The Scottish PL discussion thread

cruiserweight

Copenhagen have looked shakey at the back all game. Smith named MOTM. I thought Byrne looked good in the first half.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Blackjack

PauloMN wrote: »

John Collins has resigned, didn't see that one coming:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/h/hibernian/7153893.stm

Absolute disaster, particularly with the 2 OF games coming up. Don't know who we could get to replace him, perhaps John Hughes might move from Falkirk. Pataoleinen (some Icelandic dude, also always linked with Hibs). No one springs to mind really.

Have to agree with Eirebear, don't think Collins is ready for International.

eirebhoy

If you could get John Hughes I wouldn't think twice about taking him.

Eirebear

Blackjack wrote: »

Absolute disaster, particularly with the 2 OF games coming up. Don't know who we could get to replace him, perhaps John Hughes might move from Falkirk. Pataoleinen (some Icelandic dude, also always linked with Hibs). No one springs to mind really.

Have to agree with Eirebear, don't think Collins is ready for International.

Mixu Patelainan? Great player in his day....hes been manageing in scotland for a while, my cousin played under him at Albion Rovers....used to play for hibs too did he not? I know he played for the sheep and dundee utd.

Amazing result for the sheep tonight, unbelievable.
4 points out of 12 good enough to go through though? Thank feck the Uefa cup is changing!

Happy Christmas Ziggy, best wishes to you and your family..wrap up warm though, its feckin freezin here!

Badabing

Badabing wrote: »

I'd say it's been a good few years since 3 scottish clubs have been in europe after christmas.

1970 i belive.

PauloMN

Fair play to the sheep, great result against a team who can be tricky opponents. I'd have had them down for a draw at best, which wouldn't have been enough to see them through.

Roll on Saturday - 3 points needed desperately otherwise we're in trouble. Booked tickets online last week and the friggin' things haven't turned up yet, so here's hoping they turn up tomorrow.

Happy Chistmas Ziggy and everyone else, take care if you're travelling anywhere.

PauloMN

Blackjack wrote: »

Absolute disaster, particularly with the 2 OF games coming up. Don't know who we could get to replace him, perhaps John Hughes might move from Falkirk. Pataoleinen (some Icelandic dude, also always linked with Hibs). No one springs to mind really.

Have to agree with Eirebear, don't think Collins is ready for International.

Mixed reactions, the media obviously think he resigned for the international job, but he says it's down to not getting enough money for transfers. Suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

Eirebear

Badabing wrote: »

1970 i belive.

didnt think it was THAT long, considering Aberdeen and DUndee Uts exploits in the 80's

FRM

I thought it was '84 or something..... thought I read it.... it might surprise you how long ago it was that both sides of the OF were in Europe after Xmas.... up until last couple of years I'm sure it was 20 odd years..... need to see if google can throw that up !

RE Hibs: Was Big Mixu not mgr at Cowdenbeath or maybe still is ?

FRM

Think the last time 3 Scottish teams were in Europe after xmas was 1970 or 71.... Celtic, Killie and Dunfermilne I believe....

redspider

Not very good results for Celtic in recent matches. Surprised by the loss at Callie Thistle given that V of H had us 2-0 up. Seldom do we let leads like that slip away. The hiccups have turned into a blip, and that puts Rangers in pole position even though they are 2 pts off but they have 2 games in hand.

Also surprising to see Motherwell doing so well, .... oh well, perhaps if we dig deep into our well of resources we will (not well) come out okay in the long run. we'll ;-) see .....

Merry Xmas ...

-Redspider

Eirebear

Celtic Barcalona then....

Ill be honest and say that for political reasons this is the one tie i really didnt want.
After the drubbing we took in the catalan press for no real reason, its now set up perfectly for them to tell us how much better celtic fans are and how much better a football team they are, no matter how the results go.
And of course the greatest fans in the world will shout it from the rooftops :mad:

PauloMN

Eirebear wrote: »

Celtic Barcalona then....

