LoI in Europe 2024

[sbgawa]

Rovers have a free hot on Tuesday but I expect us to lose to a team as strong as Sparta. Stubis right re full time pros and pre season, they will all have had programmes to stick to during the summer and will be miles ahead technically. If we do lose by a couple on Tuesday we should be taking a practical approach to the second leg.

[Acornvilla]

I think the fitness part can be over-done a bit - they're professional footballers and they won't have turned to blobs because they've had two weeks of a sun holiday. (I think it's different with a part-time club like Bruno's Magpies - pre-season can make a bigger difference there)

The bigger issue for Sparta is they'll still be gelling in new players and a new manager (though they've appointed their assistant, which should help with continuity). But they got to the last 16 of the Europa League last year - they were knocked out of the CL on penalties by Copenhagen, beat Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa playoffs, came out of a group with Rangers, Betis and Aris Limassol, beat Galatasaray in the first knock-out round and finally lost 11-2 to Liverpool. There's some serious results there, and it wasn't a one-off run. Rovers have a habit of being exposed by this sort of team. A home draw would be a great result. I don't see it happening though.

Pat's - Kenny is a good LoI manager and has European pedigree too, but I think this tie is maybe a year too soon. Their league form is still poor - two wins in nine since Kenny took over - and though Kenny is starting to change the squad around, that won't really help much with the game next week.

I think with the way the second round draw has gone, we'll be doing very well indeed to maintain our current position by the season's end.

Good point on Waterford/Galway - I think without any European history, they're going to be unseeded next year if they get there. But that doesn't matter as much as you'd think - Shels were unseeded this year, but could have faced Breidablik, Dudelange, Tre Penne, Crues or Joey's. Get a regular European qualifier from a poor league and that's as good as being seeded.

I take your point re fitness, I was thinking as much, that their star players may be jaded, and just back from a bit of a holiday, you hear a lot of pro's saying it takes them 5/6 games to really feel back in to the swing of things. I don't expect them to be unfit, but just not at 100%, I don't think it'll matter over the course of the tie by any means, but just that nicking a tight draw at home is Rovers best bet of doing anything.

I enjoy Vaduz' strange existence in world football, and keep an eye out for them every year since Longford played them, I just think they're very weird, and can occasionally be terrible, I expect Pat's will put an awful lot in to it because their season is all over the place, Kenny probably needs a big result, I also expect them to beat Derry after their Euro exertions, I think the hour with 10 men will have taken a lot out of them, they looked shattered. So the vibes and momentum might be a bit better around Richmond than they would have been before the transfer window.

I reckon Rovers will lose in CL Q2. Worst case they lose EL Q3, they'll surely be seeded in ECL Q4 and would get likely get a decent draw against another side that's lost two rounds, definitely no gurantees. We're going to rely heavily on them to keep the league in top 33. But with the new formats that's basically it for every small nation sub 30th. Very few nations below us will be picking up points by q3 I'd imagine.

[brendy_éire]

Its would be hard to sack him on the basis of going out tonight after a harsh sending off.
Maybe if they were way off the pace in the league as well he would be gone on the basis the new guy could start the rebuild between now and end of season.
Cant see him going before seasons end but equally cant see him being there for the new season if they dont beat Shels to the title.

It's not so much last night that done us (though some questions to be asked about the latter stages), but the result over in Gibraltar. IMO, he should have resigned after that.
Utterly pathetic stuff over the two legs, but is anyone all that surprised?
It's the worst result I've witnessed as a Derry City fan, and it's up there with the worst result of any LoI club in Europe. Longford and Bohs losing to Wales sides springs to mind, it's certainly in that category. Magpies are not a good side. Tall, physical, but that's basically it. We should never have been in any danger of losing that tie.
Higgins talks about unacceptable performances, but in reality, they are accepted. We're half way through the July, and we've made one signing, another midfielder. We're crying out for a couple of centre halves. It looks like we'll be keeping the same squad until the end of the season.

