Derry City Siapkan Strategi Ofensif Hadapi CSKA Sofia di Brandywell

Kembalinya sejumlah pemain pilar menjadi suntikan amunisi bagi Derry City yang bersiap menjamu CSKA Sofia dalam laga leg kedua babak kualifikasi pertama Liga Europa UEFA di Stadion Ryan McBride Brandywell pada Kamis malam, 16 Juli 2026.

Klub berjuluk Candystripes tersebut memikul misi membalikkan ketertinggalan agregat 2-3 dari wakil Bulgaria demi mengamankan tiket kelolosan. Skuad asuhan Tiernan Lynch mendapatkan tambahan kekuatan di lini belakang dan tengah seiring pulihnya Adam O'Reilly serta Brandon Fleming.

Kendati demikian, Derry City masih kehilangan James Clarke dan Gavin Whyte yang berada dalam fase pemulihan cedera, sedangkan Darragh Markey harus absen hingga akhir musim. Menghadapi lawan yang lebih unggul secara finansial, Manajer Derry City Tiernan Lynch menginstruksikan skuadnya untuk tampil berani.

"We’ve be telling the players that no disrespect to CSKA, but it’s not Barcelona we’re playing. I feel we saw in the last 30 minutes in the first leg in Sofia that we can play at this level and we can compete at this level, so it’s really important that we don’t show any disrespect, but it’s also important that we go into the game and try to impose our game plan. " ujar Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Lynch mengingatkan pentingnya ketenangan pemain di lapangan hijau demi mengeksploitasi setiap celah yang ada di lini pertahanan tim tamu.

"As long as we give 100 per cent, then I think we’ll be OK. But as I said I think there’s areas where we can exploit them and if we can show the bravery that we need to show we’ll cause them problems; there’s no doubt about that." kata Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Satu gol yang dilesakkan oleh James Olayinka pada akhir babak di leg pertama dinilai Lynch menjadi modal krusial sekaligus landasan perjuangan timnya di kandang sendiri.

"As far as I’m concerned, it’s in our hands, and I think that last goal from James (Olayinka) really gave us a wee bit of a platform now and something for us to really go and get after, but we have to make sure that we manage the game." lanjut Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Lynch menegaskan bahwa Derry City tidak akan menerapkan taktik bertahan total karena posisi mereka yang tertinggal defisit gol.

"We won’t be defensively minded, because we’re a goal behind, but it’s one of those situations where we don’t want to kill the tie before you get yourself potentially back into the tie and we’re going to be conscious of that." tegas Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Evaluasi menyeluruh mengenai kekuatan personalia CSKA Sofia telah dilakukan tim kepelatihan berdasarkan rekaman pertandingan pertama di Sofia.

"We have to understand the areas where we feel that we can exploit them and we’ve now a little bit more knowledge of their personnel and technically they’re a very good team." kata Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Lynch juga mengakui adanya kejutan taktis berupa perubahan formasi dari tim lawan pada laga pekan lalu yang sempat di luar prediksi timnya.

"They’ve some really good footballers and are a real threat, they’ve obviously a couple of players that we expected to play, that didn’t play and we were probably taking a little bit back by the shape that they played, as it wasn’t the shape that we were expecting." tambah Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Namun, sang manajer kini memilih fokus penuh untuk meningkatkan kepercayaan diri serta ketenangan bermain anak asuhnya sendiri.

"Who knows what Thursday’s going to bring from their end, but as we’ve talked about with our boys, they’re a couple of elements of our game that we need to get better at; we have to show a little bit more confidence in ourselves and a bit more composure in ourselves." pungkas Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Di kubu seberang, CSKA Sofia membawa deretan bintang baru mereka seperti Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Stefano Sensi, dan Joel Zvarts. Tim tamu tetap optimistis melaju ke putaran kedua, meski persiapan mereka sempat terganggu kendala dokumen visa bagi dua pemain asal Belarus.