Ill be honest and say that for political reasons this is the one tie i really didnt want.
After the drubbing we took in the catalan press for no real reason, its now set up perfectly for them to tell us how much better celtic fans are and how much better a football team they are, no matter how the results go.
And of course the greatest fans in the world will shout it from the rooftops :mad:

It's a conspiracy I tell ya!!!!!

Eirebear

PauloMN wrote: »

It's a conspiracy I tell ya!!!!!

Put it this way paul, i bet you lot get supplied with things like toilets and bins.....

Eirebear

bloody hell Walter Smith must hate draws at this point...after the scotland Euro Group..followed by the Rangers Champions League group, and now this!
panathanaikos followed by Werder bremen if we get through....the guys jinxed!

eirebhoy

Quote from Hinkel's agent in a Germany tabloid:
"They [Celtic] must have won the lottery. They offered crazy money"

Apparantly he wants a move to Germany though.

eirebhoy

Interesting to look at the last Celtic team to play Barca:

22 Hedman Magnus
5 Valgaeren Joos
6 Balde Dianbobo
23 Varga Stanislav
4 McNamara Jackie
8 Thompson Alan
17 Agathe Didier
18 Lennon Neil
19 Petrov Stilian
9 Sutton Chris
10 Hartson John

Pretty dreadful to be honest. Petrov was half the player for us in Europe compared to the SPL. A lot of the players were coming to the end of their Celtic careers. And they drew 1-1 in the Nou Camp.

btw, would you prefer to play against Barca like Falkirk did to us (and potentially lose 4-0) or like Rangers (where the risk of losing is smaller)? I know plenty of Celtic fans gave Rangers credit for their results in Europe this season but I'd much rather be known for trying to play football rather than getting a 0-0 draw by defending for 90 minutes.

Eirebear

nice wee dig there eirebhoy

Simple fact of the matter, Celtic would never come close to a draw playing "anti-football" with a defence like yours

eirebhoy

I agree with that too. I don't like using that phrase anti-football but if Messi can use it I can use it. Barca and Man Utd are the only teams that have made Celtic defend for most of the match at home in years and years. It's not nice a all. I'd rather get some psychological chip that'll make the Celtic players attack but I just can't see it. No footballer can overcome psychology. After watching the video's of Barca ripping teams apart they're instinct will tell them to get deeper once Barca have the ball.

Eirebear

TBH Eirebhoy, its pretty simple really.....in football you work to your strengths and try and get a result any way you can.
Scotland did this and got praised for results against france.
Rangers done this and got slaughtered by the press for getting a point at home against one of the best teams in the world.

Unfortunatly (for Celtic, not for me ) Celtics strength is in trying to go forward and attack teams, they cannot defend and for that reason i reckon Barca might score a few.

His manager update: Mixu patelainan and john Hughes still favourites (Mixu is managing a finish team BTW who he took to third in the league), other names in the hat include Billy Davies (not sure i see that happening) and Neil Lennon (if he gets it i hope hibs get relegated...again!)

eirebhoy

Eirebear wrote: »

Rangers done this and got slaughtered by the press for getting a point at home against one of the best teams in the world.

And they say Celtic fans are the paranoid ones. I didn't see much negative in the media after that match. The 2nd leg though was a different story. Bringing the ball into the corner when you're losing is slight odd I think you'll agree.

Blackjack

Eirebear wrote: »

Mixu Patelainan? Great player in his day....hes been manageing in scotland for a while, my cousin played under him at Albion Rovers....used to play for hibs too did he not? I know he played for the sheep and dundee utd.

Yep, played for Hibs alright, but I don't think he's got the right level of experience from Albion Rovers to move to the Hibs Job. He's been linked to the Job before Collins was appointed, hence why I mentioned him.

