LOI In Europe 2020

[Nesta99]

It is indeed remarkable how Dundalk have got to this stage, considering how things have gone for them this season, on and off the pitch.

But you do have to give them great credit regardless of what's gone on. The heads could have been down after Celje and the comedy show that became of their managerial appointment, but they've stuck at it, dug in their heels, and progressed in two rounds in two weeks, irrespective of opponent or performance, they done it and are 90 minutes away from group stage action once again.

I'd give my right arm for something like that at Harps. I genuinely hope Dundalk fans enjoy it, even our argumentative friends on board the good ship foot.ie.

I had this chat a few fans last night! I actually dont enjoy football when my teams is involved often. Nerve wrecking depending on the importance of the game. These days its that undertone of hoping the owners are satisfied to stay. Watching as a neutral I thoroughly enjoy football, even muck games. That said when you endure the stress of games and you are on the right side of results, there is no better feeling on this world!! At Dundalk we have had a good share of the good days and no shortage of last minute drama over the years. But we really never do things the easy way....supporters must be tortured as part of the occasion.

[Eminence Grise]

Bit late with this and it may have been done but feck it..

Dundalk shot the Sheriff, but can they shoot the Faroese?

Bohs in a race with Bob Marley's estate to see who can get their injunction in first!


Fair play to Dundalk. I'll hold my hands up as someone who thought Giovagnoli's appointment was the prelude to a car crash at 100mph. I don't think anybody can say Dundalk play as well as they did under Kenny, but it looks like the new man has stopped the slide and the form is gradually picking up.

I can't recall who brought it up, but there is something about Irish managers expecting to lose in Europe. And maybe foreign managers from cultures where that fear isn't a default setting communicate something less fatalistic to players. It'll be interesting to see when players from Rovers' and Dundalk's Euro runs become managers if they'll have a less fearful view of these games. Come back to me in a decade for an answer!

[passinginterest]

Great result from Dundalk. Wasn't completely focused on the game but from what I saw, the setup looked to be well rehearsed. Dundalk looked vulnerable to the counterattack in previous European games, but they seemed to be really well set up this time and didn't get caught out even when tiring. I thought they got the creative players involved in dangerous areas quite well too, there wasn't too many clear chances, but there was some nice crosses and pull backs from the end line that just didn't quite find a man. It definitely looked like a step up in terms of organisation and confidence from recent time. The coaching appointment was obviously a massive risk, but there has to be some credit due there. Yes they have a decent squad to work with, but it was showing some major cracks and they seem to be getting the best from some of the older players again, which is absolutely key for them at the moment.

[Nesta99]

The general story about town is that the players really enjoy the variations in training. The change up in formationsalso seems to suit as it isnt all plan a. Sometimes back to basics works, get t right, then evolve. Retrospecitvely maybe we stagnated and needed some new ideas. I can still see us geting a lesson by Rovers but priorities at this stage

[Ezeikial]

Will be interesting to see if the Dundalk supporters who have petulantly been dismissing the League of Ireland title this year as compromised and diminished will also take the same view of the Europa League - especially if they reach the group stages ?*

Arguably it has been even more compromised, given the huge dollop of luck Covid handed their Faroese opposition.

Still a great result all the same (though another poor performance).

Anyone know why Sheriff don't have a shirt sponsor btw ?

*(I think we all know the answer to that...)

Without a doubt the Europa League is different this season because of the Covid impacts. In some cases the single leg or away draw has worked to the advantage of some clubs and in other cases it has worked against them. Ki have rode their luck in relation to Slovan - fair dues to them.

They are certainly not the first underdog to make the EL playoffs and I doubt they will be the last

[geysir]

He based part of that on a 3-0 win not copping that it was a walkover score. Its another banana skin where we are favourites.

They impressed me against Young Boys and apart from scoring the 6, beating Tbilisi was not a surprise, it has to be said Tbilisi were poor but KI made mincemeat out of them.
Put KI's two performances side by side with Dundalk's two v Celje and Sherrif, then KI's performances come out on top.
KI will have no suspensions, Dundalk will be missing Shields?
Still Dundalk will dissect those two games from KI on video and take note of such things such as using Duffy to exploit the defensive weaknesses that gifted goals to the Young Boys.

This also demonstrates the effects of a Faroe FA using finances from UEFA and FIFA to develop facilities, coaching and infrastructure at local club level. The international set up is built on the strength of the local clubs.
Here you have a part time professional team from a rock bottom league in Europe, based in a small town (albeit in a stunningly beautiful landscape) in a remote region of an arctic atlantic archipelago, somewhere north of Rockall, who have transformed the way they play football. Inside a period of 3 years they have moved from euro trash whipping boys to something very decent and are now on the brink of making a history that should it happen, will expand the complexities of E = mc²

[paul_oshea]

Do you mean mincedmeat, or are we talking about fruits here? Whos this Tbilisi you speak of Lokomtiv? Is it like Split?

