Shels a disgrace

[Shelsman]

Let me be the first to say that Shels were a disgrace last night. I was actually going to log on and say this when I thought it was going to be 0-0, but to be the first Irish team ( or any Irish team )to be knocked out by a Maltese team in Europe is a disgrace.

I was at the Shels vs Akranes home leg 5/6 years ago when they lost 3-0 ( and then lost the away leg 3-0 ) and they then became the first Irish club to lose to an Icelandic team in European competition -it seems they have decide to go one better and create yet another record.

IMO it was the appointment of one of the Shelbourne players as manager which caused the problem. Of course the players themselves have to take responsibility but let's face it -the manager has the power to drop/sell/release players that aren't up to it and to bring in the ones he wants. Fair enough that he has only been in the job a month or two but it was ludicrous for a club like Shels to appoint a manager with absolutely no managerial experience -the fact that he is one of last years players makes it worse as the other players are used to treating him like a team-mate.

Even ignoring his lack of experience and the fact that he was a team-mate of the players just 2 months ago, he doesn't seem to have one of the key ingredients that some of the best managers have had -motivation. The best examples of this are Pat Dolan and Roddy Collins -they may be full of it but they sure know how to fire up their team!

I think any eL Premier Division team could beat Hibernians ( except Shels of course ! ).

BTW I though that Shelbourne's 'goal' was perfectly legitimate
AND I lost €36 in a bet on the match !!! ( mind you Shels lost approx. €500,000 )

[Martinmc]

I went to the match tonight as a non-regular,with a few shels supporters
In the first half shels had no penetration down the left and the maltese no 10 tryed to attack down the right with no sucess(good play by shels no 3 , but he was pegged back)
In the second half , Trevor moved left - with sucess , yet he had no-one to cross to.
Meanwhile the maltese no 10 moved more central and was on the ball more than any other player.
Although shels were playing better than the first half , their juggling of positions only ensured that their only real chances were off corners.
About ten minutes from the end , shels started to retreat back as if playing for a draw .
They clearly had no idea how to do this properly.The crowd didn't help at all by urging them forward .
I have to say that the players seemed to pay more attention to the crowd than the bench in this phase and the result was the result they got

[pete]

I went to the slogomagnet & rosenborg games a couple of years ago where Ollie Byrne basically denied there were thousands of neutrals there & last year at the bronby embarishment. Was unwilling to got rhough that again by going last night.

Watched on tv & Hibernians were pitiful & how an irish team in europe could lose ar home to them is beyond me. What the hell were $hel$ during chasing the game for in injury time?????? You could understand it the Maltese punted a long ball up & got a lucky bounch but to caught with unmarked maltese is criminal.

Fenlon.........IN.

[Xlex]

Fair play shelsman, I thought before that you made some fairly biased Shelbourne comments, but that was a fair assessment of last nights performance.

[citylove]

I couldn't believe that Shels were beaten, I think shels were a bit too anxious at times and this cost them the game. I agree that they should have not been "chasen" the game in injury time!
When the maltese scored I was actually half delighted as I knew Shels f***ed up big time and that was their punishment!

[pete]

Originally posted by citylove
When the maltese scored I was actually half delighted as I knew Shels f***ed up big time and that was their punishment!

Yeah but its not good for irish clubs in europe. The performances in the last years meant the league winner would be seeded in the 1st qualifying round of the CL which ensured teams got the likes of the maltese - eL teams should be beating the likes of these home & away.

$hel$ have had a pitiful start to the season (no doubt they'll improve over the season) but maybe if they had played a competitive game (Bray) last weekend & put out their reserve team on saturday maybe they'd have been better prepared?

[Neil]

Ollie Cahill had another nightmare (except for one great shot on goal). He seems to be afraid to try things with Shels like he did with City...?

[Hecko]

Have to agree that this is bad for the League. $hels were a disgrace and this is probably even worse than eth Pats Chisnau disaster. How are we meant to credibly tell people teh standard is improving with thsi kind of result. Fenlon must go down as the worst start for a manager ever when you look at $hels resources compared to the rest of the eL - what odds a cup exit at the weekend????

[Schumi]

That result and more importantly the performance was the most disgraceful $hite I've seen from an Irish team in Europe. $hels were pathetic. Despite having the large majority of posession in the game (probably by default), they didn't create anything and their shooting was painful to watch.

I only hope they play as badly against UCD next Friday.

[Fry]

Shels last night were the most gutless shower of w@nkers ever to kick a ball in this country. They should be ashamed of themselves.

[MikeW]

I'm going to specifically looking out for Shels results for the rest of the season hoping they get relegated. In fact, they should be relegated right now as punishment for bringing the league into disrepute after that debacle last night.

Are they playing UCD at the weekend? If so it'll be the first time I've ever supported the students. That Maltese team were the worst side I'd seen in a long, long time yet they still managed to beat Shels over two legs. It'd be funny if it wasn't so depressing.