PSG Vs. Derry, review

**Comic Book Guy** · 29/09/2006, 2:59 PM

The fact that so many are on here saying that Derry played poorly and expressing their disappointment at the result shows how far the league has come, there's still a bit to go but some Irish team will crack it sooner or later.
What struck me about the game last night, apart from the fact that Derry gave away a lot of possession was the difference in upper body strength between both sides, I noticed this in other years when Cork and Shels were knoocking on the door. It is something that Irish teams will have to work on.
Still though, well done Derry.

**ger121** · 29/09/2006, 3:29 PM

Originally Posted by northside hoop

Better ones here

http://www.mouvement-ultra.com/phpBB2/ftopic27816.html

The PSG lads on that forum seem to be singing the Derry fans praises. Seems they had a lot of respect for them.

**paul_oshea** · 29/09/2006, 3:58 PM

the frustrating thing is derry dont and havent played like that (the stupid mis passing thing) all season - they clearly switched off and thought "right arent we great for getting this far"

well they aren't playing psg every game of the season wws, that is probably the difference, they got punished last night, whereas against hte EL sides they probably wouldnt, and therefore you wouldn't hvae noticed it.

What struck me about the game last night, apart from the fact that Derry gave away a lot of possession was the difference in upper body strength between both sides, I noticed this in other years when Cork and Shels were knoocking on the door. It is something that Irish teams will have to work on.

noticed that big time, particularly in the second half but thought it was down to tiredness/wanting to conserve energy(in the first half anyway), i think it was a mixture of upper body strength and fitness.

The PSG lads on that forum seem to be singing the Derry fans praises. Seems they had a lot of respect for them.

i wonder would a League of Ireland team get the same sort of welcome?!?! maybe i shouldnt ask that....

but just go a few hundred miles south east and you can see the difference between teams on both sides of the irish sea and how they are welcomed.....

**pete** · 29/09/2006, 4:24 PM

We need a competitve 10 team league to ensure no easy games at home to match progress away more likely. The current Premier division would be ok if didn't have 2 wiping boys at the bottom.

**NY Hoop** · 29/09/2006, 4:27 PM

Originally Posted by pete

We need a competitve 10 team league to ensure no easy games at home to match progress away more likely. The current Premier division would be ok if didn't have 2 wiping boys at the bottom.

100% correct. With a 10 team league at least you know how many home and away games you have too. But at least they have seen sense and it will be a reality in 2008.

12 team league has been a failure.

KOH

**pineapple stu** · 29/09/2006, 4:48 PM

Originally Posted by pete

We need a competitve 10 team league to ensure no easy games at home to match progress away more likely. The current Premier division would be ok if didn't have 2 wiping boys at the bottom.

Eh, both those sides have been in the Premier the past couple of seasons. The promoted sides - the two who'd've been knocked out with a 10-team Premier - are Sligo and Dublin City. DC are a special case, but Sligo are challenging for Europe. Go to a 10-team next year, for example, and you might deny Rovers or Galway or Dundalk promotion (in a proper season...). All clubs with a strong possibility of doing well.

Last year, Bray were third of the promoted teams and finished top half. So there's teams in the First who are capable of challenging in the Premier. The issue is that clubs simply aren't sustainable in the current climate, not that the 12-team league allows too many weak teams into it. We need strict UEFA Licencing, not fewer Premier DIvision teams.

**mypost** · 29/09/2006, 5:36 PM

Originally Posted by NY Hoop

100% correct. With a 10 team league at least you know how many home and away games you have too. But at least they have seen sense and it will be a reality in 2008.

12 team league has been a failure.

100% incorrect.

As a victim of their success, Derry's European run this season, would mean that they would have to fit in 3 more games somewhere

in their schedule under the 10-team system, and they could all be long midweek trips. The 10-team league was a nightmare for everyone, (how many games were postponed/re-arranged in it?) and it was rightly scrapped in the Premier last year. I'm happy that we're going to play under the better 3-round system next season, which means we don't necessarily have to face 2 trips to Cork, Derry, or Galway next season. Our great

4-round system downstairs means we had to go to Finn Harps on a CL night, and we have to fit 36 games into a 33-week season, which don't include cup runs.

It would be great if every team was competitive in the league, but for every Shels, Cork, and Derry, there's always a Bray and a Waterford. There is no such thing as a perfect division, whether it be a 10, 12, 14, or 16 team league. There will always be world beaters and donkeys in every league around the world, be it a 4-team CL, a 12-team NL, or a 20 team PL.

**Aaron** · 29/09/2006, 5:39 PM

"right arent we great for getting this far"

That is the biggest load of ********!!! Do you seriously think that Kenny wud let any player think that. NO!! The simple fact is we gave the ball away too much, didnt create enuff and were punished for poor marking. Its obvious the league is progressing. In a couple of years time teams will be qualifying. Right now we are just happy with how our european run went because we wernt expected to progress past Gothenburg. The fact is whether the team turned up or not last nite, every single Derry City fan and player can walk with their heads held high and be proud for wot the players have acheived!!

