2015-16 the missed opportunity

In 2014-15 Aberdeen had got relatively close to Celtic in the title race. However in a meeting between the top two in March 2015 the dons were beaten heavily at Parkhead 4-0. After that Celtic would sail comfortably ahead and end up champions seventeen points ahead. For Aberdeen to actually get close enough as late as early March in the season was seen as an achievement in itself. Not since Hearts 2005-06 season had a non old-firm team put up such a challenge.

The question after that season was can they build on it. They had a bit of experience of pushing Celtic well into the new year, they needed more depth. That summer they signed Graeme Shinnie from Inverness who had finished 3rd and ten points behind Aberdeen. Keeper, Daniel Ward was loaned from Liverpool and Kenny McClean was added to the squad for more midfield depth. Could they push Celtic longer in 2015-16?

The answer was yes as it turned out. They started perfectly with seven wins from seven and optimism was as high as ever. Then came the sudden lose of form with no win in the next five including a trashing at home by St Johnstone and a defeat at Celtic. What followed was a sudden return to form. That defeat at Celtic was October 31st, it would be February 15th when they would lose again in the league. February 3rd was the home clash with Celtic. A game that was won 2-1 and a game that got many to believe the dons could in fact challenge them between now and the end of the season. 

That February 15th defeat was away to Inverness CT, a game that featured some atrocious refereeing and a horrible mistake from defender Ash Taylor. A 3-1 defeat where a victory would've put them level with Celtic. Opportunity missed. 

More points were dropped in the next game when they conceded a late penalty to draw at home to St Johnstone. Celtic were now six points in front. However, three wins on the bounce against Dundee United, Patrick Thistle and Kilmarnock saw them cut the gap to a solitary point albeit with an extra game played on March 12th. They were within touching distance again but they slipped once more. Away to Motherwell they fell to a 2-1 defeat despite taking the lead and the gap was extended to four points with Celtic having a game in hand. 

That Celtic game in hand would be drawn as they failed to break down Dundee at Parkhead. The title door was opened slightly . Thirty two games played, the gap was five points and Aberdeen faced a tricky assignment away to Hearts while Celtic were away at Motherwell later in the weekend on April 8th-10th. 

A perfect start saw Aberdeen take the lead at Tyncastle and they were going to be just two points behind before Celtic played their game. Niall McGinn had a glorious chance to make it 2-0, it wasn't taken and it turned out to be the turning point. Hearts got back into the game and leveled before going on to add one more goal to secure a 2-1 win. Celtic took their opportunity and won at Motherwell. Eight point gap after thirty-three games, the regular season over and now onto the split. 

Last week's 3-0 defeat effecively ended Aberdeen's title hopes
source: sns bbc.co.uk

Aberdeen were playing before Celtic in the first game of the split, away to St Johnstone. Celtic at home to Ross County. Aberdeen were beaten 3-0. A massive defeat that effectively ended their challenge as it presented Celtic to opportunity to go eleven points clear with victory over Ross County. However a twist happened! Celtic sluggishly drew with Ross County but extended their lead to nine points over Aberdeen with four to play. 

That brings us up to the current situation at the top of the Scottish Premiership going into this weekend. Celtic face a tricky game away to Hearts tomorrow before Aberdeen host Motherwell. Celtic have a significantly better goal difference and victory for them tomorrow effectively gives them their fifth title in a row. Defeat at Hearts for the Celts plus an Aberdeen victory sets-up a deciding head-to-head next weekend. 

With Celtic almost home and hosed the 2015-16 season for Aberdeen is a missed opportunity. Key defeats at key times have kept Celtic just about ahead and the form of Aberdeen in recent weeks has given Celtic enough of a buffer to seal the title this weekend. It's well known that no other Scottish side outside of Celtic and Rangers have got their hands on the title since 1985 when Aberdeen were the kings. This season presented possibly the best opportunity to break that stranglehold in quite some time. Manager Derek McInnes has done a fabulous job nonetheless. Prior to these two recent seasons, Aberdeen had been absent from the top table in Scotland since the 90s.

Will they be challenging next season? Surely Celtic can't be as bad as they have been this season again. The promotion of Rangers presents it's own challenge as many will be expecting them to be building towards a title tilt. Their promotion does mean that the old firm derby is back on the league agenda and thus at least three clashes that will see the two of them take points off each other.
Next season has the potential to be a fascinating title race if Aberdeen can keep hold of their players, and they started well in that department with Shay Logan signing an extension. Rangers could also be challenging next season if they recruit well and we could see a three-way tussle for the title. 

