18 Sep 2013 23:49:53
Hopefully after tonight we might learn to be more streetwise and more clinical around the opposing box . The final ball tonight was woeful to say the least . We played out of defence better than I've seen tonight but missed a Lubo or a Naka in midfield to play a telling ball . Matthews was excellent as an out ball tonight as Samaras really never really got into the game apart from one excellent run . I said after 70 mins I would be gutted if we never took anything from the game but I never thought we would lose with a deflected shot and a free kick that should never have been awarded . On Saturday we must blood the new signings, Pukki, Biton, Boerrigter, and even Balde should get a run to get them game time for the challenge ahead . As I say gutted with the result but I think we missed a pinch tonight against a very ordinary team . Just a thought about how the media class Balotelli as world class . FFS give us a break, he couldn't lace the boots of Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney etc . DH
Celtic Banter Archive September 18 2013
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18 Sep 2013 23:30:43
we played well but our players need to start lifting their heads when in and around the box if stokes had squared to commons and Sammy had passed to stokes we would have been 2 up but as I say well played and bring on our home banker against barca
H OOPS you did it again!
I have got 11/1 cellic to LOSE all games in CL = Good Bhoys
Luvly Jubbly
Wow! Why you telling us you probably had a bet on that last year and for the rangers to win every game last year.
Answer a simple question troo bloo
Where would the rangers players most likely want to be playing Palmerston or San Siro.
What would the rest of the zombie fans rather be watching the rangers v ac Milan or the rangers v Queen of the South.
Ha ha very good above poster nice to see you have time to pop over to the champions site for a wee look. I must say i'd still rather be playing chamions league on a wed in the san siro rather than a ramsdens cup tie on a tues night in dumfries. Have fun and I hope you didn't put to much on at 11/1 you be better informed keeping your money to fund your own team bye bye for now.
19 Sep 2013 22:24:35
@ troo blue.
That's not true now is it because on the dark side pages you said it was a double with a 125/1 bet on rangers to win all their league games. Its not going to happen. Do you know why? Because bookies don't give odds like that if they think there is even remotely a chance if it happening. Give it a couple of months it gets cold and wet we Will see how rangers are going then.
Bottom line is I would rather see Celtic lose to one of Europes elite in the cl, then be winning playing part timers in what must be the worst cup competition in Europe.
Benedict
That's the dream team boy back. He hasn't got 11-1, he hasn't got any money on it at all. Such is the state of the ibrox psychology. Reduced to inventions aimed at a place so far away from his that it it probably does seem like a fantasy to him and his like, the followers of billionaires who are not. I'm hoping for more posts from him, a public confirmation of his need to escape the truly dreadful reality of crumbling ibrox and the ever decreasing circle of despair therein.
18 sep 2013 23:23:43
a couple of points about tonights game .
i think if our players would just lift there heads and look for passes we would score a lot more goals for instance when sammy was through in the second half stokes was in acres of space to his left also when stokes was in he had commons standing in the middle screaming for the pass c'mon celtic we played well but let's get our heads up
18 Sep 2013 23:16:13
I've just got home from pub after watching game. Not 1 bad performance tonight players gave their all which to be honest I'm proud of.We can't compete financially with top teams in the championship let alone champions league yet with the team we have I'm gutted not to have beaten AC Milan let alone lost to them. We maybe one of the biggest club names in Europe but all we can ask for is for our team to do us proud which they have tonight.
Hail Hail
Welshbhoy
18 Sep 2013 22:47:43
Definately proud of them bhoys tonite. san siro, celtic the.better team, wow all augers well for success for these bhoys. hail hail. ticbhoy
18 Sep 2013 22:45:13
That was hard to take. AC were dreadful and their for the taking.
i'm not joining in with any glorious defeat stuff tonight.
Some of our play in and around the box just wasn't good enough.
