Sober heads on, Forster isn't the keeper he was 12 months ago. Ambrose and Lustig were good as a pair.not up against a lot, but they were good together and looked like a partnership. Mulgrew at LB.... Lennon shoe horns him in. He's a poor defender at LB...mind you, so is Izzy but defence wasn't the name of the game. His balls down the channel were very clever. Matthews solid. Brown and Ledley. I don’t know if they can play as a pair. Brown's best performances have come on the right. Ledley hasn't looked the player he has been, but kept the ball moving. A better tempo from Joe. Sammy....100 times better when he isn't deployed as a striker. Forrest..... I don't get it. I chose him as my whipping bhoy for the season but he hasn't been much good. I'm glad he got to ram it right up me....but he wasn't that good this evening. Commons took things by the scruff of the neck. Stokes. That was a good performance from Stokes. Vital for two of the goals. He shouldn't be offiside aw the time and would get more goals if he just played the width of the penalty box.... But he played well. Lennon. Never wants to go through that again.......not the only one. If we now sign players,a little bit of me is going to think "**** you...why didn't you come last week"... They are going to have to tickle my tummy something rotten to get me to forget that. Or at least say something like how they always knew of Celtics of Glasgow and the great yoorupean nights are the stuff of etc etc etc.
Efe and Sammy the stars for me. Shakhter were absolute mince and I'm fairly sure they'll get pumped rotten in the Europa LEague. Closer than it should've been but a great night nonetheless. Atmosphere was rocking.
i agree with much of what you say. I think that forster's problems started when he got injured, hopefully by playing in meaningful matches every week it will bring him back up to where he was. he needs to come off his line and deal with crosses. i thought sammy was outstanding and wanted the ball all the time. i thought forrest was pretty ordinary for much of the game, hopefully the goal will boost his confidence
I think he is the best prospect we have at the moment and I believe there's a lot more to come from him.
Have no doubt, that team were a bunch of amateurs - we beat SPL teams all the time 3-0 or whatever, but those teams don't usually relate to £16m of income. So yeah this was very important, and for whatever reason we won. Happy ****ing days - we may be ****e in the group stages, with **** all players - but at least it's a calm panic now - we have a lot of money behind us with £20m of player sales + £16m of guaranteed European income... So anyway... we expect you to tickle our bollocks at least a little bit Mr Lawwell..?
Without a shadow of a doubt, hes stands out a mile to me just like Wanyama did, Arsenal could have done worse than buy Wanyama and Matthews, neither out of place in the Premiership imo.
I strongly suspect there'll be a few EPL teams who will very shortly, if not already, regret not having gone for Victor Mugubi Wanyama but lets not whisper Adam James Matthews' name too loudly - I certainly hope we retain him for at least another couple of years and I'm excited by the prospect of seeing him develop into that player they'll be queuing up to buy!
Genuine question - why hasn't Matthews been getting a regular game recently? I thought he was injured or something - but it seems not.
The form of Karl Mikael Patrick Adolf Lustig would be a major reason. The way Forrest has been playing lately I wouldn't have minded seeing Matthews playing wide right in front of Lustig. In most of Celtic's games Matthews starting position is going to be some way up the pitch anyway.
I'm nearly sure he was injured and was being nursed back into games but as Reb says, Carl Mikael Lustig has been playing well and therefore holding his spot. I'm convinced that Adam James Matthews will be a big big player for us in the near future - and the position in which he does so may not necessarily be that right back slot! As for James Forrest, hasn't it been reported that he's having a sciatic problem which would account for his less than full-blooded performances of late? I also think Kristian Arran Commons is nursing an injury - apparently he didn't train earlier in the week and I thought it was evident that he wasn't quite himself earlier in the first half. Anthony Stokes was out injured for the first leg game but it would seem he has fully recovered - he certainly more than justified his inclusion tonight!
Anybody got a link to the goals? Be nice to see a replay. Common's looked a beauty, thought Sammy could've been offside? And the 3rd was a work of art.
with Izzy going throgh a rough spot at the moment, and if we dont sign another left back - I wouldnt mind seeing Matthews at left back. Its not ideal, but Lustig doesnt deserve dropping and Matthews showed last year he can be equally as effective on the left
Highlight of night was Lenny goal celebration , sprinting up the touchline , but on his return to the dugout , big Johan gave him a talking to . Their effort that hit the bar wouldn't have counted can't score direct from a throw in
I think it took a deflection of one of their players. Anyway, who cares? We're in with the big boys of Europe and we're flying the flag for Scotland again!
