Champions League - Last 16

Sport
101

What would be your Celtic starting xi bhoys?

I’m assuming Ambrose won’t be ready to play so assuming other injury doubts (Forrest, Samaras, Izzy are ok) I think I’d go with

Forster
Lustig Wilson Mulgrew Matthews
Commons Brown Wanyama Ledley Samaras
Hooper

I’d start Matthews at left back even if Izzy is fit though I don’t think Lennon will. Matthews is good going forward and is far more secure defensively at the moment than Izzy. Both are quick but Matthews seems to use his recovery pace a lot better and more frequently.

I think Rogne has had a decent couple of games recently and if we were up against a real aerial threat then he might be in with a shout but at the moment he’s just cover and may not even make the bench depending on the availability of Ambrose and Izzy.

Stokes, Miku, Lassad and Watt all have very good claims to play up front with Hooper but Sammy probably offers the greatest flexibility in going to an orthodox 4-5-1 if required. Plus he’s been terrific in Europe. Commons has improved his defensive workrate enough to ensure that picking him ahead of another striker does help us out at the back. I would expect Forrest to come on for Commons after 60/70 minutes to extend our lead.

So a bench then of: Zaluska, Rogne, Izzy, Kayal, Forrest, Stokes, Lassad or something like that.

102

I’d go with the same team for pretty much the same reasons. It’s a shame Ambrose will be impacted by Nigeria’s success as I’d be a little wary of Mulgrew at centre back given he hasn’t played there much this season and was quite poor recently against St Mirren in the League Cup. The Ambrose/Wilson parternship has been pleasantly solid in Europe. I think Matthews is playing better than Izzy and he can do a more than passable job at left back - he was excellent there at home to Barcelona. He’s got the athleticism and ability to cope with Lichtsteiner, who I think is the best right sided defender/wing back in the world. Agree on the Commons call and would think Forrest could do an impact sub role all going well and inject some pace and directness into our game. Samaras is our best player and it’s crucial that he’s fit - I think he does his best work from that floating wide left starting position so I think that formation suits us to as it will allow Brown, Wanyama and Ledley to match up with their three - Pirlo, Marchisio and Vidal.

103

Agreed with almost everything but Srna is better than Lichtsteiner.

104

Not a chance.

105

Decent Observer article about Celtic today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/feb/09/celtic-finances-champions-league?

