Form vagaries of Malmo for Celtic

793

Celtic will play Malmo in the Champions League play-off round, the third time since 2012 they will face champions from Sweden. The main concern for Ronny Deila is the manner in which Malmo disposed of Salzburg 3-0 on Wednesday night, but there is context to put that into. In the previous round the Swedes only managed a 0-0 at home to Lithuanians Zalgiris Vilnius, before winning 0-1 away.

Those three goals against Salzburg, which arrived inside 45 minutes, will be the subject of a lot of research over the next few days.

In 2013 Celtic struggled to blow away the cobwebs against Elfsborg, recording a 1-0 home win and a 0-0 draw away. A year earlier they beat Helsingborgs 2-0 home and away.

The most encouraging aspect for Ronny will be Malmo’s domestic form. They are current 6th in the Allsvenskan after 18 games and will struggle to qualify for Europe next season. A home game against league leaders Gothenburg on Sunday will be Celtic’s most important reconnaissance exercise.

Oh, and put out the flags, Malmo play on grass!!

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

793 Comments
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. ...
  11. 21

  1. Bobby Murdoch’s

     

     

    Yup, I’m an idiot. Just refreshed the Norwegian Air site and its now down to £135 to change my flight. I’m trying to convince myself I’ll now be saving money.

  2. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    PRAECEPTA 1348

     

     

    Class,still makes me laugh after all these years.

     

     

    Never mind fork handles,F U N E X?

     

     

    S V F X

     

     

    Mibbe jooooost me as usual….

  3. I heard he was dead on

    CelticMalmoe

     

     

    Thanks.

     

     

    The dude is probably winding me up. He is like that and a Thistle fan to boot.

  4. beatbhoy

     

    not talking about that,everyone gets nerves when we are playing and we can hold our head in our hands. I am poting about the negative so called fans who never stop berating our club.

     

    coaches,players and members of the board.

  5. Ray Winstone's Big Disembodied Heid on

    Aye. Malmo and Maribor were the teams that put the final nails in the oldklub’s coffin.

     

     

    Well done chaps!

  6. thomthethim for Oscar OK on

    In the clip put up by the Malmo lad, the three goals were not indicative of any cohesive play.

     

     

    The first, a penalty. Which Willie Collum wouldn’t have given. : > )

     

     

    The second, a speculative lob at goal.

     

     

    The third, a goal conceded by a team chasing the game, i.e., a breakaway.

     

    This kind of goal is quite common in cup ties.

  7. Bartolus – I like the information and there was me thinking they were this years hot contenders for Champions League Glory…… having read CQN this afternoon that is…..

     

     

    They are going to be hardworking, capable, tactically aware – what pro or semi pro team these days isn’t? I am confident we have better players. Match them for fitness (easily), hard work (I have no concerns on that score) and tactically – the one variable although we seem to have learned from last year – and our better players will see us through.

     

     

    People worrying that they beat Salzburg and Salzburg beat us are in school playground fitba debate territory.

  8. CelticMalmoe on 7th August 2015 2:05 pm

     

    I HEARD HE WAS DEAD .

     

    Ps

     

    The huns tell lies it is just their way:)))))))))))))))))))))))

     

    Till later all

     

    Ohhhhhhhh

     

    BT seen you mention the clash this morning,

     

    my mate plays in a clash tribute band called “Combat rock”

     

    they are playing in McChuills on Saturday night ,they have been getting good reports (allegedly) :)))))))))))

  9. thomthethim for Oscar OK on

    Apologies.

     

     

    Home tie on Wed.19th.

     

     

    Hope nobody book flights based on my duff info!

  10. BMCUW

     

     

    Hello M , hows it going ?

     

     

    I arrive back in Spain on the 24th so it will be Paddys Point for me , are the family at the Hacienda by any chance ?

     

     

    HH

  11. I HEARD HE WAS DEAD .

     

    Sorry I thought yer mate was a sevco fan at the wind up and not a jag at the wind up:)))

  12. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    AS I THOUGHT.

     

     

    You’re trying to be there,I’m not. I bow to that dedication,quite honestly.

     

     

    My previous wasn’t meant as other than a wee jibe.

     

     

    I hope you make it,bud. But take a kerryooooot!!!!

  13. Very poor coverage of draw on sky sports news.Because they don’t have champions league anymore.Typical sky.

  14. Leftclicktic

     

     

    I arrived back from holiday too late for kick-off, but had recorded it and watched it ‘live’.

     

     

    Masochist.

     

     

    You’ll never shake alone!

  15. The Battered Bunnet on

    “No excuses v a team with a fraction of our support or finances”

     

     

    I suppose 6/10ths of our revenue is a fraction right enough.

     

     

    Fail to make any sense of the supporter comparison though. On that basis, we should be bigger than PSG, Atletico and every team in Italy.

     

     

    Blinkered bunkum really.

  16. I heard he was dead on

    leftclicktic

     

     

    I’m no convinced he’s an actual Thistle fan. I think he isn’t sure what he is.

     

     

    He lives outside Firhill so I guess that qualifies. LOL

  17. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    OHITS

     

     

    Doubtful,mate. I’ll send you my Dad’s number and some day one day you can reminisce about grand days watching wur team. And being called an interlouper!

     

     

    He has more experience of them. The latter still p….s him off. He’s been there for the best part of fifty-odd years!

  18. I’ve been carrying 600 Swedish Krona in my wallet for about 6 months, as I have been too lazy to get it changed back into Pounds. If anyone wants them I am offering very uncompetitive exchange rates…

  19. Timhorton

     

     

    I was only referring to the comments about today’s draw.

