What Rebel says. 1 point out of 6 against them would do me fine. Any more would be manna from heaven basically.
Sore head and I had to catch a plan first thing this morning. Don't care though, big smile on the bake.
Exactly. Keep our big players free for any upcoming SPL battles. It's our bread and butter, after all Although, i'd take 1 point out of 6 too. If we went to the NC and got a draw though, i'd fancy us in the return fixture at CP. I think i'd spontaneously combust if we won the group.
Nobody knows what is going to happen on a football pitch. We could get pumped home and away, no doubt about that. However I saw Chelsea playing ugly football with their midfield only a few yards in front of the back four both home and away, the longer the games went on the more frustrated Barca became and the easier it became for Chelsea. Now I am not daft enough to think our players would match the millionaire footballers of Chelsea but Chelsea were not playing to their strengths, they reduced themselves to stopping the Spaniards playing, we can do the same, there is no point in us opening up and trying to beat them.
Harry, I thought Forrest was poor about 2/3 weeks ago. I thought he had come on well since. I can't understand the barracking our wide men get. Very often there are not enough men in the box so it can be hard to find an other attacker. M.O'Neil said it was the wide man's responsibility to put the ball into the box and the remaining attackers job to do the rest. Currently very difficult as forwards mostly not good in air. James put a brilliant cross right on Hooper's head against 'Well but Hooper made no attempt he wanted ball on carpet. I think it would be grossly wrong to fault any individual last night. Surely a wonderful team performance, all 13 players all did great things. Both goals conceded could have been avoided but I think the Russians skill and ability as much as anything got the better of us once or twice. It is testament to the whole team that it was only once or twice. Last night may just have been the best result and performance that Celtic have had away for home in over 25 years. If we had got rid of the cheats long ago, as should have happened if their compliant bosses of SFA had done there job, maybe we would be up amongst the elite.
If we are to stand any chance of anything we need to cut out stupid mistakes. We've made a few in recent weeks at home and abroad. Against barca we are going to have a tough enough job without helping them. Will take 90 mins of effort and a lot of luck. But I reckon with their defence as it is we can nick a goal, so even more important to keep it tight at the back
The fact that most of our team is young and inexperienced at this level should be used as an advantage in Lenny's team talks. Tell them they have nothing to fear as they have not yet failed on this level. They have every right to believe that they can beat anyone they face, since they are yet to lose. With that said, Barca 3-1 Celtic, Celtic 2-2 Barca is how i see the results going.
Of course we have to cut out the stupid mistakes, the reason they happen are, because they are stupid mistakes. They often start in the oppositions own half and with the standard Barca has we need to be fully alert all the time. I think last night for instance, once the ball was played into the box both the quality of the ball and the two strikers we were not going to stop the goal. The man playing in the ball wasn't pressurised and we can't let that happen. The good thing is if we get the ball in their last third Barca are not completely solid, so we might get a chance or two.
I expect us to lose both games. I hope the defeats aren't embarrassing. A draw would be amazing, anything more a minor miracle. But then, the team has already got twice as many points as I predicted we'd get from the whole campaign. My pessimistic approach is clearly working so I'll stick to that <reversepsychology>
rogue. but you did say it was time to bite the bullet over lennon. dont want to argue the point though pal.<huddlecuddle>
I can't see us taking anything from Barca other than a sore arse raping. Would be amazed if we got anything away to Benfica too. That leaves me thinking a draw/win at home to spartak should be enough to see us into the europa after Christmas, which would be a fantastic achievement for us, considering we are up against 3 sides who think nothing of shelling out £20m on a single player.
Fair enough BAD, , now....I just have to deal with Venom and Biggus as they seem to be trying to break up the happy home Sammi and I have lovingly shared for years now..... If I find out my big , beautiful sammi has been two timing me with either of that pair he`ll come home tonight to discover his Pantene Pro V thrown out on the street.
The worst bit is, that if we had a solid defence, we have the players further up the pitch that could score against anyone.
Even the youths got in on the act against psv in the next generation cup . A 3-1 victory all our goals came in the first 16 mins !!!