Great result from Dundalk. Wasn't completely focused on the game but from what I saw, the setup looked to be well rehearsed. Dundalk looked vulnerable to the counterattack in previous European games, but they seemed to be really well set up this time and didn't get caught out even when tiring. I thought they got the creative players involved in dangerous areas quite well too, there wasn't too many clear chances, but there was some nice crosses and pull backs from the end line that just didn't quite find a man. It definitely looked like a step up in terms of organisation and confidence from recent time. The coaching appointment was obviously a massive risk, but there has to be some credit due there. Yes they have a decent squad to work with, but it was showing some major cracks and they seem to be getting the best from some of the older players again, which is absolutely key for them at the moment.

Certainly the older players have been more focused and going the full 100, 100 % of the time, thats something that wasnt there in previous European outings. But the biggest change I noticed was the pressing, especially in the second half, they did to Sheriff what sheriff did to them in the first half, but sheriff didnt like it as much as Dundalk put up with it in the first half. They also tracked back in numbers so the counter attack wasn't a 3 on 3 or 4 on 3 at anytime, the midfield and wingers got back time and again, there were a couple of examples of this where the midfield, murray or shields had got too far forward and a winger came back to get in behind again. Under perth that organisation wasnt there. Theyve looked more solid on the counter but still looked a bit flaky in the tight situations. One other thing that was very evident from Sheriff was an ability to ping one touch passes about, but they weren;t getting through dundalk and at times dundalk were just happy to chase shadows, that smacks of a team who haven't played together or well drilled ideas from training. Ya you can pass the ball but so what?

[Martinho II]

Delighted for Dundalk after losing VP. I think the influence of Shane Keegan has increased since VP left. That man is also managing Portloaise Town and also managin some GAA team how he gets the time I never know? But he has great knowledge of the loi and always speaks well on OTB. Think Dundalk have a great chance

[ontheotherhand]

Good result for the cup runners up though Sheriff were surprisingly poor. Very wasteful with the ball and lethargic without it. Pre-season rustiness maybe but they looked bereft of a plan and made some comical errors. Dundalk looked like they are more defensively sound than they have been though so Filippo must be doing something right. We will see if he can do it in the league now as well. At this stage I think it's been a year since they beat either of the top 2 in Ireland but that squad is still phenomenal and should be able to reach higher levels.

[pineapple stu]

Pre-season rustiness maybe but they looked bereft of a plan and made some comical errors.

Can't really be pre-season rustiness given they're ten games into their league season (and have won every match)

They didn't even have a covid interruption like here (they've actually switched from a summer season to a winter season because of covid)

[ontheotherhand]

For whatever reason, Google's match history doesn't include their current season and makes it look like they haven't played games outside of Europe competition since February. It has their 2019 season but nothing from this year. I see on their website they are 10 in as you say. Perhaps they just have it too easy domestically and weren't ready to play a decent side?

[oriel]

Does the money earned in the qualifiers (1.4m) not add onto the group stage 2.9m? Bringing the total to over 4.4m, even before any money earned from group stage draws and wins.

I don't think so, its more the accumulative figure, so it adds up per round, but it will settle at almost 3m for whoever makes the group stage, then the bonus per win and draw is extra, but those who progress further via CL route and not KO in first round would get additional prize money.

[oriel]

I think we've banked €820,000 at this stage.

If we lose next Thursday we get an additional €300,000 along with €260,000 solidarity payment for not making either group stage, so that would bring it up to almost €1.4m.

But if we win we don't get that €560k, we get the base EL group stage €2.92m to add to the €820k, so in total €3.7m.

2016 was different as we reached the CL playoff round.

Think we made €7.1m in 2016 but when everything was taken out we banked about €3.3m.

The difference now though is Kenny won't be taking a giant bonus out of the winnings. I wonder if they even discussed such a bonus with Filippo when he was given the job.

The players got 40k each the last time. I'd hope that's considerably lower this time too, although they'd obviously deserve a nice one.

Think UEFA gave 40k travel expenses for each round, so that'll help with our 3 away ties so far.

No home crowds for the groups though and the Aviva will still probably be costly to open up.

Still a nice pot of cash on offer next Thursday.

This isn't correct, you are not accounting for the consolidation payment of 300k for not making CL group stage, so last night DFC started on 1.1m, then moved to 1.4 or so after the shoot out win. The pot of cash next Thurs is to change the current 1.4 into almost 3m.

Note the monies are for the rounds you qualify for, not extra for winning.

