RT were reporting up to Wednesday night that the players weren’t even contemplating any binding arbitratoin because they didn’t want to take any action that could possibly infringe on their demand that Holland be removed from the manager’s position. That’s a million miles from what Bandage posted on Tuesday, in fact it’s the polar opposite.
It seems like Flano didn’t bother reading both articles but possibly the headline on each, jumped to incredibly incorrect conclusions yet threw a few accusations around anyway. Quite sad really.
I saw both articles and I have to say it looked like paragraphs off the Rte article were lifted and posted on here as tkf exclusive.
Exactly Shan, I saw that too.
If you can’t see that both articles are completely different and that TFK’s one took the step of announcing definitively that the player’s were coming back on board (even including quotes from a playing source) then there’s not much more I can do for you. The only similarity is saying the meeting was taking place, which it was, so it’s hard to have two different versions of actual factual events such as meetings taking place. If you think the fact that we might know people who play county hurling is beyond the realms of possibility then you’re sadly mistaken.
I would say you definitly know people who play bog ball alright. I for one am quite happy I don’t and would never want to know any bog ball players.
We’ve gone off topic here lads. Well more so you have.
Messi to score a hattrick.
[quote=“Flano”]I would say you definitly know people who play bog ball alright. I for one am quite happy I don’t and would never want to know any bog ball players.
We’ve gone off topic here lads. Well more so you have.
Messi to score a hattrick.[/quote]
No shit - I can’t believe we’ve gone off topic on a thread where Flano, the self-appointed forum watchdog, has been whining on about something completely unrelated to the Champions League. Personally, I don’t expect to see much of Messi in the attacking third as I imagine he’ll be tracking back to help double or treble up on McGeady most of the time.
You’re a prized idiot Flano
There - I said it
I didn’t start the whining.
Thank you please.
And this McGeady thing, he’s not a patch on Messi.
[quote=“farmerinthecity”]You’re a prized idiot Flano
There - I said it[/quote]
You’re a big fool. You’re gone so far up your own arse you’ve got lost.
Flano, do you have to get the last word in everything? Even when you’re boring the shit out of the rest of us?
I am the first and last word on everything Bandage.
Fool Indeed.
The one thing that people were reporting on Tuesday was that the County Board were trying to restart negotiations. That was common knowledge and fairly expected. The inside info was that the players were prepared to agree to binding arbitration too. Every other media source in the country that I read (including Newstalk and RT) reported that the players were refusing to negotiate further. TFK said this wasn’t true. That was right. Flano was wrong.
Thread back on topic:
Forgot about the possiblity of Sno playing in my earlier suggestions for Celtic’s team. It’s possible we could have a Sno/Hartley midfield but I think that lacks something in an attacking sense. The other options obviously are Robson and Mizuno. In a closed doors game yesterday against Dundee reserves Mizuno had a stormer by all accounts and Hutchison scored two.
Frank Rijkaard is able to welcome back four key players for the trip to Real Zaragoza as Carles Puyol and Deco have recovered from injuries and Bojan Tour Yaya are both available again.
The quartet have all been included in the squad for the game in La Romareda on Saturday evening. Puyol and Deco were both given the green light to play on Friday and were immediately called upon by Rijkaard to bolster his options in defence and midfield respectively.
Tour Yaya is also back again after appearing for the Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations. Bojan is also able to play once more after recovering from gastroenteritis that stopped him being able to play last weekend against Sevilla.
Six injured
Bara trained behind closed doors on Friday morning with Samuel Eto’o working with the physical coaches on the sidelines. The Cameroonian star is unable to play against Zaragoza has he received a blow to his left thigh during the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. Albert Jorquera, Santi Equerro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Oleguer and Sylvinho are also out.
The Bara squad to face Real Zaragoza is: Valds, Pinto, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Mrquez, Henry, Ronaldinho, Milito, Messi, Thuram, Abidal, Gudjohnsen, Edmlson, Bojan, Giovani, Deco y Tour.
Forgot Balde got injured in the ACN which explains why he hasn’t featured for Celtic since. Anyway he’s out of the match on Wednesday according to today’s papers.
So it’s looking more and more likely that young Caddis will be asked to play right back.