Joeshmo1888
18 Sep 2013 22:42:01
I'm over in Lanzarote at the minute and just watched the game with a pub full of English folk (father in law included) and another holidymaker who was a hibees fan. They were all saying how well we played and got to say I agree. I really don't think we can be too critical tonight. The only obvious thing was we had so much possession and opportunities but never really looked like scoring (Brown's chance and Stokes freekick apart), might have been bad luck but more likely a slight lack of quality in the final third. Anyway we done well and probably played better than a lot of folk predicted. At the end of the day gutted to lose but proud of the performance and got to say Efe and Van Dijk played well and altough he was unlucky with the OG they were all raving about Izaguirre over here!l!
We can come away from that with our heads held high and look to build on it. Right, back to the San Miguel for me, hail hail
Gary
18 Sep 2013 22:24:49
Should have had at least a point tonight, thought the whole team was immense. I don't understand why Mathews and commons were subbed, I would have took off stokes and samaras first. Anyway well done bhoys, a great display.
Briggs
Our shape and game fell apart on those two being subbed.
18 Sep 2013 22:19:34
I honestly think we deserved at least a draw tonight and Milan where there for the taking (let's hope others don't take their chances) IMO the board should have have signed a poacher/goalscorer (proven) Rhodes/fonbogasson?
**** off with the finnbogason nonsense.
18 Sep 2013 22:13:47
All the stats in all the world will not mean a thing, they only way to win a game of football is to score goals and proves the point yet again this is the only stat that matters.
Could not fault any of the players, all pass marks and my only criticism is the very obvious lack of goals.
Not too disheartened, you do not get an easy game at this level and Neil Lennon's Celtic team looked nowhere near out of place at San Siro.
Barcelona next up.
18 Sep 2013 21:53:11
Great performance by the team tonight.
Got to say though that this game was a missed opportunity for not 1 point but all 3.
Wonder what the board now think about not pushing the boat out and signing the quality needed up front.
As we've seen domestically, plenty of possession, half chances but no killer finish
Gripe at the board and not against the team tonite who played as well as they could.
Stevo dundee
Folk like u dae ma box in, the board backed Lennon to the tune of 10m for a team in Scotland just now that's big. If weed have spent 10m on a striker they'd still have the better quality through out there team 2nite
No name poster, see the bigger picture. It's people like u who do my head in and just accept the actions of board and toe the party line. Had we replaced the missing quality upfront in time this summer that would have been a different result. £10m spent, apart from the ch they weren't on park until near the end, why? Poor policy of signing late in the transfer window, players not into grated in team and in the case of balde at 2m a waste of money. If uve been to any games this season and seen him at half time with Danny mcgrain it's a joke. Stevo
Can't recall balde getting much of a chance to b so critical of him started against Liverpool thought he should up alright.
What would you have us do mass protests to get the board to spend more than 10m a season.
A don't get it nobody gets forced to go and spend the money if people don't think the way we get run is doing us any good then simply don't spend the money.
The Ghost
U and everyone else who churns that message are rite.
I'll adopt ure complacent attitude and just go with the flow.
No ambition, probably just like in ure life.
We'll win the league then accept annual qualifiers to get into group. Fail to qualify and bank any profit.
By law of averages we'll get the odd good result, punch above our weight but long term go backwards.
Stevo
@4 do you know me to say I have no ambition or is that just the way u are in life forever having a go!
Don't know how we've went backwards past 2 seasons in the champ league compared to not being in hmmmm
The ghost
Ghost, u talk pish and can't keep up with thread of conversation. Look at ure posts, make no sense and have no relevance to points I make.
Go back to the start, read it slowly, digest and consider. I said we played well within the limitations of our final third, we lack the quality and we without doubt have been let down by the board. Stevo
Stevo have read it back nice and slow and still managed to think your a fool, think that's quite obvious to any1 who has seen your posts.
If you don't think the board are doing a good enough job dont give them your hard earned cash specially if there just gony pocket it for themselves, better still start a revolution and oust Peter Lawell, am guessing with your careless spending we'd b dead within a couple of seasons. All the best
Viva la revolucion!
