Bradley brushes off talk of pressure on keeper Pöhls even if lessons need to be learned

Macdara Ferris reports from Tallaght Stadium

Waterford’s 3-1 win over Shamrock Rovers on Monday was the first home league loss for the Hoops in nearly 12 months stretching back 16 matches.

The defeat (see match report here) has put renewed focus on Rovers’ somewhat lacklustre start to the season even if the Hoops are sitting second in the table just three points off league leaders Shelbourne. For the 18 points on offer in their last six games – played on three consecutive Friday-Monday double headers – they earned only nine points. 

With a Dublin derby to come this Friday against St. Patrick’s Athletic (who sacked manager Jon Daly on Tuesday), Rovers need to improve on their points return when playing their Dublin rivals. In the league campaign so far the Hoops have just the five points from the five derbies played.

Their only derby win was the 3-1 victory over Bohs in Tallaght Stadium. Last season against Pats, Shels and Bohs, they earned 2.2 points per derby game. 

Speaking after Waterford’s first away victory over Rovers’ first team since 2005, Hoops Head Coach Stephen Bradley didn’t shy away from the poor performance particularly in the first half, noting a couple of players who were below par and even acknowledging that he has to ask questions of himself.

The Hoops were a goal down after just three minutes when goalkeeper Leon Pöhls pushed the ball into his own net when defending a corner. It is not the first mistake by the German goalkeeper this season, who has ‘big gloves’ to fill after the retirement of Alan Mannus Rovers’ most successful goalkeeper.

“He has to learn from it,” said Bradley when asked about the error by extratime.com. “You don’t push mistakes under the carpet. You have to learn from them. He needs to punch it but our defending outside of Leon is very poor, in terms of players doing their jobs.”

Asked did he still have faith in his goalkeeper, Bradley said: “I think Leon’s been brilliant this season, to be honest with you. If you went through his performance individually in games. Absolutely no question in my mind about his ability. He made one mistake tonight.”

Negative

Bradley was very critical of his team’s performance in the first half. “We just played negative and safe. We played into their hands in the first half. Conan (Noonan) and Markus (Poom) were far too negative in the first half. You could see the spaces were glaringly obvious in the first half. We couldn’t exploit them.

"We played too many negative passes, played into their press. When you do that you don’t have momentum, you don’t have them on the back foot. As a result you don’t play to your levels.”

Rovers introduced Jack Byrne and Neil Farrugia ten minutes into the second half and that made a huge difference to the Hoops’ play. “First half wasn’t good enough. Second half at least we created few chances. We hit the crossbar twice, Johnny (Kenny) had a couple of snap shots. We were penetrative, brave and we played better. 

"We could have drawn the game at least when Jack and Neil came on but in the first half we were a million miles away from our levels. In the first half no one was in sync. Until Jack and Neil came on the pitch we looked unsure in every department. In every unit, we didn’t play to our game plan. We were completely off it.”

Asked why the team were out of sync, Bradley noted that he will need to reflect on that. “It’s my job to find out. I need to make sure the information we’re giving is right, and it’s delivered in the right way, and it’s been heard in the right way. What is the gameplan? Is it clear? Was the information clear? Was it the right information?

"The number one thing that you do as a coach and a manager is you look at yourself and question yourself. I will definitely look at me first and see whether the information was correct and was it delivered in the right manner. And if not then, that was a failing on my behalf.”

Benchmark

A challenge for Rovers is that opposition see Rovers as the biggest scalp in the league. Bradley believes that is something his team can take pride in – coming on the back of the team winning four league title in a row. 

“We have created that. That is something to be proud of. We have set the standards. We are the benchmark. Obviously teams are going to want to raise their game and beat you. That comes with the territory. This group is well used to that. They are comfortable with that. They have earned that.

"That is something you wear with pride that teams want to come and take on the best and that is what this team is, the best.

“You have got to be very careful with what you say there because they have been incredible for a long period of time and even this season they have been very, very good apart from Galway at home in the first half (in a 1-1 draw), and today in the first half.

"Teams want to beat us? Of course they do. That is what happens when you win consecutive leagues. These players are well used to that.”

Jon Daly departs St Patrick's Athletic - https://t.co/94rjArr8tjhttps://t.co/FcVXQuxUc0

— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) May 7, 2024