True, Watts' blocked shot was a chance, but those big Swedish defenders gave up very little all night.
Correct about Bazunu. I had never seem him play in the flesh before. I was surprised by how good he was with his feet. He side-stepped their attackers more than once with the ball at his feet and he distribution was very impressive.
Would like to see one of Bone/Bolger replaced for the 2nd leg by moving Watts into the centre and maybe bring in Greene on the wing. Watts ability in possession would help them in the middle. Rovers looked better when him and Finn interchanged passes last night. Coustrain and Greene's (when he came on) looked capable of causing them problems on the wings so they're still in with a shout.
Did Greg Bolger pick up a knock in the 2nd half? His game seemed to deteriorate badly and his passing went all over the place before Bradley replaced him with Aaron Bolger.
yeah pretty sure he had an icepack on him at the end of the match, his game did go off, he was playing really well earlier.
Personally is play A Bolger, Watts and Finner in the centre with Greene and Joel on the wings and carr up top but tell Greene to push up and in and get Kavanagh up more.
They didn't look overly impressive yesterday so I wouldn't write us off yet
Sorry your right there .... And we have move up! But think we should be getting to at least 1 ranking point this year if possible as we lose 2 ranking points next year and doubt we matched it next year unless we get very favourable draws .... But time will tell .... Can only see 1 win next week!
Couple of things
Nightmare on M50, I nearly gave up and went to the Pub, Bruno Mars concert on one side and accident on other (fire brigades etc etc)
combined with the early kick off. The TV never helps in Tallaght (the match was on in all the pubs around)
But all in all it was disappointing still, id never stay at home to watch Rovers on TV which is clearly what happened as how can we have 5000 at a bohs match and 3k for a European match against decent opposition.
Traffic yesterday evening was terrible trying to get around to Tallaght on the M50 in fairness. Took me an hour to get around from Blanch whereas it would usually take 20 mins.
I suspect a lot of people went to the pub or home rather than pay in for the second half.
What were Derry at with the 6:05 kick off , were they deliberately trying to make it harder for people who were prepared to pay €28?
€15 in tallaght although you could argue at double the price with half the people they had the same gate receipts but atmosphere must have been poor
The Derry match actually went better than expected.
Minsk are a quality side, better than anyone in the league, they really didn't need to try hard to be comfortable last night.
Pathetic defending for both their goals, Gerard Doherty was terrible for the first. He's making a habit of that. Pulled off a couple of cracking saves later, mind.
We offered very little going forward, maybe lessons learnt from last year after we were tanked by Midtjylland.
I don't think there's any danger of Minsk not winning next week.
On the attendance, the club have stated 1,400. Not a chance there was that number. Even accounting for the 300 tickets given out free to youth clubs, I don't think it topped 1,000. I roughly counted 700 about ten minutes before KO.
Another statement by the chairman today, still completing missing the point. The whole fiasco has really damaged relations between the club and fans, it's completely unnecessary.
Surprised the crowd at Tallaght wasn't bigger. Any rovers fans know why? Not surprised with Derry major ÓG by the club.
The constant nonsense about our euro style vs dundalks is tedious to say the least. Our managers play different styles of football. You can prefer Kennys style, I imagine many do! But the prevailing theory that we'd be doing much better in Europe if we just went out and tried to play as Dundalk do is unsubstantiated nonsense.
We are aiming to qualify, not to entertain fans of other clubs watching on a stream. It was a fantastic night at the Cross on Tuesday and city fans walked away proud, if disappointed. Caulfield got it tactically spot on that night, and what we lacked was being clinical, not a different style of play.
We are being told if we just played Kennys way the results would be better. We played Levadia last year, the same style we play now, and we beat them by a goal more than dundalk did away. We're told that's because Levadia are stronger now, despite being in a worse league position.
We played Legia and lost by a goal less than dundalk did at home, presumably we'll be told that's because Legia are worse now. No matter what the results, Caulfield gets slaughtered because people don't like his style of play. And we get told the results would be better if we just did things differently.
It's nonsense. The comparisons themselves are nonsense. The opposition teams are very different than they were in previous seasons. Our own teams are very different than they were. Comparing like with like is impossible. The only worthy analysis is of each game on its own merits.
The reality is, we played very well against Legia. It was a disappointing result but a great performance. The idea that Caulfield doesn't motivate his players is bizarre. Man management is probably his biggest strength. His players have plenty of belief. Belief is not shown only in one particular way of playing football.
On the other side of it, Dundalk had an excellent win in Tallinn and it sounds like they could have won by more. I'd expect them to take them apart in Oriel when Tallinn need to push on more. Kenny is an excellent manager and his style seems to suit his team well in Europe, as evidenced by his achievements.
Caulfield wouldn't replicate these results by trying to be Kenny. Caulfields achievements in Europe, previously and in the future, will come via his own football, the way he plays as a manager. Will he ever match Kenny? Who knows, he's a long way to go to build up the experience Kenny has or match what he's managed at dundalk and Derry.
Both managers have their strengths, and how they do in Europe this season will come down to a combination of the luck of the draw, their motivation skills, and tactical decisions. Netiehr would do better by wholesale changes to their style of play just because its Europe.
Bradley on the other hand, I think he's still finding who he is as a manager. There are games they go all out attacking, and more recently games they've set up very defensively, that pragmatism is no harm (comparing it to Shiels for example) . It sounds like they were unlucky against AIK. Some good signings recently, who knows, hopefully they surprise the Swedes.
#Wow, that didn't seem like such a book when I was typing it. Apologies!!
Completely agree, and your point about differing approaches to football is also correct.
Personally, I am not suggesting the Cork should play like Dundalk. Cork are built on different strengths to Dundalk. The teams are put together differently.
What I, and others (I think), are questioning is whether small adjustments to the way Cork are set up would increase your goal threat while not materially opening you up to the opposition. I would be surprised if this is not a subject of discussion among Cork fans. While Dundalk fans have a lot of faith in Stephen Kenny, we do debate how the team is set up, the formation, and the starting eleven.
Of course that discussion is fair game. I've never correctly predicted a caulfield team, so the discussion happens constantly. The decision not to play Sadlier or Cummins was obviously a big one, and is debated a lot.
I wouldn't have played the same 11 as JC, but it was very very effective and exceeded my expectations of performance. It's hard to question when he keeps doing that. Who's to say my choice of 11 would have done better? It's more likely they wouldn't have. The tactics worked very very effectively. Unfortunately I think we're short the finisher we needed for it to work perfectly.
Thats not what the overwhelming majority have been saying though (more in other platforms than on here), it's been 'if Cork just had a go and tried to play football they might have won'. They go on about how we're not 'brave' or how we're 'cowardly'. No one at the game Tuesday would have used either word. It's armchair spouting of nonsense. That's the stuff I've an issue with.
This is just unbelievable stuff that yet again one of their managers was on holidays for their Euro games, Baxter from Crusaders missed at least one game due a family holiday in the past. It’s mickey Mouse stuff and so disrespectful to the players.
Not long home from Tallinn, great trip and a lovely city. Levadia were decent in the first half, but Dundalk should really have got a second, should be strong favs to advance how you’d think, but it will all be about the first goal.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
Any of next week's Euro fixtures likely to be shown live on TV ?
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
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