In eight days Brendan Rodgers takes Celtic into the Camp Nou to face Barcelona. While Barca are not current European champions, there is little doubt they are the best team in the world at the moment, and no doubt whatsoever that they are the greatest team of the era. A gargantuan task lies ahead. This week we’ll have a look at that challenge and how we might best prepare.
While Brendan has carried all before him in domestic football, and at home in Europe, his Celtic lost in Gibraltar and Israel, while taking a creditable draw in Kazakhstan. Playing in the Camp Nou is another world entirely, however.
Neil Lennon did very well top inhibit Barcelona on three of the four occasions he managed Celtic against them (the fourth was a dead rubber for Celtic, who conceded six, but was a must-win for Barcelona).
On the three meaningful Celtic games, we won once, lost once with 10 men, and conceded a last minute winner in the Camp Nou. A remarkable return against one of the best teams in the history of the game.
Neil’s team defended his 18-yard-box with remarkable endeavour, even with Efe Ambrose and Kelvin Wilson in central defence – and Adam Matthews at left back. Not exactly a legendary defensive line-up, but what Neil proved more than anything, football is about the system, not the individuals.
In some respects, defending against Barcelona will be more straightforward than against St Johnstone. There will be no reluctance to clear the ball long, instead of trying to thread a pass in the middle of our own half. There should be no complacency, and at all times defenders should be aware that their defensive partners are not far away.
In defending the 18-yard-box, Neil’s Celtic conceded space near the corner flag, an area we would normally contest, as this is where dangerous cross balls can emanate from. What that Celtic team had was no only a comfortable height advantage over Barcelona, but this advantage combined with a natural ability in the air, which say Celtic score regularly and defend successfully.
I expect Mikael Lustig, Erik Sviatchenko and Kolo Toure all to play along the back line (will be amazed and concerned if Mikael plays a conventional right back role), with Nir Bitton dropping deep from midfield. So we will not be short of height, but gelling them into a cohesive unit will be one of Brendan’s major tasks when players return from international duty.
622 Comments- Pages:
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BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2016 2:23 PM
You listen to the monkey.
I’ll listen to the organ grinder.
MWD- a bhoy i work with was hearing it at the weekend, as Canalamar said, the polis will turn a blind eye to it.
A quick wee question to all those who have (in advance) criticised the Celtic Board for not calling THE rangers newco and for perpetuating the same club/old firm myth: if the matchday programme mentions only 2 previous meetings and welcomes the new club to their first ever visit to Celtic Park, will you be logging on here and admitting you were wrong?
Jist askin’ like!
KTF
Weeminger
Nice try, but i dont think so.
The PLC have refused to point out that Sevco are a new club…..against all evidence to the contrary.
Then, backing up the Hun agenda….They charge Celtic fans 40-50 quid to watch a lie.
Thats about the jist of it.
HH
Ernie Lynch on 5th September 2016 2:53 pm
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2016 2:23 PM
You listen to the monkey.
I’ll listen to the organ grinder.
__________________________________
This is an interesting viewpoint; from a standpoint of being uber-critical of the SMSM, you are willing to quote that same source to back up your argument AGAINST the evidence presented by your own club on their website.
KTF
Weeminger
sorry….Rather than call out Sevco as a new club, they have backed the ‘Big Hun Lie’ against all evidence to the contrary.
That is dishonest to say the least.
HH
VFR
Yes.
It’s not going to happen though
VFR..,
I will admit I’m wrong if they do as you suggest.
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2016 2:57 PM
They have set a ticket price based on expected demand.
Why is demand so high?
ERNIE
Cliches?
Meaningless, in this instance Dermot Desmonds faux pas doesn’t dictate policy.
Celtic dropped ‘old firm’ – you won’t find it, in any literature including pre dead Rankers matches to around
the millennium.
Broadening the label ‘old firm’ to suit your anti board stance won’t fix it.