PauloMN wrote: »

Mixed reactions, the media obviously think he resigned for the international job, but he says it's down to not getting enough money for transfers. Suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

I'd say it was down to money alright. To be Fair, the Hibs squad coming through are as good as any, so there is talent there, but not enough experience. Petrie (Chairman) has done an exceptional job in turning the clubs finances around, so I'm sure he wants to maintain a conservative approach to spending, which I have to say I'd support. I'm all for speculating to accumulate, but in the SPL there's little difference in reward when the best placing in the League you could really hope for is 2nd or more realistically 3rd.
Hibs don't have the money or the fanbase to challenge for top spot - the money to grow should be spent on increasing the size of the stadium so that you can at least create additional revenue from the increased capacity. Look at what's happened to the Jambos - a fortune spent in the past 3-4 years absolutely massive debts ,with feck all to show for it and now likely to have to play at another Stadium for a while.

Blackjack

eirebhoy wrote: »

If you could get John Hughes I wouldn't think twice about taking him.

Yogie has always been popular with the Hibs fans and has done some great work with the Bairns. I do think he'd be suited to the current Hibs style of football as well (if that makes and sense) so he'd be a great shoe-in.

Erin Go Brath

eirebhoy wrote: »

Interesting to look at the last Celtic team to play Barca:

22 Hedman Magnus
5 Valgaeren Joos
6 Balde Dianbobo
23 Varga Stanislav
4 McNamara Jackie
8 Thompson Alan
17 Agathe Didier
18 Lennon Neil
19 Petrov Stilian
9 Sutton Chris
10 Hartson John

Pretty dreadful to be honest. Petrov was half the player for us in Europe compared to the SPL. A lot of the players were coming to the end of their Celtic careers. And they drew 1-1 in the Nou Camp.

btw, would you prefer to play against Barca like Falkirk did to us (and potentially lose 4-0) or like Rangers (where the risk of losing is smaller)? I know plenty of Celtic fans gave Rangers credit for their results in Europe this season but I'd much rather be known for trying to play football rather than getting a 0-0 draw by defending for 90 minutes.

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Nice one, EB!


Celtic v Barca will be a great occasion. I'm looking forward to it already. I'd have to say on current form Barca will be slight favourites (i'm a fan of the understatement )

[broken record] Our defence will have to improve ENORMOUSLY if we have a hope in hell of doing anything in this tie[/broken record]

Eirebear

Blackjacks lot are beating celtic 1-0 at parkhead! :eek:
This really is quite a crumble from celtic at the moment isntit?

Erin Go Brath

Eirebear wrote: »

Blackjacks lot are beating celtic 1-0 at parkhead! :eek:
This really is quite a crumble from celtic at the moment isntit?

Theres 45 mins left. Dont be counting your chickens yet!

eirebhoy

Eirebear wrote: »

Blackjacks lot are beating celtic 1-0 at parkhead! :eek:
This really is quite a crumble from celtic at the moment isntit?

Just shows you how important Naka is to Celtic. As important as Ferguson to Rangers. Hibs marking today is terrible and if Naka was playing he'd certainly exploit it.

I still think Celtic can do it but the defending is actually getting worse.

mike65

Minnows rule today

Mike.

Eirebear

Erin Go Brath wrote: »

Theres 45 mins left. Dont be counting your chickens yet!

I know....just thought id rustle the chickens a wee bit though

eirebhoy wrote: »

Just shows you how important Naka is to Celtic. As important as Ferguson to Rangers. Hibs marking today is terrible and if Naka was playing he'd certainly exploit it.

I still think Celtic can do it but the defending is actually getting worse.

ferguson isnt quite as important to Rangers as he thinks he is EB

Eirebear

1-1 Jarosik...Hibs really struggling to hold on TBH

eirebhoy

That's it. 1-1. Strachan's backing by Celtic fans at an all time low. If he doesn't win the league he'll have to go I'm afraid.

Eirebear

A lot of boos coming from The Greatest Fans In The World there.....Strachans gonna have to watch himself the way things are going.

where the hell did the referee get 5 minutes of injury time from? Had me tearing my hair out he did!;)

Erin Go Brath

eirebhoy wrote: »

That's it. 1-1. Strachan's backing by Celtic fans at an all time low. If he doesn't win the league he'll have to go I'm afraid.

Why?

Strachan has done wonders with the resources available to him. The board need to put forward some funds so we can buy a defence.