The ghost (the name is a joke to prove a point)
18 Sep 2013 21:40:10
Hi Ed, and everyone.
Question: Were Commons and Mathews injured? In my opinion they were definitely in the top 3 or 4 players we had on the pitch - why take them off? I'm not suggesting that this contributed to the goals (An awful deflection and a free kick we don't even know what for), but after all the unexpected possession I don't understand that decision.
I know it's controversial, but I agree with a poster I read on here earlier, in that NL makes some dubious decisions now and again.
Just interested to know everyone's thoughts.
On a positive note, I thought Brown and Ambrose were superb this eve.
Cheers
Davey
Thot the same of commons felt Mathews final ball was shocking. Ad imagine they wer knackered fresh legs wer needed, think a bit unfair to Lennon am sure most at that point Thot Milan wer there for taking. If stokes free kick goes in its a different story
It looked like the two of them had ran out of steam unfortunately. But is it a sign of how far behind top teams we are when we rave about how good a performance Mathews had, when he never put a telling ball into the box? Yes he did really trouble them with his pace and put a great shift in. but surely that's the least we should expect from every player. That's why it's hard to explain why Sammy was still on the park at the end of the game as he was invisible for most of it and hardly broke sweat all night, granted he has had some great nights in Europe in the last few years but he was well off the pace tonight so take him off.
I think it's time for Lenny to have a bit of self belief and play wingers on the wing(as opposed to defenders) who can take a man on and put a
decent ball into the danger zone where forwards can feed off them and get the goals we need. Massive opportunity missed tonight.
Jd
I commented on Lennon's team selections and dubious previous match losing substitutions before the game. I've commented after the game that we were on top until the subs. The substitutions were a tactical error, we lost possession in their half leading to the goals. We had a balanced high performing team until the subs.
All our squad are very fit and can play 95 minutes high tempo football. There was no tiredness. Lenny does great stuff he really does. That squad cost ten times ours. He gets the best out our guys. But at critical moments he makes big bloomers and has a lack of judgement.
@3, If Stokes free kick is 2 or 3 inches lower we are 1 up with 10 mins or so to go. The free kick was won by Pukki, a sub. If we had won Lennon would be a tactical genius. He took a chance, almost paid off but didn't. Proud of the effort of the team tonight.
cw-88
18 Sep 2013 21:38:05
The best team definitely lost tonight, thought Matthews was immense for someone not fully fit. I hate to say it but we had our chances but just lacked a goalscorer and that unfortunately is the difference at this level. I'm going to sleep broken hearted but proud. Who'd be a celtic fan eh?
Hail Hail
Dorsetbhoy
18 Sep 2013 20:35:56
Half time and am happy, playing with confidence and a calmness I've not seen away for a while. Keep it going, hope I don't screw this up with saying so but we look good
Vambo
18 Sep 2013 18:48:48
Feel pretty confident tonight on hearing the team. Come on Bhoys get us off to a good start.
18 Sep 2013 16:27:46
Watching the supporters being interviewed in Milan and I really admire their confidence and optimism (although some of it might have come out of a bottle or a glass).
We have a terrible record in Italy and it's a country notoriously bad for referees influencing results - like the Juventus 3-2 game as an example - so we face a very difficult first game in the group.
But Hey! We are in the hardest group of the toughest football tournament in the World and I would not swap places with anyone; and there are many, many thousands of fans who would love it to be their team mixing it with the Elite of Europe.
It would be awesome if we get any kind of result and it would silence the smarmy, patronising guys on Sly.
COYBIG
Jungle Jim
Not just Sly Jim . ITV ( a national broadcaster ) last night did a compilation of the English teams but no mention of the solitary Scottish team . How Keane can sit with those nuggets and listen to the pro English rubbish is beyond me . DH
The British corporation today described the sevco teenage transfer being from the "Glasgow Giants" lol rotflmfao. I can't sleep at night laughing at them and the msm. No matter how much perception peddling by msm goes on it changes nothing in reality.