And obviously…The PLC cannot now overturn the ‘BIG HUN LIE’ that they have supported, because it was all about doing a deal with the Huns, to carve up the ‘OLD FIRM’ fans, and charge top dollar.
No principles whatsoever….Just sheer greed, thats all.
Bigotry for the Big Buck.
And totally shameless to boot.
HH
Why have people only took exception to the lying and cheating since 2012?It’s been around for over a century.Are some cheats and lies acceptable but others not?
The Champions League has official cheating in it’s seeding nonsense.Should we boycott it?
The Green Man says SACK THE Board on 5th September 2016 2:55 pm
Weeminger
Nice try, but i dont think so.
The PLC have refused to point out that Sevco are a new club…..against all evidence to the contrary.
Then, backing up the Hun agenda….They charge Celtic fans 40-50 quid to watch a lie.
Thats about the jist of it.
HH
_____________________________________________
I would say that this article quoted by WEEMINGER clearly has Celtic saying THE Rangers are a new club.
KTF
bournesouprecipe on 5th September 2016 2:57 pm
Time will tell ……….
KTF
Weeminger
Demand is so high, because its created by the PR meeja strategy.
Whip it up, throw some bile into the mix…stir it up….and serve.
Demand….Hey Presto!
HH
Perhaps someday there will be a tipping point where the majority of Celtic supporters will say, hard as it is to walk away, I’m simply not buying into a sham that, for the sake of a few dollars more, asks me to accept everything my values system tells me is wrong. Just plain wrong.
Celtic IMO made a massive error of judgement in following a policy of silence and, if as some folk think (and it’s understandable as we had the same thoughts ourselves) they played Res12 shareholders along, that will come out in due course and Celtic will be asked where they then stand.
For too long Celtic have been passive, subject to threat but not tackled that issue openly, afraid to speak out. Too driven by commercial considerations and not enough by what I thought made them more than a club, which is ethics and doing the right thing.
This goes a lot deeper than whether Celtic say anything on the same club issue (a grotesque myth birthed by Regan and Doncaster at behest of most clubs) it is about who we really are.
Our values, our attitude to others, our tolerance in the face of intolerance but unwillingness to be cowed by it or the even greater stupidity that is the bedfellow of intolerance.
The days of keeping supporters happy just by on field performances have gone. We expect more than that or maybe we expect too much and perhaps for the majority it’s only a game.
A game that can be watched anytime, anywhere.
I want somebody to stand up and say ENOUGH! No more silence. No more accepting being lied to. No more peddling lies ourselves. Let’s get real and see where that takes us.
If we are really more than a club let our values shout that to the world.
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2016 3:08 PM
The only people actually whipping it up are the MSM.
So the club have responded to demand created by those that fall for the nonsense spouted by the MSM.
VFR
Id rather hear it directly from PL….In an Official Statement
Not from some article.
HH
http://www.catholicethos.net/clinton-gets-elected-catholics-blame/
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2016 3:12 PM
That ‘article’, is an official statement by the club.
BABAS
It was laid ‘bear’ in 2012.
Weeminger
The PLC has responded to the Big Hun Lie, by charging their own fans 40-50 quid to see Celtic against a new club.
It cannot be Rangers….can it?
So, who are they?
HH
I can’t wait for the game v the Huns sevco the ranjurs it gets me so excited before the KO
I don’t know any Celtic fan who does not enjoy pumping them silly.
This is a great opportunity for us to hammer them every time we play what’s not to like about that
How good will it be watching there end empty whilst our end are singing like champions
I for one can’t wait for the game and no amount of bias from the refs and linesman will stop us burying them into the ground this weekend
To all you moaning face gits about the board the Plc the five way agreement who gives a feck
It’s about destroying them on the park and I for one can’t wait
10-0 or 8-1 will do
Hail hail
WEEMINGER on 5th September 2016 3:14 pm
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2016 3:12 PM
That ‘article’, is an official statement by the club
________________
Aye, but that disnae fit the agenda. Gie the Board a kicking about not making an official statement and when it’s aired, shift the blame to the CEO because he didnae say it in the much berated SMSM.
