "compact".

I really believed we had a goal in us, kept believing right until the final whistle - still absolutely gutted, more so for the players than myself. I'm proud of the performance, I thought we gave more than a good account of ourselves, I held my head up high around Berlin today and last night. It's just a pity the scoreline didn't reflect it. Don't know what it looked like on TV, but the reaction around me to certain refereeing decisions that went against us in the second half was fairly vociferous - not sure if you could call it fate or luck or whatever, and I'm not saying we deserved a win, but we deserved more than that scoreline.

Fahey is a diamond. I can't say enough about him. Glad someone else mentioned Dempsey as well, I thought he was immense. Oh, and cheers to Drogheda for releasing Jason Gavin, I was beyond happy that he was in our back four last night.

Oh btw, fair play to the two Drogs who showed up and sat in our section. Not sure who you were, but cheers, gave me a lift anyway.

[Raheny Red]

Peter Collins at the end of the Champions League coverage said there was some good news for Irish football today. I thought that was an odd way to refer to a 0-2 defeat, however brave, but apparently the good news was Reading beating Sheffield Wednesday. FFS. I don't think they mentioned the Pat's game at all.

Heard that myself, nearly choked when he went on to mention Doyle and hunt scoring for Reading.

[paul_oshea]

I'm sorry but that is absolute ****e. Just back from Berlin now. I don't know what quantifies "heart" in a performance to you but I thought we had it in spades. I didn't see the full Kiev-Drogheda game but it's ridiculous to try and compare or set one side against each other in that respect.

I reckon we were a bit tired near the end, it was a massive pitch and there is no comparison between it and most pitches the team are used to play on. We play in Richmond every second week, it could be most nicely described as "compact".

I really believed we had a goal in us, kept believing right until the final whistle - still absolutely gutted, more so for the players than myself. I'm proud of the performance, I thought we gave more than a good account of ourselves, I held my head up high around Berlin today and last night. It's just a pity the scoreline didn't reflect it. Don't know what it looked like on TV, but the reaction around me to certain refereeing decisions that went against us in the second half was fairly vociferous - not sure if you could call it fate or luck or whatever, and I'm not saying we deserved a win, but we deserved more than that scoreline.

Fahey is a diamond. I can't say enough about him. Glad someone else mentioned Dempsey as well, I thought he was immense. Oh, and cheers to Drogheda for releasing Jason Gavin, I was beyond happy that he was in our back four last night.

Oh btw, fair play to the two Drogs who showed up and sat in our section. Not sure who you were, but cheers, gave me a lift anyway.

fahey was very good and everything went through him, he also held up the ball well and waited for those around him to play a simple pass or whatever. Thought quigley put the head down and ran a little too much. Whatever about dempsey playing well, he lacked the natural instinct when that ball was played across goal, he had stalled and waited to long his instinct should have been to continue on running and be in around the 6 yard box, had he, then pats might have drawn level then and totally different story. Pats definitely didn't deserve to lose 2 - 0, they defended brilliantly, the odd time they looked a bit suspect on the quick counter attack, and i think this showed on teh second goal, though it was lucky it was down to pats being a little slow in reacting and getting stuck in on the counter-attack. All in all the best performance by a EL team in Europe at this stage in my limited opinion at least, simply because they weren't outplayed and it wasn't a case of last man tackles to save the day, they never looked under any great deal of pressure and hertha must feel very relieved to come away with a 2 - 0 win. Sign of the times though when ye can walk away this year with 2 EL teams feeling unlucky away from home and unlucky to go out in teh latter rounds and against serious opposition.

[Larry 'da' Wyse]

Yeah, I mean 2-0 is a lot better than......err.....2-0. Ah, Voronin the Liverpool legend, he certainly set the Kop on fire and they were sad to see him go.....

Here's the PSG team on the night. Landreau, Rozehnal, Mendy, Paulo Cesar, Traore, Armand, .



Over to you.....

Funny that Arsenal have Frenchman Armand Traore out on loan at the mo'
As good as any 2 PSG players I say ;-)

Fingers crossed for Pats. An early goal and all that ...