The Scottish PL discussion thread

PauloMN

eirebhoy wrote: »

I'd let him off tbh. He didn't do it on purpose and he tried to do best.

No way Eirebhoy... he was up against Barca FFS, one of the best teams in Europe if not the world. Kick the fcuking ball out, don't be a dick about it. Don't take chances when you have players of that quality about. Concede a throw in, at least you can regroup and defend some. Honestly, some of the chances I saw Celtic taking tonight I thought they were playing fcuking Gretna. Barca punished us for every mistake tonight and that's why we lost. Cheap goals again. Our two goals were brilliant, class goals, and we give away at least two cheap goals. :mad:

Boruc must have a pain in his hole with those defenders in front of him.

PauloMN

ziggy wrote: »

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Ah I wondered as I was sat beside some Scottish chap in a Celtic jacket watching the match, he legged it at full time cursing and swearing.

To top it all of, Utd equalised. :mad:

Erin Go Brath

PauloMN wrote: »

No way Eirebhoy... he was up against Barca FFS, one of the best teams in Europe if not the world. Kick the fcuking ball out, don't be a dick about it. Don't take chances when you have players of that quality about. Concede a throw in, at least you can regroup and defend some. Honestly, some of the chances I saw Celtic taking tonight I thought they were playing fcuking Gretna. Barca punished us for every mistake tonight and that's why we lost. Cheap goals again. Our two goals were brilliant, class goals, and we give away at least two cheap goals. :mad:

Boruc must have a pain in his hole with those defenders in front of him.

QFT! Also second your previous post about the SPL. We really need to get out of that goddam league to have any hope at this level. I know its hard for people to hear, but lets be honest about it. St Mirren and Gretna are the type of teams were used to playing, and then we have to play Barcelona, full to the brim of world class players, Ronaldino, Messi et al. How the fcuk are we ever going to be in with a fighting chance. At least the English PL are used to a certain level of team (certainly the Top 4 are a very good standard), and their teams can compete at this level, we should be trying to get into that league.

Boruc once again proved his weight in gold with some assured keeping. Caldwell was way to casual. In this atmosphere against Henry, Messi, any excess fannying about with the ball WILL be punished! Some harsh lessons were learned tonight about how good we are, and whats needed to progress to the next level. Total concentration for 90 minutes, huge amounts of workrate are a minimum requirement to have any hope.

I must however congratulate Barcelona on an absolutely superb performance. The football fan in me was mesmerised by some of the stunning football they played.

ziggy

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A Dub in Glasgo

Totally agree with everyone regarding the messing about when defending. Keep it simple, keep it clean.

PauloMN

Still fcuking fuming this morning. :mad: My poor wife and kids will have a humpy auld lad for the week now.

What pisses me off most is that the sloppy passing and risk taking is what cost us. If we'd been beaten 3-0 I'd have said "fair enough, totally outclassed" etc.. But to score two such great goals at home, you should come out winners.

I'd backed us on a 2-1 win, and that's definitely what we should have taken from that game. Even with 2-1 at home I wouldn't have fancied us to get through the tie, but it would have been a great win to pull off.

Ah well, Camp Nou next - will watch it of course, if only to see Artur play his last CL game in the Hoops.

Badabing

Our biggest problem in the champions leauge for years now is the defence sloppy or bad defending is punished, remember Balde against Lyon his bloody handball in the last minute? and bombscare caldwell against Benfica and again last night:mad: the midfield isn't protecting them enough maybe but still get the basics right and you have a chance.

OhNoYouDidn't

eirebhoy wrote: »

I'd let him off tbh. He didn't do it on purpose and he tried to do best.

Rubbish. I would try my best too. Strachan is not picking his best team in order to accomodate his Scotch signings and we saw the consequences last night.

Worst players on the park were Caldwell, McManus, and Robson. See a pattern?

Eirebear

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Rubbish. I would try my best too. Strachan is not picking his best team in order to accomodate his Scotch signings and we saw the consequences last night.

Worst players on the park were Caldwell, McManus, and Robson. See a pattern?

Scotch! :mad:

From what i seen last night Nakamura and Donati didnt exactly cover themselves in glory (although i am personally of the belief that Donati IS Neil lennon in disguise) theyre not Scots or even Scottish

PauloMN

Maybe he was completely off his head on Scotch when he signed them.

I thought Robson was ok, he's new and needs time to settle in. Barca is a pretty tough introduction to your CL debut. Same goes for Caddis, he wasn't fantastic but again it was a tough ask.