KTF
Weeminger
You are trying to defend the indefensible.
The PLC know Sevco are a new club, but pretend that they are Rangers, backing the Hun agenda in the process, so that they can shaft their own supporters.
I cannot see it any other way.
The PLC are lying…..because Rangers, no longer exist.
What kind of feeble con are you trying to pull here?
HH
Auldheid,
Here here, more than a club but no more than a Plc
Capitalism is the reason for the high prices.Most fholk want to see us pump a hun entity more than any other team,mainly because what huns stand for,not what age their club is.Therefore,supply and demand.Not something I like with but that’s how it is.
The Green Man says SACK THE Board on 5th September 2016 3:16 pm
Weeminger
The PLC has responded to the Big Hun Lie, by charging their own fans 40-50 quid to see Celtic against a new club.
It cannot be Rangers….can it?
So, who are they?
HH
_____________________________
Apart from the fact that you are now trying to shift the argument, this is a business decision that allows Celtic to charge 7 or 8 thousand of them the same £50 we will get charged at the crumbling Ibrox when we visit for our first league game against them.
The economics of supply and demand in practice. Much the same as we only get charged £15 for the League Cup games, though I never see anyone on here congratulating the Club on that one!
KTF
Has anyone else noticed how, as soon as Ernie “Old Firm” Lynch appears on the blog, one or more of his fellow Old Firm obsessives is sure to follow?
Today it was Canamalar. On another day it is Margaret McGill. Or it might be Aw Naw. Or it is any combination of the 3. If the blog has been ULTRA positive, we areusually treated to all 4.
Alternatively, Canamalar kicks it off and sure as hell, Ernie Old Firm will post within minutes.
Only 5 more days of this nonsense to go. It’s good for a laugh if nothing else.
THERE IS NO OLD FIRM.
GET OVER IT.
There’s supply and demand and then there’s exploitation, the Celtic support should be paying no more than they are to watch Barca
Too much being made of the ‘demand’ for this match on Saturday.
The demand is high to see CELTIC at the moment, regardless of the opponent.
~50k season tickets, 8k of that, doesn’t leave too many tickets for the so called ‘Old Firmists’ who are getting so many peoples backs up.
Is it even a sell out?
HH
Proudbhoy
This site is quite useful too
http://www.stadiumguide.com/estadio-nacional/
The PLC will be judged by their actions.
However you want to tart it up….The PLC are lying, pure and simple.
Sevco are a new club, and nothing anybody says, will change that fact, nothing.
To claim you are playing Rangers…..That is an impossibility.
You cannot fly
You cannot make gold from base metal
You cannot walk on water.
And no matter how you try, you cannot breathe life into a corpse.
HH
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2016 3:20 PM
I’m not. I’m pointing out that if the demand wasn’t there, it wouldn’t matter what lies were told by the club, they wouldn’t be able to charge £50 for a ticket. Right now our true rivals are Aberdeen and Hearts. Yet we could not sell tickets at those prices for those games.
The club has not generated the demand.
We as an online group, will have to accept that for a significant number of our fans the new club are close enough to the old club to be our greatest rivals. The club haven’t produced any rhetoric of that nature, so this is all at those fans’ own doing.
So here’s a question and answer. How are we to afford to bring in players whereby we might do a reasonable job on the biggest stages? We need to maximise all revenue wherever possible. Now the club could make a public display of their classing TRFC as a new team by charging £25/ticket, and the game would sell out. If they club consider that the game will sell out at £49/ticket, is it not their duty to maximise this income for the good of the team?
Why we’re not playing Rangers…
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/?p=27504
Quite often I don’t really believe what I write. I just write for the sake of an argument.
*8k of that mob…
AULD TAM on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2016 3:27 PM
You’re calling The Great Desmondo a liar?
That’s brave of you.