@Rocko
Id have APOEL and Qarabag way ahead of YBB
Slavia also
Qarabag and APOEL are very good sides - you saw the x2 legs there v Dundalk - especially last wednesday
i think Slavia Prague is not an easy game at all - didnt they put Sevilla out last year?
Yeah Slavia beat Sevilla and gave Chelsea a decent game.
Think you’re over-estimating beating Dundalk tbh. Anyone who has come through earlier rounds had probably beaten better opposition than Dundalk.
ah im not basing the strength of Qarabag at all from the fact they simply overcame Dundalk - its the manner in which they played - they were superb in that second leg and there was a 20 minute period in the first half where dundalk were chasing shadows - a thing i never saw them do in 2016 against the likes of Zenit, etc
Slavia will be a right problem i think for celtic
why would you have considered YBB to have a potentially decent side- Basle carried the Swiss league in Europe of late and have regressed- id have Slavia Prague and APOEL well ahead of them
That APOEL /Qarabag game will be a right decent tie actually this week
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I guess the YBB rating was more based on them beating Basel who have been competitive.
Slavia certainly not an easy tie. Trickier than Cluj who are hard to judge.
yes and MTA were pathetic against them over two legs
Cluj are very technical but they were allowed do as they pleased in the last tie
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this is a fascintaing stage of the season we are at right now - its old school knock out football before the relative predictability of the groups so really the next 4 weeks are actual competition until we reconvene in feb for last 16
krasnodar / porto and PAOK (powk) /AJAX are belters
isnt it interesting to see both greece and switzerland have both their entrants at this stage of the competition - olympiacos and basel of course have beaten plzen and psv respectively… olympiacos fairly trashed plzen 4-0 so that might be an idea where slavia are at,
ajax will be interesting - have they any inbound signings at all?
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That Quincy Promes lad and a few south Americans.
HT in SalonikI
PAOK 2
Ajax 1
Massive
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APOEL 0
Qarabag 0
Ht
APOEL 0
Qarabag 2
Paok 2
Ajax 2
Dinamo 1
Fwrenvaros 0
All in play
That’s some result for Qarabag.
They looked like a classy outfit against Dundalk.
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an excellent side Fagan
19:00 
start for Celtic away in Cluj tonight. It’s on Premier Sports in the UK and presumably here which is a bit shit given it’s only been launched a few days officially in Ireland and their website is never clear on what they have UK rights for vs Irish rights vs UK and Irish rights.
Elhamed is reportedly available for selection after limping off at the weekend.
The team seems clear other than centre back where it could be Simunovic, Bitton or Jullien partnering Ajer.
There is also a possibility that we go more defensive in an away qualifier against strong opposition so Johnston could drop out with Ntcham or Bitton playing in midfield and Christie or McGregor moving wider.
That would be a terrible, negative decision but one we have become accustomed to Lennon making. Like Strachan, he really lacks the balls in these kind of ties.
Can’t agree at all with that. There is some room for pragmatism. Away to Cluj in a Champions League qualifier in the balance is a time for pragmatism. I don’t think I’d drop Johnston but I can absolutely see the merits in it. Particularly in playing Bitton, given they are a big physical team apparently.
Strachan was overly conservative against Rangers and it was infuriating when we were the better team.
But both Strachan and Lennon had measures of European success because we were more difficult to beat. We can’t be as ill disciplined in our formation as we were against AEK or Salzburg last season for example.
It’s not pragmatic. All it serves to do is upset the imbalance of our team and pretty much potentially negate the influence of one our most important or in form players.
Will playing Ntcham over Johnston make us better defensively or allow us to keep the ball better? I don’t think so. Will it take away from our attacking threat and fluidity? Almost certainly.
Do you think we should play the same formation in every game? That was the biggest weakness under Rodgers I think - we had the same tactics in Europe as we did in Scotland and got badly exposed because of it.
I think having more ball winners is helpful. I think Johnston has struggled in the past in difficult away games (at Ibrox twice). I can see a logic in playing a more experienced midfielder in there for possession (Bitton) or for energy and tackling (Ntcham). I think on balance I’d stick with the same team but I wouldn’t be surprised or enraged if we set ourselves up more defensively.
I think we should not being negating the influence or our best players against teams around our level or below it. We are not playing Barcelona.
PAOK - AJAX highlights
that looks to be a smashing ground
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