QuoteOuchie. That might be the toughest tie as well as the least attractive financially?Originally Posted by ger121
Are Shamrock Rovers over bothered about making the Europa League over the Conference League? A few years back at the EL playoff stage, they didn't seem over concerned.
Ouchie. That might be the toughest tie as well as the least attractive financially?
Pyunik won their tie with a very late goal in the 2nd leg against Struga, after losing the 1st leg.
Ordabasy won on penalties vs Differdange. They also lost first leg away in Luxembourg. Seen the highlights of that game and they looked ordinary enough.
Pyunik well beaten by Slovan 6-3 in CLQ1. Ordabasy lost 1-0 agg to Petrocub.
Both clubs would be another bit down from Celje but if I was picking one to face I’d be leaning towards Pyunik.
Either Iberia Tbilisi or Istabul Basaksehir if Pats can manage to beat Sabah. Another long trip if they do it. Almost certain to be Turkey, you'd think.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
I personally thought 3 of the ties were tougher. Petrocub, Ballkani and HJK in that order. Unless of course the non-seeded sides win but unlikely. Petrocub of all the unseeded sides in CLQ2 did the best and ran APOEL very close. Ballkani and HJK despite surprise losses in CLQ1 have decent European pedigree and plenty of recent group stage experience. The easiest one on paper was probably Vikingur or Flora and maybe more so if the Estonians win that tie.
Could have been a lot worse.
I actually forgot that you would draw the loser of Petrocub and TNS. That really was the one to get then.
The set-up of the Conference League draw means that Vikingur need to win 2 more ties vs Estonian and probably Andorran opposition to make the group stage, while Rovers while having two bites of the cherry have Celje and either Pyunik or Ordabasy.
Is there not more money in the EL route?
€700k more for getting to Europa League group stage.
€130k extra for winning a match in EL group stage versus ECL
€50k extra for a draw in EL group stage
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
It's an interesting question.
You get 700k more for qualifying but uou very probably got more of a chance of a win and extra money in the conference. Tbh we need groups of any description
Finish 3rd in the Europa League group and you get into ECL knockout round.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
That's not the case anymore. With the change in format to a single league there's no backdoor into the Conference League. There's two extra games in the Europa League version compared to the Conference now so that's extra revenue for whoever gets there.
Maybe with the new format a LOI club could conceivably get a result or two in the Europa league, where as before they'd be bottom seed only and playing some pretty strong clubs. For that reason I'd lean conference league, but we'll need to actually see the new format play out first and see
Well at €130k extra per win, and €700k more just for qualifying, you'd have to be doing extremely well in the Conference Group stages to be better off financially than in the Europa groups. Which seems extremely unlikely for Irish clubs.
I'd say ye should ask a mechanic to take a look at that bus there Bendy
Kenny has always been a whinger this isnjust par for the course for him. Galway are 100% right to say no. Pats are a potential rival for a European place. This level of whinging from Kenny shows he is under pressure to make Europe. Not sacking type pressure but just living up to expectations of owner type pressure
Not so sure about the schedules in USA.
For NFL at least, the regular season consists of just 17 games. Thereafter those teams which make the play-offs play 3 more games (max) to make the Superbowl. And remember, with all the stoppages etc, it generally takes them 3 hours to complete a 60 minute game (good for sales of beer and hotdogs, mind!) While I'm not aware of any equivalent to Cup games, whether domestic or Continental. Plus the teams are divided geographically into two Conferences.
Major League Baseball teams do play tons of matches, but there's nowhere near the same physical demands on them. Ditto Basketball (obv).
The NHL guys do play loads of games, mind - it's a helluva tough game, but I'm not sure how they cope?
Meanwhile, I can't comment on the demands which GAA games make on their participants, but Rugby, while an incredibly tough sport, is not quite as you describe it (imo). For one thing, they aren't actually "crashing into each other full pelt for 80 minutes" - what with all the scrums, lineouts and restarts etc, the ball is only actually in play for around half that time (Or 38 minutes in the English Premiership last season, to be precise). And that actuallyrepresents an increase in recent years - in the 1995 World Cup, it was just under 26 minutes!
Then add in the ever increasing use of substitutes, which must relieve the burden on struggling players.
Again, can't comment on LOI players, but Football everywhere, and esp so at the higher levels, requires ever higher levels of fitness if players are to perform to their maximum over the course of a season.
Granted you don't get the same physical contact, but the ball is in play for much longer on average, the distances being covered are getting ever longer, while crucially, there are more high intensity sprints than ever before. This last makes them ever more prone to injury, esp in the latter stages of games, so that even if a player is physically "fit" to play the next game, very often he's carrying minor knocks and strains into each game.
Which is not to feel "sorry" for them - most players can physically cope with 50+ games a season, but it is impossible to maintain optimum fitness and sharpness over that period - esp when the off-season break is getting ever shorter.
I'll be disappointed if Kerry ever agree to postponing a game to suit a club in Europe. The positive for clubs in Europe is the potential for making big money. The flip side is they still have domestic responsibilities and must use their squads. If that works in favour of their domestic rivals, so be it. Extra games are part and parcel of being successful.
Clubs playing Tuesday - Tuesday in Europe should be able to play domestically on Friday. Saturday if Wednesday - Wednesday and Sunday if Thursday - Thursday. If a situation ever arises where a club has to play in Europe on Wednesday - Tuesday, a postponement should be automatically arranged where the gap between European games is less than seven days.
Projected Pots for Conference League. Rovers no longer included. Has Celje and Pyunik in Pots 6 and 4. Lot of bridges to cross yet and it changes constantly over time.
Be some group stage for Rovers to make because they were always projected to be in Pot 4 but they could even scrape Pot 3 if they make it.
Rovers have drawn a stinker, there's no 2 ways about it. The less difficult way forward is to go all out and beat Celje, ditch the ultra defensive away inferiority complex, the alternative loser conference play off tie looks to be between a rock and a hard place.
On Vikingur Reykjavik's draw v Flora (who were trashed by Celje), the winner likely plays an Andorran side in the play off , that draw couldn't have been bought for Eur2m.
Not saying VR will prevail v Flora.
I had a look over the first round Conference qualifiers and noted that more lower seeded teams that played at home first, prevailed over those that were higher seeded in the draw. It's not a scientific evaluation not least because there are many different factors involved into why a lower seed might prevail in a tie other than travel related, nevertheless it's a curiosity.
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