AC Milan v Celtic, UCL Group H, KO 19.45 BST

RoryMac

Dempsey wrote: »

He had chances, just not good enough. Celtic were poor but good strikers can work off scraps.

Plenty of poor performances, not any one player but Stokes or his fans cant complain about being given the opportunities to shine.

Agreed I just think over the last few games and again tonight Stokes has done far more than Samaras & Commons to keep his place. When we counter-attacked Stokes was good at getting on the ball and playing it off to continue the attack whereas Samaras whose job it was to do that was posted missing.

Dempsey

Giles - "Celtic supporters would be off their seats"

No we f'cking werent!

RoryMac wrote: »

Agreed I just think over the last few games and again tonight Stokes has done far more than Samaras & Commons to keep his place. When we counter-attacked Stokes was good at getting on the ball and playing it off to continue the attack whereas Samaras whose job it was to do that was posted missing.

Samaras should lose his place but Stokes shouldnt be a first team regular, the usual 3-4 game bursts out of him tbh

donfers

matthews is a good player but he's not a RW, boerrigter should have started instead of him...we got into loads of good positions but were so wasteful, lack of belief there which is unforgivable considering the lack of quality in the milan side - a wonderful opportunity lost

PauloMN

I thought Commons was very good again tonight, one of our better players for sure. Van Dijk and Ambrose both played well also.

Ajax pumped 4-0 by Barca.

RoryMac

GBXI wrote: »

That was a scandalous performance from Celtic.

A little ott?

A massive opportunity missed by Celtic but even with their injury problems the players at Milan's disposal are far beyond the budget of Celtic. Robinhio coming off the bench for them as an example

PauloMN

donfers wrote: »

matthews is a good player but he's not a RW, boerrigter should have started instead of him...we got into loads of good positions but were so wasteful, lack of belief there which is unforgivable considering the lack of quality in the milan side - a wonderful opportunity lost

Agree with this. Matthews is good in that position in the SPL, but he didn't have a great game tonight.

Was disappointed with Samaras, and I'd be a fan of his. He wasn't great, and some of the old habits I thought we'd seen the back of appear to be back.

Smithwicks Man

2-0 was a more than flattering result for Milan. A draw would have been a fair result imo.

We were awful. Terrible going forward but I'd expect nothing better with Birsa and Matri making up 2/3 of our attack. Celtic should have had at least 1 goal and Muntari should've scored the 6 yard header as well.

Terrible Milan performance, very good result given the circumstances. Expecting a much better game in Glasgow (which I hope to be at) when Celtic are more ruthless and better organised and Milan hopefully have 4/5 key men back.

RoryMac

PauloMN wrote: »

Agree with this. Matthews is good in that position in the SPL, but he didn't have a great game tonight.

Was disappointed with Samaras, and I'd be a fan of his. He wasn't great, and some of the old habits I thought we'd seen the back of appear to be back.

Unfortunately I think the whole Matthews at RM is just Lennon avoiding a tough decision at picking between him & Lustig at RB. We can't afford to be playing people out of position at this level.

Need to be using the SPL games to get guys like Boerrigter, Pukki & Biton up to speed.

PauloMN

RoryMac wrote: »

Unfortunately I think the whole Matthews at RM is just Lennon avoiding a tough decision at picking between him & Lustig at RB. We can't afford to be playing people out of position at this level.

Need to be using the SPL games to get guys like Boerrigter, Pukki & Biton up to speed.

I don't think there's a tough decision really, it would be Lustig for me all the time. Not that I'm having a go at Matthews, but I think Lustig is a brilliant player - very consistent and rarely makes mistakes.

Think Pukki will be featuring a lot in the upcoming league games. Need him for the rest of the CL group games. Same for Boerrigter.

GBXI

RoryMac wrote: »

A little ott?

A massive opportunity missed by Celtic but even with their injury problems the players at Milan's disposal are far beyond the budget of Celtic. Robinhio coming off the bench for them as an example

I've only watched Celtic in the Champions League and don't know a lot about the Milan players but I watched the whole game and Milan were worse than terrible. Celtic had so much possession but they just didn't believe in themselves. It was like they were waiting for Milan to score. Anyway, hopefully Celtic realise that they can put it up to them at home and take the 3 points.

Dempsey

Lennon looks bitterly disappointed

Lennonist

RoryMac wrote: »

A little ott?

