any members of TFKASRSC at the game tonight?
onwards & upwardss from here
im glad i never called for spaletti to be sacked
Group Winners
Roma
Panathinaikos
Barca
Liverpool
2nd Place
Chelsea
Inter
Lisbon
Athletico Madrid
The 2nd place teams are probbably tougher on paper than the teams that won their groups.
Think we will win tonight for two reasons.
- McGeady will be playing. Our best player by a distance even if Strachan doesn’t realise it. Makes a huge difference to our team
- I think players will be given a bit more freedom to play tonight and will go out and attack opposition in a carefree manner with good technical players. As Bandage pointed out this way of setting up has suited us well this year.
[quote=“larryduff”]Think we will win tonight for two reasons.
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McGeady will be playing. Our best player by a distance even if Strachan doesn’t realise it. Makes a huge difference to our team
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I think players will be given a bit more freedom to play tonight and will go out and attack opposition in a carefree manner with good technical players. As Bandage pointed out this way of setting up has suited us well this year.[/quote]
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I firmly believe Strachan does realise that. There was some difference of opinion before, no question, but Strachan is fully aware of how blunt we are when he’s absent.
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Agreed. This is how we should always play - SPL, Europe, whatever. Don’t mind us bulking up sometimes or playing a bit stronger across the middle but we should never be in a situation like last weekend where we’re playing three centre halves (one of whom is a charlatan, one of whom is just not good enough) and have Naka on the bench.
Which centre half is the charlatan rocko?..Strong words to use
Loovens pukey. An imposter and a fraud.
imagine he is talking about loovens as the charlatan and mcmanus as being the player who is just not good enough puke.
Your starting to sound like Eamonn Dunphy rocko…I think that is harsh on Loovens as he is simply not good enough for the level he is at…He was and still is a fairly pedestrian Championship centre half…I wouldn’t call him a fraud…Surely more of the blame would have to lie with Strachan for first of all signing him and secondly playing him on a regular basis…
The first time I saw Glenn Loovens play a full game was in pre-season when he played for Cardiff against Celtic. But did he not get good reports when they went to the FA Cup final last season? Either way, he’s been absolutely shit so far and I agree that Strachan’s transfer work has been extremely hit and miss, with Loovens falling firmly into the latter category based on his performances to date.
Strachan announced yesterday that the Holy Goalie was going to start. McGeady and Samaras will probably get a game too, as they work back to full fitness. I’m not sure about the exact implications in terms of getting straight through to the group stages next season if we retain the championship.
But Sky Sports News were reporting earlier that Panathinaikos winning their group last night closed the gap between the Greek and Scottish national co-efficients and it was important that Celtic win tonight to ensure the SPL winner goes directly into the group stages.
[quote=“Bandage”]The first time I saw Glenn Loovens play a full game was in pre-season when he played for Cardiff against Celtic. But did he not get good reports when they went to the FA Cup final last season? Either way, he’s been absolutely shit so far and I agree that Strachan’s transfer work has been extremely hit and miss, with Loovens falling firmly into the latter category based on his performances to date.
Strachan announced yesterday that the Holy Goalie was going to start. McGeady and Samaras will probably get a game too, as they work back to full fitness. I’m not sure about the exact implications in terms of getting straight through to the group stages next season if we retain the championship.
But Sky Sports News were reporting earlier that Panathinaikos winning their group last night closed the gap between the Greek and Scottish national co-efficients and it was important that Celtic win tonight to ensure the SPL winner goes directly into the group stages.[/quote]
Panathinaikos have really improved in the last few years. Good to see the Irish/Greeks doing well.
If the winner of the SPL doesnt go directly into the CL it could prove the deathknell for the league. Would they then go into the final qualifying round against teams like Arsenal and Villareal? Would take a hell of a lot of friendlies and testimonials to make up the shortfal of cash. What price is Strachan to take Sunderland job?
[quote=“KIB man”]Panathinaikos have really improved in the last few years. Good to see the Irish/Greeks doing well.
If the winner of the SPL doesnt go directly into the CL it could prove the deathknell for the league. Would they then go into the final qualifying round against teams like Arsenal and Villareal? Would take a hell of a lot of friendlies and testimonials to make up the shortfal of cash. What price is Strachan to take Sunderland job?[/quote]
As factually incorrect as ever lad.
No Irish links at all with Panathinaikos. Indeed Olympiakos would be the club of the non-aristocrats out there.
And as a Villa fan you obviously haven’t familiarised yourself with CL qualification rules. The winners of domestic leauges will play other winners of domestic leagues in qualifications. Not runners up etc. from other leagues.
[quote=“therock67”]As factually incorrect as ever lad.
No Irish links at all with Panathinaikos. Indeed Olympiakos would be the club of the non-aristocrats out there.
And as a Villa fan you obviously haven’t familiarised yourself with CL qualification rules. The winners of domestic leauges will play other winners of domestic leagues in qualifications. Not runners up etc. from other leagues.[/quote]
They have a green jersey with a big shamrock on the front anyway. Bit like Glasgow Celtic.