     

     

    When Skenderbeu came out of the bowl,, I was disappointed we’d missed the weakest team (apparently).

     

     

    Doesn’t mean I don’t think we can beat the Swedes, just that it’ll probably be harder.

     

     

    Hail! Hail!

  20. BMCUW

     

     

    Yes do that , we may also be able to arrange the sclaff baw with ACGR and TET one day . A good old Timmy fourball in the Costa , whats not to like .

     

     

    HH

  21. Captain Beefheart on

    Jerry,

     

     

    In fairness to me, I think we will get through. Not so doom laden after all?

     

     

    How on earth could you miss Neganon from that doom merchant list? The rest of us are merely stormtroopers of doom in comparison to Darth Neg.

  22. …. most of my warblings were on the old thread, just realised that I was warbling to myself.

     

     

    Eedjit that I am.

     

     

    My minor “preoccupations” are Izzy’s yellow card situation – what happens to the LB position IF he’s suspended in the 2nd leg.

     

     

    That, and, the apparent lack of a recognised goalscorer / goal scoring system. What have we currently got?Wee Leigh – not exactly proflic in Europe and Ciftci who won’t be getting any match practice these next few SPL games? Granted we have a tremendous defensive record, but ye need to stick em in the ingan bag to win.

     

     

    Thoughts?

  23. CelticMalmoe

     

     

    Have you been to many of Malmo’s euro games? How is it for getting tickets outside the ground etc?

  24. If our strikers get decent service in European matches, we’ll be fine.

     

     

    To say Griffiths and Ciftci are not up to it is unfair.

     

     

    If they were missing a load of chances you would be right……but you’re wrong.

     

     

    IMO.

  25. kevinlasvegas on

    WHO CARES about who the radio interviewed. They are our enemy and we know it yet some posters still get surprised when they kick us. Leave them to it, The club are the only ones who can stand up to the media not a bunch of faceless posters on here.

     

     

    Wed night for Malmo. (easy tie for our young team) again like carrier bag they will be favorites in scotland.

     

     

    You have until 12th to book your ST seat, Get booking Bhoys.

     

     

    We focus on us and the game not the propaganda and non stories that get attached to the tie.

     

     

    Hail Hail and enjoy a nice Friday Bhoys.

     

     

     

    KLV

  26. Pogmathonyahun aka Laird of the Smiles on

    Oldest Bhoy lives in Demark and goes out with a lovely Romanian girl who lives in Copenhagen and apparently has a few contacts. Youngest Bhoy over here with me and finishes his summer job on 21st August. Looks like 3 PMTYH’s will be in Malmö with a rather attractive Romanian girl on 25th August – shurely no!

  27. Jo Inge Berget is a decent player. But so are most of the Aberdeen and Dundee Utd teams.

     

     

    He is not much better than that and certainly not someone we should fear.

     

     

    Qarabag dominated the play against us – they had a lot of players with good technique. I don’t think Malmo will have that.

     

     

    After 18 games of the season you begin to find your level, they are midtable. Where do you think we would be after 18 games in the Swedish league?

     

     

    For any of the Malmo fans looking at our team on Wikipedia, they will see Internationals in most areas of the team, a sigining from Man City’s first team squad and a player coveted by a portion of the EPL at figures north of 7m.

     

     

    They will look at our 2 Scandinavians, both of whom are integral to their national sides.

     

     

    They will look at their top scorer and think ‘he couldn’t get near that team when he was there’.

     

     

    They will look at our results against Swedish sides recently.

     

     

    Lets be respectful but not fearful

  28. The Battered Bunnet on 7th August 2015 2:23 pm

     

     

    600 SEK isn’t enough to buy a decent hangover…

     

    ————————————————————————————-

     

     

    It’ll get you a bottle of Bøckfåst…

  29. bartolus on 7th August 2015 1:39 pm

     

     

    I think you are absolutely correct. Not conceding in your home game if playing first is vital.

     

     

    There have been 36 games played in CL qualifiers this season and remarkably the team who play their home leg first have went through on 50% of occasions. However, when the team playing at home first have kept a clean sheet 9 out of the 14 (64%) have qualified.

     

     

    Last season was a different story in the qualifiers with only 16 of the 44 teams who played at home first qualifying for the next stage (36%). However 12 of the 19 teams who played at home first and kept a clean sheet qualified for the next stage. (63%).

     

     

    NB. Last year seeded teams always played away first so this is why a lot more of the teams who played away first qualified.

     

     

    In the Europa League qualifiers only 39% of the teams who play at home first have qualified for the next round. However, 37 teams played their home leg first and kept a clean sheet and 28 of them (76%) qualified for the next round.

     

     

    Overall statistically if you are playing your home leg second you have a better chance of going through but if you do have to play at home first, you really need to keep a clean sheet.

     

     

    Mort

  30. The Battered Bunnet on

    We should win the tie against Malmo. It’s by no means a given, and they have enjoyed great results in this competition in the last 12 months that ought to (and does) temper the mood, but I am optimistic that we’ll qualify.

     

     

    Nothing to do with anything other than the relative merits of each team on current form.

     

     

    Over their past 10 league matches, Malmo have won 3, drawn 4 and lost 3. Scored 9, conceded 8.

     

     

    Since July, it’s won 1, drawn 3, lost 1, the draws coming against the bottom sides in the division. This is not a team with current form.

     

     

    Wednesday night’s 3-0 result against Salzburg is a reminder that nothing can be take for granted in football, least of all in Champions League qualifying, but if Celtic turn up in both matches, Celtic will win.

     

     

    Over to Ronny and the players to do their jobs.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. ...
  11. 21