The Scottish PL discussion thread

Badabing

A.C Milan are playing in the world club thing the following week so they brought it forward.
Looks like Kennedy is out for 3 months he is having surgery in the morning

PauloMN

Eirebear wrote: »

As for qualifying with less points...its a damn sight more than anyone expected us to get from this group wether we qualify or not!

I know, I know.... I'm just on the wind up.

eirebhoy

I heard Strachan briefly mention Naka last night. Anyone know if he has any chance of making the Milan game? It'd be typical. The one game where he'd probably be better off on the bench. He would have easily stood out last night and I'm still a little bitter that he missed it. I'd rather we did ourselves justice with the classy midfield players we have at the club now.

eirebhoy

Anyone else think there's lots of value in backing Shakhtar to qualify?

Odds...

Celtic 4/11
Shakhtar 5/2

I still reckon we're the outsiders so I can't believe those odds.

Eirebear

nah...i honestly think sellik will progress now.

On the Scottish Cup draw....my cousin plays for East Stirling...and he is a completely and utterly Rabid one of you lot.....cant wait to give him abuse!:D

PauloMN

Badabing wrote: »

A.C Milan are playing in the world club thing the following week so they brought it forward.
Looks like Kennedy is out for 3 months he is having surgery in the morning

It's a very short break between two CL games.... 6 days with Hearts away and a flight to Milan in the middle. :eek: I know Strachan et al always bang on about concentrating on the next game, but personally, just this once, I reckon we shouldn't expend too much energy on the weekend's game.

As regards injuries, that's a bummer about Kennedy, but I suppose it's better than we all thought last night. I wonder will his career ever really be salvaged though?

Didn't know at all that Boruc was requiring surgery :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/7119219.stm

Looks like Mark Brown will have his chance to step up to the plate after all.

Any news on Naylor anyone? Haven't heard a thing.

ziggy

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ziggy

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PauloMN

ziggy wrote: »

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Agree with all of that mate. Such a shame, I really admire the determination he showed to come back after so long when he could have just packed it in. And now this... even if he recovers, every injury like that on an already delicate joint will take its toll long term. There's only so many ops you can take.

PauloMN

Scottish champions will now qualify automatically for CL group stages:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7120518.stm

Rangers will still have two qualifying ties to play.

Eirebear

never mind that....im still laughing my ass of at charlie nicholas!

PauloMN

1-1, at least we'll still be on top regardless of the Rangers game. Had a feeling it would be no better than a draw, happy enough with the result, but the game was poor. I thought the penalty looked soft from what I saw (which in fairness wasn't much as the camera angle wasn't great).

Thought the back 4 did well, aside from some below-par passing from Pressley. JVoH looked ineffective again today, I know he wasn't getting a whole pile of service, but when he did have the ball he looked no threat at all. Hope he finds form again soon. Thought Jarosik and Hartley played very well today.

All thoughts on Milan now, glad we came out of today with no further injuries. Tuesday can't come quick enough.

Some decent games this month to look forward to - Huns v Mini Huns, and us v Hibs.

eirebhoy

Poor performance but a point is actually more than I expected. Boruc wasn't far away from the peno but it was well struck.

Brown leaving Shakhtar player on his arse on Wednesday:
http://www.zshare.net/video/52969151e983f5/

Eirebear

Last minute penalty and no conspiracy theories?? :eek:
Just kiddin, i didnt actually realise yous were playing early today untill i switched on the text. Puts the pressure back on though....were up 1-0 but not playing well at all.
Darcheville off injured again.

PauloMN

Eirebear wrote: »

Last minute penalty and no conspiracy theories?? :eek:

Just for you EB:

"Hun ref, whose the mason in the black etc. etc."

Eirebear

PauloMN wrote: »

Just for you EB:

"Hun ref, whose the mason in the black etc. etc."

thats more like it! I need some aggravation after christmas shopping.......
Never mind rangers sound as if they might be about to give me it! :mad:

Eirebear

Scratch that...2-0, whittaker...belter of a goal by all accounts

A Dub in Glasgo

Poor game earlier, good poachers goal from McDonald. Boruc made a fantastic save at the end but then had an idiotic Caldwell give away the penalty.

1 point clear after 14 games and interestingly we have only played 6 games at Celtic Park

ziggy

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Eirebear

hehe...afterr "conspiracy theory" comments...im gonna have a go at the ref in the Rangers game

Obviously i only have the radio coverage as my basis but it seems Mr Freeland denied Rangers at least 2 stonewall penalties and possibly another 3 other then that! 5 fecking penalties and not 1 given:mad:

Killie kicked us up and down the park today...with naismith and boyd being marked for particular attention...ah well 2-0 is a decent win im happy enough.

As for Celtics defence...seemingly BBC Scotland gave Pressley MOTM....shocking, i know.;)

Pal

went to a Hibs game last week.

very impressed with their striker Fletcher.

watch this space. seriously good player.