**bennocelt** · 29/09/2006, 7:30 PM

Originally Posted by hoops1

Same old story on this site, Is there never any middle ground.
Derry win and the are world beaters they lose and they are rubbish.
Truth is Irish sides are now at a stage were we will be knocking at the
door for the group stages but getting in is the really difficult bit.
The away leg before the group stages seems to be the stumbling block
but we are learning and progressing so we will do it eventually.
Normally with European football the first you know about your weaknesses is after they have been brutally exposed.
A goalkeeper and two top class front men might see Derry do it.
The physical effort required in these games is on a different level
and in this regard I thought Derry were fantastic.
The Derry players have given everything for the cause and now isnt really the
time to be critcising them
Well done Derry

i agree
i didnt get to see the game, but to be honest if derry had played 4-4-2 I would imagine the score to be more for PSG

**bennocelt** · 29/09/2006, 7:33 PM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

no they are not, learning and progressing would be following the route of clubs from switzerland etc, they have hte same population as us etc i.e. similar player pool to pick from, but yet they have gotten through.

whats that got to do with anything

**thomas** · 29/09/2006, 7:38 PM

Without mccourt and forde derry would have had a serious chance of going through, maybe some of the money earned will be spent on a decent keeper and a "talent" actually capable of retaining possession.
As for the sickening gloryhunters.... ugh.

**Aaron** · 29/09/2006, 7:51 PM

Without mccourt and forde derry would have had a serious chance of going through, maybe some of the money earned will be spent on a decent keeper and a "talent" actually capable of retaining possession.
As for the sickening gloryhunters.... ugh.

Not defending eithers performance last nite but if it hadnt been for forde we wudnt have got past Gothenburg and McCourt (who Rovers fans considered a god whilst there) is still overcoming a serious hamstring injury. The more games, the better he will get!

**hoopy** · 30/09/2006, 9:17 AM

To be fair the reason McCourt was so well liked at Rovers was because he wasn't stifled by the teams set up

**Pauro 76** · 30/09/2006, 11:08 AM

Read in the Irish Times that the PSG were serenading the Derry supporters. What were they singing? Also heard about the Welcome to Free Paris banner!

**ccfcgirl** · 01/10/2006, 1:24 PM

Paris fans were chanting Derry Derry during the game , They had banners welcomIng them and Irish Flags were in differnet parts of the ground . The sportmanship between Derry fans and PSG fans was fantastic . Great trip . Pity about the result .

**TonyD** · 01/10/2006, 4:31 PM

I think Derry did really well overall in the competition. Asking them to beat PSG over two games was always going to be next to impossible, given the difference in resources between the two clubs. There was a definite gap in class, and it showed in the end(Two soft goals notwithstanding). But that's nothing to be embarressed or ashamed about. Derry have been a credit to the league in europe this season, on and off the pitch, as have Drogheda. Cork did OK too, though not as high profile. The thing now is not to rest on that, but to repeat the dose next year, and the year after. The point Stephen Kenny made after the game was a good one, when he said that PSG was the hardest draw Derry could have got.

Eventually, with improving co-efficient points and better seeding, an Irish team will get a winnable tie in the third round. Progress has to come steadily. It's no good expecting mircles overnight. Only a fool (i.e Roddy) would argue that the league hasn't made huge strides in the last few years. As someone who sufffered throught the home leg of Pats/Zimbru I remember only too well where we've come from. And that defeat was largely(but not solely) down to preperation, or lack of. It's unthinkable that it could happen now. In fact, with hindsight, I think that result may have been a watershed. Clubs saw that they were going to have to take things much more seriously to avoid such maulings in the future. I don't think it's a coincidence that the very next season Shels became the first Irish club to make it through the first round of the CL.

**Skunkito** · 02/10/2006, 12:40 PM

The misplaced passes were a result of being harried by a team with greater, strength, thechnical ability and energy than anything derry would ever face on weekly basis. The Paris player's made it look easy and we didn't get a spare second on the ball, at times it was just a relief to get it out of our half.

I felt bad for the lads but they were up against some world class players there and there's just nothing you can do about it. To say that derry weren't up for it is a load of ****e.

**bluemovie** · 02/10/2006, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by pete

The current Premier division would be ok if didn't have 2 wiping boys at the bottom.

Not sure what a 'wiping boy' is, but your crowd hardly whipped us in August when ye were steeped to take a point out of the RSC. Next year will be our 5th consecutive year in the Premier Division and, going on the work that's being done at the moment, should see a considerable improvement after a fairly pitiful 2006.

**OneRedArmy** · 02/10/2006, 1:28 PM

Originally Posted by Skunkito

The misplaced passes were a result of being harried by a team with greater, strength, thechnical ability and energy than anything derry would ever face on weekly basis. The Paris player's made it look easy and we didn't get a spare second on the ball, at times it was just a relief to get it out of our half.

I felt bad for the lads but they were up against some world class players there and there's just nothing you can do about it. To say that derry weren't up for it is a load of ****e.

Spot on.

The greater strength of PSG surprised me. I suppose I had always subscribed to the "continental football is more technical" argument, but their speed and physicality meant we were consistently being muscled off the ball.

Hopefully the number of professional clubs will increase and this gap will be closed over time.

**Skunkito** · 02/10/2006, 1:39 PM

Even their reading of the game was so far superior, at times they made a move to counter a derry player before he knew which way he was going!

Their right-back was immense still haven't got around to looking up his name.

Still the atmosphere more than made up for a disappointing performance and really felt for the lads at the end, they'd given their all, been well beaten and the fans were still singing their praises. An emotional moment all in all.