A massive opportunity missed by Celtic but even with their injury problems the players at Milan's disposal are far beyond the budget of Celtic. Robinhio coming off the bench for them as an example

Perhaps a little ott, not too much ott though, Milan were poor and were there for the taking. That was a case of leaving it behind them.

I would say Lennon will be angry tonight, but he needs to get to grips with it himself as well. Milan are no great shakes, Ajax got hammered by Barca. Celtic can get results in this group despite the "big names" that are in it if the team is primed and given a bit of belief in themselves. It was a game that they looked like they were happy to draw, but could have actually won if they went for it.

He's hoarse in that interview, I'd say he blew a gasket in the dressing room with them. Angry man tonight, get over it, Celtic can still get results in this Group.

RoryMac

PauloMN wrote: »

I don't think there's a tough decision really, it would be Lustig for me all the time. Not that I'm having a go at Matthews, but I think Lustig is a brilliant player - very consistent and rarely makes mistakes.

Think Pukki will be featuring a lot in the upcoming league games. Need him for the rest of the CL group games. Same for Boerrigter.

Agreed Lustig is the better player but Matthews is a real talent and needs to be playing to continue his development, playing him out of position doesn't help that either but seems to be Lennon's thinking

Lennonist

Dempsey wrote: »

Lennon looks bitterly disappointed

He was angry with that and I'd say he let them have it in the dressing room, but he knows he has to step up himself as well. Matthews was not having a good night for example, he should've replaced him earlier.

Lennonist

Bill has a fierce head cold, very congested

stooge

It's probably already been said but even thought I'm disaapointed by the result I cant say I'm surprised. We sold our top scorer and goal poacher and didnt replace him and then wonder why we can't put the ball in the net! Defeat was hard to take but at the end of the day you have to score to win a game and despite Milan being under par and having some good possession we couldnt manage it.

I thought Matthews put in a great shift even if his final ball let him down a bit. Stokes was average and should have done better with his chance in the 1st half. Samaras seemed to this he was Messia nd held onto the ball far too long far too many times. Broony was excellent and I thought Mulgrew played reasonably well in there with him. I know some have said he played well but I have huge reservations about Van Dijk. He was way too slow to react for the 2nd goal and generally seemed very lax in his defending. Izzy worked well down the left and Common played well while he was on.

Huge game against Barca now, really need something from the game to kick start this campaign.

RoryMac

stooge wrote: »

It's probably already been said but even thought I'm disaapointed by the result I cant say I'm surprised. We sold our top scorer and goal poacher and didnt replace him and then wonder why we can't put the ball in the net! Defeat was hard to take but at the end of the day you have to score to win a game and despite Milan being under par and having some good possession we couldnt manage it.

I thought Matthews put in a great shift even if his final ball let him down a bit. Stokes was average and should have done better with his chance in the 1st half. Samaras seemed to this he was Messia nd held onto the ball far too long far too many times. Broony was excellent and I thought Mulgrew played reasonably well in there with him. I know some have said he played well but I have huge reservations about Van Dijk. He was way too slow to react for the 2nd goal and generally seemed very lax in his defending. Izzy worked well down the left and Common played well while he was on.

Huge game against Barca now, really need something from the game to kick start this campaign.

Agree with the rest but on the part in bold, I think Ambrose & Van Dijk look like forming a decent partnership. He's still quite young so there will be poor games.

On the 2nd goal Van Dijk was the only player to react albeit slowly, the rest of our defenders were caught ball watching

fryup

anyone notice the northern ireland flag amongst the milan flags?

wouldn't think milan fans are clued up on the whole celtic/rangers thingy

kksaints

fryup wrote: »

anyone notice the northern ireland flag amongst the milan flags?

wouldn't think milan fans are clued up on the whole celtic/rangers thingy

Milan fans often have flags with red crosses on a white background. I think its either the city of Milan flag or the flag of Lombardy. So that Northern Ireland flag could always be there.

Jelle1880

fryup wrote: »

anyone notice the northern ireland flag amongst the milan flags?

wouldn't think milan fans are clued up on the whole celtic/rangers thingy

Probably to wind Celtic fans up, I'm sure you'd see Irish flags if it was Rangers they were playing.

Dempsey

Was it this flag?

Pinturicchio

kksaints wrote: »

Milan fans often have flags with red crosses on a white background. I think its either the city of Milan flag or the flag of Lombardy. So that Northern Ireland flag could always be there.