PauloMN

Eirebear wrote: »

Killie kicked us up and down the park today...

Now you know how it feels. ;-)

redspider

Yeah, a hiccup for Celtic away to Hearts, but these things happen, and Celtic are still clearly in the driving seat having only played 6 at home whilst 8 were away, compared with Rangers having played 8 at home and 6 away:

Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD PTS
1 Celtic 14 5 1 0 19 0 5 1 2 19 12 26 32
2 Rangers 14 7 0 1 23 3 3 1 2 12 9 23 31
3 Hibernian 15 4 3 1 18 12 3 2 2 6 6 6 26

Celtic clearly have the capability to win the league and should do so. I would be surprised if they didnt. The question is how far can Celtic go in the CL this year? Its delicately poised ........

Redspider

Eirebear

Pal wrote: »

went to a Hibs game last week.

very impressed with their striker Fletcher.

watch this space. seriously good player.

Yeah hes a crackin player...there is talk that Rangers are after him but seemingly Hibs want 3 Million for him....so i doubt that will happen, especially considering he has already said he wants to leave.

As for the Home/Away thing lads....thats some straw clutching there i tell ya...all the table tells me at the moment is that were one point behind and there is still 9 points for us to gain off you lot!

eirebhoy

I'd take Lewis Stevenson of Hibs. Potentially an excellent left back (although he hasn't played there much for Hibs).

eirebhoy

The draw in tomorrows match is odds on with every bookies. William Hill have the draw at 8/11, Milan at 13/8 and Celtic 5/1.

PauloMN

So bhoys, can we do it? I think a draw is possible, but we'll need to be defensively well organised. Couple of howlers at the back and we're toast. I think Benfica will give Shakhtar a good game, and I don't expect many goals in that game - I think it'll be very tight.

Suppose the team picks itself for the most part, I would imagine it'll be a 5 man midfield, though you never know with WGS:

Boruc,
Caldwell, Pressley, McManus, O'Dea
McGeady, Brown, Hartley, Jarosik, Donati
McDonald

If JVoH was on form, he could be an option but he's been very quiet lately and I think 4-5-1 has to be the way to approach this one.

Squeaky bum time again!

Both games live:
Milan v Celtic: Setanta Ireland, Sky Sports 2
Shakhtar v Benfica: Setanta Sports 1, Sky Sports interactive

The TV remote will be wrecked after all the flicking tonight!

Eirebear

I dont thinkyoull need to worry about the Shaktar game tonight, Celtic will get the draw they need i reckon.

eirebhoy

PauloMN wrote: »

Both games live:
Milan v Celtic: Setanta Ireland, Sky Sports 2

And the rest...


ART Sport 4
B92 TV
bTV
C+ Spain
C+ Sport (France)
CT4 Sport
DigitAlb SuperSport 1
ESPN 2
ESPN Atlantic
ESPN Brazil
ESPN Latin America
ESPN Pacrim
HRT 2
Kanaal Twee
Kanal 31
Mediaset Premium 1
NTV+ Football
Premiere Sport Portal
Rustavi 2
Scottish TV
Setanta Ireland (irl)
Sky Calcio 1
Sky Sport Italia 1
Sky Sport Italia 16:9
Sky Sport Italia HD1
Sky Sports 2 (uk)
Sky Sports HD2
Sky Sports Interactive
Sport 1 (Ned)
Sport 1 (Ukr)
Sport 5
Sport TV2
Sport.Ro
Star Turkey
SuperSport 1 [Hellas]
TV2 Sport (Den)
TV3 Norway
TV3 Slovenia
TV6 Sweden
C+ …30 (Spain)
Sport N
Viasat Sport 2
Viasat Sport 1
RTR Sport
C+ Fútbol
TSi 2
BHT 1

:eek: The biggest every TV audience for a champions league group game. Pity we're playing poor football atm.

PauloMN

eirebhoy wrote: »

:eek: The biggest every TV audience for a champions league group game. Pity we're playing poor football atm.

Yeah and poxy RTE are showing a wildlife docu instead. :mad: Forget Man Utd and Liverpool, even ****ing starfish get preference over the Hoops. :mad:

Celtic67

Come On The Hoops!
Fingers, legs, eyes, everything crossed for tonight!

kraggy

I'm a little worried that if we push too hard, AC Milan may take it as a threat and get serious in fear of coming second in the group and thereby end up beating us.

Reckon we should play it cool for a while at first and then see.

eirebhoy

Seedorf seems to love Celtic. He always has good to say about the club. Talking about it being a special match because it's his 100th CL appearance he said "I think it's also very special that it's against Celtic". This is the 6th game against Milan in about 3 years and they've hardly been great games so I thought he'd be getting a bit bored playing Celtic.

