It is a measure of how far we have come during this Champions League campaign that a 2-1 defeat away to Benfica, leaving us favourites to qualify in second place for the Champions League knockout stage and assured of European football after Christmas, is a disappointment.
Unlike previous defeats in this competition, this one has not limited our ambitions.
Around this time of previous Champions League campaigns I’ve opined that Uefa Cup/Europa League qualification would be preferable to finishing second in the group stage, leading to inevitable elimination to a group winner. Teams who drop out of the Champions League have the prospect of a decent run in the Europa League, earning more coefficient points and potentially more cash, whereas Celtic never convinced me they could reach the last eight of the Champions League.
This time is different. We got it wrong last night and as a result lost the head-to-head against Benfica but this was not the case against Barcelona. Most of the current group leaders are better than Celtic, all would create more chances and have more possession against us, but here’s the rub, Celtic can score goals against anyone and can defend remarkably well.
Georgios Samaras has now scored in three consecutive group stage away games; he scored in all of Celtic’s five away games in Europe this season, surely a record. This is beyond a mere statistical oddity, it’s a result of a strategy which Benfica, Barcelona and Spartak have been unable to cope with (last night’s block-and-free-header routine was a thing of technical brilliance).
We’ve scored five goals in total in our three away group stage games. In the eight away games in the competition proper before this season, since losing in Copenhagen, we scored only once (remember against whom?)! In short, we can go anywhere and play effective counter-attacking football which even the best team in history had trouble dealing with.
That doesn’t mean we are champions-elect, of course. Benfica, who are a worthy team but are not tier-one material, got the better of us. They played to form last night and Celtic dipped. Scott Brown was clearly unfit, Charlie Mulgrew may-or-may-not have declared himself ill before kick-off but his condition did not help (stunning corner aside).
Neil also left out Kris Commons. Kris’s form has shaded since The Beating of Barca, so I was not surprised to see him on the bench, but did you notice we started to get balls into the Benfica box after he came on? More of this and I fancy Benfica would have yielded. In his post-match comments Neil Lennon reminded us his players are young and will learn from the experience.
It’s easy to overlook the fact that the manager is also young and learning as he goes along. His tactical decisions have been the real revelation of this group, even if he did leave Kris out and his gamble with Scott Brown didn’t work. His progress as a manager has been, as our old friend might say, astonishing.
Fraser Forster provided more evidence of his outstanding ability. Mikael Lustig and Kelvin Wilson looked perfectly at ease with under frenetic pressure but Efe Ambrose particularly impressed. I’ve watched Celtic defences for decades and we always seem to have a ‘junior partner’ but not now.
The defence made two mistakes last night but in all their games together they have yet to conjure up a Big Dan Moment.
My objectives for this Champions League campaign have already been surpassed but expectation levels are never level, so let’s take care of Spartak and see where the adventure goes next.
Orders are now open for the very first CQN Annual, get it here!
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Cup-a-soup should always be Sladed.
NoddyHolderCSC
Bó-aire
The decision is just astonishing. To classify the payments as loans when none have been paid back?
And to say they are discretionary. Didn’t Billy Dodds say that he got his EBT payment to pay his contract up when he left the club? I would have thought that was a contractual payment!
Funny stuff tonight:-)
Hail Hail
Bó-aire
22:56 on 21 November, 2012
It’s striking just how sharp the divide is between the majority and dissenting opinions.
It’s difficult to reconcile the two different views of the evidence.
And it’s hard to escape the conclusion that they can’t both be playing with a straight bat.
There’s just something not right about it all.
Emdae got a link to the Packie soup kitchen??
.
I see Soup is trending in CQN..
Please Explain..
Summa
ttr
I disagree, we struggled a bit, we were up against teams that were half way tho their season.
Helsingborg, had they taken half of their chances could have put us out.
I don’t think we were ready, back a couple of weeks early, just to make sure.
Were RFC an institution?
Were they a Scottish institution?
Were they a significant Scottish institution?
Were they a famous, significant Scottish institution?
I think Packie should be cut some slack.
Had he said any of the above it would have been true.
I didn’t see or hear his remark but given he was presumeably speaking live with limited time to formulate his words the use of ‘great’ might be excused. The word does not of necessity mean good.
PB does not, as far as I know, have much broadcasting experience.
ernie lynch
23:12 on 21 November, 2012
There’s just something not right about it all.
Agreed.
Anyway enough soup…
here’s to victories in all of our next 3 SPL games…
something we’d all be happy to sup
(ps – mushroom soup is rank!!!)
Paul67 et al
Reading back I am bit surprised to see Celtic great Pat Bonner being accused of being a “soup taker”!
And here was me thinking he was a Broth of a Bhoy!
THE EXILED TIM
True. Was thinking of the overall ties than individually.
I’m gonna keep banging this drum:
When
Stefan KlosMr Evesham got injured and Rangers made a claim against his insurance, why did they base it on a wage of £1.27m per annum as opposed to the £667k in his contract?Is there any chance of them being out of the BTC Frying Pan and into the Insurance Fraud Fire?
Or was Mr Evesham’s one of those where PAYE is to be applied?
I genuinely do not know, so any ideas?
A quick visit before bed.
Disappointed about last night but delighted with our progress this season.