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Canny Celtic’s financial knowhow puts Premier League clubs to shame[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Champions League tie against Juventus culmination of five-year plan to concentrate on youth and worldwide undervalued talent[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]The source of Snoop Dogg’s oft-stated allegiance to Celtic football club is hard to pinpoint. Some say the Glasgow club’s origins in providing succour for poor Irish immigrants to Glasgow in the 1880s chimes with the experiences of poor blacks in urban America which influence much of the rap king’s oeuvre. Others claim he simply took a fancy to Celtic’s famous green and white-hooped livery and added it to his vivid wardrobe. Nevertheless his commitment to the club seems genuine enough.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Following the Scottish champions’ victory over Barcelona in November he tweeted his followers thus: “Congrats 2 the Celtic on makin it to the last 16 of tha Champion League! We doin it big this year!” Last month he stated his desire to be the team’s mascot against Juventus on Tuesday night in the last 16 of the Champions League. Which is why Celtic’s chief executive, Peter Lawwell, has been acquainting himself with the delights of dealing with hip-hop royalty. “Our people are talking to his people,” Lawwell told the Observer in time-honoured showbiz fashion. "We’re keen to make it happen… "[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]If Snoop does make it to Celtic Park, presumably they will find him a seat next to Rod Stewart whose tears of joy after the Barcelona match defined the historic victory more than either of the two goals. Celtic are not quite a Hollywood club but the international showbiz community is well represented in a global fan base that owes much to the Irish diaspora.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]It is Lawwell’s job, though, to ensure the club does not get carried away. “Our wide supporter base is something of which we’re very proud, but part of my job is to manage expectations. Celtic have a magical historical narrative and we have a great European pedigree but we must be aware of our surroundings and work within our means and ensure that each penny we make is reinvested properly and in the interests of our supporters and our shareholders.”[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Being aware of the surroundings means, in Celtic’s case, acknowledging they operate in a league where television revenue is less than 1% of England’s. Or from where you can only look on in quiet astonishment when clubs that provide the Premier League’s relegation fodder, such as Queens Park Rangers, are sanctioning transfer fees and salaries that swamp the entire cost and wage bill of the Celtic team who triumphed against Messi, Iniesta and Xavi. The Celtic team that night included the young Kenyan powerhouse Victor Wanyama; the Honduran left-back Emilio Izaguirre; the former Scunthorpe striker, Gary Hooper (the subject of a reputed £9m bid by Norwich City) and Tony Watt, a 20-year-old from Airdrie who cost £100,000 and scored the winner against Barcelona. Then there is Efe Ambrose, who is set to play for Nigeria this evening in the Africa Cup of Nations final, and James Forrest, the gifted young winger from Celtic’s youth academy who was named by Fifa on a list of global “ones to watch” last year.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Their alignment in this season’s Celtic constellation marks the successful culmination of a five-year economic plan that might have prevented the global banking collapse had it been applied by Lehman Brothers and RBS: cover your risks and secure value for money on every transaction.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]“We decided to take significant funds from our first team in 2006-07 and to reinvest it in building a state-of-the-art training campus; developing a youth academy; constructing a sports science programme and the recruitment of an international football development manager,” Lawwell said. “It is all about building a sustainable, long-term economic model which will buttress us from the effects of any sudden downturns. It is designed to ensure that we remain competitive in elite European competition.”[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Celtic have become expert in shopping in what they call “undervalued markets” in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as England’s Nationwide League. No one at the club is under any illusion that they will keep their stars for more than a few years, but from a collective outlay of less than £10m they will expect to earn a profit of around five times that. This was exemplified by the £6m sale of Ki Sung-yueng to Swansea City last summer three years after the South Korean midfielder had been purchased for £2m. It is the sort of transfer arithmetic that has made John Park, Celtic’s development manager, as big a target for Premier League clubs as any of those who will line up against the Italian champions on Tuesday. It also offers a rebuke to the transfer window coconut shy in England in which vast sums are thrown at a depressing array of mediocrities in a desperate attempt to secure Premier League survival.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Long before the end of this decade English football will be strewn with the corpses of clubs, like brave and brawny Portsmouth or proud Leeds United, who put everything on Premier League black only to see the ball choose red. Too many sturdy English clubs have failed properly to scrutinise the motives and credentials of those who promise them diamonds and glory. Lawwell is adamant that his club will never be engulfed in the swirl of emotional expectation that accompanies it. The majority shareholder, the Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond, is one of the richest men in Britain but, as with each of his other business interests, he expects Celtic’s success to be the result of organic growth and prudent house-keeping.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Celtic also developed partnerships in Mexico and India that will help foster community outreach in underprivileged areas. “We see these projects also as an emotional investment as it shows that we are more than simply a football club and that we want to remain true to the principles that led to our birth,” Lawwell said.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Mr Dogg’s 1996 Snoop’s Upside Ya Head is his meditation on loss and redemption. On Tuesday the Celtic supporters will customise it with Ooh Aah Samaras in honour of their talismanic Greek striker Georgios. Snoop though, may be entitled to think they are singing it just for him.[/FONT][/SIZE]

106

[quote=“Bandage, post: 736097, member: 9”]Decent Observer article about Celtic today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/feb/09/celtic-finances-champions-league?