Eirebear

eirebhoy wrote: »

Seedorf seems to love Celtic. He always has good to say about the club. Talking about it being a special match because it's his 100th CL appearance he said "I think it's also very special that it's against Celtic". This is the 6th game against Milan in about 3 years and they've hardly been great games so I thought he'd be getting a bit bored playing Celtic.

heres the*full quote

"I think it's also very special that it's against Celtic because that means we have a good chance of scoring a lot of goals.."

*maybe

PauloMN

Eirebear wrote: »

heres the*full quote




*maybe

And the rest of the quote:

... but not nearly as many as we could put past those rotten huns **

** = probably wasn't said

Eirebear

Touche!

redspider

A great win last night by ......... Benfica , which is enough to send Celtic through to the next round. I think hats off, kudos, etc to Celtic for getting through in this difficult group. Also a big thanks to Benfica who won away in Donetsk in difficult conditions and fought to get that Uefa place.

Celtic will more than likely have a difficult draw in the next round but that's what you get at this level. It can only be a good thing, and who knows what can happen in two-legged head to heads. Celtic showed no fear against Milan so why would any team scare them?

As for the performance, well, it could have been better. The 'false whistle' incident was a let-off, play the whistle people always say, yeah, but which one(?), but the defending for the goal and at other times was not good enough. Players need to get closer to their opponents and not give them so much space, and mark players in the box, so that means pressure on Kaka, follow the runs of Cafu, etc, and mark the Inzaghi's - closely. Defending could be Celtic's achilles heel, as well as a lack of a finisher. McGeady is as good as any other winger in Europe at times. I hope he starts some shooting practice though to increase the power of his shots. His improvement in form this season is an example that it is never too late to learn and improve. And if he could add powerful shooting to his repetoire, he would be a top class player.

As for Donetsk, I say Platini and Uefa are breathing a sigh of relief that the 'experiment' (see note*) to buy success in the CL failed, and doubly so as they failed to get through to Uefa as well. Platini will be another person who is glad to see Celtic qualify and Benfica in 3rd.

Not a brilliant european night for Celtic on the pitch but an overall achievement nonetheless .....

Redspider

Note * Rinat Akhmetov is the richest Ukrainian business oligarch with an estimated fortune of $4.0 billion. Akhmetov's main source of wealth is from his company, SCM Holdings (90% owned by him, 10% by spouse). He owns Shakhtar Donetsk.

PauloMN

Two cheap points dropped today. Didn't see it but a very poor result in a game in which I would have expected a comfortable win. Just as well I kept my fiver instead of sticking it on a McDonald hat-trick.

Hope those 2 points don't come back to haunt us... I just have a terrible, terrible feeling they will. Dropping point at home to teams like St. Mirren is what can lose championships.

ziggy

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Eirebear

:D:D
those statistics dont look quite so good now eh?
2 points clear, played a game more and only 1 less at home....

A Dub in Glasgo

Correct although we will pump ye on the 2nd

PauloMN

Eirebear wrote: »

:D:D
those statistics dont look quite so good now eh?
2 points clear, played a game more and only 1 less at home....

You just concentrate on getting to the last 16...

Eirebear

PauloMN wrote: »

You just concentrate on getting to the last 16...

I dont see it happening...anyway the league is our priority this year

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Correct although we will pump ye on the 2nd

4 in a row is on its way my friend

eirebhoy

I said before the match that I wouldn't have played Hartley because he offers very little in these games. There wasn't much options yesterday with Naka and Donati injured but I still haven't lost faith in Sno. He's well capable of dominating a game against St Mirren. Hartley's good to have when we're expected to be on the back foot but when we need to be creative he can haev a seat on the bench.

ziggy

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Erin Go Brath

Bad week for the Celts (would be a disaster except for Benfica win)


Of course its a minor setback, and we'll bounce back straight away, i'm sure. The Huns have a tricky run of games coming, including playing hearts, hibs and us in the next 5.

Question: Why didn't we put in for a weekend off to prepare for Europe, like Rangers did? It would've been benefical to have last weekends game v Hearts put back.

ziggy

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eirebhoy

ziggy wrote: »

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I don't think he's good enough for Celtic in an attacking role tbh. I'm delighted with his form playing as a holding midfielder though.

Erin Go Brath

ziggy wrote: »

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It seems unfair, if not hypocritical in the extreme to allow one title challenger time off, while forcing another to play. That said i'm not aware of Celtic making any requests. They should have though!

Eirebear

Erin Go Brath wrote: »

It seems unfair, if not hypocritical in the extreme to allow one title challenger time off, while forcing another to play. That said i'm not aware of Celtic making any requests. They should have though!

I think you answered your own question there EGB....Celtic never made any requests, therefore they werent FORCED into anything.

TBH i think we should have played gretna....going top of the league would have been a nice wee confidence boost before wednesday!