Hahahahahahaha. Funniest thing i've heard all season.Originally Posted by thejollyrodger
Oliy has spent a fortune this season putting together highest paid & most experienced eL squad ever! I'm sure most of that team have several years left in their contracts so don't know how you'll be able to replace.
Besides you won't be in the CL next season.
Basically I hear the club has been run very poorly with no attempt at changing a detiorating squad. I have no idea how Rosenborg budget or spend but I do know Shels severely screwed Hajduk financially who had banked on beating them in their budget.
I think Rosenborg got a new Manager this season...
Countries with 1 consistent League winner usually do better in Europe as the same team gets chance in CL every season. If the Norwegian league gets more competitive like the Swedish league they'll probably do worse in the CL.
Every goal was a gift but in fairness they deserved to win. If the manager is too stupid to pick people like Joey Ndo then what can you expect? Until he and Hoolahan came on we had nobody in mid field who could get on the ball and pass the thing, who wanted the ball. They changed the match but it was too little too late.
As for Crawley, he's always been sh*t, so no change there.
they were by no means anything special. With the right team and some ambition we could have taken them, no doubt whatsoever.
Last edited by Slash/ED; 04/08/2005 at 1:28 AM.
Really sorry for you Shels guys. When Byrne's goal went in thought a drawbwas on the cards.
Those goals though - for fcuks sake - bad enough missing three centre halves but to commit hari-kiri like that??? What was Crawley playing at???
Still, some of Shels play, particularly in the second half, was enjoyable to watch and Crowe, Baker and Byrne (again) might have scored.
Commisserations lads.
To be honest, I thought $hels played well, but defensively were a shambles. Up to Delaney's mistake there was a real chance of a result.
Fleming, Ndo and Hoolahan all made a majr impact when they came on - Fair nuff about Hoolahan's fitness, but how was Fleming not on earlier, with that defence?
Mick D. for Ireland!
Shels deserved what they got - 4 stupid errors cost them lastnight and being negative in the first leg also cost them imo as if they had've had a go in tolka they probably would've won.
As for crawley, what a player- you would expect fleming to take his place asap (but please not til after mondays game against us)
DAN CONNOR HATES CITY, HE HATES LANGERS
Even if cork or derry win the cup and both come in a euro spot, the third spot will go to the cup runners-up so still no euro footie for shels. (that is, if the IC is gone)
"I don’t want to tempt fate, but Thierry Henry is not having one of his best nights." - RTE co-commentator Jim Beglin, minutes before TH struck the stunning winner.
In fairness, they clearly put in a better performance then we did, even if it was seriously flawed in certain areas. As always, imo Heary, Hoolahan, stuey are all players who i would be proud to show off in europe. Pity Heary gave up the peno like that.Are there any Longford fans who want to call for Shels to be banned from representing the country in European football again.
Still though, if i were to act like a lot of our detractors post last thursday, then i would take the 4-1 result and claim steaua wiped the floor with Shels
"I don’t want to tempt fate, but Thierry Henry is not having one of his best nights." - RTE co-commentator Jim Beglin, minutes before TH struck the stunning winner.
Agree on both counts.Shels deserved what they got - 4 stupid errors cost them lastnight and being negative in the first leg also cost them imo as if they had've had a go in tolka they probably would've won.
As for crawley, what a player
Okay the four goals were absolute píss takes and, except in the case of Crawley, you can't account for that sort of thing but we never had a chance when we weren't willing to go out and do ourselves justice espically in Tolka. Should have attacked them then espically after the first half rather than sit back and let them come on to us. Ndo should have started, how he doesn't start is beyond my understanding and always will be.
Steaua are a fairly decent team but they were never creative in either leg against us, there was no cutting edge there. All goals were handed to them, any sunday league team would have put all four away bar maybe the first which was a great finish. There was no reason for us to sit back so much against them, when Hoolahan and Ndo came on it was like a different team and if anything we were in control, but we lacked the ambition espically in Tolka to do anything about it.
Unless its a Cork v Derry final!
just one comment on Ndo - he did ONE piece of skill when he came on - admittedly a juicy turn (and subsequently fluffed his cross cum shot) - his second and last contribution was to up end a marker that he let free....
its easy to exaggerate his potential like several people here do - he hints at a lot to offer - but rarely delivers in 90 minutes i find
He delivers ALOT more than some of the other clowns in that mid field, espically Ollie Cahill who was hopeless again.
