Originally Posted by
CorribsideSteve
League Of Ireland players are mentally brittle. From my 22 years of watching LOI in Europe, a significant improvement on fitness and strength/conditioning has taken place, however, the same "Oh God, what do I do" panic station mentality exists in the same way now as it did in 1997. Whether it's being one on one with the keeper, or hitting the crossbar from 2 yards out, missing open goals, blasting shots from 40 yards out that land in Row Z, scoring comical own goals, conceding penalties and goals from inside the box through kamikaze calamity, I could go on for hours. There's a real inferiority complex once an LOI team take to the field against most opposition in Europe. Watching how well SRFC played against Brann was refreshing, but a rarity. Yes, Dundalk had spells to win the home leg vs Qarabg, but missed GOLDEN chances. As they did last week vs Slovan. The Riga matches were an absolute chore to watch. LOI sides MUST score almost every chance they get to be in with a shout, and the conversion rate, if I had to guess, is not 90% but more like 30.Of course this League of ours needs millions pumped into it, but it shouldn't cost millions to create and foster a mental steeliness within our best players through a dedicated coaching regimen that would improve those deficiencies. Some Dundalk fans here are saying they didn't play that badly. It's on the way towards being true, but what is closer to the truth is that their players this year really lacked mental decisiveness in the heat of battle. And it's a blight that affects all teams not just Dundalk, before any fans think it's just them I'm singling out. 22 years of saying "Ah ffs, schoolboy stuff, watching matches through my fingers at the cringe concession of yet another soft goal from 3 yards out that kills yet another tie. Oh look, the striker missed a sitter too down the other end, just to compound the situation". And yes, Qarabag and Norrkoping and the likes have multi million budgets choc full of talented players, but these sides never have to work very hard for their goals. LOI sides don't often lose because the opposition were miles better technically, they lose because they defeat themselves first with basic mistakes.
Bookmarks