The draw will take place tomorrow morning.
Celtic’s possible opponents are:
Austria Wien, Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria), Legia Warsaw, Maribor (Slovenia) and Shakhtyor Karaganda (Kazakhstan).
A trip to Kazakhstan for Celtic. Second leg at Celtic Park. Could have been worse.
Some decent ties. Sociedad v Lyon, PSV v AC and Arsenal v Fenerbahce
I’d say Suarez will be angling for a move to somewhere other than north London after that last tie is played out.
Bandage I will be changing the title of this thread to Champions League Preliminary Round. As we’ve mentioned on here before, this is the first stage of the Champions League proper. We will have the CL anthem, the advertising, the broadcast rights etc. This isn’t a qualifying round.
I’d love it if a Kuyt goal were to put Arsenal out, absolutely love it.
Bandage I fully intend on going to that second leg. Any interest?
Interested.
5-hour time difference to Karagandy so I anticipate an afternoon kick-off for the away leg (Celtic Park time).
This may require an early departure from work.
Celtic arrived in Astana late last night after a long flight from Aberdeen. Neil Lennon took the decision to travel to an away game a day earlier than usual given the distance involved having taken counsel from the FAI - Ireland played a qualifier there a year ago and the feeling was the players were still feeling the effects of the flight and they should have arrived a day sooner. Gary Parker travelled ahead of the official party and watched Shakhter Karagandy in person yesterday. They’re meant to be a big, physical, long ball team. Celtic have no new injury worries, aside from Adam Matthews who went off yesterday with a tight hamstring.
I would go for the following team:
[CENTER]Forster
Lustig Mouyokolo Mulgrew Izzy
Forrest Brown Ledley Samaras
Commons
Balde[/CENTER]
[quote=“Rudi, post: 819396, member: 1052”]I would go for the following team:
[CENTER]Forster
Lustig Mouyokolo Mulgrew Izzy
Forrest Brown Ledley Samaras
Commons
Balde[/CENTER]
[/quote]
I’d start Stokes ahead of Baldé, though not sure how both of them are faring after knocks in recent weeks. I think Mulgrew will feature in midfield though, particularly as he improved the midfield when we went there on Saturday. So I’d expect Mulgrew wide left with Samaras up front, Ambrose at centre back and neither Baldé nor Stokes starting. Much prefer Charlie at centre back but in Europe, and particularly away from home, we tend to do play him further forward.
I’ll be furious if this is the case. Samaras has his influence diminished when played up front and the other two lads are much more of a goal threat up front. Mulgrew is better in defence
I know it was a friendly against Liverpool but Balde really showed how to lead the line, he was a tower of strength and showed some nice link-up play. I’d expect we will be under the cosh and this crowd will try and pin us in our box and unsettle us physically - which is another reason for Ambrose not to play - he’s a powderpuff defender and can’t handle the physical side of things.
I am expecting Lennon to pick the team you suggested and I think that will be a big mistake. It’s playing right into their hands and he’s showing a weaker team far too much respect. Lennon has a very negative streak in him when it comes to playing inferior opposition. The amount of times he has changed a winning formula on account of the opposition who were inferior to us is very unsettling. We should be trying to impose our game on this crowd, instead he will invite them to batter us for 90 minutes and I’m not very confident of us coming out of that with Forster in such uninspiring form and Efe Ambrose about.
[quote=“Rudi, post: 819427, member: 1052”]I’ll be furious if this is the case. Samaras has his influence diminished when played up front and the other two lads are much more of a goal threat up front. Mulgrew is better in defence
I know it was a friendly against Liverpool but Balde really showed how to lead the line, he was a tower of strength and showed some nice link-up play. I’d expect we will be under the cosh and this crowd will try and pin us in our box and unsettle us physically - which is another reason for Ambrose not to play - he’s a powderpuff defender and can’t handle the physical side of things.
I am expecting Lennon to pick the team you suggested and I think that will be a big mistake. It’s playing right into their hands and he’s showing a weaker team far too much respect. Lennon has a very negative streak in him when it comes to playing inferior opposition. The amount of times he has changed a winning formula on account of the opposition who were inferior to us is very unsettling. We should be trying to impose our game on this crowd, instead he will invite them to batter us for 90 minutes and I’m not very confident of us coming out of that with Forster in such uninspiring form and Efe Ambrose about.[/quote]
I agree on Ambrose and the fact that we should be imposing ourselves on them instead of going for a negative formation which will invite them on and doesn’t allow us to play to our strengths. Putting Mulgrew in midfield is a double blow when it happens because it invariably means Ambrose has to play at the back and Samaras is shifted up front or Ledley to the bench, neither of which situation is ideal - and the occasional dropping of Ledley is inexplicable as far as I’m concerned, though it does seem to be a thing of the past now.
Having said that, we’ll be playing on an artificial surface and, justifiably or not, that seemed to affect our passing in the last round in Sweden. So I can see the argument for going for a physical side and being well organised defensively and setting up for counter attacks and set pieces as attacking threats. But I don’t think Ambrose is a physical defender, though he is perceived as one. And I think we’re better off having Samaras in midfield, competing against a full back where he can win a physical battle, rather than putting him up front where centre backs are far more used to dealing with his style of play.
It was notable that Lennon said yesterday they played Mouyokolo and Mulgrew at the back from the start as he was wary of the physical threat posed by Zola. In other words, he didn’t think Ambrose was the right option for a physical battle. Now, he switched Mulgrew and Ambrose after half an hour or so and it worked. This crowd on Tuesday are meant to play a long ball, primitive style.
Didn’t see that from Lennon. That’s encouraging anyway if he has recognised that. I presume the game has come too early for Van Dijk to be starting back there.
Celtic are training in Astana at the moment. Stokes, Balde, Boerrigter and Rogic are all training and should be available for tomorrow. Our opponents killed a sheep in the tunnel of the stadium earlier - this is a local custom apparently.
I understand Celtic will be sporting jerseys sponsored by “Tipperary Natural Mineral Water” this evening as alcohol sponsorship is not allowed. Wonderful stuff all round. I believe there are c.30 Celtic supporters expected in the stadium due to the travel/visa issues. That would be some trip to be on.
[quote=“Rocko, post: 820125, member: 1”]That’s a terrific sponsor.
What’s your proposed team @Bandage ?[/quote]
Forster,
Lustig, Mouyokolo, Mulgrew, Izaguirre,
Brown, Ledley,
Forrest, Commons, Samaras,
Balde.