Snip: COPENHAGEN boss Stale Solbakken has told Thomas Delaney to ‘aim higher’ than Celtic. The Irish-American midfielder, who plays for Denmark, was revealed to be a target for the Hoops, who had him watched in a friendly match against Rosenborg, with Dynamo Kiev also interested. But Solbakken said: “Celtic is a club with great tradition, but Thomas has reached an age when he is not only looking towards Scotland when he leaves. ... He should look further south in Britain.” Read more: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/footb...p-title-race-not-over-1-4038375#ixzz41YxMrvG1
Damn poor Celtic though this has been this way for over a decade now. When was the last time that Rangers n Celtic were considered "big clubs" or could actually qualify for the CL without a 2nd or 3rd round of qualifying?
He won't be an FCKer anymore: Done deal! Thomas #Delaney will join #Werder during the winter break from @FCKobenhavn 🇩🇰More to follow... pic.twitter.com/IJ4QxBTHFw— SV Werder Bremen EN (@werderbremen_en) August 17, 2016
Sold, but not quite gone yet ... and did quite well for FC København in this rounds Champions League 4-0 win against Brugge
He hit a nice one here as well in league play (about 1:50 on the video): http://www.fck.dk/english1/#/nyhed/2016/09/19/first-half-goals-enough-for-fck
Forget about Rafael van der Vaart and all the other players in the Danish Superliga ... Delaney is rated the best player in the Danish league so far this season, no matter if you ask the expert commentators or the other Superliga players ...
wait over the hill Van Der Vaart is a legitimate option as someone who folks are rated among the best in the season so far?
I was just saying that no matter their "name", their age, talent or position, Delaney is rated the best player in the Superlig so far this season .... The goal against Brugge :
What has made Delaney better than all the rest this season, is his consistency ... while other good players can have an off-day from time to time, he always perform at a very high level ... he is one of few players where you get surprised when he makes a mistake ...
Delaney and 3 of his FCK team-mates have made it to UEFAs best XI Fantasy CL team of the Week : http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2409078.html
Delaney turned 25 just around a month ago on the 3rd of September .... here are all his 19 goals for FCK up until his 25th birthday, starting with his debut goal at the age of 17, in his international debut against FC Mogren from Montenegro in the 2009 Champions League qualifiers, while the last goal is from this years CL qualifiers against the Romanian champions Astra :
Champions League Group G: Leicester (ENG) ............... 2 < 4-0 > 6 FC København (DEN) .... 2 < 5-1 > 4 FC Porto (POR) ................ 2 < 1-2 > 1 Club Brugge (BEL) ........... 2 < 0-7 > 0 FC København v Brugge 4-0 ..... 8 minutes of highlights :
Group G: Leicester (ENG) ............... 3 < 5-0 > 9 FC København (DEN) .... 3 < 5-2 > 4 FC Porto (POR) ................ 3 < 3-3 > 4 Club Brugge (BEL) ............ 3 < 1-9 > 0 Leicester vs. FCK, 1-0 While FC Porto won 2-1 against Brugge in Belgium through a last minute penalty, Schmeichel saved the day and 3 points for Leicester with a brilliant last minute save against his fellow Danes from FCK ... but again it was a very good, tight and solid away performance in CL by Delaney and FCK, with the home team not being allowed much space or opportunities, while FCK produced just enough to bring home a result, though this time they narrowly lost by 0-1 ... but as the statistics below also show, then FCK actually were leading in passing accuracy, possesssion and attempts on target, while the home team Leicester on the other hand were that slight bit more efficient ... FCK have now played their two most difficult away games and are still looking good in this group. Statistics and official Highlights : http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...d=2000783/match=2019318/statistics/index.html
didn't Copenhagen reach the last 16 a few years ago (first Danish club to do so I believe) what's the furthest any Scandinavian club has progressed in the modern CL?
