Over to Rovers now. For Dundalk and Bohs to go beyond QR3 would be exceptional stuff, much less daunting v Teuta so no pressure. 1st year of ECL has benefited us, hard to gauge whether EL would have been much different in terms of the luck of the draw but so far so good and something to build on.
No thanks, lets get carried away t'f*ck.
I've been following these European fixtures religiously for years now and the experience is usually watching a dodgy stream with our teams under the cosh for 90 minutes and inevitably being punished for a sloppy mistakes.
Today though, I paid 20 quid for 2 proper broadcasts, and got some unbelievable value for money. Dundalk with a last minute winner and Bohs win 3-0 in the Aviva. These games go the other way so often with hard luck stories and then the long wait for another chance.
Can't really think of too many better days for the league, so think everyone is entitled to get as carried away as far as they possibly can.
On the co-efficient I think it's worth mentioning that we've got to 2 points already with Rovers not playing in what is arguably the most winnable round for Irish teams.
Our record in Europe so far this year is P12 W7 D2 L3.
I don't know how anyone who follows the league could look at that and not think this is f**king class.
I do think we could go close to replacing the 2.6ish we lose this year. Probably depends what Rovers do in Round 3 but maybe ourselves and Dundalk can chip in too.
Ah now!
Rovers v Partizan?
Dundalk v Alkmaar?
Benson's volley? Derry drawing with PSG? Shels drawing with Depor? Cork knocking out Nijmegen to reach the InterToto quarter-finals? Bohs beating Aberdeen?
There's been a few.
It's a great result for Bohs - not a hanging-on 0-0; but a comprehensive 3-0 win - and fair dues to them for it. But perspective is good.
Last edited by pineapple stu; 29/07/2021 at 9:26 PM.
The standard of European football is really through the roof at the moment. I think you can see it in just how well teams from small leagues are playing (a lot of them playing good football too), and its reflected in the results. Larne, Dinamo Batumi and Breidablik all with great results. No easy games in Europe, and the smaller leagues have never been closer to the mid sized leagues.
I'm 100% getting carried away, what a fecking night. Outstanding performance, will be a different kettle of fish against PAOK on Tuesday but glad the first leg is at home, hope we have a real go at them. Its just great to experience nights like that again after missing going to games for so long.
Fair play to Dundalk with their late winner, and its great for Irish football to have 3 teams going at this stage.
Coefficient is looking good too - we are the only country below 32nd place with 3 teams still in competition:
32 Belarus 3.250 5.000 2.500 1.500 0.250 12.500 4
33 Lithuania 2.375 2.625 1.625 1.625 1.500 9.750 1/ 4
34 Bosnia-Herzegovina 1.375 2.000 1.500 2.625 1.500 9.000 1/ 4
35 Luxembourg 0.875 2.625 3.000 1.000 0.750 8.250 1/ 4
36 Latvia 0.750 1.625 2.250 1.375 2.125 8.125 2/ 4
37 Albania 2.625 1.000 0.750 2.000 1.625 8.000 2/ 4
38 Kosovo 0.000 2.500 1.500 1.833 2.000 7.833 1/ 3
39 Northern Ireland 0.750 0.500 2.375 2.833 1.375 7.833 2/ 4
40 Moldova 2.750 1.125 0.750 1.375 1.750 7.750 1/ 4
41 Armenia 0.625 1.500 2.750 1.375 1.125 7.375 1/ 4
42 Ireland 1.125 1.000 1.250 1.875 2.000 7.250 3/ 4
43 Finland 1.250 0.875 1.625 1.375 1.875 7.000 2/ 4
44 North Macedonia 3.125 1.000 0.500 1.750 0.625 7.000 1/ 4
45 Faroe Islands 0.750 1.125 1.125 2.750 1.166 6.916 1/ 3
46 Georgia 0.125 1.625 2.250 1.750 1.125 6.875 1/ 4
47 Malta 1.375 1.500 0.750 1.500 1.625 6.750 1/ 4
48 Liechtenstein 2.000 1.500 2.500 0.500 0.000 6.500 1
49 Iceland 1.125 1.500 0.625 0.625 1.500 5.375 1/ 4
50 Wales 0.500 1.000 1.000 1.500 1.250 5.250 1/ 4
51 Gibraltar 0.500 1.000 1.000 1.666 0.750 4.916 1/ 4
52 Montenegro 1.125 0.375 1.000 1.625 0.750 4.875 4
53 Estonia 0.625 0.500 0.875 1.375 1.333 4.708 1/ 3
54 Andorra 0.166 0.833 1.500 0.666 1.500 4.665 3
55 San Marino 0.166 0.500 0.000 0.500 0.166 1.332 3
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Trophy Manager - online football managment game - I like it - I think I'm getting obsessed with it though.
Belarus having such a stinker of a year is great news for us. The way I see it now is that anyone from 32 down we can over take if we were to string together some more results.
35th place is the aim as it will likely get our cup winners straight in ECLQ2. We're 1 point and 7 places off that as of now.
Rovers really are the key if we're going to push the co-efficient towards 3.0 and push for that spot. It's more reasonable to hope that we could reach 35th by the end of next season but if Shamrock Rovers were to somehow go and qualify for the ECL group stage it could have us in and around there by the end of this season.
On the individual club rankings, all 3 clubs will get at least 2 points from this season. Meaning Rovers and Bohs should both be seeded should they make the same competitions again next year. Dundalk's ranking will only take a relatively small hit given they are losing their first group stage qualification rankings, would likely still be seeded for the first 3 rounds if they managed to win the cup..
From my reading of co-efficient, theres quite a few leagues above us that we have outperformed so far - Latvian league have done similar or better and then Polish league sides next remarkably. I know it doesnt mean moving ahead of other leagues significantly but i am surprised at some of the results this year.
Good results for LOI last night and a sign of progress perhaps, or just an acknowledgement of our level being the Europa Conference - which is no bad thing in my view.
Hopefully Rovers can get past Teuta, although our record in Europe when playing away second is not good. If we can take a lead to Albania and take it from there I guess.
Onwards and upwards.
Probably also worth acknowledging two very good draws in the second round. Bohs' pool was Belgium/Portugal/Scotland/Denmark/Luxembourg, while Dundalk had Slovakia/Sweden/Estonia/Hungary/Georgia - fair to say both got by far the best draw in those pools, albeit that Georgia would probably have been approachable too, and of course the Danish side in Bohs' pool got dumped out by Larne.
The ECL, as you say, has to be that little bit easier with the top 20 teams removed, and no preliminary round meaning 8 of the crappier teams are added. That's the point of the ECL of course, and it would have been nice to see them skew it even more towards the smaller leagues, but that was probably always wishful thinking.
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