Well that's that. 2-0 is slightly harsh, but the Swedish side are just too good. And for all Irish sides in Europe, you've got to score nearly every chance you get, or you're going out.
Pats outclassed, really. Cork - uh!
Still a fair chance for Dundalk and Rovers to go through.
Impressed by eirsport coverage. Thanks lads!
2-0
It will be eleventy nil in Sweden.
Waterford fans are gas. Their own owner and the FAI conspired to absolutely make a shambles of this season for them but the finger gets pointed at Pats. Makes sense that a fan base that turned a blind eye to signing...certain players would do that though.
I'd rather the smack jokes and a trip to Sweden tbh.
We were poor but was to be expected, this was essentially a free shot at Europe thanks to the charity of Lee Power, Waterford and their friend John Delaney. No point in banging on about Kenny when there'll be games in the league where we'll play similarly against far lesser teams and the complaints will hold more merit. He's been atrocious though and three formations in one game is indicative of that.
Mixed night. Very good result for Rovers, puts them in pole position to go through. Tallaght should be packed next week.
Pats did as well as could be expected for a team that were parachuted into the completion at the last minute. Cork are unrecognisable from the team that earned their place in the competition. I feared a humiliation for them but they did well to keep the score line respectable. That in itself is a great achievement for Cotter.
It’s time to stop seeing Luxembourg as a soft draw , we barely got by each a few year back. I reckon both leagues are as bad as each other now.
Embarrassing night for us.
A bad error by Horgan on the end line gifted them the first and the air just went out of the place. Horgan gave away a penalty then for a clumsy challenge before he was hooked off and we went back to 4-5-1 after starting 3-5-1-1. Then Sheppard missed a penalty to complete a miserable 30 mins. Game ebbed away after that. We had all the play but didn't manage to fashion a single decent chance. They were ok but physical, well organised and that was it really. Not a good team at all as evidenced by the two games against Cardiff anyway. We could have gone to Ibrox.
Last edited by Real ale Madrid; 11/07/2019 at 9:49 PM.
So the LoI has dropped to 41st in the UEFA rankings, having ended last year 37th. Armenia and Finland are within half a point and could yet catch us. It's our lowest ranking since 2014; 1997 and 1998 are the only other years we were ranked as low. Our (post Communist break-up) peak was 29th in 2010.
Basically we've had two group stage qualifications in the past decade and that's about it for Europe. Take the last three years only, and we're in 49th position - so this is potentially how far we'll drop if we don't replace Dundalk's 2015/16 season in the next two years. That's pre-qualifying for the Europa League phase territory.
Coupled with how much the national team has regressed, and how bankrupt the FAI evidently are, it's safe to say John Delaney is only brilliant and absolutely the best person ever to be CEO of the FAI.
Football in this country really needs a thorough overhaul if it's to catch up to the rest of the continent (though that's going slightly off topic; it's not because of tonight's results!)
Last edited by pineapple stu; 11/07/2019 at 10:32 PM.
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