Celtic v Internazionale (Thursday 19/02/15, K.O. 20:05, BT Sports 1)

And pirlo should have been sent off in the first half on broony. There was no difference to what broony was sent off for against neymar..

 

Ambrose had one of the worst games ive ever seen from a celtic player. Id say he had been bribed by some nigerian gang to help lose the game but he actually just pish!!

 

Ambrose-better take up cricket or fishing, please * don't let him be in the team. Honestly he will just pass it to the opposition, it will come out in years to come that he was betting against the opposition under a psuedo name!!!!

 

Reminds me of being wee and being dared to go into the toilet in the dark and say Candyman three times in front of the mirror. Don't think I ever managed it

 

My dad and I went to juve game. was our first european game. we met a hun in a train station that said online that he would help us with tickets because we had booked flights and been let down. He said he had celtic pals who he could get tickets from. So me and dad meet him at 5.30 at queen street station and he texts me to say he is all in white. we are * it incase its a wind up but sure enough he appeared with the tickets and we had a few pints in george sq wetherspoons.

Dad said ah now we finally have tickets i just hope theres not an early goal. Well we ended up missing the amazing ynwa and got in for the cl anthem. wow what a roar that was absolutely unreal stuff. then willie maley was belted before an incredibly loud hail hail and then best of all celtic symphony. we were in the js upper but the whole place was completely rocking.

then efe * up and atmopshere never reached that height again. 1min 30secs of raucous noise. *

 

Guy went out of his way to help you and yer old man... now that is what i call a fitba fan. Need more like him , and shows how wrong it is to tar everybody with same brush.

not surprised you were fretting it was a wind up.. thanks for sharing the story

 

ive not got the buzz for this game yet as i feel i should have.

 

I'm on a downer as I'm just back from Germany this morning so this is the thing I'm looking forward to most this week :smiley-laughing002:

Full Celtic Park will be amazing.

 

This will be better than the Westfalenstadion :icon_mrgreen:

 

I'm moist with excitement for thursday

 

I'm looking forward to this game. Probably the first game in a while I've been genuinely buzzing for as most of our league games I expect us to win plus the league fails to excite like it used to.

If commons is not fit then I would go with the team from the weekend to be hones. I like Armstrong and he looks to be a grafter so will work hard and has a bit of flair going forward. GMS gives us good pace on the counter and his pace over Stokes's i think will help the pressing game more. Watched Inter a few times this season and they are beatable my only worry is that we shoot ourself in the foot.

Izzy needs to be on his game or Shaquiri will rip him a new one plus I generally worry about izzy and don't get why people love him so much as he is poor defensively.

If our defence concentrate the whole game and don't think they can stroll through it like an SPL game and we take the chances we get I'm quite confident of at least still being in it for the game in Italy.

 

We played exactly the way they wanted us to play that night , the 3rd minute goal wasn't planned but the quick double at the end is what they were going for all night.

 

Cheers.

Kinda' see where you're getting at, and no, generally, not many Italians seem to grasp the English language that well.

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So, I wanted to go a bit more in-depth as to who it is you're facing. For shortness' sake, I'll be focusing on the last three games only; that's Napoli away (in the Coppa, 0-1), Palermo at home (3-0) and Atalanta away (1-4).

As you all well know, the season this far has been shameful, but not irregular by any means, as we finished 9 just two years ago and last season's fifth place is by no means flattering for a club of our posture. After the all-conquering 2009/10 season, most everything that has gone wrong with the club has; resting on laurels (thinking that continuing with mostly the same set of players without bringing in new reinforcements would suffice), many years of over-spending catching up to Moratti and making the club a walking black hole of deficits, not executing a changing of the guard (Zanetti, Cambiasso, Samuel, Milito etc.), hiring en-masse of ultimately mediocre coaches (Gasperini, Ranieri, Mazzarri) and so forth.
Long story short, being an Inter fan for the last 4-5 years hasn't been easy, lemme' tell you...

This brings us to Mancini, the second or third (depending on how you view it) returning 'home' to take the reins from the exceptionally hapless and hopeless Walter Mazzarri and his useless and outdated 3-5-2 formation. Finally some optimism brewed in the darker corners of the club, as he brings some much needed star power and winner mentality, that we've been lacking a lot.
Alas, we're now in 10 place, and just a few rounds ago, we were closer to relegation than European spots. That has very little to do with Mancini, make no mistake.

Whereas we, under Mazzarri, focused solely (and I do mean SOLELY) on crosses and long balls, Mancini has brought the game and the football back to where it should be. On the ground.
A sense of fluidity and flair that we haven't seen since Leonard's half season has been injected into the team. No longer do we see our centre backs overlapping on the wings, only to put another cross in (an absurd sight, that, as I'm writing this, just doesn't seem to make any sense) after having been down a goal for 80 minutes and having created absolutely nothing (yes, I don't like Mazzarri). The signing of Shaqiri has also added a much-needed dimension to our game. Whereas we before used to rely on acts of individal brilliance, there seems to be a clear, laid out game plan now, even though having players that can actually beat a man helps.

