Stephen Bradley aimed to maintain some perspective despite Shamrock Rovers’ 5-1 hammering at the hands of Chelsea.
Rovers arrived at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night previously unbeaten in the Uefa Conference League, a run of form which guaranteed them a place in the last-16 playoff irrespective of the humbling on the night.
“As a club, and as a team, we’re not basing our standards against Chelsea, let’s be clear about that,” said Bradley. “You know when you come to places like this against this level of opposition you’ve got to be faultless in your performance.”
While acknowledging Chelsea’s superior quality – Bradley labelled them clear favourites for this competition should they be able to manage their squad alongside a Premier League title charge – the Rovers boss pointed to his side’s lack of match sharpness given the League of Ireland season concluded over a month ago. A series of errors when trying to control the ball at the back gifted Chelsea striker Marc Guiu a pair of first half goals either side of Markus Poom’s equaliser for the visitors.
“Considering that our league season has been over for a month and we’ve had some key games in between that in this competition, the players have done extremely well to get 11 points,” he said. “The aim was always to try and come here with the points in the bag because we know how difficult this was going to be. We would have taken that before the competition.
“You cannot give them the goals we gave them in the first half. You can accept moments of quality that are going to hurt you, that’s normal against this level. But you can’t give them the goals we gave them and then try compete in the game.
“You can see that we haven’t been playing competitive games on a regular basis. You lose that mental sharpness, seeing the little balls around corners and the penetrating passes. It’s them little bits you only get playing competitive football on a regular basis.”
That Poom strike in the 26th minute was Rovers’ sole moment of joy on an otherwise difficult evening. Bradley added that, due to events off the pitch, it was a particularly significant strike for the Estonian.
“He’s had a big week, his wife just had a baby,” he explained. “He flew back to Estonia to see the baby and then he’s back here to play and then obviously scored. So it’s been a nice week for him.
“The fans enjoyed that moment. At that moment it’s 1-1, you’re thinking, ‘Ok, we’re in the game,’ and then we go and give them a ridiculous goal and then they score before half-time. It’s a completely different game.”
Rovers find out their opponent in the pre-last 16 playoff during Friday’s draw. Who will be lining out for the Hoops in February remains a different matter, with the year’s end bringing a number of contracts and loan agreements to a conclusion. Bradley acknowledged that a number of players have likely now played their last game for the club.
“I’m sure there will be,” he said. “There’s always changes in squads and I think that’s quite normal and healthy within groups.
“The players will have a bit of time off, we’ve been working now over a year so I think it’s very important they have some time off, we come back in January and then get ready for the playoff game. In the meantime, as a staff we will be working to get players in and players resigned.”
