…OK, I suppose we have to mention them.
I did a preview for STV on Monday and was asked what my expectations were for last night but had to admit I had zero expectations. This season I hoped we would get into the Champions League group stage, or at least, the Europa League. We remarkably overshot. My real hope for the latter stages of the tournament was that we would exit without taking a hiding.
Technically, 0-3 at home is a bit of a hiding but it doesn’t feel that way for several reasons. The first half was the best football we have seen from a Celtic team in years; far better than either of the performances against Barcelona, and on a par with anything under the Strachan and O’Neill eras. Unlike Barcelona, this match plan was flawed, but it was an honourable flaw.
The “gamble” to play Efe is one which Neil may consider, in time-honoured Celtic tradition, will be inscribed on his gravestone. When you face Juventus you need to take gambles; if they all worked, clearly, they were not gambles. This one didn’t, we learn and move on. The player put on a brave performance and I’m very proud of his achievements this month.
With an away game at the daunting Juventus Stadium to come, many considered that our best chance of qualification would be to win the home game, and we clearly went about our business with the intention of doing just that. Had we faced Juve in the group stage it is possible we would have left fewer spaces at the back. Any watching Barcelona players must have marvelled at how big Celtic Park looked on TV last night compared to their visit two months ago.
We don’t know how good Juventus would have been if we camped in front of our own penalty box, as they did for long periods, but they were a more-than-effective counter-attacking team.
It is hard to pinpoint what we were missing. Georgios Samaras would have played if fit and would have given us the height-dimension up front we lacked without him. He would also have given Gary Hooper the support he badly missed. Charlie Mulgrew’s status as Best Corner Kick Taker in Europe is at risk if he doesn’t take corner kicks until Kris Commons has innumerable tries.
Juve were prepared for the Celtic threat from corners and behaved illegally throughout the game. One of the referees should have had the strength of character to deal with the problem but they were sadly unable.
There were many positives. Emilio is back to his very best. On one occasion in the second half two Juve players were goal-side with only Forster ahead. Emilio made-up the five yard deficit and stopped the attack. His pace, skill and decision-making were first class.
Kris Commons repeatedly took-on a crowd of Juventus players before releasing a team-mate or making space for a crack at goal. He looked like he enjoyed the occasion but didn’t get the clear-cut chance his play deserved.
Lustig and Matthews are both excellent right-sided defenders with pace and skill. Kelvin Wilson did well, as did Efe for long periods. Fraser had little to do all night but had no chance with any of the goals. Victor Wanyama bossed everyone in his vicinity, and this was some vicinity. Roy Keane played 13 games for Celtic and, after an unfortunate debut, I remember thinking “This is what all the fuss is about”. Victor elicits the same sentiment; more on the consequences of this another day.
On Friday 1 March the Lisbon Lions will be at the Kerrydale Suite providing commentary and answering questions on their magnificent European Cup final win in 1967. This has never happened in 46 years since that game, to say it is a unique opportunity fails to tell the whole story.
The event is part of our 125 4 125 campaign – central to reinvigorating the charitable spirit which is part of the club we love. It will be a family occasions, tickets are available at £10 for adults and £5 for children. The night has been organised by several fans working in conjunction with the people at Celtic Charity, so please do your best to support this great occasion. Individual tickets or tables are available, details here.
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Monaghan 1900.
One of my favourite characters in literature is the good Doctor Pangloss.
We need more of his kind among our support.
..Or a few more like Oliver Brady.
:¬))))
Good luck.
stringer bell
12:57 on
13 February, 2013
There’s plenty more he’s on a roll ;-))
Controversial former Rangers chairman Craig Whyte was the most searched for UK company director last year, a new survey shows.
Whyte moved up from seventh in 2011 to first place last year, taking the top spot from The Apprentice star Lord Alan Sugar, who moved down a place to second most searched director, according to figures compiled by online company report provider Creditsafe.
Whyte, who acquired Sir David Murray’s majority shareholding in Rangers Football Club Plc – now in liquidation – also ranked higher than five Dragons’ Den stars.
Theo Paphitis moved up three places to third; Peter Jones moved up four places to fourth; Duncan Bannatyne moved down three places to fifth and David Fishwick, who recently joined the show, was a new entry in sixth.