Getting Celtic to the last 16 in Europe for two seasons running with the limited funds, and some of the limited players at his disposal is an achievement that can't be underrated, not to mention winning 2 leagues. The board are extremely lucky to have a talent like Strachan managing the team.

Some of these Celtic fans have a pole up their bum about Strachs because he played for Aberdeen. A ridiculous reason imo. They need to cop on!

eirebhoy

I admire your faith and I had been one of Strachan's biggest defenders but I just can't defend him any more. We're weaker than we were in his first season imo.

A Dub in Glasgo

Looks like Celtic are going to throw the league away

eirebhoy

The Ukranian team that Aberdeen beat before the group stages of the UEFA cup are now top of their league, ahead of Shakhtar and Dinamo Kiev. What an acheivement to get so far.

PauloMN

Just back in from the match, more dropped points. Just what we didn't need. Actually it was a **** day all round what with me arriving late to the game, having to queue for 30 mins (in the rain) :mad: to get my tickets 'cause Celtic didn't post them out with over a week to do so. :mad: The ticket setup is a bit of a joke for a club with a 62,000 seater stadium.

The support was pretty pissed off at the end of the game. It funny, listening to fans after the game is just like reading the opinions here - some were lambasting Strachan and some were defending him. But everyone agrees there's a major problem at the moment with our game.

As for the 5 mins Eirebear, it was subs and injury time. I thought it was a fair reflection of the time taken up by both.

I hope the January transfer window provides some relief for our ailing defence, we will lose the league with the current setup.

I also hope we can keep Jarosik. :eek:

Didn'tReallySayThat CSC

Eirebear

Whats going on at parkhead recently BTW?
Thats the last few games ive listened to where the commentators have estimated the crowd to be at 40-45000?
The official announcment is a lot higher due to season tickets, i find this really unusual considering that celtic are "known" for their home support.

Eirebear

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=504227&in_page_id=1771&ICO=SPORT&ICL=TOPART

Seems Huttons off to spurs in january.
Cant say im impressed with either him, or Rangers.

eirebhoy

Eirebear wrote: »

Whats going on at parkhead recently BTW?
Thats the last few games ive listened to where the commentators have estimated the crowd to be at 40-45000?
The official announcment is a lot higher due to season tickets, i find this really unusual considering that celtic are "known" for their home support.

It's been getting worse and worse every year. Christmas is usually the worst time. The Celtic home crowd is brutal bar the big games.

Blackjack

Have to be happy with that result to be honest, given current circumstances.

PauloMN

Blackjack wrote: »

Have to be happy with that result to be honest, given current circumstances.

Who? You or us?

A Dub in Glasgo

Unbelievable that Kenny Clark lets Ferguson off again, he grabs the Aberdeen player by the throat and Clark ignores it again!!

Edit: Finished 1-1, Rangers had a few good chances to win it

eirebhoy

That'll do. Rangers a max of 4 points ahead if they win their games in hand. Just 1 point if we beat them on the 2nd. And then it's Nakamura time soon after.

Erin Go Brath

Ferguson is old enough now to have a bit of cop on, and not start all this petulant crap, getting involved in fisticuffs and suchforth. What a muppet!

On the game, Aberdeen were awful! I seriously doubt they'd have got a point if they didn't have a numerical advantage.

Good result for us anyway.

eirebhoy

Aberdeen are awful in fairness. I've won a bit of money backing against them this season. That's why I was so shocked with the result on Thursday.

PauloMN

PauloMN wrote: »

We'll still be on top when Rangers drop points away to the sheep. Guaranteed.

Yeeehaaawwww! Pity we couldn't have taken advantage yesterday.

Eirebear

hmmm as i said (along with paul obviously :mad:) we would drop points up there.
Not too worried as i think were still in a good position, and going by reports we were the better side even with ten men.

I just wish we would play a settled front two (personally Boyd and naismith for me) and get that french fraud cousin to feck

A Dub in Glasgo

Excellent away win for Celtic with JVoH & McManus (with his belly) scoring. Good display again from McGeady. Good to see Strachan finally taking his blinkers off and playing Balde, who was solid.