Champions League Celtic v Shakhtar Tuesday October 25TH Kick off 8Pm

Last post of the rant - I’m not sure where our 100mph football has gone either. Compare us against the huns to tonight - it’s like night and day. Slow and laborious instead of incisive and relentless.

We were afraid to take a gamble at the end and went with the safe option every time. Gave them time to get into position and nullify the threat.

 

Thought juranovic was my MOTM tonight

 

Mate hes *,nowhere near the required level for CL football.And we really dont need him to win league games,id go as far as saying McCarthys a better options.

 

You're absolutely right. If we manage to keep the stem of this team for three or so years (big ask, I know) and replace whoever leaves with Jota and CCV like quality (even bigger ask) then we'll see a Celtic team able to compete at this level. As of now we lack that bit of experience and quality. That will come with time and hard work.

 

I think he played well enough, but he had to make the tackle for their goal. Haven’t seen the replay as I was at the game, but he hesitated.

 

100%.

Think we all want the same thing in January.

Another center back as well if possible.

 

Greg Taylor wants a word with you.

Bring a gum shield.

 

I think one of the replays makes it look like he could have got a hand to the wee gimp's shot but when you see it in normal time it is going at such speed I don't think he could do much about it.

 

Not expecting to blow anyone away. One win would've been nice. Maybe put up a bit of a challenge for 3rd.

 

The angle when it was behind Mudryk, I thought Joe Hart had no chance.

Defenders had several opportunities to stop him having a pop though.

It was some finish.

 

CCV should have brought their player down on the halfway line. Same as away, they break on us we have the chance to kick the boy and stop the game. Nope we let them run up the park and ffs goal.
So similar to Lennon against AC Milan away. Amateurish.

 

I don't think you understand what playing for a draw means. They didn't miss on purpose so that they didn't win.

 

They're more experienced at this level and more streetwise as a result..

We'll get there. Ange has had a taste of it and the player's....mostly for the first time. We need to kick on though and try and make more of a mark....that'll only happen though with experience and ultimately better player's coming in..

 

Tonight was a decent performance. I do think Ange is naive at this level and does not seem willing to learn anything. He has an ideology and sticks to it no matter what but this is the highest level in club football and it is utterly unforgiving. We get drawn into frantic games were good or very good players will punish you. I think we were crying out for a no.6 with a defensive mindset whether that is Abildgaard, Mooy(who earlier in the season was replacing McGregor), he'll even McCarthy. But we just looked so open in midfield it was infuriating. This is caveated though with the fact that we did not have out two best players tonight. Jota and McGregor are game changers for us. Those two and CCV are to my mind the 3 players in the team who are virtually irreplaceable.

A word on Giakoumakis though. I am beginning to feel that he should be first choice striker. He offers so much. He can finish, he can offer a physical presence, works hard and is a good penalty taker. I loved Kyogo but GG deserves a run in the team.

 

I was being facetious. I dont think Shakhtar were happy to draw against us in Warsaw. They only drew cause we were wasteful but they 100% would have been looking ti win that, we let them off the hook.

Tonight, they got what they needed, yes.

 

Overall, a very, very disappointing CL campaign.

Significant to say that it was well behind Rodgers’ and Lennon’s first stint at the CL. You could also say that Ange’s first EL stint was behind Ronny’s.

Therefore, there’s a chance we might need to start asking a few questions Europe-wise.

 

What the * was abilgaard brought in for btw

 

Ange 100% gets a free pass for last season considering he had to rebuild a whole team/squad from scratch.

This year, we're in a completely different situation than Lennon or Rodgers were when they took over.

Lennon had a the Barcelona result and Rodgers, the Anderlecht. Ange will get there. I trust the process.

 

"Afraid to take a gamble" sums it up for me. In a game like that I would have been happy to see a player have a "* it" moment and take an audacious shot from 30 yards, even if they missed. You never know, in a situation like that the keeper might spill it to the feet of one of our attackers.

Those "* it" moments are missing, they've been drilled out of the players by the military discipline of Angeball. At times the system feels a bit suffocating in that respect. The players don't have the freedom to express themselves in attack, more concerned with keeping the ball than making something happen.

Playing it out from the back tonight was pulled off pretty well but too many times I saw them pass up attacking minded passes that would have got us up the pitch quicker. I know everyone loves Hatate but he gives the ball away too much at this level.