FWIW, I think Higgins will be here to the end of the season. We have Pats in the cup on Sunday, who are coming up to Derry on the Saturday night, so must be taking it very seriously. They'll be fancying their chances. Then, unless it's moved, Shels are up next. Lose those two, and the season is over.

[pineapple stu]

I take your point re fitness, I was thinking as much, that their star players may be jaded, and just back from a bit of a holiday, you hear a lot of pro's saying it takes them 5/6 games to really feel back in to the swing of things. I don't expect them to be unfit, but just not at 100%, I don't think it'll matter over the course of the tie by any means, but just that nicking a tight draw at home is Rovers best bet of doing anything.

Not disagreeing overall at all - I think it's more general team cohesion that's the factor. It's not long since Bohs and Dundalk gave PAOK and Vitesse proper frights despite their opponents clearly being better; the LoI guys were that bit more match sharp and took their chances whereas the others missed a hatful. It's certainly possible. It's the main reason the LoI moved to summer soccer after all.

Very few nations below us will be picking up points by q3 I'd imagine.

Just takes one of them to reach the groups and they could pick up a decent amount. Last year I think there were five countries ranked lower than us that had teams in the groups (Bosnia, Iceland, Faroes, Kosovo and Finland)

Looking at the Champions League for example - Belarus, Wales, Bosnia, Latvia, the Faroes, Andorra, Lithuania and Gibraltar all have their champions one win away from the group stages (same as Rovers are at present)

[Acornvilla]

I both have absolutely no confidence in Rovers, but still for some reason think they'll make the ECL groups, and that anyone below us will end up just about mirroring us

[Burnsie]

beginning to think we shoulda sent Sligo's reserves into Europe

[oriel]

It's not so much last night that done us (though some questions to be asked about the latter stages), but the result over in Gibraltar. IMO, he should have resigned after that.
Utterly pathetic stuff over the two legs, but is anyone all that surprised?
It's the worst result I've witnessed as a Derry City fan, and it's up there with the worst result of any LoI club in Europe. Longford and Bohs losing to Wales sides springs to mind, it's certainly in that category. Magpies are not a good side. Tall, physical, but that's basically it. We should never have been in any danger of losing that tie.
Higgins talks about unacceptable performances, but in reality, they are accepted. We're half way through the July, and we've made one signing, another midfielder. We're crying out for a couple of centre halves. It looks like we'll be keeping the same squad until the end of the season.

FWIW, I think Higgins will be here to the end of the season. We have Pats in the cup on Sunday, who are coming up to Derry on the Saturday night, so must be taking it very seriously. They'll be fancying their chances. Then, unless it's moved, Shels are up next. Lose those two, and the season is over.

I looked at the Magpies team and from memory looks largely similar to who we played last July, I was worried about our away leg due to the heat, and I was there to witness it at 33c at 5pm KO, so I was happy enough with a 0-0 draw. We beat them comfortably 3-1 at home in the second leg, and I didn't think they looked up to much, prob LOI mid table FD standard, so its a bitter pill for Derry to swallow this one I`m afraid.

As I said a few times on here, Higgins is a coach, not a manager, but not sure I`d agree he should have been sacked after first leg, but has to be on thin ice now, for starters the player budget must be 50k+ a week, you / he has to be doing better than this with that outlay.

[ger121]

Out of 6 matches we’ve had players sent off in 4 of those matches. 2 for diving I think. Being down to 10 men certainly made it tougher for Rovers in both games. It probably cost Derry progression as they would have beaten Magpies 3/4-0 with 11 on the pitch, or at the very least in ET. Europe is tough as it is so you don’t want to be giving teams an extra advantage. I feel our discipline has cost us to some degree in the games to-date.

[yurt]

Silver lining from the Derry result is that they've saved me 20 quid from paying a 10er twice to see them defend again Copenhagen.

[CorribsideSteve]

Silver lining from the Derry result is that they've saved me 20 quid from paying a 10er twice to see them defend again Copenhagen.