FCK finished 2nd in their group back in 2011 ... ahead of Russian Rubin Kazan and Greek Panathinaikos to reach the later stages of the CL, but then lost (0-2 and 0-0) to Chelsea ... this is the best Scandinavian CL result in more recent times.. Back when CL had both a 1st and 2nd Group stage, Rosenborg reached the 2nd group stage once, but this is not quite comparable, because it was easier to reach the first group stage back then ... and before this, they got past their Group in 1997 to reach the next round which was the CL Quarter-Finals back then, but obviously it's not quite as easy to reach the CL Quarter-Finals now, just by getting past a group stage.... in more recent times Rosenborg finished 3rd in the CL Group Stage in both 2006 and 2008 to reach the later stages of the Europa League, where they lost both home and away to Zenit St. Petersburg in 2006 and also lost both home and away to Fiorentina in 2008... AaB Aalborg got a bit further in 2009 when they finished 3rd in their CL group and progressed to the Round of 32 of the Europa League where they beat Spanish Deportivo La Coruña both home and away (3-0 and 3-1), but then lost to Manchester City on penalties in the Round of 16, after 0-2 in Manchester and 2-0 at home ... in a match that btw gave debut to Marcus Tracy. The main problem for Scandinavian teams is that if they get past a CL or EL Group stage, they will still be on a long winter break in the later stages, while the opponents they face are in top shape playing league games... so not only are the Scandinavian teams facing opponents from the top leagues in the later stages, but they are also winter-rusty and out of shape when they reach this far ... so I would say that the most remarkable result in recent times was AaB Aalborg trashing Deportivo La Coruña both home and away (3-0 and 3-1) in the Round of 32 of the Europa League, while AaB were still on winter break, unlike their Spanish opponent...
Btw ... I was not at all surprised about the FCK away performane against Leicester ... physically FCK are as strong as an English PL team like Leicester ... all the FCK players are solid NT players and experienced in Europe, while Leicester have experience from the EPL ... so the Leicester players are used to a higer pace in the EPL while the FCK players have better passing skills on average in compare with a team like Leicester, as this match also revealed ... in the end it all came down to Leicester having the better keeper and being slightly more efficient, which was also how they won most of their games in the EPL last season ... but they have not looked as good away from home this season, while FCK are a very strong home team, so the next game between the two teams in Copenhagen will be interesting ...
Starts against Leicester in CL action: XI #Copenhagen (vs #Leicester): Olsen; Augustinsson, Johansson, Jørgensen, Ankersen; Falk, Delaney, Kvist, Verbič; Cornelius, Santander— 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒓 🇬🇧⚽️ (@ProyectoPremier) November 2, 2016
Group G: Leicester (ENG) ............... 4 < 5-0 > 10 FC Porto (POR) ................ 4 < 4-3 > 7 FC København (DEN) .... 4 < 5-2 > 5 Club Brugge (BEL) ............ 4 < 1-10> 0 FCK vs. Leicester, 0-0 FC Porto took a slim 1-0 win at home against Brugge, while Leicester escaped with a 0-0 result in Copenhagen ... Leicester parked the bus in the first 45 minutes, defending low and hoping for a lucky punch counterattack that never really came, while Delaney and FCK were dominating possession wise but had trouble finding holes in a tight and solid looking Leicester defense ... so it all became very tactical, with only 3 shots on target all match .... At the start of the second half Leicester stepped up the pace a bit, but to no real effect against a likewise tight looking FCK defense, so Leicester created next to nothing in attack, with Jeff Schlupp registering Leicester’s sole effort on target with a low, deflected drive that rolled slowly and harmlessly into the arms of FCK keeper Robin Olsen. Unfortunately FCK also seemed fairly toothless, though they produced few good attempts ... and exactly like in the first match between the two teams, Schmeichel produced an excellent last minute save to deny Andreas Cornelius .... so once again Schmeichel saved the day for Leicester against his fellow Danes ... FCK now face Porto in Copenhagen and then Brugge away ... should FCK mange to win both games they are sure to progress in CL and could even win the group, but only if Leicester lose their home game against Brugge and away to Porto, which seem highly unlikely ... Statistics and official Highlights : http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...d=2000783/match=2019342/statistics/index.html