I just cannot forgive Caldwell this time, and Naka was the worst I have ever seen him. I didn't expect him or Aiden to have much of the ball, but the difference was that when Aiden had it, he used it. He had a great first half. Both Caldwell and Naka have plenty of CL experience at this stage, and both should have been much better than they were. These are the guys that should be showing the younger lads how it's done. Caldwell shouldn't be an automatic first pick after that shambles.

redspider

Celtic 2-3 Barcelona
It was quite a good game, but the difference in class told in the end. Barca dominated posession and attempts at goal. Celtic did get a couple of goals and played with a lot of heart but when Henry used his trademark curler and Messi did his tricks, Barcelona deserved the victory. Even Ronaldinho got in on the act. It could have been different but it was a backs-to-the-wall job in all fairness.

I think though people are being harsh on the defending. The 1st Messi goal was fortuitous as the defender's quarter-clearance came right off him and didnt affect his intended shot. Messi IS world class, so keeping him at bay all night was a next to impossible job, and given that Barca could command so much possession. The Henry goal was a trademark goal for him. Caldwell should have got closer to him, within 2 yards and be able to block. A world class defender would have forced him to go wide down his left. Caldwell is not Cannavaro.

The 3rd goal was a result of pure skill from Messi, but only after a very unlucky double ricochet between two Celtic players. It was well despatched though.

But the overall result, I dont think there can be any quibbles. Barca were on fire last night and they had a good game. They also were able to snuff out the McGeady threat in the 2nd half and prevented him getting the ball. They can defend well. Where they are weak, and that's where Celtic got their 2 goals from, is in the air in the box. That's one way to beat Barcelona. I thought Valdez if he would have stepped back could ave easily saved Robson's looping header.

A player that had a poor night I thought was Naka. He wasnt able to pass the ball and wasnt able to graft enough to keep Barca at bay. He is not good enough for Barca's level. McGeady ad a good night when he got the ball but he got very little of it in the 2nd half and was busy defending.

Overall, Celtic have reached their target this season in the CL by getting this far, so even though they are 99.9% out, it shouldnt be all doom and gloom and was another football night to savour, even though the result went the wrong way.

Redspider

A Dub in Glasgo

As ever, redspider is the height of rationality

Blackjack

I thought Caldwell was poor last night - he was shown up for the liability he can be against the opposition last night. Definetly 100% at fault for the second goal, no question about that in my opinion.

PauloMN

Close call today, thankfully Naka's left foot got us out of jail. Terrible performance overall though. Thought the ref was brutal, another undeserved yellow card for McGeady and a few missed blatant fouls. Thankfully he didn't miss the important foul.

Would like to see more of O'Dea, I think he's a decent player. Would rather him than Caldwell to start for the time being.

Video of goal:
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=stcxNWalKrg

ziggy

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redspider

Celtic barely got the goal they deserved from this match, and have to thank Naka for it. They were the better team, but like many matches, they made hard work of their domination. McGeady was good as always. Samaras, I'm not sure about. It may take him a few weeks to get match sharp, as he has been off the pitch for a good while now, and to get the best out of him Gordon will need to give him some time to get up to speed and get to know his team and his players. Overall though, I think VofH is probably a better player though, and McDonald is showing that he is as good as any of them.

One thing though about Nakamura, is he the equivalent of what used to be said about David Beckham, ie: needed on the pitch for free-kicks etc but in other respects not quite good enough? I dont think he is at that level yet but the Barca match showed he was well out of his depth and in many matches he is not that good. His free-kick prowess is badly needed though.

Opinions pls, and eirebhoy, you probably have some thoughts on it ......

Redspider

PauloMN

Naka is a great player and is definitely required aside from his free kick ability. I'd say what's prompted your question is yesterday's and Wednesday's performances. Wednesday was the worst I've seen Naka - I was really surprised, and yesterday he wasn't great apart from the free kick (which was just superb given the pressure he was under - that kick was worth 2 vital points).

Hopefully it's just a bad spell he's going through because he's played very well in the games since he came back from injury. Whatever about Barca, I've seen him play much better against better opposition than St. Mirren, so hopefully he get back on form.

redspider

Yeah, lets hope so, as I think top form from him will be needed if we are to haul back Rangers in the league, such as in the 'old firm' match ups.

Erin Go Brath

The mini huns rolled over and died for the Senior huns. :rolleyes: Watched it on setanta until they went 2 up then flicked over in disgust.

Didnt get to see the bhoys tonight, couldnt get it on sopcast. At least we got the win anyway to keep up the pressure.

Going to go down to the wire. 12 games left, 3 of them against the huns. They WILL decide the title! Exciting times!

Eirebear

Erin Go Brath wrote: »

The mini huns rolled over and died for the Senior huns. :rolleyes: Watched it on setanta until they went 2 up then flicked over in disgust.

Didnt get to see the bhoys tonight, couldnt get it on sopcast. At least we got the win anyway to keep up the pressure.

