Mmmm I seem to recall TNS winning 4 nil in Europe before
How did they get the Derry stadium so badly wrong ?!Originally Posted by pineapple stu
The Irish venues - north and south - look pretty sh!t in that montage. When you find your top teams are playing in hovels compared to teams from even Estonia, Macedonia and Montenegro, your national pride takes a beating.
I would say some of that has to be that the club's own ground isn't up to UEFA standards, so they play in the national stadium (Nomme Kalju don't play in the Le Coq Stadium usually, for example)
But we are still very far down the list alright.
A couple of the grounds pulled off that trick of colour patterns across the seats quite nicely...and then you get to the Tallaght Stadium, which is just an eyesore in that regard
I think that could be very difficult R.A.M as there is unlikely to be any smaller teams left going into R3, plus Cork will be unseeded and given you didn’t even score in your first two games (v a strong side albeit), it just shows how tough any game is in Europe. The likes of Burnley, Atalanta, Bestiktas, Seville, Bordeaux all enter in R2. If Dundalk get past Levadia, I’d say we will be only 60/40 favs (poss even less) in advancing, but it will be very tough, and I`m still not taking tomorrow night for granted.
Should we join Cork in R3, we will also be unseeded and could get any of those big teams, I wouldn’t be thinking we could go further than this, if we got there. I`ll repeat a point I made many times on here, in 2016 when we played 12 games in Europe, we were favs to win only one (at home to FH) and still didn’t win it !
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
FWIW here is the list of possible teams we will be facing in QR3 - with my predictions for who will be in that in Bold. Remember these are the QR2 Champions league ties and the LOSER of these ties will be seeded in ELQR3. Few winnable ties for sure.
Winner of Astana / Sutjeska V Midtjylland
Ludogorets V Videoton
Kukësi v Winner of Olympia Ljubljana / Qarabag
CFR Cluj v Malmö
Dinamo Zagreb v Hapoel Beer Sheva
Red Star Belgrade v Suduva
BATE Borisov v HJK Helsinki
Shkendija v Winner of Torpedo Torpedo Kutaisi / Sheriff Tiraspol
Legia Warsaw v Winner of Spartak Trnava / Zrinjski Mostar
Winner of Alashkert / Celtic v Winner of Valur Reykjavík / Rosenborg
Rosenborg and Mostar as seeds are both 1 down going into tonight and have plenty work to do. They would be replaced by Trnava and Valur in the seeding pot for ELQR3 if of course they end up creating an upset tonight and subsequently losing to Legia and Celtic.
Last edited by Real ale Madrid; 18/07/2018 at 8:54 AM.
Cork are in a different part of the draw (Champions Path) to Dundalk though, which does make it possible for them to draw beatable opposition because the seeding isn't done on Coefficient it's done on where you drop out of the CL, Cork will be unseeded for the 3rd round but the seeded teams are all the teams that lose in the 2nd Round of the CL which means some beatable teams will be available, teams such as Zrinjski Mostar, FK Kukësi, Shkendija Tetovo and Videoton which are much easier draws than Legia will be seeded unless they cause an upset and win their CL tie.
Dundalk however will have a tougher draw if they make it as there is a much lower percentage of beatable teams and there are several teams that no LOI team would stand a chance against (Sevilla, Burnley, etc.).
Hopefully we both make it and do the league proud regardless of draw anyway!
Mon the Town!
Yes, fair point, I had forgotten Cork go into the champions path, so although still not seeded, it will make things a little bit easier than say if Dundalk get to that stage.
All will depend on the draw still, look at our potential Rd 2 draw, (Larnaca) we got possibly the highest ranked of the unseeded, just as Cork got probably the highest ranked in Legia, it can go the other way also, in 2016 we got the lowest ranked of the seeded teams in FH.
Still think it will be very difficult for Cork (or Dundalk) in Rd 3, these ‘winnable’ ties are very hard to get past.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
that was a horrific cork performance over 2 legs though. why not have a go in the 2nd leg as you had nothing to lose.
Long Live King Kenny
Dundalk have to get over tomorrow night first (although I do have confidence in them that they will) and then the next round will be tough before they even think of Round 3. But you see after Round 1, Dundalk will be the only team that will have added points to the co-efficient - we drop to 38 after last night.
Dundalk getting to the Group stages is almost inconceivable given we have to start from the first qualifying round and will be up against top sides should we advance to the third round.
The main objective for this European campaign is to add co-efficient points with a view to being seeded in the Champions path in future seasons.
The first goal conceded was amateur hour stuff, and it set the tone of the evening. Would McNulty have made that mistake? Maybe not, but the way the defenders left the goal line wide open made me tear my hair out. Teams that face LOI opposition in Europe, not just Cork, generally don't have to work too hard for their goals, as they are gifted to them on a plate usually.
About Cork, they did try to vary their propensity for constant long balls for some attempts at intricate passing, especially down the Legia RB's side, but it was all very tame and timid. They HAD to win the game in Turners Cross and missed golden opportunities. Admittedly, Legia was the absolute worst draw they could have got, so I hope the Europa brings them a kinder draw. They have to learn how to finish their chances though. There were very small but possibly positive glimpses that Cork can play a bit if they have some confidence, but the concession of multiple, soft goals was a killer.
I think Caulfield called it a 4 goal thriller in defiance of the critics
Long Live King Kenny
I thought Cherrie was the least culpable of three parties for the opener. That was a really superb ball in, which came about because there was no-one within ten yards of the crosser, which is criminal. That was the key error; the defenders not covering better was the second. I thought Cherrie had to go for the ball or yer man could just take it down and score at ease
Also worth noting we could have a team starting in the preliminary round of the Europa League soon - partly because it's so big (14 teams) that the lower leagues are getting coefficient points we don't have access to. I think you could see a fair bit of churn at the bottom end of the rankings if that format remains (and it's a good format I think). Especially if we don't replace the 2.000 next year
I have to agree with this.
After seeing the headlines about Cherrie having a 'mare I was keen to see the goal. After watching it I thought Cherrie was harshly criticised. He didn't cover himself in glory by any means but the midfield were just awful. The whole midfield line was so deep it was criminal. The chap strolled about 20-30 yards up the pitch and the midfield line was still 10 yards deeper at the time he was delivering the ball. The were sitting right on top of their own defence, it was just inviting trouble.
Cherrie is in absolute no mans land though. He ends up a yard or two outside the six yard box. The Legia attacker has no choice but to play it accross the goal. Griffen should have stayed tracking the ball and Cherrie should stay on his line.
Yes there are other errors but his is the main error. Terrible goalkeeping.legia goal.jpg
Cherrie is in no mans land due to the players in front of him who weren't doing their jobs.
I'm sorry now but that is ridiculous - there is no need for him to pursue that cross - he leaves himself exposed and the goal completely open - if he stays on his line and the ball is knocked back across he is in a position to make a save ( maybe they score anyway) - by his decision here he took himself completely out of the game. I can't understand why people are defending his decision here. Look at how far out he is!
Correct, which is why I said in my earlier post I`m not taking tomorrow night for granted, Levadi retained the ball surprisingly well in the first half last week. Should we progress, Larnaca will be very tough match too, I’d say we will be favs but only slightly.
Pity Cork didn’t take their chances v Legia, but I got the impression they held back too much, seemed to waiting too long last night.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
Aren't Larnaca the team Cork played last year?? They've imported about 10-15 Spanish lads (a few with La Liga experience) in the last couple of years. I wouldn't have any Irish team as favs against them. They looked a cut above LOI standard when i watched their second leg vs Cork last year.
Posting Permissions
Quote
Bookmarks