Champions League Qualifiers 2017/18
- Thread starter TicV"Establishment"
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TicV"Establishment"
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Well, that was easy. Don't know what you two were worried about :emoticon:09 :emoticon:89
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
I shouldn't be getting pished on a school night but what the heck :emoticon:57
What a performance! What a victory!
Absolutely outstanding performances all over the park in what was one of thee best ever European performances at Celtic Park. And certainly any younger hoops fans will never have seen better.
Firstly you have to praise Brendan Rodgers for transforming this group of players and getting performances out of them, and consistently so, that seemed impossible just a year ago. Had faith in Bitton when many of us were reaching for the ketamine!
As you two have already said Ntcham was just sensational tonight. His range of passing and his ability to keep possession under pressure is a joy to watch. He's shown glimpses of his talents in previous games but he truly came of age tonight and absolutely owned that midfield beside Broony, who himself was superb despite carrying that yellow card. What a player we have in Ntcham, though, and he's still just getting himself up to speed ffs!
I said earlier we badly needed Scotty Sinclair to deliver tonight and did he ever! He was electric tonight and scored two wonderful goals into the bargain. He wasn't up against 10 men behind the ball for a change and he positively revelled in it. That should be him off and running for the season and his confidence should now be sky high.
KT was immense and by feck he didn't half take some punishment. How the fuck that ref allowed them to finish that game with 11 men is astounding. He just never stopped running up and down that wing all night long. Put in some terrific crosses which deserved to have somone on the end of them.
Griff just ran the bastards ragged from start to finish. They just couldn't handle the wee fella and he had a few of their players terrified every time the ball came to him. Ha!
Tam is clearly telepathic and sensed I had written bad stuff about him not being involved
Obviously, we shall never speak of this again... :emoticon:64
Jozo, Bitton and Gordon all kept it moving at the back and Lustig, one mental pass aside, was very good and offered great support on the right.
Wee Jamesy ran at them and they didn't like it. Took his goal superbly well.
Special thanks to huns and hun journos for supplying me with enough tasty hun tears to fill 10 Olympic sized swimming pools. I shall bathe in their tasty hun tears shortly :emoticon:03
What a performance! What a victory!
Absolutely outstanding performances all over the park in what was one of thee best ever European performances at Celtic Park. And certainly any younger hoops fans will never have seen better.
Firstly you have to praise Brendan Rodgers for transforming this group of players and getting performances out of them, and consistently so, that seemed impossible just a year ago. Had faith in Bitton when many of us were reaching for the ketamine!
As you two have already said Ntcham was just sensational tonight. His range of passing and his ability to keep possession under pressure is a joy to watch. He's shown glimpses of his talents in previous games but he truly came of age tonight and absolutely owned that midfield beside Broony, who himself was superb despite carrying that yellow card. What a player we have in Ntcham, though, and he's still just getting himself up to speed ffs!
I said earlier we badly needed Scotty Sinclair to deliver tonight and did he ever! He was electric tonight and scored two wonderful goals into the bargain. He wasn't up against 10 men behind the ball for a change and he positively revelled in it. That should be him off and running for the season and his confidence should now be sky high.
KT was immense and by feck he didn't half take some punishment. How the fuck that ref allowed them to finish that game with 11 men is astounding. He just never stopped running up and down that wing all night long. Put in some terrific crosses which deserved to have somone on the end of them.
Griff just ran the bastards ragged from start to finish. They just couldn't handle the wee fella and he had a few of their players terrified every time the ball came to him. Ha!
Tam is clearly telepathic and sensed I had written bad stuff about him not being involved
Obviously, we shall never speak of this again... :emoticon:64
Jozo, Bitton and Gordon all kept it moving at the back and Lustig, one mental pass aside, was very good and offered great support on the right.
Wee Jamesy ran at them and they didn't like it. Took his goal superbly well.
Special thanks to huns and hun journos for supplying me with enough tasty hun tears to fill 10 Olympic sized swimming pools. I shall bathe in their tasty hun tears shortly :emoticon:03
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Big questions now.....what sort of team do we play against Kilmarnock and what sort of team do we play next week away to Astana?
Simunovic is the big question mark for me here because if we ever play on a plastic pitch and have Sviatchenko and Boyata available, Simunovic simply wouldn't feature. BR has already said he wouldn't risk him against Kilmarnock, but will he even risk him against Astana? If Ajer was brought in instead of him as we expect to happen at the weekend, would he be so horrendously bad for us to 1) lose the game and 2) concede more than 5 goals without us scoring? I very much doubt he would!