It's the flag of Milan, and it features on the AC Milan crest.

Seaneh

So anyway, even with the injuries Milan have and the players missing, Milan's team last night has better players all over the park than Celtic and it shouldn't have been as hard as it was to win.
No offence to celtic, but players like Mexes, Zapata, De Jong, Nocerino, Balotelli and Matri are head and shoulders ahead of anyone at Celtic, ability wise.

Dempsey

Seaneh wrote: »

So anyway, even with the injuries Milan have and the players missing, Milan's team last night has better players all over the park than Celtic and it shouldn't have been as hard as it was to win.
No offence to celtic, but players like Mexes, Zapata, De Jong, Nocerino, Balotelli and Matri are head and shoulders ahead of anyone at Celtic, ability wise.

Celtic were very poor, a few key injuries didnt help, 5 new signings not integrated into the team yet and lacking cutting edge upfront at the moment. You'd expect Milan to be better than that considering what they can spend on players, despite injuries.

As for the bolded, we all know which stage of grief you are at! :pac:

Seaneh

I'm not happy we paid 12milion for him, and we didn't need him, but he'd walk onto the Celtic team.

He's not a bad player, he was Juventus's highest scorer the entire time he was there, he's just not what Milan needed.

that €12million could have been spent on a centre back or backup for Abate and De Sciglio.

Dempsey

Seaneh wrote: »

I'm not happy we paid 12milion for him, and we didn't need him, but he'd walk onto the Celtic team.

He's not a bad player, he was Juventus's highest scorer the entire time he was there, he's just not what Milan needed.

that €12million could have been spent on a centre back or backup for Abate and De Sciglio.

He would because our attacking options this year are either not good enough or unproven.

Seaneh

Dempsey wrote: »

He would because our attacking options this year are either not good enough or unproven.

And because he's actually a good player. He would get a game with most clubs in the cl.

bobbysands81

Dempsey wrote: »

Was it this flag?

That might have been there but I deffo saw the north of Ireland flag there as well.

bobbysands81

Seaneh wrote: »

No offence to celtic, but players like Mexes, Zapata, De Jong, Nocerino, Balotelli and Matri are head and shoulders ahead of anyone at Celtic, ability wise.

...and that's why soccer is a team game played by individuals.

The whole is often greater than the sum of all it's parts and generally that is the way with Celtic.

I thought we played quite poorly last night yet were very unlucky not to take something from the game.

All in all a typical away night in Europe.

premierstone

RoryMac wrote: »

Agreed I just think over the last few games and again tonight Stokes has done far more than Samaras & Commons to keep his place.

Commons was the best player on the field last night IMO and has been Celtic's best player all season.

Lennonist

bobbysands81 wrote: »

...and that's why soccer is a team game played by individuals.

The whole is often greater than the sum of all it's parts and generally that is the way with Celtic.

I thought we played quite poorly last night yet were very unlucky not to take something from the game.

All in all a typical away night in Europe.

We played poorly and as they say you make your own luck. We didn't seem to recognise that we had a great chance to pick up points last night and that Milan maybe due to their injuries were there for the taking. Celtic should still be able to make something out of this Group, and get 2nd place or maybe 3rd. Barca are probably the outstanding team in the Group but the other 3 could beat each other on any given day. Hopefully some harsh lessons will be learned from last night and the team will gel a bit more before the next game.

Pompey Magnus

bobbysands81 wrote: »

That might have been there but I deffo saw the north of Ireland flag there as well.

There definitely was one behind the Celtic goal in the second half. I saw mention of a "No Surrender" banner too.

I see a fan poll had Matthews as our second best player last night behind Ambrose, I was happy enough with Efe except for one shocking header in the first half which he seems prone to but I thought Matthews had an absolute stinker apart from that one run, from what I saw he was perhaps the worst player on the pitch last night.

BohsCeltic

Jelle1880 wrote: »

Probably to wind Celtic fans up, I'm sure you'd see Irish flags if it was Rangers they were playing.

Courtesy of yourself on the HB

SomethingElse

That's a bit like bringing a Stockport County banner to Old Trafford.

Jelle1880

BohsCeltic wrote: »

Courtesy of yourself on the HB

I never said I didn't like it

fryup

Dempsey wrote: »

Was it this flag?

no, it was definitely the NI flag

PauloMN

fryup wrote: »

no, it was definitely the NI flag fleg

FYP