Going to go down to the wire. 12 games left, 3 of them against the huns. They WILL decide the title! Exciting times!

yes of course they did....:rolleyes:

eirebhoy

redspider wrote: »

One thing though about Nakamura, is he the equivalent of what used to be said about David Beckham, ie: needed on the pitch for free-kicks etc but in other respects not quite good enough? I dont think he is at that level yet but the Barca match showed he was well out of his depth and in many matches he is not that good. His free-kick prowess is badly needed though.

Naka's like any playmaker of his type. If the opposition have 70% of possession you won't see him doing anything he's best at. Against Barca (positionally) he played as a 2nd right back. Obviously he hasn't got the pace to play on the break. It's probably the reason he went from Reginna for £2m because they spend most games defending. He has the ability to dominate games against Brazil and England (outplay them) once his team are playing his way. In fact if I could get a DVD of either of those games would you watch it? Just to show that he has been world class against the best.

Against Barca though he wasn't his usual self. The Milan away match last season would be a better example. Did well on the ball but rarely got the ball. Still ran more than anyone on the pitch according to Strachan. He'd never be out of his depth because he has the brain of a world class player, imo. It just wasn't his day last week.

What I get angry at is comments like "he did nothing up until this and that". You see it every single week. I watch him as closely as possible and I'm watching the same Naka that's playing more passes than anyone on the pitch. He does more than Barry Ferguson but the media appreciate the type of player that Ferguson is and appreciate the simple things he does. The same can't be said about Naka with the Scottish media.

I'm only getting over that Barca game. I still haven't gone near the Celtic forums. Jesus it's not worth it.

Eirebear

eirebhoy wrote: »

The same can't be said about Naka with the Scottish media.
QUOTE]

did he not win the writers player of the year last season.....:p

PauloMN

Erin Go Brath wrote: »

The mini huns rolled over and died for the Senior huns. :rolleyes: Watched it on setanta until they went 2 up then flicked over in disgust.

Didnt get to see the bhoys tonight, couldnt get it on sopcast. At least we got the win anyway to keep up the pressure.

Going to go down to the wire. 12 games left, 3 of them against the huns. They WILL decide the title! Exciting times!

The minis are just ****e this season, and even moreso that they've just sold their best player for a pittance. I cannot believe they chucked us out of the league cup at home. :eek: Would hate to have that nut job running the club I supported.

As for the title, whether we can win it depends on how many points we drop in March, and against whom. We'll definitely drop points, given how we've dropped back into struggling mode and the fact that every league fixture is away in March. I reckon we'll be 7 behind going into the huns game, so it's crucial we win there, otherwise we'll be relying on winning the two home OF games and relying on them to drop points. Hopefully we'll get a bit of form back before that game.

As for last night, I didn't see the game but caught the goals on Sky this morning. Looks like Brown has been taking lessons from the king of the **** pass, Gary Caldwell. :eek: Great assist from McGeady though.

ziggy

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eirebhoy

ziggy wrote: »

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I wish. I'm just going off a quote from Strachan last year:

"He just keeps going. Our performances are analysed using computer technology, and this shows he runs more than anyone in the team. People say he doesn't tackle much, though he was getting stuck in at Inverness.

"But he gets back into positions where it makes it difficult for the opposition to pass through you and he closes down, too.

"Our analysis shows he runs between 12.7 and 13 kilometres in a game. Against AC Milan, he did more running than anyone on the pitch. You can only do that if you have real fitness, and he has that because of the way he has lived since he was very young."

ziggy wrote:

Eirebhoy don't take criticism of Naka too personally, people are giving their honest opinions and to be fair you seem to be in the minority in how highly you rate him- you are not going to change peoples own opinions of him, only he can do that himself by performing on the pitch, starting with doing it against Rangers

All I can say to that is that I watched 8 Old Firm games last month back to back and Naka completely outshone Barry Ferguson. Ferguson was excellent in the last game but other than that he did very little. I compare him to Ferguson because you don't hear many people say Ferguson does nothing in the derbies. In saying that, Rangers fans think McGeady has done nothing against them which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

I don't mean to take it personally but it's hard to take listening to people in work the next day thinking he's a really mediocre, headless chicken. I just bite my tongue in the real world which is probably why I release so much frustration on here. It doesn't bother me if Boruc got a bit of stick after a poor game because I know the Celtic fans aren't going to turn on him and call him rubbish. It really hurts me when McGeady has stinkers for Ireland, or a stinker in Old Trafford with all eyes on him. It's just there's an awful lot more people willing to back McGeady up. I feel like I'm on my own in how highly I rate Naka. Myself and Strachan.

ziggy

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Badabing

Our game with Dundee Utd fixed for march 12th 7.45, tank god we have one home match in march

PauloMN

Full programme tomorrow. My predictions:

Falkirk v Motherwell 2-1
Gretna v Dundee Utd 0-3
Hibernian v Celtic 1-2 :cool:
Inverness CT v Hearts 3-1
Kilmarnock v St Mirren 2-2
Rangers v Aberdeen 1-1

Hibs v Celtic is on Setanta. It's an early kick-off don't forget.

ziggy

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eirebhoy

I'm in work tomorrow til 12.15 and then straight to the pub. Incredibly nervous about it. It seems like a long time since matches have been so important at this time of the year.

