The sight of Mikael Lustig checking in at Glasgow Airport this morning was welcome, but we should be pragmatic, six days is little time for a hamstring to remedy itself from what was clearly a concerning injury on Wednesday. Mikael should go through some stringent tests tomorrow morning but if there is any doubt of his fitness, he should not be risked.
Football is a 13 or 14 man game. Ronny will want to make two, possibly three, fatigue or tactical changes. Losing a player early to injury would severely hamper his options, allowing Ronny only one change, if he wants to keep a sub for late game, or extra time, contingencies. For what it’s worth, I believe the knocks taken by Lustig and Griffiths in the first leg cost us fresh legs, and ultimately territory, leading up to Malmo’s second.
Celtic’s perpetrations went a lot better than Malmo’s over the weekend. A comfortable win with what for all intents and purposes is our second 11, while Malmo put a full-strength team out, restored those suspended for last week’s Celtic game, and lost to lowly Hacken.
Journalists close to Malmo assure me the Swedes hope to tempt Celtic into an attacking formation, just as they did to Salzburg in the last round. Salzburg arrived full of confidence but were picked apart on the break. Celtic’s own pace on the break is one worry for Malmo, who want Celtic to play high up the field. The other is defending set-pieces. Hacken, who don’t have the height advantage of Celtic, scored from a corner kick on Saturday.
Winning free kicks 30 yards from goal would be useful. This is Kris Commons territory. Kris knows how to put his body between ball and man, and wait for the barge, although James Forrest displayed the same tactical-awareness in the first leg. I’d have Kris holding a training session tonight: “This is what to do with your first touch, this is where you put your bum, then wait….”
Protect the defence, break quickly through Forrest, Johansen and Griffiths, and allow van Dijk, Boyata, Bitton, Griffiths and Lustig/Ambrose to give Malmo something to worry about at set-pieces, and we’ll win this game.
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Ruggyman, formation was more about my hope than expectation, am sure Forrest would drift into wider areas regardless which would allow Armstrong and Joe or brown to bomb forward, we need to be much tighter with deeper runs up the pitch, as said don’t want fullbacks bombing up pitch, counter don’t try to push to hard high up the pitch, let them come onto us, they are not a fast team and don’t seem to play through you a great deal, tomorrow we will see, will hope a good result that see’s us through to group stages, same as it ever was, hh
Southampton sell the donkey Lovren for £20mil,and possibly get VVD for half of that? Gie’s peace.
Just on and reading posts about Tricoloured Ribbon being attacked. Hope he gets well soon. Hope the perpetrators are caught and suitably “dealt with”.
What happened to T C R??
!!Bada Bing!!
Saw your post earlier….for your info ,I did not win Paradise windfall….got the
money for beer from wife’s purse.hh
coorslad-TR will get our good wishes through your good self,i know you will keep us updated.Only one way to deal with cowardly bas(&#@$ like this ….
VP- If you won the lottery,would you invest in a new Chopper? :)
Sorry to hear about TCR, speedy and full recovery to you,
hope you have some handy mates to put the fear of
God into them if not maybe the cops can.
Good Luck KTF
Malmo’s a real test of nerve for RD. He’s just about in the driving seat and knows he has a better team than Malmo but the wrong strategy or a lack of adaptability could easily scupper the lot.
Shocking news re TCR
The wee man is always well met
Speedy recovery wee man
HH
Bada
My son and I just had the same discussion re Lovren ….moderate player ..
Coorslad- pass thoughts and prayers onto tcr- will pray for him at early mass in the morning. Can’t be good if he was found – keep us updated. There’s got to cctv of the scuzz somewhere.
Liverpool should be ahead here,playing well
GEAROID1998
Wow!! Totally taken aback by that post.
You have made an old duffers day, thank you.:)
Speechlesscsc.
Dallas
Correct
Good ole pros like Lasley, Wright, Mcculloch, Goodwin etc hacking with impunity ruins Scottish football
Enjoyed that 1st half between arsenal and liverpool
Arsenal defence is awful….Cech keeping them from getting a doing
Marspapa
Old duffer my toot. People like your good self are the life blood of this hallowed place and make it what it is….a blog open to all and second to none.
HH
Bada bing
Haven’t been able to sit on a bike since I lost my ole chopper :O(
The Clumpany
Keep on Clumping!
PFAyr, it does my head in when Hammil, Lasley etc are described as good honest pros by the media.
Nothing honest in the way they play the game.
Stokesy got a straight red when he flattened Lasley , two seasons ago. Lasley was writhing about then when the red card was shown, he was up and about , appearing not to be injured.
Incidently….
Those still “contributing to Sky. Thierry gets more in his annual pay packet than we get for winning the SPL.
Good analysis on ETims today ie Crystal Palace get more from Sky than we get from ALL of our footballing operations.
Nuff said.
HH
Coorslad
Please pass on my good wishes to D, he is in my family’s prayers tonight.
I have informed a few of his mates in Clydebank about the cowardly attack. We are all in shock, but praying for him and his family. There may be a few from here coming over to Derry to visit him. Thank you.
Evening everyone -best wishes to TCR for a speedy recovery hh
Also friend is in Blackpool tomorrow with work looking for good bar to watch the game any suggestions ?
Thanks in advance and hail hail!!
Terrible news about tcr – he will be in my prayers
gearoid – teams like norwich are now bigger than milan and ajax in terms of income
Watching Arsenal play with essentially 2 full backs in the centre half positions, kind of makes u wonder whether Arsene Wenger is missing a trick , regards big Virgil.
Could do a lot worse.
Wee gem from the world of Ian Duncan Smith.
A Norn Ireland lady who does occasional teaching subbing has been told by the DWP that her benefits are sanc tioned until she can produce a letter from the school that she was not working during July and August.
GEAROID1998
As I was alluding to last night, the
Witty, educational and downright outrageous posts on hear for me make it
a joy to be part of.
The silly and offensive stuff well I don’t let it bother me, but I does sadden me when I think people let it get to that stage.
I suppose itkeeps the blog fresh and makes you want to pop back in hoping issues are resolved and given time they usually are
Anyhoo, hope the bhoys can get us through tomorrow, a clean sheet would have egg on a lot of the media faces.Take care bud.
COYBIG do it for TCR :)
Just in from work and haven’t been able to check back thru the blog.
When is John Terry signing for us, then?
Could Rupe the Loop make a case for all this anti Sky talk being constructed as secondary picketing.
Hi All
Just wodnering, I’ve just moved down to Bradford after many years abroad. I was wondering if there is a Celtic supporters club in the Leeds/Bradford area. Anyone know anything? Looking to watch the Malmo game there tomorrow hopefully.
Should have read construed.
ruggygman- i thought Wanyama was ideal to sit in front of the ever shaky Arsenal defence…
It sickens me to dwell on what TCR, a Bankie like me, suffered last night. Perhaps his posts can provide a timeline for the authorities to focus on who else was where and when.
It’s been a dispiriting week of news all round. Church torched, store vandalised, fan robbed and assaulted.
All best wishes to everyone affected. Over to Celtic now, to lift us again.
Them that attacked Tricoloured Ribbon – absolute wee scumbag, cowardly, worthless pricks – offer nothing to society. Don’t know TCR, but pray for him and his family that he recovers, and hears that the scum have been locked up for a very, very long time. Ratbags.
HH
BGFC
GEAROID1998,
The quality of your posts reinforce the opinion I have of you from the hour or so we met up in Sean Og’s.
Here’s to more like you.
Big one I’m Leeds Muscat- I’m sure they’ve a bus which goes up.
Did Martin Tyler just say,if there was more money in the game,teams could keep the good players that they have?