Started having a look at Larnaca so thought I may as well start the thread.  On the face of it this is a game we should be looking to win.  In actuality, despite being a smaller team and having a squad value 10 million lower than ours and a wage bill less than half according to t'internet, this mob went to Palace and won 1-0 despite playing most of the second half with ten men.  Clearly they are no mugs.  We do have one reasonable advantage in that they have two games to play before we meet.   One is currently underway, the Cypriot super cup final against Pafos which is 1-1 after half time. Didnt see the Pafos goal but Larnacas qualiser was a very well taken header from an excellent ball in from deep.   Hard to say much more as the feed keeps dropping so you can't really get a feel for the game. 

They then have Limassol on Sunday so by the time they get around to playing us that will be their 6th game in 19 days.  That's a gruelling schedule for any squad and will defo have an impact on their preperations.  All in I think we can get something from this but we need to make sure we stay in the game to take advantage of their inevitable tiring in the second half.  

 

Wouldnt say we were the better team,but when we move the ball a bit quicker we can look pretty dangerous.Might have nicked something if we'd been a bit more positive first half.

   Milne a stand out,Gyamfi an upgrade on the left,and Keskinen looked hungry when he came on,possible new super sub role? 

  Bring on the 'Well...

Lobban deserves special mention, looked like he'd been there for years rather than a fortnight - him and Milne have stepped up well. 

On the other hand, still trying to work out if Nisbet actually came on or if I imagined it.

10 minutes ago, Panda said:

Credit to them for that. That's a team that has beat Crystal Palace, and hammered AZ Alkmaar and Brann. And yet, away from home, I thought we were better team.

You can see how distraught Milanovic is at the end for missing that chance, but it's actually a tougher chance than it looks. Difficult to shape your body to direct it in.

Jack Milne excellent. Not just for the headers he won, but also the way he steps into the middle of the park and links the play. 

Still need two wins at least to qualify, potentially two wins and a draw, but I think at the moment it's more about taking confidence from these games after the poor start rather than stressing about getting through.

Unbeaten in four out of six, clean sheets in four from six, unbeaten in three away games in a row (all with cleans sheets).

Good result...pity I thought the KO was 7:45!   See Athens drew with Shamrok Rovers.

 

Edited November 6, 2025Nov 6 by dons8321

8 minutes ago, OxfordDon said:

On the other hand, still trying to work out if Nisbet actually came on or if I imagined it.

It's weird. He is laser focused on making sure the front three is in a line, each with a man, even cleverly switching to the wing to cover for Keskinen at one stage. He's a really intelligent player. Unfortunately, he's not able to do the rest of his job because he's too busy with the management of that part of the game. At some point he needs to start taking the risks and pressing high. I don't think it'll happen though, he's just not a one-up-front kind of guy.

Really solid performance, take that all day long.  A win against Motherwell at home and that is a corner turned perhaps? 

Didn’t see the game but good result. Interesting how the subs were done, give lazetic and Armstrong an hour then switch, I assume with the weekend in mind. I also think gyamfi got enough time to assess fitness and expect him to start v Motherwell. 
lobban is a really interesting one. With gyamfi fit and lobban playing well, does Jensen go to the bench??

Also really glad devlin is back in the team, and captain (not a negative on shinnie). He deserves that, thought he was gassed giving his all for us, then unfairly benched last season, good to see him out there.
Lobban Devlin Milne and Armstrong are sure starting 11 if you ask me, Scottish core!

Need to catch the highlights, only managed to watch 60 odd minutes before my stream shat the bed. Really liked what I saw in all honesty and it’s so great to see that we’ve got two academy guys more than holding their own, despite everything. JT was glowing in his review of Lobban, not just currently but his previous build up to making his appearances. 

There are signs, that this team and manager are finally finding their feet. Just wish we didn’t need to be pumped in Athens for it really happen. Hope we carry on this upward trajectory. Coming away with a point away from home in Europe against a team that has had some very high profile scalps, no shame in that at all.

14 hours ago, BigAl said:

P S. we are up to to fifth bottom 👍

Tad premature, although it was actually correct at the time of posting, we are however at the end of the evening back down to fourth bottom

JMG 😉

Ultimately even if we finish just 35th in this group we will have beaten the odds.

8 hours ago, manc_don said:

Need to catch the highlights, only managed to watch 60 odd minutes before my stream shat the bed.

Might not work in your region, but...

 

Didn't see the game as I was travelling yesterday but those highlights suggest it wasn't up to much despite being objectively a good result for us? No good chances for either side until injury time and over an hour before we did anything of note in their half?

42 minutes ago, wee toon red said:

Didn't see the game as I was travelling yesterday but those highlights suggest it wasn't up to much despite being objectively a good result for us? No good chances for either side until injury time and over an hour before we did anything of note in their half?

Nah we played a lot of good football, but a lot of poor decision making at the crucial moments is why there are a lack of stand out chances.

Notable examples: Someone passing to Milne in the box when they should have taken the shot on themselves, Keskinen passing to Milanovic just outside the box when he should have kept on dribbling, Karlsson inexplicably flicking the ball rather than just making a normal pass that would have got us in behind quicker.

Agreed, I thought there was a lot to like about us last night.  We are starting to look a solid team and really just need the front line to click a bit better and we should be in the goals imo. 

42 minutes ago, Panda said:

Nah we played a lot of good football, but a lot of poor decision making at the crucial moments is why there are a lack of stand out chances.

Notable examples: Someone passing to Milne in the box when they should have taken the shot on themselves, Keskinen passing to Milanovic just outside the box when he should have kept on dribbling, Karlsson inexplicably flicking the ball rather than just making a normal pass that would have got us in behind quicker.

Aye, basically the story of Thelin's tenure. We fall short just before creating the opportunity in the final third and often don't get a shot away. Players getting blamed for results for missing good chances is a bit like blaming the ref (as an aside, last night's ref was very good). Milanovic could have won us the game, but the decisions you mention are equally culpable in not leading to a goal in my opinion.