It's not an either-or. And the likes of Dundalk and Harps are severely hamstrung by catchment areas.Originally Posted by Mr A
I think I would go down the route of making the underage leagues and coaching standards here stronger and producing better players that way rather than splurging on bringing in marquee foreign signings, which seems to be an idea in vogue all of a sudden.
But the next silver bullet always tends to be more attractive than the building gradually and sustainably option
While as fans we all want our clubs to “progress “ I’m not sure it’s worth the kind of investment PEAK6 would need to make to have a realistic chance of progressing and even then there is the variables - luck of the draw, off day etc.
Maybe this stage is the LOI “glass ceiling “ ?
I don't think it is. I think the new Champions Path in the Europa League - including sides knocked out in the preliminary rounds of the CL - makes it easier for a small champion to reach the EL groups. Look at Linfield in the play-off round, at Dudelange reaching the groups last year and being in the play-off round this year against an Armenian team. Riga and Suduva are there too.
The CL groups is definitely harder to reach.
Meanwhile, a late winner for Zrinskij against Malmö, and a late equaliser for Sheriff against AIK mean that we'll drop below both Bosnia and Moldova in the UEFA rankings. We'll now be 42nd, down 5 places this year. Means the winners of this year's U19s league are unlikely to reach the UEFA Youth League, and of course we'd rather the league was improving instead of disimproving like it has been the past few years.
I see Riga beat HJK on away goals. Maybe this Riga side are better than they were given credit for.
Nah lets just keep bashing our clubs for losing to teams with superior resources
HJK are fifth in the Finnish league, hardly a giant killing.
Beating the fourth placed team in Denmark is amazing though? How about the champions of Poland?
Who beat Odense?
Well spotted, is beating Brann a better achievement?
Well yeah, the Norwegian league is ranked 23rd while the Finnish league is ranked 38th so its quite a bit better
Fair enough so the Polish champions then?
Yeah pretty impressive but it was on away goals and that polish team are a bit of a Leicester city an lost key players over the summer which takes the gloss off.
You've high standards. Remember that the next time you beat an SK Brann.
If Dundalk lost to Riga and then went on to beat Piast and HJK we'd be getting lots of praise. Instead we're getting bashed for underachieving. Fine margins and proves my point that we expect too much of our teams in Europe
You're forgetting we all watched Riga play twice and saw that they're a pretty poor team
I'm not really sure how to answer you anymore. They've just made the Europa League playoff by beating teams from leagues ranked above them. But you've seen them twice so I hold my hands up to your superior knowledge. Have you considered becoming the forums resident Latvian football expert?
Latvia are actually currently ranked above Finland.
What's with this Dundalk need to be considered perfect by everyone.
Riga are a poor side that got really lucky draws just as Linfield have and fair play to them getting this far but it doesn't mean they've become a good team.
Funny how me seeing Riga twice isn't enough but Dundalk fans seeing Jack Byrne 3 times is enough to proclaim McGrath is better or is it Murray he was the choice player not long ago, probably be someone else by the end of the season.
This is my whole point. We can't dismiss the other clubs results based on them beating lower ranked teams and then bemoan are own for not beating higher ranked teams with better resources. Yet we do it all the time.
I'm answering you based on your opinions, don't attribute others opinions of players to me thanks.
Nobody is bemoaning Dundalk for not winning, people are rightly saying Dundalk did not play well in Europe this year, and it wasn't as if they weren't being allowed to play well (except maybe Qarabag in spells) they just didn't.
Poor season all round, but at least Dundalk and Rovers picked up some significant coefficient for themselves.
For next year Dundalk's coefficient of 8.5 will be enough to be seeded in the first round of the CL if they win the league. Rovers would be unseeded in the CL. It's just possible (but unlikely) that Dundalk could sneak into the seeds for the second qualifying round, which would be a massive boost.
The only clubs with a chance of being seeded in the first round of the EL are Dundalk 8.5, Cork 4.75 and Shamrock Rovers 3.75, though Cork look unlikely to qualify. (3.25 was the cutoff point in 2019, it was 2.8 in 2018.) Dundalk would be seeded in the first two rounds of the EL and possibly the third.
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