Of course Ajer may not play CB at the weekend and it might be Bitton with Tierney and Calvin Miller will get a game. We just don't know.
I'm sure Griffiths will be monitored carefully over the next week and if there's even a chance that he's hurting, he won't play! Obviously we're better with him, especially for the Astana game but we could get by without risking him now.
Simunovic is the big question mark for me here because if we ever play on a plastic pitch and have Sviatchenko and Boyata available, Simunovic simply wouldn't feature. BR has already said he wouldn't risk him against Kilmarnock, but will he even risk him against Astana? If Ajer was brought in instead of him as we expect to happen at the weekend, would he be so horrendously bad for us to 1) lose the game and 2) concede more than 5 goals without us scoring? I very much doubt he would!
Of course Ajer may not play CB at the weekend and it might be Bitton with Tierney and Calvin Miller will get a game. We just don't know.
I'm sure Griffiths will be monitored carefully over the next week and if there's even a chance that he's hurting, he won't play! Obviously we're better with him, especially for the Astana game but we could get by without risking him now.
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
lets just savour and enjoy last night a wee bit more first! :emoticon:19
Zinedine Zidane speaking about Ntcham:
<b>"if you watch a game you won't see Ntcham, if you watch Ntcham you'll see the whole game"</b>
I could listen to him talking about our players all day... :emoticon:31
btw, last night was the biggest ever winning margin in the history of the CL play-off round.
Same old Brendan Rodgers' Celtic, eh? - always making history and setting and breaking records! ;-)
:emoticon:09 :emoticon:85 :emoticon:07 :emoticon:70 :emoticon:55 :emoticon:04 :emoticon:32
And despite the emphatic scoreline and outstanding performance Astana are still a better team than anything we'll face domestically. Apart from their goalie. :emoticon:10
I'd be surprised if Brendan doesn't play close to our strongest team for next weeks return leg. We still have to finish the job.
We might pick up a few injuries carrying that £40m CL pot of gold, but we'll just have to live with it I suppose :emoticon:15
As for the game against hunmarnock? Play the young team who humped hertz...
...or the U12's if they've finished their homework!
_____________________________________________
Edit
Some more perspective on perhaps just how good this current Celtic side are came tonight via Holland, where Rosenborg defeated last seasons Europa cup finalists Ajax 1-0 in Amsterdam.
We're building something very special :emoticon:14
Zinedine Zidane speaking about Ntcham:
<b>"if you watch a game you won't see Ntcham, if you watch Ntcham you'll see the whole game"</b>
I could listen to him talking about our players all day... :emoticon:31
btw, last night was the biggest ever winning margin in the history of the CL play-off round.
Same old Brendan Rodgers' Celtic, eh? - always making history and setting and breaking records! ;-)
:emoticon:09 :emoticon:85 :emoticon:07 :emoticon:70 :emoticon:55 :emoticon:04 :emoticon:32
And despite the emphatic scoreline and outstanding performance Astana are still a better team than anything we'll face domestically. Apart from their goalie. :emoticon:10
I'd be surprised if Brendan doesn't play close to our strongest team for next weeks return leg. We still have to finish the job.
We might pick up a few injuries carrying that £40m CL pot of gold, but we'll just have to live with it I suppose :emoticon:15
As for the game against hunmarnock? Play the young team who humped hertz...
...or the U12's if they've finished their homework!
_____________________________________________
Edit
Some more perspective on perhaps just how good this current Celtic side are came tonight via Holland, where Rosenborg defeated last seasons Europa cup finalists Ajax 1-0 in Amsterdam.
We're building something very special :emoticon:14
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
The bhoys trained at their stadium earlier today. They have one of the better artificial surfaces unlike that monstrosity of threadbare carpet with an underlay of broken bricks that we faced on Saturday at hunmarnock.
I reckon BR will go with a full strength side including Jozo. Whether he starts Griff or keeps him on the bench for later and whether it's Rogic or CalMac in attacking CM are the only debatables for me. Don't know if Hayes is fit but he travelled out with the team.
I'd go with:
Gordon
Lustig Jozo Bitton Tierney
Ntcham Brown
CalMac
Forrest Griff Sinclair
Subs, DDV, Rogic, Armstrong, Ajer, Ralston, Hayes?