19 Sep 2013 22:09:14
Good shout. Here's their squad:
www.acmilan.com/en/teams/roster
Fans need to wise up. Sly commentators are backing the stronger side. It plays into our hands being the underdog and surprises happen, particularly with Celtic.
18 Sep 2013 14:25:02
Hi Ed,
I appreciate you have enough to be doing, but is there any chance you could put a player ratings category?.
No problem if it's too much trouble, just a suggestion.
Thanks {Ed007's Note - Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean BB.}
Hi Ed, after each match you put up the team and replacements and we rate them 1 to 10, bit like a poll. Don't know how hard that would be but if it's too much trouble no problem I know you have enough on your plate.
Thanks, {Ed007's Note - I'll have a talk with the geek squad and see if they can come up with anything. We run a predictions competition on the main football-rumours page, maybe the program that runs that could be adapted and all your ratings be put on a new page.. Have a look at it and feel free to join in and play:
www.football-rumours.co.uk/correct-score-competition.php
Zombies would only troll the ratings out of pure jealousy with there rotting to the core fingers. Green army. {Ed007's Note - I can easily make it that only registered users can have any input.}
That looks like a plan ed, much appreciated, yeah green army I agree but as usual Ed is "smarter than your average bear" to quote Yogi himself {Ed007's Note - I'm sure we will come up with something, I can't see it being in time for tonight's game though.}
Actually a really good idea BadBhoy, that's if it is possible and no too much trouble for oor Ed.
We can even work everyones scores out per week and have a Celtic Rumours player of the year!
I have an East of Fife Div 2 Pub League Runner-up trophy from about 15 years ago. I will take off the wee front plaque and get it polished up!
Joeshmo1888
18 Sep 2013 12:53:28
Forster
Lustig Virgil Ambrose Izzy
Mulgrew
Sammy Brown Ledley Commons
Stokes
Boerrigter,, Mathews and Pukki all to come on.
Joeshmo1888
I don't trust Ambrose as a cb against their strikers so I would put mulgrew or lustic to pair up with vin dyk. Matthews and boerritger have to play!
Ive been Ambrose's biggest critic too! But to be fair, he's started the season reasonably well and i'm not keen on breaking his partnership with Virgil in such a big game.
Joeshmo1888
18 Sep 2013 11:33:32
We should be an older wiser more mature side this year. Observers will be looking for that development. We did very well last year and should be looking to consolidate in that. Our Manager should be older and wiser also.
A settled confident competent first 15 minutes is important. No scares. The squad needs to be defensive and physical.
I opt for:
Forster
Lustig. Ambrose. Van Dijk. Izzy
Matthews. Brown. Commons. Mulgrew. Ledley
Stokes.
Keeping boerrigter and Sami on the bench should a tactical change to attacking football become possible.
Tactics should be similar to the Barca game at Celtic park. Midfield rarely stepping over the pitch mid way line.
Hopefully a point which would be a great start.
Hail hail.
Are you mad, sammi has to start, he is the life in our euro attack force. We won't be wining much without him, he is also our out ball and the only player in our team these big teams fear.
Darrenbhoy
Both boer and Sami have to start, we need to take advantage of our speed and get thier legs tired for they don't have much to sub in.
I'd take 0-0 right now. It would be massive.
We go on about our home advantage all the time well these teams have that as well and we underestimate that huge factor as fans. Not saying the pros or manager does.
Agree sammy must start would be mad not to, although I agree we need to play defensive game they aren't the ac milan of old and shouldn't b feared . Maybe a bit more attacking would b better
They have Balotelli and now the Juve guy who scored twice against us. Forget about running at them. It's defence defence defence 4-5-1 with back four in zone defence formation and midfield five just in front of them with Commons rarely going forward to support Stokes up on his own. Anything else could be a goal fest for them.
Would you not play one of our best performers in Europe, samaras