[Official TC Thread] Celtic F.C v Paris Saint-Germain; Tuesday 12 Sept, 7.45pm. BT Sport 3

That wasn't the same. Admittedly Milan was a depressingly comfortable victory for them; but they weren't quite getting their * out and whacking it off our face like PSG did on Tuesday. That Juve game was a far better game than the scoreline suggests, they only cut us open once (Efe gifted them two goals) and had to resort to all sorts of cheating on our set pieces (which were our main threat with that team).

 

Juve bitched us. Let us think we could play, sat back comfortably and went for our throat. They done their homework on us and completely outclassed us, we were turning games into a fight and winning them through the likes of Wanyama.

They turned it against us by making us play football, which we just never had the quality to breach that defence.

PSG are the best team I've seen at Parkhead though. We didn't do too much wrong and got * slaughtered for it.

 

Exactly. PSG are probably the best team to ever visit Celtic Park, and are probably second favourites behind Real to win the competiton. If we're being realistic only KT would have a sniff of getting in their squad, let alone their team. UEFA rank them as the 7th best team in Europe (surely that will rise by the end of the season), we're ranked 58th. It's probably the equivalent of us playing Cowdenbeath.

Fans have to be realistic, and accept that European competition is about making a bit of cash and damage limitation when playing the big boys; hoping to get a result when they're a bit off and we're on; but realising that if they show up, we could be in trouble.

 

Admittedly I haven't watched the game back or seen any highlights of it (completely avoided it and still do to this day), but from what I remember we managed to make a few chances in that game, also if the referee was being fair then we would have had at least 2 or 3 penalties. They were fairly comfortable but its not like we posed no threat

 

I completely agree re the home record. I've said this a few times now, Celtic Park is no longer a tough place to go in Europe. Teams like Barcelona and Manchester United used to fear coming to parkhead and at the very least we would give them a game and more often than not get a result. These days any team we are up against, Europa League or Champions League fancies their chances at parkhead, and rightly so.

 

Juve were an intelligent side they noticed we were strong at corners and done a lot of pulling and hauling which the referee didn't punish. They got their goals and then shut up shop, so in a way, they acknowledged we had attacking threats and they countered this.

I just wish we got an easier group which would have gave us a better idea of where we really are playing sides lesser than PSG who aren't expecting to win the tournament. Man City last year was a good result as they were on a good run of games previous to playing us and we probably should have won that game.

Not looking forward to Bayern Munich at all, but think we can do Anderlecht home and away which would be a respectable showing.

 

I think we're reading too much into this. Yes, I want CP to be a difficult place for any European team to come to but the fact of the matter is with today's money we simply cannot compete with the likes of those clubs that spend £200m on ONE player. We could certainly play our best and try and make it difficult for these type of teams to break us down and if they have an off day and we get a rub of the green, we might get a positive result.

However, being realistic, I realise that this is unlikely against these elite teams. Had this been in the Europa league, then it's a different matter as you don't expect teams of that calibre to pump you 5-0 at home. But Bayern, Barca, real. Juve and a few others all have the capability to hammer us either at home or away.

As for the not so elite teams in the champs league, I expect them to find CP daunting and hard to get a result at.

I also think BR needs to use a more defensive approach against much better opposition but that can only come with players as at the moment we are dreadfully light and, arguably weak, at the back for champs league level football.

Our "game" was always going to be the 2 against Anderlecht. * them up and the board and BR will need to look at recruitment and tactics and some players may even need to look at themselves.

 

Our performances against Anderlecht will show us exactly where we are on the European stage.

We know there is a huge gulf between Scottish football and the Big 5 European Leagues. However, put up a good showing and even beat the team ranked 32nd in Europe, and the reigning champions of the 8th ranked league, and we can say that the gap between the "also rans" isn't huge.

 

Juventus had also done their research on the referee for that night. They knew he'd be lenient with that sort of thing.

 

* i remember that night,the Ref was a total goon,and in my book Juve cheated

 

We had no real chances of any substance. Buffon pulled off a magnificent save from a Commons deflected off of Gary Hooper shot and that was about it.

 

Loving the videos from psg fans looking forward to Paris in November now

 

They were good value for their win mate and definitely got their tactics spot on; but 3-0 flattered them, they never had the cigar out. It is true that we didn't have the quality to cut them open; but we were a threat on set plays. People can slice it any way they like, but they had to resort to cheating against our set plays and the referee was a disgrace. Tuesday was a very different animal.

I don't deny they deserved their victory: they did their homework on us, on the ref, were the first to spot and target Efe's weaknesses (every c*** did it after that, but they were the ones that spotted it). They did a job on us; but it's like the difference between being put on your * by someone who knows how to fight and has worked you out and being absolutely annihilated by a professional fighter who didn't have to break a sweat. In the former case you still think to yourself that if only you hadn't been so cocky or had been in better shape or hadn't made that dumb error or whatever; in the latter, you know there was only ever going to be one outcome and you are forced to look at a few harsh and painful realities.

Edit: sorry for the * (and unnecessarily violent) analogy. I'm really * at that kind of thing.

 

Where are these posted?


Not that I think we can realistically do them in Paris but .......... Last year they put 4 past Barca and this was made just before the return leg (watch from about 2:11 onwards)



Hopefully they're as complacent in November.

 

See I think it's the other way about, Juve Mayweathered us. Squared us up, out boxed us at every level.

PSG just done a Tyson at his best to us, went * through us like a ton of * bricks.

 

That's also a fair way of looking at it.

I still argue that on another night, with a better ref, different tactics, Sammy back... we could have had a chance against Juve; with PSG on Tuesday, we could have had Moussa fit, brought Virgil back as an emergency CB loan, got our tactics perfect and had Willie Collum's mad * cousin as the referee and we were still always getting a doing.

For me personally, the proof is in my feelings after the game: with Juve, I wanted nothing more than to play the game again (obviously with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and a different ref and tactics, of course ); with PSG, the very thought of having to play that match again with anything short of the Lions in their prime makes me feel physically sick.

 

I'm not quite that bad but I'm close to it. They are the most frightening team I've seen at Parkhead. They had everything.

 

Them getting out of our 4 player press in their box. Easily the most impressive thing that wasn't a goal I've seen at parkhead.
Like their attack was talked up as if it will carry them to a CL win then the defence does that. Amazing.

 

Playing a jet lagged Ambrose immediately * our chances that night and plenty said that without hindsight.