[QUOTE=āIl Bomber Destro, post: 1001361, member: 2533ā]Iād like to see Bitton start ahead of Mulgrew, didnāt think Mulgrew was great today and nearly gave a goal away dallying on the ball, Bitton is much tidier and moves the ball quicker. Thought Kayal was shit when he came on and was desperate for their goal, heās a very rash player.
Very impressive attacking performance and Iām hoping weāll put this tie to bed on the night. Not sure what to make of Denayer, looks like he has a lot of potential but is very raw at the minute, the other options arenāt the most inspiring either. Ambrose is a bombscare and Mulgrew doesnāt seem to be considered a defender any longer. Lustig is much more comfortable on the right. I would suspect Lustig for Amrbose will be the only change for midweek.
Think we badly need another holding midfielder, left back and striker. The most heartening thing today for me was the Ronny freshened the squad up, hopefully he sticks to that for the rest of the season. How good are Maribor, have they any relatively known players or internationals?[/QUOTE]
I thought Mulgrew was good today. He isnāt as quick on the ball as Bitton (and Bitton himself can be too slow sometimes) but he gives us the option of dropping back when the two full backs are pushed forward or when one of the centre backs comes out with the ball, which happened an awful lot today. I actually think he might be important to how weāre going to play. His absence from the midfield in the second half of the away game against Legia (combined with his absolute ineptitude further back) meant we had no protection at all for our defence. I donāt think heās the greatest midfield enforcer at all but heās a better covering midfielder than Johansen for example.
Still concerned about how we can set up defensively away from home. We didnāt need to defend on the back foot at all today really. We had some good interventions from the centre backs and Ambrose was fairly solid but Izzy was still badly exposed a few times in the first half.
Agim Ibrami seems to be Mariborās main attacking threat. Heās a Macedonian international and left winger. Scored 2 goals against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the last round. He played for Cagliari last season and was a regular for them. Was linked with a few moves this summer but they seem keen on holding on to him.
They have a Brazilian striker called Tavares who seems to be their main goalscorer. He has a decent goalscoring record in Europe.
They have a few lads with a handful of Slovenian caps but none who are regulars.
Zlatko Zahovicās son is on their panel - heās 18 though so presume he doesnāt play regularly yet.
Just checked their squad there, they also have Marko Suler who is a Slovenian international centre back and who I recall was linked with us under under Strachan or Mowbray.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has thrown out Legiaās latest appeal. They wanted to be provisionally reinstated or have Celticās game on Wednesday postponed.
Theyāre now continuing with the second element of their appeal which is to get financial compensation. They seem to have forgotten about the sporting fair play element of it all.
[QUOTE=āBartosz Bereszynskiego, post: 1002840, member: 9ā]CAS have announced that Legia have no further means of appeal. Itās over for them.
What will Celtic get beaten by in Slovenia tomorrow night? I reckon 2-1.[/QUOTE]
Like you, Iām quietly confident that weāll keep the tie alive going into the second leg.
STV report that Celtic would need to drop one of their āforeignā players from their UEFA squad list in order to add Wakaso. We have the maximum 17 foreign players already listed in our 25-man squad but that can be tweaked before the 11pm player registration deadline tonight. Amido Balde or someone else on the extreme fringes could be discarded.
Adam Matthews is definitely out, according to John Collins this morning. Presume Forrest is injured too but havenāt seen definite confirmation yet.
[QUOTE=āBartosz Bereszynskiego, post: 1002930, member: 9ā]STV report that Celtic would need to drop one of their āforeignā players from their UEFA squad list in order to add Wakaso. We have the maximum 17 foreign players already listed in our 25-man squad but that can be tweaked before the 11pm player registration deadline tonight. Amido Balde or someone else on the extreme fringes could be discarded.
Forrest and Matthews are confirmed absentees for tomorrow.
Efe Ambrose is only joining the squad tomorrow too after we initially thought he was suspended. Pretty amateur by Celtic actually; they thought that he still needed to fulfil a 1-match ban after being sent off in the first leg against Legia as Celtic were awarded the return game (which he sat out) as a 3-0 forfeit. However, UEFA rules state that a suspension is served if the game is played and a forfeit is only awarded retrospectively.
[QUOTE=āmickee321, post: 1003097, member: 367ā]this round and next weekās return are as exciting as this shit gets until the last 16 next feburary
i wouldnt back arsenal to go thru next week[/QUOTE]
No, though they nearly nicked it at the end, Oxlade Chamberlain had a shot deflected onto the post.
Agim Ibrahimi
Celticās sitting midfielders - whether itās Stefan Johansen, Charlie Mulgrew, Nir Biton or Beram Kayal - will have to keep a close eye on the player Maribor manager Zlatko Zahovic claims was pursued by the Scottish champions this summer. The 25-year-old Macedonian scored against Rangers when the sides met in Europa League qualification three years ago, and was voted the Slovenia top flightās player of the year in 2012/13. Displaying terrific technique and close control, the No 10 is a threat as both a playmaker and a goalscorer. Marcos Tavares
With Efe Ambrose suspended, Ronny Deila may be pushed into starting on-loan Manchester City youngster Jason Denayer. Should Denayar play, heāll have to quickly live up to his great potential by keeping Marcos Tavares quiet. The Brazilian has been at the club since 2008 and is Mariborās all-time leading goalscorer. An exceptionally skillful player, he asserts himself on proceedings by demanding the football from team-mates and going at the opposition. Stopping him from scoring over the two legs will be no easy task. Jean-Phillipe Mendy
Likely to be Tavaresā partner in attack, the French striker is finally getting his career on track after a bad spell with injuries. Maribor took a chance on the player at the beginning of last season and the gamble is paying dividends, with Mendy scoring into double figures in the league. At 6ft 3in, the forward likes to use his imposing physique to bully opposing defenders. Damjan Bohar
Looking to supply Mendy with crosses to attack in the penalty area is 22-year-old Damjan Bohar. The Slovenian starred for Maribor last season after moving from Mura 05 when the latter club went out of business. Similar in style to his opposite number Callum McGregor, Bohar likes to drift inside a lot and will be expected to trouble the opposition full-backs. Emilio Izaguirre may wish to curb some of those enthusiastic forays into the opposition half. Zeljiko Filipovic
It isnāt clear whether the towering Slovenian international will start in midfield or defence, but Celtic will surely be impressed that their opponents have a player who combines size and technical ability in the mold of Virgil van Dijk. At 6ft 4in, he may look like little more than an old-school enforcer, but once the game starts he is more than capable of dictating the tempo of the match. Pressing and denying him the time to do so will be of paramount importance to Celtic.
lads, theyāre awful, see my previous post a few pages back, dont mind the shit posted aboveā¦
ibrahimi is ok, he can score goals
celtic will win tonite
@Rocko[/USER], [USER=2533]@Il Bomber Destro[/USER], [USER=80]@Young Ned of the Hill - 3 in midfield for Celtic tonight? Or 4 attacking players in a 4-2-3-1?