A little bit of trivia

As you might have heard last week, Rangers beat Celtic on penalties to book their spot in the Scottish cup final. They will be meeting Hibernian after they also emerged victorious in a spot kick shootout the previous day. The amazing thing is that both Rangers and Hibernian are first division teams. In the next few weeks Hibernian could be joining Rangers in getting promotion but on that particular road it remains to be seen. A non top flight cup final and it did get me thinking, when was the last time we had a non top flight cup final in Europe first of all and then elsewhere. This is what I found.

Europe:
1994 Norwegian Cup
When Rangers and Hibernian play on May 21st it will be the first non-top division national cup final in Europe since 1994 in Norway. This one also featured two 2nd tier sides in Molde and Lyn Oslo. It was Molde who emerged victorious and it capped a pretty good season for them as they also got promoted. This was the era in which winning the national cup earned Cup winners cup qualification and the following season Molde overcame Dinamo 93 Minsk in the qualifying round before succumbing to Paris Saint-Germain in the first round proper 6-2 on aggregate.

1989-90 FAI Cup
Until Molde and Lyn Oslo met in 1994, the 1989-90 FAI Cup final was the last time a national cup final was contested between sides not in the top tier. Bray Wanderers were a first division side while St Francis were non-league (Leinster senior league which is completely amateur). Bray would end up running out 3-0 winners and qualify for the following season's cup winner cup. They fell at the first hurdle which was the qualifying round against Trabzonspor of Turkey. However this cup final remains to date the last time a non-league side has reached the FAI cup final.

Other occasions
The 1980s featured two other non top flight cup finals in Sweden and Poland. The Swedish final in 1986-87 saw Kalmar beat GAIS 2-0 while in 1982-83 Lechia Gdansk, then a 3rd tier team overcame Piast Gliwice 2-1.
The 70s saw four non top flight cup finals in Norway, Poland, Denmark and Romania.

Rest of the World:
2015 Mayotte Cup
Mayotte are not members of FIFA or CAF but this 2015 cup final deserves a mention as it features two sides not even in the top two tiers in the league. It was won by fourth tier side Olympique Miréréni as they beat third tier side FC Labattoir 5-4 on penalties.

Other occasions
In 2013 the Guinea-Bissau cup final was played between two 3rd tier sides, Mexico's 2012 showpiece was an all 2nd tier affair. In the past twelve years there have been non-top flight cup finals in Japan, Senegal, DR Congo, Peru, Chile and Surinam.

Champions & Europa League draws - Semi finals

After all the four quarter-finals ended 3-2 on aggregate last week the draw for the final four was made on Friday. One German team, one English team and two Spanish teams remain. The two Spanish sides were kept apart.

Manchester City v Real Madrid
Manchester City have finally made the final four after lots of cash was thrown around to build a team capable getting here. They beat another side with such ambitions in PSG and have been given the task of getting past Real Madrid to reach the final. Real Madrid predictably overcame Wolfsburg after an initial scare. As for the tie well I think the order of the legs will be the deciding factor. Real Madrid being at home in the second leg sways this one for me in favor of Los Blancos. Yes their defense isn't exactly excellent but they do possess a free-scoring attack.  For city the key will be not conceding an away goal in the first leg. A 0-0 or scrapping a victory before the visit to Madrid will be the aim. Real Madrid to get through.

Atlético Madrid v Bayern Munich
As soon as Atlético had just about seen off Barcelona, I wanted them to face Bayern. The best defense in the major European leagues (sorry Dynamo Kyiv) will be a stern test for Bayern. The Bavarians were made to work for their semi-final place by an impressive Benfica in the last 8 and having also scrapped through against Juventus, they haven't been too convincing thus far. Atlético themselves did also scrap through by fingertips against PSV before overcoming Barcelona. It will be a fascinating tie of contrasting styles and one that I'm going to back Atlético in.

Europa League

A night of drama on Thursday saw eight reduced to four and what a line up we have. Liverpool, Sevilla, Shakhtar and Villarreal.

Shakhtar Donetsk v Sevilla
Sevilla are gunning for a third successive Europa league title and they face Ukrainian opposition for the first time since last seasons' finale. For Shakhtar this run has been a shock considering they haven't been their usual dominant selves domestically. They haven't been able to play at home for two years and their form at their adopted home of Lviv has been the base of this run. They've been beaten twice at home this season in Europe by PSG and Real Madrid so no shame there. However the pedigree that Sevilla have will make a difference here.

