It is on point, pal. You brought credibility into it, how can you have a go at someone over it when you bottled a marathon.
jesus lads that result dosent look great on paper at least
before the game yesterday i saw Malmo were 7/4 to go thru… i thought that was very short but by the cut of the Celtic back 4 i see why
lack of match practice kills Celtic, they have played no competitive games yet this season (apart from Qarabag) and at this level ( yes i know its a Swedish team) there is a no room for the complacency that is tolerated domestcially
id be worried about them now TBH but still id imagine going forward they have way too much…
If they get thru the group stages will be miserable unless they can organise a mid season friendly tournament so players can get match practice
Its a sad state of affairs seeing domestic champions from two of Europe’s more traditional bases Scotland and Sweden (and indeed a former finalist from 1979 and winner from 1967) scrapping it out in August just to be allowed into the last 32 as a lowest seed. Meanwhile you’ll most likely have a side that finished a lowly fourth in their domestic league - Manchester United in the last 32.
This tournament lost all credibility in the early 90’s when it ceased to be the exclusive preserve of the reigning champions and domestic league champions. Particularly ironic that it rebranded itself as the Champions League right at the same time as it admitted runners up, 3rd & 4th place sides from domestic leagues.
I didn’t bring credibility into it. You buddy was confused/unaware of results from less than a month ago involving the side that he supposedly supports. He even felt the need to call me an ‘idiot’ when trotting a statement relating to the outcome of those games that was most clearly factually incorrect. I merely corrected his factual inaccuracy without resorting to petty name calling or without (as you have incorrectly stated) bringing credibility into it.
You really need to up your game a bit. This is very weak on your part…
You brought credibility into it. I called you up on it and now you’re displaying sour grapes. How many more beatings do you want?
Celtic are the new Tyrone
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/malmo-keeper-johan-wiland-brands-6283987
Hard facts and reality are a problem for the victory and handing out of a beating that you claim on every subject that’s ever discussed around here.
Run along now and don’t be embarrassing yourself any further.
You’re pal had the good sense to go into hiding on this particular discussion once he made a show of himself.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, mate. Just thought it’s a lesson you need to learn, so no need to get highly strung about it.
+1, Geoff.
I wonder how much Manchester United have spent in the past year to secure that coveted 4th place.
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I was having a look there at the make up of the 32 that will make up the group stages of this ‘Champions League’. 22 seeded sides of which 15 are from just 6 countries including Real Madrid, Manchester City, Roma, Woflsburg, Porto and Lyon who are not champions - but runners up. Then you have Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Borusia Mondhengladbach who only finished 3rd in their domestic league. Then you have any number of domestic champions playing through endless series of pre-qualifying rounds including former champions like Celtic and Steau Bucharest and former finalists like Malmo and Partizan Belgrade.
If they are insisting on letting in these non-champion sides, it should be an absolute pre-requisite that these sides have to play through the qualifying rounds.
The 22 seeded places should be reserved for champions from the 22 strongest countries. You’re probably looking at the likes of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romaina, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.
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At the end of the day nobody cares if it is right or wrong to have 3rd/4th placed teams in the comp. The vast majority just want to watch the best teams play each other in the knock out rounds. Not Malmo against Partizan Belgrade.
Real Madrid play Barcelona every other week in a vast array of tournaments in Spain. I may be in a minority but I find it quite dull this monolith of a tournament that runs for nearly 11 months, which can really only be won by a super franchise with limitless resources like Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man U or Chelsea.
The ‘Champions League’ format has ruined European club football. The list of possible winners has been diluted to an elite coterie of super franchises from 3-4 countries who plunder and stockpile nearly all the best talent.
Its instructive that in the year before the introduction of this Champions League the European Cup was won by a Red Star Belgrade side containing home grown players of the calibre of Prosinecki, Savicevic and Pancev. The likes of a Celtic, Ajax, Red Star Belgrade or Steau Bucharest will never win the tournament again. The days of the big sides from Spain, Italy, England and France going to and potentially coming unstuck in places like Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine are well and truly gone.
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Positives:
- Malmo really weren’t very good
- Their left back was a really poor player
- RB Salzburg have lost 2-0 in Minsk tonight: they’ve lost a few players from last season so form line isn’t as strong as it might seem
- Away goals don’t look like they’ll be impossible to come by
- All the balance of chances was with us. The result owed a little to their good fortune.
- Our shaky defence was far from shaky in Azerbaijan when the emphasis was on defence. Signs of that in Europa League last year too.
Negatives:
- We don’t have an established right back, assuming Lustig is injured. Janko is hopefully capable of making the step up because Ambrose is not.
- Izaguirre’s form has disappeared just as quickly as it was restored. Mulgrew might be a consideration though unlikely.
- They have Edu and Rosenberg returning to the team.
- Their home record is impressive.
I make that 6-4 to Celtic. Even if we only convert 50% of those points into goals we’ll go through.
Between 1955 and 1966, the winners were spread between 3 countries. Between 1970 and 1984, the winners were spread between 3 countries. It was pretty open after that while English clubs were out of Europe and the few years it took them to catch up. Since the introduction of non - champions in 1997, the winners have come from 5 different countries with 10 different winners. I think you are over exaggerating how open the competition was in the past.
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BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM
outfoxing stato with stats, a good strategy but dont be afraid to pull out the he bottled the marathon card if needs be
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Bar the anomaly of the 2004 final when you had representatives of the French and Portugese leagues in the final, since 1996 when Ajax appeared in the final, all of the 36 finalists have been from Germany, Italy, Spain or England. Essentially the ‘Champions League’ has been the preserve of the super franchises from these four countries. Even within that Italy (possibly with the exception of Juventus) has tailed off badly in recent years as Italian clubs can no longer compete financially at the very top table. Since that Ajax side of the mid 90’s, Dynamo Kyiv in 1999, Porto & Monaco in 2004, PSV Eindhoven in 2005 and Lyon in 2010 are the only sides from outside of the German, Italian, Spanish or English leagues to even make it to the semi final.
If you look at the 25 year time frame prior to the advent of the Champions League, outside of the Big 4 you had winners from Yugoslavia, Romania, Portugal, Netherlands and Scotland and finalists from Greece, Sweden, France and Belgium.
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Yep you can play around with the stats alright. Take the Swedes and Greek clubs getting to the final. That was in an era between 1974 and 1984 when English and Germany clubs shared 11 European Cups in a row between them. A Dutch team being in a final as a novelty? Dutch teams have won 6 European Cups, a European Championship and been in 3 World Cup finals. There have been some great stories through the years in the EC but the reality is that Spanish, English, German, Italian and Dutch teams have dominated the competition since its inception with the odd success story from Portugal, Eastern Europe and, the greatest story of them all, when an Irish team swept all before them in 1967 and nearly again in 1970.
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Ronnie revealed in his Friday press conference that Lustig’s injury isn’t as bad as feared and he could be fit for Tuesday.
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