How Shamrock Rovers developed muscle memory for Europe

Shamrock Rovers will have a very familiar obstacle in their way when they kick off their UEFA Conference League campaign in Prague on Thursday.

This is the Hoops' second crack at the league phase of the competition in a row but last summer, they came across Sparta Prague in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

The Czech side proved formidable and eased through by a 6-2 aggregate margin, eventually advancing into the Champions League proper where they largely found the going tough against illustrious opposition like Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City.

Sparta are managed by Danish coach Brian Priske, who is in his second spell as manager. Last summer when Stephen Bradley pitted his wits against the Czech capital club, it was Priske's former assistant and compatriot Lars Friis who was serving as manager.

But both utilised a similar 3-4-3 formation, employing dynamic wing backs and a high intensity style, which Shamrock Rovers became well acquainted with.

Former Hoops midfielder Richie Towell was part of the matchday squads for both legs last season and speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, he outlined how impressive Sparta were.

"They were so dynamic. Honestly, they were excellent," he recalled.

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"Now, we actually played really well on the day. They beat us 4-2 but that was purely down to the quality that they had.

"Honestly, they were a really, really impressive side and very similar this year for them, they're doing well. They score a lot of goals in all their games."

Thus, it's a tough start to the six-game league phase for Rovers. However, as shown last winter, Bradley's team were more than able to hold their own at times against high-profile clubs, such as earning a draw at home to APOEL despite being down to ten men and later gaining another point at Rapid Vienna on route to becoming the first Irish side to reach a knockout stage.

Towell feels Rovers' growth at European level is a result of the muscle memory gained from regular continental forays - this season is the third year in four that they are in the equivalent of a group stage - and applying the lessons learned from previous setbacks.

And it's one defeat in particular that has impacted how Bradley has structured his midfield in European games.

"I found it probably when we played against Flora Tallinn," Towell said of the Conference League play-off round defeat in 2021-22.

"We played them away in the first leg, an Estonian team. Markus Poom who came to us was playing for them at the time.

"We went over there and we were so expansive. (Shelbourne manager) Joey O'Brien actually played in the game. So we would have had Joey O'Brien and played three centre-backs, two wing-backs as always and the two wide ones were so wide and we were just trying to play the expansive football that we always play in the league.

"And Flora Tallinn broke on us three times and scored three times and I think after that game, not the penny kind of dropped but it was like, 'right, we can't get away with this'. You're playing in the League of Ireland, if you give the ball away a couple of times you're probably not going to get punished.

"But when you go up the levels, you're playing against other teams who are champions of their country, they get the ball and if they get half a sniff, they're going to go and score. So we kind of learned from that."

Towell explained that in future European ties, Rovers flattened their box midfield shape to cover more ground between the wing-backs and back three, sacrificing one of the two attacking midfielders in that system, as well as adding more legs in midfield to help in transition.

"It was crazy because Neil Farrugia had never played midfield for us and then when (Bradley) announced the team (to face Sparta last year), you obviously had the likes of myself, (Graham) Burke, Jack Byrne and you think Neil Farrugia is playing in midfield ahead of us, what's going on here? But Neil was incredible in the game. Like that, legs, energy," said Towell.

"He was a player that could take you from a low defensive block into a fast transition straight away at the blink of an eye.

"So Stephen Bradley, it's brilliant to see a manager that actually puts the ego to the side a little bit and thinks, 'Yeah, things do need to change' and he did change it and it's changed for the better because you see the results they've got over the last couple of years."

Farrugia, now of Barnsley, is of course no longer in the picture at Rovers and in terms of replacing the dynamism he brought to central areas in European games, Towell is tipping Bradley to consider starting the likes of Darragh Nugent who can be more rangy and energetic in that area.

Along with the likelihood leaving one of the attack-minded midfielders - Graham Burke or Danny Mandroiu who are both in great form and scored against Bohemians in Friday's Dublin derby win - on the bench, he also expects to see the continued flattening of the defensive midfield three to work the width of the pitch in tandem with the wing-backs Josh Honohan and Danny Grant being more restricted as an attacking force.

"It's going to be interesting to see what (Bradley) does because going over there (to Prague), you're probably going to need to be a little bit more conservative," Towell said.

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