Concerning preferred formation, nothing is set in stone. I can guarentee you however, that the 3-man backline is done and dusted, thank *. Against Atalanta, we set up with a 4-man line consisting of the returning, left-footed Geordie Santon on the left, Juan Jesus and Ranocchia in the centre and possibly least attacking left back in world football, Campagnaro on the right. I can almost guarentee that's what it will be like in Glasgow as well, seeing as all our other centre backs (sans 18 year old Isaac Donkor with 3 first team games to his name) are out with injuries, and our full back situation doesn't look much better. Only Dodo is an alternative to Santon, as someone mentioned before, Jonathan, Nagatomo and D'Ambrosio are all out with injuries.
I almost forgot, Handanovic, our best player by far and one of the best in the world (in my opinion) is number 1 in goal, so unless Mancini pulls some hijinks and starts the flailing, but ultimately solid reserve goalkeeper Carrizo, the defense should be settled.

From the midfield and onwards is where we have options. Shaqiri and the loan of Podolski gives us alternatives, at least on the domestic front. Brozovic has started the last couple of games since he came, and has been key for us, but since he's not playing against you, I'll leave him out of the equation. Same with Poldi.

Medel of Cardiff City fame will almost certainly be the anchor in front of midfield. Short, bulky and built like a Pitbull, and can run all evening - that's all you need to know about him. Not as inhibited at playing the ball forward as you would assume at a first glance. The only one of Mazzarri's signings from this season that has maintained a spot in the starting eleven. The alternative is Kuzmanovic, who, although much, much worse offensively, at least guarentees that we'll keep the ball a bit more. But yeah, there's no way we're going to be set out that offensively at Parkhead.

Now, who starts in front of Medel is the real question. Guarin, in blazing form at the moment, although still prone to weird decisions and brainfarts, will be the first on the teamsheet (if we decide to go with the first 11 - nothing from reports or the like really have reported on Mancini's intent, but I assume we'll treat this seriously). 2 goals, 2 assists and 1 penalty created in the last two games speaks for itself.

Who's partnering him (or how many) is interesting. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Shaqiri starts on the wing or as a number 10, which only leaves space for 1 more in midfield. That's going to be future Ballon d'Or winner Mateo Kovacic icon_mrgreen:, not with us though, no way) or Brazilian national team-mainstay. The former's been ousted from the first team after the arrival of Brozovic, but I'm assuming he'll fight his way back in sooner rather than later. I think I covered what he's like as a player on here some time back*
Hernanes is a tricky one - a profile for his national team, Lazio and in Serie A, he is the biggest 'name' that Thohir has bought. But he hasn't really settled well. He offers some creativity, a threat from a long way out and CAN do a job defensively - and is still one of our best players one his day - but not what he once was.
Starting Kovacic in this kind of game would probably be too risky and offensive, so I'm thinking Hernanes gets the nod - but who knows.
*http://www.talkceltic.net/forum/showthread.php?p=4397502#post4397502

Shaqiri, you'll all know. Seen as the sucessor of Arjen Robben, I'm still erect that we managed to * him up, somehow. Fast, tricky to handle, can do a job on the wing, but really shined against Palermo and Atalanta just behind our attackers in the centre.

If he plays on the wing, that means Palacio on the opposite side. You'll probably know him from having the worst haircut in football today. But make no mistake, he was an extremely good and reliable hand. I say WAS, as he's a shadow of himself now, having only scored, I think three goals in the league? His goalscoring prowess was never why we bought him in the first place (although just under 20 goals with Genoa and last season with us is nothing to scoff at), as he's drifting attacker/wing hybrid who will run his pants off trying to create something - but it just hasn't happened for him this season.
If Shaqiri plays the number 10 role, Palacio will be playing as one of two front men.

I have to assume that I don't have to introduce his partner up front to you.

So if I'd have to hazard a guess as to the starting lineup:

Handanovic; Santon, Jesus, Ranocchia, Campagnaro; Medel, Hernanes, Guarin; Shaqiri; Palacio, Icardi

So in essense a 4-1-2-1-2.

If you have any specific questions on any players, the bench or what I think you should focus on if you want to progress or something along those lines, holla'. There's just too much ground for me to cover if I had to go off on a tangent..
And yeah, ignore the grammer and spelling mistakes, a had a grand total of 2 hours of sleep last night.

@Vikingbhoy, assuming you read this:
Are you 'Celticfan' on ForzaInterForums?

 

I thought there was shoite refereeing when Ambrose was pushed in the back and Deila didn't move over to help Ambrose . It's good to see our loyal fans trying to support and help Ambrose before we play a difficult game .

 

Nice one. Not seen much of Icardi if I'm honest. Seems a bit mental but apparently an amazing talent. Shaqiri obviously is a threat too but I don't see much to be scared of there.

However I'm sure it will be the same for Inter. We don't really have anyone to frighten you either. Can't see a lot, if any goals at Celtic Park as we've got some good defensive players including our GK, Van Dijk and Brown.

I'll be happy with a clean sheet and try and sneak a goal over there.

 

Cheers for that.

 

+1 cheers for that mate.

 

OC: yep, good guess and thanks for the write-up! Always good to chat with fans of opposing teams in European competitions

 

why would he be?! am i missing something ? we know our strongest back four as does the manager and he isn't in it...