Villarreal v Liverpool
Liverpool shocked tournament favorites Borussia Dortmund in the last round with a stunning comeback in the second leg to book their semi-final place while Villarreal in the end were comfortable against Sparta Praha. This is a tie that will be fascinating to see. Liverpool haven't set the world alight with their current standing of 8th domestically but Villarreal on the other hand have been superb finding themselves 4th and almost certain of a champions league qualifying berth.
Liverpool at home in the second leg might make a difference if they get a favorable result in the first leg but I can see Villarreal getting through this. Villarreal away goals.  

League of Ireland and Scottish Premiership - How do they compare?

For some fans in the League of Ireland they would quite fancy pitting the best teams in this country against their Scottish counterparts and while it would be interesting to see the results it raises a question of how both leagues compare to each other. How well would the highly praised Dundalk team do in the Scottish premiership or how would the likes of Dundee United, Kilmarnock or Hamilton Academical do in the League of Ireland.

The answers to those questions remain hypothetical and a matter of opinion but the debate is interesting all the same. What Scotland has that Ireland doesn't is a massive club in Celtic, it also has the re-emerging Rangers joining the Premiership next season and that is another post in itself. Historically the most successful club in Ireland has been Shamrock Rovers and on the pitch in recent years they haven't been able to keep up with Dundalk. However Rovers are no where near the size of Celtic or Rangers.

Scottish sides in League of Ireland:
Irish sides would not be giving Celtic more of a challenge than they already get in Scotland. In fact Celtic would in all probability be a lot further ahead so that's not even worth considering. I'll go on record and say Aberdeen would win the Premier division here fairly comfortably. Hearts would too. After that you get into more unpredictable territory given the nature of how tight the premiership is below Hearts. Saying that I think all the rest of the sides in the top half split and majority of the bottom split would be at the very least challenging for the title here. The likes of Dundee United, Hamilton Academical and Kilmarnock would surely be challenging for Europa league places.

How well would Dundalk do in Scotland?
source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO 

Irish sides in Scottish Premiership:
How well would our sides do in Scotland?. Well I do think Dundalk would be fairly comfortable. They would be a comfortable bottom split side. With a bit more money in the Scottish game they would be able to keep the likes of Daryl Horgan, Ronan Finn and perhaps Richie Towell that bit longer, enabling them to push a bit up the table, hypothetically of course.
Cork City, well I think in all honesty we would struggle near the bottom with the current squad. However with a bit more finance from the Premiership who knows what caliber of player the club could attract. At a push we might scrap into or even avoid the relegation play-off. Shamrock Rovers and St Pats likewise. Beyond that I think the level of our premier division is in the main Scottish championship standard with the likes of Derry, Bohemians and Galway challenging for the title along with Falkirk, Hibernian and Raith Rovers. The rest would be scrapping with the rest of the championship sides with little between them.

Head-to-Heads
There have been a few European clashes that don't really give us any idea how clubs would fare in a league setting nowadays. Many league of Ireland fans will point to the 7-3 aggregate trashing Derry handed out to Gretna in 2006 as an indication of Irish strength but in reality two months before that UEFA cup tie, Gretna had just won the Scottish second division (3rd tier) and lost the cup final thus being in the UEFA cup. This tie remains the last head-to-head in European competition between the two countries.

Bohemians beat Aberdeen in Pittodrie in 2000
source: ©INPHO/Andrew Paton

The 2000 UEFA cup tie that pitted Aberdeen against Bohemians is one where the Irish side prevailed. This was before the era where Irish sides were improving drastically in Europe and Bohemians' results over these two games are hailed as one of Ireland's greatest European results considering how poor generally our sides had been in Europe previously. However this is an interesting one because Aberdeen had finished the previous season bottom of the SPL and Bohemians had finished 3rd in Ireland. So we had a clash at the time showing the 3rd best Irish side prevailing over the bottom Scottish team.

1998-99 provided not one but two head-to-head ties. Celtic v St Patrick's Athletic in the champions league and Rangers v Shelbourne in the UEFA cup. St Pats actually got a first leg 0-0 draw at Parkhead only to go down 2-0 in Dublin while Shelbourne were 3-0 up at one stage against Rangers but ultimately fell to a 5-3 defeat before losing 2-0 in the second leg.

The previous season pitted Shelbourne against Kilmarnock in the last edition of the Cup winners cup. Shelbourne had finished 3rd the previous campaign and Kilmarnock were 7th in Scotland ahead of this meeting. Kilmarnock won the first leg 2-1 before a 1-1 second leg draw in Dublin saw Shelbourne exit but not much was between the sides.

The overall head-to-head between Irish and Scottish sides reads three Irish wins, seven draws and twenty two Scottish victories from thirty two games, with the majority of those coming from Celtic and Rangers. This summer there is always a possibility of an Irish v Scottish clash in both the Champions and Europa leagues so we might have an up to date clash to add to the debate.