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Canny Celtic’s financial knowhow puts Premier League clubs to shame[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Champions League tie against Juventus culmination of five-year plan to concentrate on youth and worldwide undervalued talent[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]The source of Snoop Dogg’s oft-stated allegiance to Celtic football club is hard to pinpoint. Some say the Glasgow club’s origins in providing succour for poor Irish immigrants to Glasgow in the 1880s chimes with the experiences of poor blacks in urban America which influence much of the rap king’s oeuvre. Others claim he simply took a fancy to Celtic’s famous green and white-hooped livery and added it to his vivid wardrobe. Nevertheless his commitment to the club seems genuine enough.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Following the Scottish champions’ victory over Barcelona in November he tweeted his followers thus: “Congrats 2 the Celtic on makin it to the last 16 of tha Champion League! We doin it big this year!” Last month he stated his desire to be the team’s mascot against Juventus on Tuesday night in the last 16 of the Champions League. Which is why Celtic’s chief executive, Peter Lawwell, has been acquainting himself with the delights of dealing with hip-hop royalty. “Our people are talking to his people,” Lawwell told the Observer in time-honoured showbiz fashion. "We’re keen to make it happen… "[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]If Snoop does make it to Celtic Park, presumably they will find him a seat next to Rod Stewart whose tears of joy after the Barcelona match defined the historic victory more than either of the two goals. Celtic are not quite a Hollywood club but the international showbiz community is well represented in a global fan base that owes much to the Irish diaspora.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]It is Lawwell’s job, though, to ensure the club does not get carried away. “Our wide supporter base is something of which we’re very proud, but part of my job is to manage expectations. Celtic have a magical historical narrative and we have a great European pedigree but we must be aware of our surroundings and work within our means and ensure that each penny we make is reinvested properly and in the interests of our supporters and our shareholders.”[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Being aware of the surroundings means, in Celtic’s case, acknowledging they operate in a league where television revenue is less than 1% of England’s. Or from where you can only look on in quiet astonishment when clubs that provide the Premier League’s relegation fodder, such as Queens Park Rangers, are sanctioning transfer fees and salaries that swamp the entire cost and wage bill of the Celtic team who triumphed against Messi, Iniesta and Xavi. The Celtic team that night included the young Kenyan powerhouse Victor Wanyama; the Honduran left-back Emilio Izaguirre; the former Scunthorpe striker, Gary Hooper (the subject of a reputed £9m bid by Norwich City) and Tony Watt, a 20-year-old from Airdrie who cost £100,000 and scored the winner against Barcelona. Then there is Efe Ambrose, who is set to play for Nigeria this evening in the Africa Cup of Nations final, and James Forrest, the gifted young winger from Celtic’s youth academy who was named by Fifa on a list of global “ones to watch” last year.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Their alignment in this season’s Celtic constellation marks the successful culmination of a five-year economic plan that might have prevented the global banking collapse had it been applied by Lehman Brothers and RBS: cover your risks and secure value for money on every transaction.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]“We decided to take significant funds from our first team in 2006-07 and to reinvest it in building a state-of-the-art training campus; developing a youth academy; constructing a sports science programme and the recruitment of an international football development manager,” Lawwell said. “It is all about building a sustainable, long-term economic model which will buttress us from the effects of any sudden downturns. It is designed to ensure that we remain competitive in elite European competition.”[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Celtic have become expert in shopping in what they call “undervalued markets” in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as England’s Nationwide League. No one at the club is under any illusion that they will keep their stars for more than a few years, but from a collective outlay of less than £10m they will expect to earn a profit of around five times that. This was exemplified by the £6m sale of Ki Sung-yueng to Swansea City last summer three years after the South Korean midfielder had been purchased for £2m. It is the sort of transfer arithmetic that has made John Park, Celtic’s development manager, as big a target for Premier League clubs as any of those who will line up against the Italian champions on Tuesday. It also offers a rebuke to the transfer window coconut shy in England in which vast sums are thrown at a depressing array of mediocrities in a desperate attempt to secure Premier League survival.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Long before the end of this decade English football will be strewn with the corpses of clubs, like brave and brawny Portsmouth or proud Leeds United, who put everything on Premier League black only to see the ball choose red. Too many sturdy English clubs have failed properly to scrutinise the motives and credentials of those who promise them diamonds and glory. Lawwell is adamant that his club will never be engulfed in the swirl of emotional expectation that accompanies it. The majority shareholder, the Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond, is one of the richest men in Britain but, as with each of his other business interests, he expects Celtic’s success to be the result of organic growth and prudent house-keeping.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Celtic also developed partnerships in Mexico and India that will help foster community outreach in underprivileged areas. “We see these projects also as an emotional investment as it shows that we are more than simply a football club and that we want to remain true to the principles that led to our birth,” Lawwell said.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px][FONT=verdana]Mr Dogg’s 1996 Snoop’s Upside Ya Head is his meditation on loss and redemption. On Tuesday the Celtic supporters will customise it with Ooh Aah Samaras in honour of their talismanic Greek striker Georgios. Snoop though, may be entitled to think they are singing it just for him.[/FONT][/SIZE][/quote]

Decent graphic with that too:

107

Kris Commons! Magnificent stuff.

From tomorrow’s Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/feb/10/neil-lennon-celtic-juventus?CMP=twt_gu

Neil Lennon has the belief and the drive to steer Celtic past Juventus
• Barcelona win has proven Italians need not be feared
• Lennon does not want to stop at last 16 of Champions League

Neil Lennon[/URL] may be about to enter uncharted territory but the [URL=‘http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/celtic’]Celticmanager has no desire to end his Champions League run at the last-16 stage.

Lennon, who guided Celtic to the competition’s group stage for the first time under his management this season, is now preparing his players for Tuesday’s visit of Juventus. Celtic’s win over Barcelona in November has proved to their manager that the Italians should not be feared.

“When I took on the job I didn’t imagine a game like this, when you consider where we were and the progress that we have made,” Lennon said.