Very confident for the game in a fortnight, even without Victor, as I think we will get the vctory now after yesterdays results. I can’t see Benfica winning in the Nou Camp but they could sneak a draw so we have to get the win. I don’t think Spartak will be as much a threat now they can’t get off the bottom.
A song for the GB and the Celtic Support.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw-5Syqmg4g&feature=fvwrel
HH & NN
dirtymac
Possibly-probably.
By rights the insurance co should look into it, depends on who is who, and who knows what, and who is taking instruction from whom.
Just like the drum I have been banging, the masonic cabal, again depends on who is who etc.
ernie lynch
23:12 on 21 November, 2012
Do you thing it’s just another ‘honest mistake’?
Celtic Mac
Best the night!! Gold ladle for you. Sllurrpp. o)
sold for a £1 then liquidated – game over.
The foreign players all had letters that said they wouldnt have to
pay anything. As if they knew it wasn`t a loan.
Man chaps house door says to woman am starvin woman says. Wd you like a plate of yesterdays soup? Man says oh yes please. Woman says come back 2morro am making it today!
Boom Boom!!
Emdae tell me where the latest Paul mac C can be found?
Ernie Lynch,
You said earlier that even if the employees were asked to pay back the loans that the money would stay in the trust and not get back to creditors of RFC. Does this mean there was no contract between RFC and the trust regarding repayments? If so does that in itself not prove that the payments could not have been loans?
nite bhoys.
Still in europe, nay Elgin or Annan.
Take care and god bless Timland.
HH
Jude
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/
Had my cocoa, night all.
Hail Hail
Quite comical really to read the ‘traitor’ & ‘soup-taker’ labels being attached to Big Packie.
Packie is dealing with the Scottish media & our deceased neighbours with classic Donegal disdain. He, better than most, knows how to wind their tails. Your typical bigot does not want Packie’s sympathy or his respect. That does not fit their stereotype of thick, ignorant Paddy.
They want him to show the hostility & anger of somebody who was personally cheated by them for twenty years.
Packie knows what they are & he knows what they HATE.
‘ Rangers ? Jaysus man, Rangers are what Scottish football is all about. They are a great club with a great tradition. Of course, I don’t want their titles taken from them.
Sure they won them fair & square. The sooner they are back in the SPL, the better.’
He gives them ( & apparently some of us) good, old fashioned BLARNEY.
Great Celt. Great Donegal man.
Forget all this soup nonsense – let’s take stock…..schh…schh (courtesy of Vic &Bob)
Ernie – as you previously stated, it should not have been held in private (and not in Edinburgh ;-)) How can Poon have been dancing to such a different tune as the other two?
We’re gonna need a bigger can!
HH
kk,
an argument I’ve not considered, but he did not have to take the gig
Argentina v Brazil live on espn at 12 o’clock.
Paul – MTH @MTHForum
Forum Post – here they come oot the woodwork http://dlvr.it/2Wbg2l – Click to Respond
You need to read this bhoys f****** scumbags who do they think they are.
ernie lynch
23:12 on 21 November, 2012
Yup. It makes no sense at all. When is a loan not a loan. We have a right to know.
The media will be scouring the planet to find celtic men that
will talk about rangers.
They are on their way to kenya as we speak to interview
Victors dad to see what he says.
THE EXILED TIM
My lassie tells me we could meet Malaga if we qualify. Heads up…….
hen1rik – that took someone a wee bit of time to put together…………..say 3 weeks!
Who, besides all the pertinent parties and Cluedo characters had sight of that document before yesterday?
Makes you wonder………as Led Zep was want to say!
Art of War
23:54 on
21 November, 2012
Forget all this soup nonsense – let’s take stock…..schh…schh (courtesy of Vic &Bob)
Ernie – as you previously stated, it should not have been held in private (and not in Edinburgh ;-)) How can Poon have been dancing to such a different tune as the other two?
We’re gonna need a bigger can!
==============
Yesterday’s decision was up there with the Not Proven verdict at Swinecastle. The accountant could see right through the charade but the lawyers saw what they wanted to see.
Dr. Poons strikes me as an individual not merely moved to justify her dissent, but as one deeply unsettled by the attitudes of her colleagues; in effect, she has compiled a list of “causes for concern” and removed much of the veil of secrecy under which the FTT worked. One might say that she merits the description of “whistle blower”.
I can only speculate on the response of insurance companies to the Poons-provided info as to what Evesham’s actual wages were; after all,it’s news to them, they were not permitted to attend the hearings…Bully for Poons, I say.
On the matter of Evesham and his worry over potential future liabilities, Poons is also terribly obliging; she adds to the sum of knowledge by providing a copy of a letter Evesham sought and received from the club, one indemnifying him from any tax liability; on the condition that he said nothing about trust payments to anyone, especially the taxman. A second indemnity letter was provided to him,one that basically undertook to repay any loans on his behalf, should he ever be asked to repay them. Add to that her extracts from a similar indemnification of Mr Coventry.These are prime examples of highly relevant documention; why, she asks, would such indemnification be an issue if the moneys received were merely loans? Such very basic questions seem not to have been asked by Mure and Rae.
And evidently, the good doctor is well pissed-off with their shenannigans.
Bó-aire
Excellent post on the travesty that was the FTTT