Have gone with CalMac only because he's better at covering more ground and tracking back than Tam.
The bench will be interesting too.
I reckon BR will go with a full strength side including Jozo. Whether he starts Griff or keeps him on the bench for later and whether it's Rogic or CalMac in attacking CM are the only debatables for me. Don't know if Hayes is fit but he travelled out with the team.
I'd go with:
Gordon
Lustig Jozo Bitton Tierney
Ntcham Brown
CalMac
Forrest Griff Sinclair
Subs, DDV, Rogic, Armstrong, Ajer, Ralston, Hayes?
Have gone with CalMac only because he's better at covering more ground and tracking back than Tam.
The bench will be interesting too.
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
CELTIC (4-2-3-1): Gordon; Lustig, Ajer, Bitton, Tierney; Ntcham, Brown; Forrest, McGregor, Sinclair; Griffiths
Subs: De Vries, Gamboa, Armstrong, Hayes, Rogic, Ralston, Miller
I was close... Ajer starts with Jozo not being risked on that surface.
Ralston and Miller both on the bench.
Subs: De Vries, Gamboa, Armstrong, Hayes, Rogic, Ralston, Miller
I was close... Ajer starts with Jozo not being risked on that surface.
Ralston and Miller both on the bench.
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
Good opening spell from us. Already had a few attacks down the left through KT and Sinclair.
Sinclair looks to be in the mood.
Sinclair looks to be in the mood.
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
12 minutes gone and Broony has already crippled one of their players with a strong but perfectly legal challenge. The player has since hobbled off and been replaced. :emoticon:19
CalMac sets up Sinclair who forces the keeper into a save.
CalMac sets up Sinclair who forces the keeper into a save.
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
CalMac with another good shot which is well saved by the keeper.
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Seems we're comfortable in this game so far. There's no rush for us. Just keep the ball and get it passed around.
Somehow Gamboa is suddenly on the bench again tonight.....do we just call him in to the squad for away European games or something?
It also means we now have 2 RBs on the bench..... :emoticon:16
Depending on how the game goes I'm hopeful we give Ralston and Miller an appearance off the bench. Will be great experience for them. Not going to be many European games of this level that we'll have the opportunity to get them on in.
Somehow Gamboa is suddenly on the bench again tonight.....do we just call him in to the squad for away European games or something?
It also means we now have 2 RBs on the bench..... :emoticon:16
Depending on how the game goes I'm hopeful we give Ralston and Miller an appearance off the bench. Will be great experience for them. Not going to be many European games of this level that we'll have the opportunity to get them on in.
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
So unlucky from Ajer there with the og.
We really should be 2 goals ahead here instead of being 1 behind.
We really should be 2 goals ahead here instead of being 1 behind.
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Goal for Astana. Own goal by Ajer!
Poor lad. Not a lot he could do about it, he tried to block the cross/shot and Gordon was already diving to save it so was nowhere near it! Can't blame him and hopefully it won't affect his confidence too much. He did well to header the previous cross clear!
Straight away Sinclair ran up the other end and got a good shot in. Saved by the keeper unfortunately.
It looks as though the Astana striker is sticking to Ajer and thinking he's the weak link.
Poor lad. Not a lot he could do about it, he tried to block the cross/shot and Gordon was already diving to save it so was nowhere near it! Can't blame him and hopefully it won't affect his confidence too much. He did well to header the previous cross clear!
Straight away Sinclair ran up the other end and got a good shot in. Saved by the keeper unfortunately.
It looks as though the Astana striker is sticking to Ajer and thinking he's the weak link.
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
Sensational from Scotty Sinclair! \o/ 1-1 (6-1 agg)
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
They're pushing us higher up the pitch and making it more difficult for us to play out from the back.
For some reason Bitton keeps moving to almost a LB position and we're pushing Tierney up the wing, but that's leaving Ajer far more exposed because Lustig isn't always over helping to cover. Just looking a little unbalanced at the back at the moment. We're a slip away from losing a goal because we've not got cover.
For some reason Bitton keeps moving to almost a LB position and we're pushing Tierney up the wing, but that's leaving Ajer far more exposed because Lustig isn't always over helping to cover. Just looking a little unbalanced at the back at the moment. We're a slip away from losing a goal because we've not got cover.
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