Interesting you say that, Standard Liege played Liverpool in the qualifying for the CL this year. A fine side, Liverpool were lucky to beat them by a goal in extra time. They were the Belgian champions. Better get out the rulebook again.
[quote=“KIB man”]Panathinaikos have really improved in the last few years. Good to see the Irish/Greeks doing well.
If the winner of the SPL doesnt go directly into the CL it could prove the deathknell for the league. Would they then go into the final qualifying round against teams like Arsenal and Villareal? Would take a hell of a lot of friendlies and testimonials to make up the shortfal of cash. What price is Strachan to take Sunderland job?[/quote]
I’m not sure what the odds for next Sunderland manager are. It’s a market I tend to avoid given bookies have a history of randomly and speculatively amending the odds to engineer interest in the market.
I think Panthinaikos supporters would disagree with your take on recent years given they’ve spent most of them staging demonstrations against the club’s owners having seen Olympiacos win 11 of the last 12 titles. But I guess this season’s Champions League progression will undoubtedly be a welcome relief for them.
The format for next season’s final qualifying round is something I need to do some research on. I know Platini is anxious to have more country representation so there’s the possibility that globally renowned teams might face each other alright to leave spots open for teams from countries who haven’t a history of taking part.
[quote=“therock67”]As factually incorrect as ever lad.
No Irish links at all with Panathinaikos. Indeed Olympiakos would be the club of the non-aristocrats out there.
And as a Villa fan you obviously haven’t familiarised yourself with CL qualification rules. The winners of domestic leauges will play other winners of domestic leagues in qualifications. Not runners up etc. from other leagues.[/quote]
The obsession with Villa again Rock. Quite the inferiority complex you have going on there. This is a Champions League thread FFS
From next season the teams that finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Epl will go straight into the Champions league while the 4th placed team will play another runner up. Its not that big of a deal.
[quote=“KIB man”]They have a green jersey with a big shamrock on the front anyway. Bit like Glasgow Celtic.
Interesting you say that, Standard Liege played Liverpool in the qualifying for the CL this year. A fine side, Liverpool were lucky to beat them by a goal in extra time. They were the Belgian champions. Better get out the rulebook again.[/quote]
Note the use of future tense in my post dear, consistent with the fact that we were talking about competitions from next season on.
Oh dear, oh dear. Deary me. Another error. Oh dear.
Didnt Everton play Villareal a few years back tho so I dont know what has been actually changed.
Who will Glasgow Celtic play then providing their ranking drops? Aalborg or someone? I was under the impression that Platini had only proposed a new format for qualifying and nothing had been agreed.
In any case, if it means only one of Glasgow Celtic or Aalborg being in the competition next year it can only benefit the CL. Joke of a group stage this year. Lots of uncompetitive muck clogging it up.
[quote=“therock67”]Note the use of future tense in my post dear, consistent with the fact that we were talking about competitions from next season on.
Oh dear, oh dear. Deary me. Another error. Oh dear.[/quote]
Great spot Rock, make your posts clearer from now on. I think even then your talking shite as I dont think anything has been agreed regarding next year’s format as your comrade Herr Bandage has alluded to.
No, I said I need to research it as I haven’t been paying close attention to all of Platini’s utterings while we were still involved this year. Now that we’re out, I must do some reading.
But from previous discussions, it seemed that Platini felt it was unfair that 3rd and 4th placed teams from strong leagues like England, Spain and Italy were seeded and so generally avoided each other in the final qualifying round. I think Everton were unseeded that year against Villarreal as they had a low co-efficient rating having not really featured / progressed in Europe in the 5 years preceding that campaign.
I was wondering if there was going to be an open draw. I think Rocko has alluded to a system whereby league winners will play each other to get a spot in the group stages, whereas 3rd and 4th place sides from stronger leagues will face up against each other to get in.
That would tie in with Platini’s objectives as it would potentially see a few less representatives from the richer leagues and more from elsewhere. As I say, I’ll look into it - perhaps you might clarify your understanding Rocko?
[quote=“Bandage”]No, I said I need to research it as I haven’t been paying close attention to all of Platini’s utterings while we were still involved this year. Now that we’re out, I must do some reading.
But from previous discussions, it seemed that Platini felt it was unfair that 3rd and 4th placed teams from strong leagues like England, Spain and Italy were seeded and so generally avoided each other in the final qualifying round. I think Everton were unseeded that year against Villarreal as they had a low co-efficient rating having not really featured / progressed in Europe in the 5 years preceding that campaign.
I was wondering if there was going to be an open draw. I think Rocko has alluded to a system whereby league winners will play each other to get a spot in the group stages, whereas 3rd and 4th place sides from stronger leagues will face up against each other to get in.
That would tie in with Platini’s objectives as it would potentially see a few less representatives from the richer leagues and more from elsewhere. As I say, I’ll look into it - perhaps you might clarify your understanding Rocko?[/quote]
from a LOI perspective it means that its easier for the champions of Ireland to qualify - thought its broken into 2 seedings - the teams from the top 8 countries get drawn against each other & the teams from below that get drawn against each other - i could be wrong of course
cluj & farmigusta excellant performances have been the story of the CL so far so platini is right to do things this way