Well, they would have lost 12-0, so it's a silver lining for many of us. Spare a thought for the players that signed for Derry, drawn by the lure of playing in Europe, only to later find it all too difficult to get past the 1st round and one of the weakest teams on the whole continent.

[Another Bohemia]

Well, they would have lost 12-0, so it's a silver lining for many of us. Spare a thought for the players that signed for Derry, drawn by the lure of playing in Europe, only to later find it all too difficult to get past the 1st round and one of the weakest teams on the whole continent.

Just watched the highlights of the game there. I think your assessment of magpies is spot on. I know looks can be deceiving but a few of their players looked a little rotund. Losing 2-0 to that side is embarrassing. Ill give Higgins credit on one thing though. He has built a team in his image. I always thought of him as a player who's a bit overrated and lacked either graft of clinical edge to be truly great. That's exactly how I feel about this Derry team.

[total hoofball]

I watched the highlights just there aswell of Derry/Magpies, they looked similar to St. Joseph's technically limited but physically more than able to compete

In some defence of Derry that decision to send off O'Reilly was ridiculous, I see it was an Andorran referee, Shels also had a different Andorran referee for the Joseph's game at Tolka and he let them away with absolute murder, I would have thought UEFA assigning referees from another microstate sharing same language as the majority of the players from one of the opposition would have been considered a sketchy refereeing assignment?

[Another Bohemia]

I watched the highlights just there aswell of Derry/Magpies, they looked similar to St. Joseph's technically limited but physically more than able to compete

In some defence of Derry that decision to send off O'Reilly was ridiculous, I see it was an Andorran referee, Shels also had a different Andorran referee for the Joseph's game at Tolka and he let them away with absolute murder, I would have thought UEFA assigning referees from another microstate sharing same language as the majority of the players from one of the opposition would have been considered a sketchy refereeing assignment?

Agreed on the O'Reilly decision. You know it's a bad one when the opposition aren't even calling for it. I thought Derry looked to play well in the 2nd leg even down to 10. My point is more so on the 1st leg. That result is an embarrassment when you can outplay the opponent for a good amount of time in the 2nd leg with 10 men. It's just an inexcusable collapse. There are certainly factors like the weather to consider but Derry are set up to play with the ball and hold possession which should benefit them in those conditions but for whatever reason they lost 2-0 and ultimately put themselves out of the tie

[pineapple stu]

I see it was an Andorran referee, Shels also had a different Andorran referee for the Joseph's game at Tolka and he let them away with absolute murder, I would have thought UEFA assigning referees from another microstate sharing same language as the majority of the players from one of the opposition would have been considered a sketchy refereeing assignment?

I think those sort of arguments can be just reading too much into things. Viking could similarly have complained about an English ref in Tallaght.

(Also, the pedant in me feels obliged to point Andorra and Gibraltar don't share the same language - the official language of Andorra is Catalan and of Gibraltar is English).

[sbgawa]

I think those sort of arguments can be just reading too much into things. Viking could similarly have complained about an English ref in Tallaght.

(Also, the pedant in me feels obliged to point Andorra and Gibraltar don't share the same language - the official language of Andorra is Catalan and of Gibraltar is English).

Jeez the last thing Viking would have been complaining about in Tallght was the ref

[placid casual]

Rovers will play winners of Steau Bucharest or Macabi tel aviv if they get past Sparta Prague

[legendz]

I haven't taken much notice of the European campaigns over the last two seasons. If European success is supposed to be important for the league brand, it probably will take a standout result like shocking Sparta Prague for the "general sporting public" to take notice.

[placid casual]

If Rovers don't get past Sparta Prague they'll play Celje or Slovan Bratislava. Was hoping that Andorran team would come out but not to be.

[ger121]

If Rovers don't get past Sparta Prague they'll play Celje or Slovan Bratislava. Was hoping that Andorran team would come out but not to be.

That was the worst draw you could have gotten in my view. Probably Cejie.

[pineapple stu]

Yeah, that's a rough one. Celje certainly won't fear LoI opposition after easily beating Dundalk a couple of years back. And Slovan have beaten both Dundalk and Rovers in recent years.