“What I did think at the start of the season was that if we could get through the qualifiers we could make inroads in the Champions League with the players that we had. We don’t want to stop now at the last 16. We’ve got two titanic games against Juventus to look forward to and anything can happen over a two-game tie.”

Lennon has refused to pay too much attention to the recent arrival of Nicolas Anelka at the Turin club. “I think they’re pretty top-heavy at centre-forward,” he added. "They’ve got [Alessandro] Matri.

“I don’t know how much football Anelka has played in the last few months, so whether he’s been brought in for domestic football or this game, I don’t know. We had them watched against Fiorentina on Saturday but we know that whatever two strikers they use will be quality. They are pretty clinical in the final third so we’ll have to be at our best.”

Kris Commons, who was among Celtic’s scorers as they eased to a 3-1 win at Inverness on Saturday, added to Lennon’s sentiment that Celtic can make the Champions League quarter-finals.

“It feels like it’s been a long time coming, probably about two and a half months, so I just hope it doesn’t pass us by,” he said. We have take the opportunity by putting in the kind of performance that we know we are capable of at Celtic Park.

“I don’t think this is a tougher proposition than Barcelona. I think playing against arguably the best team in the world is a tougher game on paper but I think we’re playing for something a lot bigger. The prize at the end of it is bigger. It’s a luxury tie for us but we know we are more than capable of winning the match. We fancy ourselves over the two legs. We’re quietly confident.”

Commons believes Celtic Park’s famous European atmosphere can afford the hosts a first-leg advantage. “Juventus are no mugs, it’s not like they’ve never seen this sort of atmosphere before,” he said.

“They get paid incredible wages to deal with that and play in these arenas but the atmosphere gives us a lift and increases our game. I think that’s why we are more than capable of beating the best teams in Europe – because of our fans.”

Commons laughed off Rangers’ offer to Juventus to use the Ibrox club’s Murray Park training base during preparations for the game against Celtic. “They can train in my back garden, it would make no difference,” he said. “If they want to train at a Division Three training ground, let them get on with it.”

James Forrest missed the Inverness game with a hamstring complaint but the winger is included in the squad for Juventus. “Forrest is fine,” Lennon said. “He has had the two scans and he came through all clear so he will be in the squad.”

Man of the match Tom Rogic (Celtic)

108

That’s fucking brilliant :smiley:

109

I’ll with 4 home wins this week.

110

Celtic will be wearing Tennent’s Extra instead of just Tennent’s on their hoops tomorrow.

111

How influential do you see this decision being Rocko?

112

I think it will certainly be helpful. Our lads will have the opportunity to get accustomed to the new logo in the dressing room beforehand but Juve will encounter it first in match conditions. They may as well not have scouted us.

113

Samaras, Forrest and Izaguirre were involved in the part of training this morning in which TV cameras were permitted to film.

114

Press conference done. Neil says Izzy and Forrest are available and Samaras is a decision for tomorrow. Daniel McDonnell has tweeted that he was impressed by Neil’s intelligent and coherent views. This means a lot to me.

115

Neil is very well spoken and this surprises many people when they meet him for the first time.

I’d be surprised if Forrest starts tomorrow given his lack of games, the other two will play if fit I imagine.

116

Celtic have also released splendid 6-month financial results to end December 2012 this afternoon . Driven by Champions League performance, turnover and profits have rocketed upwards and the debt has been wiped out. This is the type of thing modern day football fans should celebrate on twitter. In fact, Arsenal want their supporters to value strong sets of financial results more than on field achievements.

117

Lennon singled out Matri for praise today. He has been in good form lately and is Juve’s best attacker, IMO.

118

Totti, who do you think will play at the back with Barzagli and Bonucci? Conte has all but ruled Asamoah out having assessed him upon his return from Africa - who will be the left wing back with De Ceglie injured? Which two will get the nod upfront? Actually, what will their team be? And will they play their usual high tempo, pressing style or something different?

119

Celtic will win tomorrow. It’s a given.

120

I’d imagine Peluso would be the favourite to start in the back three, they could also go with Caceres or get Marrone to play in the libero role. Padoin, Giaccherini and Isla could all play in the left wing back role, my guess would be Padoin as he would be the safest and most physical option away from home. Vucinic is Juve’s no. 1 striker, whether he will be partnered by Matri or Giovinco is another question. Matri is the Juventus form striker at the minute but Conte seems to really rate Giovinco, I think Giovinco is actually a player who could cause us problems tomorrow given his very nimble feet and elusive dribbles.