Hate to say I told you so, but Delaney was badly exposed last night and just isnt good enough for Shels.
Between him and crawley they pretty much handed the tie away.
Dont understand why Williams was dropped becasue I cant ever remeber him causing Shels a goal and even if he did he wins Shels more games and points than he loses.
The word scapegoat comes to mind
The most annoying thing about last night is that Shels could and prob should have won. I wouldnt be too harsh on Fenlon and his tactics. If he went and attacked Steaua in either leg which resulted in an early goal for Steaua we would be on his back then too.
There are however a number of glaring mistakes from the two years euro experiences.
One, Jason Byrne is wasted in midfield, the man should be played up front no matter what.
Two, Crawley, Im sure hes a nice lad but he is rubbish, I cant believe after his performances last year that he still held his place this year. If any player at any level attempted the clearance he did last night, he would be dropped. I cant remember his name but the lad who scored the first steaua goal rang rings around him in Tolka and again last night particularly the first goal. Why Fleming wasnt started last night I dont know.
Third, we're getting there, if we can continue this upward trend it is not inconceivable that an EL team will be in the group stages. Ironically despite exiting a round earlier, shels prob had a better chance of making it this year.
All in all its just a shame that two/three terrible defensive errors that would be punished in any division were made by shels last night. Tactically perhaps wasnt the best either but hindsight is a great thing. Heres to Cork City this year and prob next year in the CL
We're all experts after the event, but what sticks in the craw about last night's result is that the manner of Shels' collapse was both highly preventable and highly predictable.
In the lead-up to the game, Fenlon repeated his "keep it tight for the first twenty minutes" mantra ad nauseum. Fair enough, Nutsy, but there's more to it than simply telling your players to "keep it tight." You have to realise the doctrine on the field of play. This means obstructing and disrupting your oppponents' lanes of passing (didn't happen), observing basic defensive principles, retaining possession of the ball where possible to offer your defence some relief. And if, for arcane reasons of your own, you've decided to omit the only players at your disposal who are capable of achieving this, at least instruct your forwards to run the channels rather than accepting the ball flat on the half-way line with nowhere to run and no realistic pass to play. This at least ensures that your opponents' back four will think twice before embarking upon cavalier sorties upfield with the ball at their feet.
For all that Fenlon may bemoan the misguided focus of youth development in this country and its failure to produce technically capable players (but would such players flourish in a league where every manager's vision of the ideal footballer is Jim Crawford?), we not only must, but CAN, make better use of the raw material currently available.
A leading authority on League of Ireland football since 2003. You're probably wrong.
We're not asking Fenlon to attack hell for leather. Just set out with a 4-4-2, play their normal game. 5 across the midfield with 1 up front tells you and your opponents you expect them to dominate you and you're just going to soak it up. You deny yourself hugely the possibility of getting something from the game. In the first leg Crowe would often receive the ball 25-30 yards from goal isolated with no options. Possession is lost, Steaua drive forward, Shels win the ball and then it repeats. There's no point in codding himself that he's not sitting back by playing Jason Byrne in midfield. Byrne is not a good all round footballer even, he's a good striker. The attitude adopted is too negative. I don't want some ultra positive attitude. I just want them to play their game as they usually would with two very capable strikers up front.
You're all spot on except the criticism of Delaney is harsh, he was rubbish but he's been outstanding for us so far.
Fenlon got praise last year and deserves a hell of alot of stick this year. There is no reason why we couldn't have beaten Steaua, even with our own limiting tactics we got within a goal of winning! His team selection was wrong, his tactics were wrong and his mentality is wrong.
The annoying thing is that Steaua weren't that great, they were good but they never cut through us. We were denied the chance to do ourselves justice by his own selections and tactics. Certain players just aren't upto it but he seems to be completley blind to this while it's the skillfull players who get dropped like Ndo. His whole mentality is wrong and we can't progress in Europe while that remains the case.
......if Roy Carroll made that air ball mis kick - Europe would be laughing their heads off - the criticism is deserved.....stupidity should not be rewarded or brushed aside with - "ahh thats a bit harsh" "ahh poor crawley" - they committed 4 stupid amateur level mistakes and gave Steau the tie.
No excuses. Just 4 errors.
No I agree he deserves the criticism for his performance but people calling for him to be dropped is a bit harsh, that's his first bad game for us. If he plays like that again then he will be dropped.
As for Crawley, he's just sh*t and deserves all the criticism he gets.
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