Scouting Report
Team: FC Barcelona
Country: Catalonia
League: La Liga - Spain
Manager: Frank Rijkaard
Captain:Carlos Puyol
Disabled List: Jorquera, Equerro, Zambrotta, Oleguer and Sylvinho.
Questionable List: Eto’o.
Active Roster: Valds, Pinto, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Mrquez, Henry, Ronaldinho, Milito, Messi, Thuram, Abidal, Gudjohnsen, Edmlson, Bojan, Giovani, Deco y Tour.
Barcelona play a possession-based 4-3-3 formation with fluidity of movement and sharp, concise passing.
Their stellar playing cast hasn’t fired on all cylinders this season, with Frank Riijkaard experiencing difficulties in knitting individual skill and brilliance into a cohesive team unit.
Last night’s 2-1 victory at Real Zaragoza was the first time Barca had scored more than 1-goal in their last 8 games. The win was secured through a dubious Ronaldinho penalty after Zaragoza had missed an earlier spot kick themselves. They are second in La Liga at present, 5 points behind Real Madrid.
Barca rested Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez last night. This suggests that both players will feature in the starting line-up at Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
Ronaldinho was again sprung from the bench and looked fitter and sharper than he has in recent weeks.
Eto’o non-inclusion last night was merely a precautionary measure and he should also feature in midweek.
Barcelona’s 4-3-3 is their core formation and they don’t alter it, even when playing away from home.
The front 3 have little defensive responsibilities though the side’s technical excellence often results in them monopolising possession and limiting the amount of defending the team is generally required to do.
That said, if their opponents play a narrow midfield and win the battle with the Barca trio then their attacking threat can be neutralised and isolated.
With their front 3 reluctant to track back then there is opportunity to impose your own attacking game on Barca, who of course remain dangerous as always on the counter-attack.
Selection wise, despite injury problems elsewhere, their goalkeeper and back 4 would appear to be settled:
Valdes,
Puyol, Marquez, Milito, Abidal,
Getting Aiden McGeady on the ball and running 1 vs. 1 Puyol will be key to Celtic’s chances. Marquez and Milito are susceptible to whipped in crosses and Abidal’s strength is more in attacking on the overlap than defending.
They have a range of midfield options and will choose 3 from: Xavi, Deco, Toure, Iniesta and Gudjohnsen. The latter two are also often used as part of the attacking trio. I expect Toure to anchor the midfield, with Xavi linking everything with his passing leaving Iniesta to roam forward.
Up front the choice will be from: Messi, Eto’o, Henry, Ronaldinho, Bojan and Giovani. Messi is a definite starter on the right and his dribbling ability and pace is of exceptional quality. Eto’o should start through the middle if he’s fit, with the selection on the left resting between Henry and Ronaldinho.
Henry was reportedly critical of Rijkaard’s decision to use him in wide areas last week but refuted those claims at a press conference this morning stating he is satisfied to play anywhere the coach deems fit. Henry is likely to play from the start, through the middle if Eto’o is injured or on the left if Eto’o is declared fit.
Ronaldinho is probably going to be used as an option from the bench as he builds up his match fitness after his December knee injury.
Celtic can enjoy success against them if they can gain the upper hand in midfield. To do so I advocate a tight, almost diamond-like set-up of:
--------------Hartley---------------
----Nakamura----------McGeady----
--------------Donati----------------
Nakamura and McGeady would also have the responsibility to break out into wide positions and engage the full backs. Scott McDonald can drop off and sit on Xavi when Barca have possession in order to make if difficult for them to launch attacks.
This should allow Celtic to get on the ball sufficiently to impose themselves on Barca’s defence through a combination of McGeady’s pace and trickery, Nakamura’s delivery and passing, Hesslink’s aerial threat and McDonald feeding off him.
Prediction:
Celtic 3-1 Barcelona.
Thanks for that Bandage. Sometimes it’s not easy to follow all these continental teams and separate your FC Barcelonas from your FC Brugges.
Anyway as you’ve hinted above I think the key to Celtic’s attacking strength in this match is the wide areas. If we can get McGeady and Naka isolated in “1v1s” ( © Andy Gray, Sky Sports) then I think we’ll get some joy from that. Puyol is a fine defender (and a far better full back than centre half in my opinion) but there aren’t many who are a match for McGeady these days.