The winless teams

Last week I updated on the unbeaten teams left in Europe and now this one will have a look at the teams on the other end of the scale. The winless teams around the continent. And yes there are a few still without their first wins of the season even this late. In total of the leagues that started in July/August there are four teams that haven't won this season. However two of those four have since withdrawn from their leagues.

Ulisses FC (Armenia)
I actually did a blog post about them and Armenia a few weeks back. Ulisses withdrew from the Armenian premier league in February for financial trouble but later the league decided they would expel them and revoke their license. The league was on the winter break at the time and more than half the schedule had been played so their remaining fixtures are all forfeited 3-0 wins for their opponents. Up until the withdrawal/expulsion Ulisses were winless in the league with a solitary two points won until the winter break in November. The draws both at home being 2-2 with Banants and 0-0 with Mika.

Ayia Napa (Cyprus)
Yes the popular resort do have a team and well they haven't been too good this season. In fact their season is over as they have been relegated and played all their games. In Cyprus' First division the bottom two teams are relegated after the home and away fixtures are played. That leaves Ayia Napa with no more games this season to try and get off this winless list. They played twenty-six games in the regular season and amassed six draws in total. They finished adrift at the bottom with near neighbors Enosis Paralimni finishing a place above them with twenty points.

Saxan (Moldova)
Usually if your bottom of the league in April and yet to win a game in the season it means you're probably relegated. Surprisingly Saxan in Moldova are not mathematically relegated. However they are winless and bottom of the league. So far they have accumulated five draws and find themselves eleven points off safety with six games to go. Their latest defeat was yesterday when Academia Chișinău, their rivals for that safety spot, beat them 3-0. It's looking like it would take a miracle for them to stay up as in those final games they face Sheriff and Zimbru, both aiming for the title.

Metalurh Zaporizhya (Ukraine)
Metalurh Zaporizhya like Ulisses in Armenia are no longer competing in the league on the pitch. However since they were expelled at the winter break, all their remaining games will be forfeited 3-0 wins for their opponents.  Up until their departure from the Ukrainian Premier league, Metalurh were a disaster on the pitch. Scorers of just seven goals they managed to get just the three draws which unsurprisingly left them adrift at the bottom. Metalurh's expulsion means there will be no relegation this year from the league.

And then there were two

A number of weeks back I blogged about the teams that were still unbeaten in their domestic leagues around Europe. In that post at the start of February there were six teams unbeaten. Since then six has become two as unbeaten records fell over the months of February and March. Just two teams remain unbeaten in Europe 2015-16.
The original six were Rijeka, Paris Saint-Germain, Lincoln Red Imps, Olympiacos, F91 Dudelange and Crvena Zvezda. The latter two still boast their unbeaten records after this weekends games.

F91 Dudelange
At the time of the original post F91 Dudelange were on their winter break in Luxembourg. The league resumed on February 20th and since then F91 Dudelange have won every game they have played. This past weekend they were 2-0 victors over bottom club Grevenmacher, that victory leaves Dudelange eight points clear of nearest challengers Fola Esch.
A glance at Dudelange's unbeaten run shows they are currently on a streak of 22 games without defeat. The last side to defeat them? well that would be Irish first division side UCD in the Europa league back in July. That run includes the domestic cup which Dudelange remain in and play in the last 8 later this month against 2nd tier side UN Käerjéng. Their domestic unbeaten run streches back to the final day of last season in May when Wiltz, ran out 3-0 winners. They have seven league games left the trickiest of which is the away game against Fola Esch at the end of the month.

The dominant Crvena Zvezda
source: www.crvenazvezdafk.com/

Crvena Zvezda
Like F91 Dudelange, Crvena Zvezda were on their winter break in the Serbian Superliga. Since returning on February 20th, they won every game, up until this weekend. This weekend Vojvodina became only the third side this season to take points off Crvena Zvezda. The Belgrade giants have been utterly, utterly dominant in Serbia this season. After this weekend's draw they find themselves just THIRTY points clear of arch rivals Partizan. A gap that was trimmed from thirty-two as Partizan were victorious against Radnik Surdulica.
Similar to Dudelange, Crvena Zvezda last tasted defeat in all competitions in December when Borac Čačak put them to the sword in a 5-1 rout. In the league their unbeaten run goes back to last May when relegated Radnički Kragujevac left the Marakana with a 2-1 win. Vojvodina's draw halted a run of 24 straight victories, a club record.
Crvena Zvezda have two more games in the regular season before a further seven games are played against the top 8 as the league splits into two. So nine more games to go a full season unbeaten. You wouldn't bet against them.