The reduced figure (potential to earn) for 2020 v 2016 is due to the route we took, people forgetting in 2016, the win v BATE qualified in advance to EL group, then the free shot a week later for the CL group v Legia, the 'loss' of not making the CL group stage was one of the reasons for the additional figures.

However valid point on the bonuses, it was far too high in 2016, including what the mgt team got. I would think 20-25k would be sufficient this time, IF we make it.

[oriel]

Personal insults don't really count for a discussion point Kiki.

The Faroese got a walkover in the CL first round against a Slovan side who would have been heavy favourites. In fact, Slovan had two entire teams scratched due to covid. That gave KÍ a higher seeding, and an easier draw, than they would otherwise have gotten last night. All that counts as quite lucky in my book.

I don't know why you're talking about Dundalk blowing anyone away? I never said anything along those lines.

Did I think Dundalk made them look ordinary? I thought it was a game between two poor teams to be honest, which Sheriff marginally shaded. No more than that. I don't think you can define a "pedestrian team" as one that would have lost that game; that's a bit too narrow a definition.

So I still think it was an excellent result, but not a great performance. Both of those can be true.

Remarkable comment, I haven't read a single article today which suggested anything other than Dundalk should have won it in 90. Apart from the bullet header they scored, and given they were the home team, I don't recall Rogers having to make a serious save?

[Charlie Darwin]

I expect Europe fooball next season and would not be a all surprised to be taking on Dinamo Tbilisi for a place in the EL Group stages on 1 Oct

Joke's on you, Zeke!

[Charlie Darwin]

On the game, I thought Dundalk played. I mean, they're obviously not at the level of the 2016 team or even this time last year, but they kept the tempo low and probably showed more of a willingness to win the game. One of the issues for Irish teams in Europe is often impatience but Dundalk showed plenty of it and probably should have won in 90 minutes. Agree Sheriff weren't as good as their ranking suggests but, while Sheriff probably have a better overall standard of player, their league is an even lower standard than us so they might be finding it hard to get back up to European level.

[The Lilywhites]

This isn't correct, you are not accounting for the consolidation payment of 300k for not making CL group stage, so last night DFC started on 1.1m, then moved to 1.4 or so after the shoot out win. The pot of cash next Thurs is to change the current 1.4 into almost 3m.

Note the monies are for the rounds you qualify for, not extra for winning.

The reduced figure (potential to earn) for 2020 v 2016 is due to the route we took, people forgetting in 2016, the win v BATE qualified in advance to EL group, then the free shot a week later for the CL group v Legia, the 'loss' of not making the CL group stage was one of the reasons for the additional figures.

However valid point on the bonuses, it was far too high in 2016, including what the mgt team got. I would think 20-25k would be sufficient this time, IF we make it.

Did you just read the first line of my post? As I mentioned the €260k solidarity payment in the next line! We don't get that if we make the EL groups (it's a payment for not making either UEFA group stage).

If we lose on Thursday we end up with a pot of almost €1.4m (€820k + €560k) but currently we've banked €820k. We get the €560k only if we lose on Thursday.

That €560k figure disappears if we win and we get the €2.92m payment for the group stage, bringing our total winnings to €3.7m.

[Ezeikial]

I can still see us geting a lesson by Rovers but priorities at this stage

I don't share your pessimism Nesta! A lot depends on how FG decides to approach this match. If he picks a first choice team and goes for it, then it should be a cracker (although he has plenty of choice as the squad is hardly small). It's also a test of character for Rovers, although i'ts really a free shot for them - even a defeat for them will have little impact on their title challenge.

That all said, we have bigger fish to fry and need to prioritise Thursday's match

[Ezeikial]

Joke's on you, Zeke!

LOL

Qulle surprise!

[pineapple stu]

Remarkable comment, I haven't read a single article today which suggested anything other than Dundalk should have won it in 90. Apart from the bullet header they scored, and given they were the home team, I don't recall Rogers having to make a serious save?

Ah would you stop. I certainly don't think there was anything in that match which justifies anyone saying "Dundalk should have won it in 90". What article said that - the Dundalk website or the Democrat? Plenty here have said Dundalk weren't great as well. They were better than against Celje, yes, but the shyness in front of goal was still there.

Yes, Rogers didn't have a serious save to make - but then I'm not suggesting Sheriff should have won it in 90. As I said, I thought it was a poor match between two poor teams.

Like, I get that watching the game as a Dundalk fan is a different experience from watching the game as a neutral - especially when the result probably means the lights get kept on for another couple of years. And it was a great result - I've said that before. But let's leave out the shocked uproar whenever someone suggests that the performance wasn't much. A bit of objectivity can't hurt.