It’s imperative though that we get support to McGeady and Naka when they get the ball. With Barca’s attacking trio not likely to track back much (or at all) then they’ll possibly rely on Xavi and Tour to give protection to the fullbacks - much like the way Milan use Gattuso and Ambrosini to cover the wide areas. And so the crucial factor here is that if Xavi/Tour leaves their post in the centre of the park that we give options inside (primarily through Donati).
Donati likes to play from deep, as does Hartley in his new role. With Hartley being the more disciplined defender it’s reasonable to expect he’ll be asked to do the more defensive role but it’s not Donati’s natural game to get up in support of the wingers. What we don’t want to see is a situation where Aiden comes up against Puyol and Tour for example and looks inside to see Xavi sitting there marking nobody because Naylor is behind Aiden for a (negative) out ball and Donati and Hartley are also waiting on a conservative ball backwards and the two of them have half an eye on Iniesta.
Donati must come forward and present himself as a recipient for passes in dangerous areas to float in around Tour and ask questions of them defensively. Also with the way Celtic’s wingers play on the opposite flanks there are opportunities for McGeady and Naka to drift inside and try and find spaces there and that’s somewhere we might have some joy.
Defensively it will be interesting to see how we cope with their 3 man attack. I assume it will just be McManus and Caldwell marking the central striker with the spare one of that duo being obliged to offer some sort of cover to the full backs when they’re faced with one-on-ones.
The other point from a defensive point of view is how Hartley and Donati line up. Up until last weekend I’d have expected Donati to remain fairly central with Hartley motoring around the place after the ball and chasing it out to the wings when it goes there. However Donati got through loads of that work against Hearts and it may be that one is asked to follow the ball a bit with the other guy instructed to hold the middle of the park. Again it’s important that we have some sort of shape in how we approach this. Xavi and Iniesta in particular are very comfortable picking the ball up around the edge of the box so as well as offering protection to the back 4 in the 4v3 stakes the midfield really have to watch the runs from deep as well.
Don’t mean this analysis to sound negative because I really think we’ve a cracking chance of progressing here - just pointing out a few danger areas. We’ll need big games from everyone over the two legs but I really think we’ll cause them problems up front through Jan and McDonald, and with options on the bench through Samaras and Robson there’s an urgency and ability about this current Celtic team that we haven’t had in a while.
Prediction:
Celtic 2 Barcelona 0 (McGeady 54, McManus 81)
Im going to do a bit of a Mark Lawrenson and predict the scores for the Champions League games.
Liverpool 1 Inter Milan 1
Olympiakos 0 Chelsea 2
Roma 2 Real Madrid 1
Schalke 1 FC Porto 0
Arsenal 2 Ac Milan 0
Celtic 1 Barcelona 1
Fenerbahce 1 Sevilla 2
Lyon 0 Manchester United 1
celtic are a decidedly tempting ten to three to win on wed. bizarrely they are shorter odds to advance over the two legs at three to one. i dont usually back celtic but those first leg odds are excellent.
Interesting posts there lads. Looking through your reports there it is quite unbelievable the strength of Barcelona. Their attacking options in particular are astonishing. I fear for us if their front three (how often do Barca go for a different formation?) get lots of possession in our half. The difference in quality between their attackers and our defenders is just massive. I suppose the temptation is to get plenty of men back and crowd out their attackers but this will inevitably result in them breaking us down sooner or later while also preventing us from threatening ourselves when our front men get the ball. Our central pairing for the game is of crucial importance. What do you think lads of employing a similar policy to Barca in playing Naka and McGeady in an offensive role ahead of Donati and Hartley who will sit and protect our back four. This will provide us with much needed protection for the back four and also allowing Naka and Aiden to do what they do best. I am confident that with an offensive four of Naka, McGeady, McDonald and JVOH we will score. Important to remember also how well Rijkaard had done his homework in the last match at CP. There he just left our centre halves (and particularly Balde) have the ball and closed down our midfield where he knew we were creative. I am pretty sure that Rijkard will be aware of the qualities of McGeady and Nakamura and the relative defencies of our central midfield pairing offensively so I wouldn’t be surprised if he double marks these players when we have the ball.