Eirebear

Falkirk v Motherwell 2-1
Gretna v Dundee Utd 0-3
Hibernian v Celtic 2-2
Inverness CT v Hearts 3-1
Kilmarnock v St Mirren 2-2
Rangers v Aberdeen 3-0

ziggy

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Badabing

Strachan might change it around tomorrow in midfield maybe robson back in or hartley if hes fit, after the last visit to easter road which was shocking im going 3-1 to Celtic

Eirebear

ziggy wrote: »

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Aye...that'll be the day..an aberdeen team under any manager lying down to us?! Christ there'd be war up there!:D

Blackjack

Fletcher 9-1 to score first - great value there.

I fancy Hibs for this tomorrow to be honest.

Eirebear

Blackjack wrote: »

Fletcher 9-1 to score first - great value there.

I fancy Hibs for this tomorrow to be honest.

I think i might be putting a cheeky wee bet on that!:D

have been watching him fairly closely since the madrid link, and hes a cracking wee player

ziggy

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Eirebear

ziggy wrote: »

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2-0 sellik today....never saw the game but was it a different Celtic in the second half? Or a different Hibs?

ziggy

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Eirebear

Hibs beat them 2-0 during the week, by all accounts it could have been around 5

ziggy

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Eirebear

Rangers have been awful so far, should have been 2-0 straight after that.

Eirebear

1-1

Theres only one christian Dailly!

PauloMN

Delighted with the win today. Hibs gave us a hard time in the 1st half and probably should have been 1 up TBH. Credit to Boruc for a great save. Celtic were excellent in the 2nd half and deserved the win I thought - Hibs couldn't get a hold of the game and once Naylor :eek: scored, it was game over.

I thought Caldwell did much better than of late today, in fact the whole team performed very well. McGeady was superb as we've come to expect of late and his cross into Samaras was inch perfect. Brown was also improved today and dominated a lot of the midfield play.

Only downside was Boruc getting booked for waving. It was even more ridiculous than the police caution for blessing himself at Ibrox. Pity the blind cnut didn't happen to see Skippy being held in the box during the game. Scottish refereeing is a joke sometimes, but Celtic players should be used to that in Scotland I suppose. :mad: And they wonder why we're paranoid?

That aside, today should reinforce to the players that the league is in their hands the way things stand at present. Today was one of the season's toughest fixtures and they picked up the points. With 2 home games against Rangers left we can turn things around.

More of same please!

A Dub in Glasgo

Great game in the 2nd half today. Nice goal from Naylor and a great cross from McGeady for Samaras to score

I think Celtic have 2 games with Rangers not playing so the potential is there to go 2 points clear before the next SPL for Rangers (which is against Hibs)

eirebhoy

I thought McGeady was terrible in the first half. His worst 45 minutes this season. Much better in the 2nd. Brown was immense, his best performance so far. Donati has been in good form since the home game against Gretna. Naka played really well. Drifted all over the pitch.

I wonder will Strachan change things for tonight though. I think he'll stick Naka on the bench. It'd be terribly harsh on Donati to drop him after playing so well this past couple of months.

eirebhoy

I see the players had a good old fashioned game of chasing last night.

http://i27.tinypic.com/so671g.jpg
http://i31.tinypic.com/8yb39c.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/30bifbm.jpg
http://i26.tinypic.com/33m4obk.jpg

Eirebear

Perfect practice for trying to catch those shadows tonight!:p

Eirebear

Did anyone just see Ronaldinho doing a "scott brown" there?;)

PauloMN

Well there we go. Disappointing to concede the early goal as it changed the complexion of the game right from the start but the overall result would no doubt have been the same.

Poor first half from Celtic who I thought were over-awed. McGeady didn't get an inch in the first half, and Donati was the weakest link in midfield. 2nd half was much better from Celtic and we at least saw some attacking football, with McGeady and Naka getting a bit more space.

Not sure about the 4-5-1 at all. Whatever about needing a defensive formation in games like that, I don't think we're able to play it very well and I thought we should have gone 4-4-2 from the off.

Boruc saved our blushes again though with a couple of decent saves. Enjoyed watching him in what I expect to be his last CL game in the Hoops.

Now time to ensure the championship remain firmly in Paradise, and away from those grubby little hands down Govan way.