Whyte also ranked higher than Sir Richard Branson, who only managed to rank eighth despite recently adding another £200 million to his personal fortune from Liberty Global’s takeover of Virgin Media.
The Creditsafe report states: “Given that Whyte oversaw the most disastrous period in the club’s history, which saw the club placed into administration and relegated to Scottish football’s fourth tier it is unsurprising he garnered so much attention for his business dealings.
“While Whyte may have made £20,000 trading shares before he even left school, it is more likely people were investigating his less successful business affairs last year.”
asonofdan
12:47 on 13 February, 2013
Think Kris is just very disappointed overall….l.
Dont want to get started commenting about last night so all I’ll say is was an anti-climax to me.
A lot to learn but on the right path.
Before I go, on the holding talk. Seen this on Guardian site:
In the summer before the start of the 2006-07 season, Ligue 1 authorities announced their intention to “clean up” penalty areas and circulated a DVD to every club showing examples of the sort of infringement on which they would henceforth clamp down, with particular emphasis on shirt-tugging and holding at corners. The Paris Saint-Germain centre-back Mario Yepes appeared to have difficulty adapting to the new hard line and conceded four penalties in the first five matches of the season, including two in the clásico against Marseille. PSG protested that he was being picked on but Marc Batta, the head of referees, dismissed such claims and said officials would continue to apply the letter of Law 12 of the game. “If they have to blow for five penalties in every match, then the referees will do it,” said Batta. As is so often the case, the initial zeal faded and now offenders in France seem no more likely to be punished.
___________________________________________________________
Sounds like the french have the right idea.
Overall not too disappointed by the performance of the team as a a whole.A notable ommission from the lead article was comment on the performance and contribution of James Forrest which amounted to very little however 7 minutes of first team footbal is not ideal preparation for a starting place against a team who could be considered as one of the favourites to go all the way to the final. Also as long as the manager continues to shoehorn Charlie Mulgrew into the midfield while more accomplished midfielders sit on the bench we can expect failure at last nights level of football.
Balance sheets are all fine and well when your annual bonus depends on them however to seriously compete at this level you have to spend the dough
“When you face Juventus you need to take gambles; if they all worked, clearly, they were not gambles.”
Have to disagree somewhat there Paul – I think the first leg of a last 16 CL match is exactly when you don’t gamble. If we leave Parkhead with a 0-0 then we’re still in with a shout. Playing a centre half who has been playing African Nations football for a month, played on Sunday night, probably celebrated somewhat (and rightfully so) then embarked on a long haul flight to arrive at 10am on the morning of a match is a fair old gamble, I must say. We have ample cover at centre half in Mulgrew and Rogne, there was no need to play Efe – Lennon should have taken the decision out of his hands.
It’s a real shame that one single player (and indeed the manager) is so culpable on an evening of such anticipation for the fans. Agreed, Neil will learn, but it was an unnecessary gamble and a monumental blunder which has resulted in Celtic being practically out of the tie after the first leg.
Still, it’s been fun and Celtic played very well, especially in the first half. Early goal in Turin (Efe header from a corner) and you never know….
Here is some Celtic made media to help you overcome the loss.
The latest Rhebel Phodcast – Wrestle Mania
http://www.spreaker.com/user/homebhoys/rhebel_phodcast_22_wrestle_mania
and an article by the show’s host Prefontaine.
http://the-flack.com/2013/02/robbed-by-an-old-lady/
Bad night at the office, but really don’t think Commons should be criticising a team mate and by implication his manager in public.
Thought we were magnificent last night. The only thing we lack is opposition to practice against. When they are bringing on Anelka with 5 to go you know what you are up against.
HH
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
There would be something wrong if he was not but turning on a team mate does not help.
After an almost faultless debut against Raith, Efe has shown he is prone to the odd lapse in concentration now and again- not convinced playing on Sunday or flying back landing yesterday morning made too much of an impact – sure it could have caused tiredness later…but not after 3 minutes.
Would use him as a defensive mid rather than a CB as and when required.
HH
Jawelectric
I thought big Tam was not in the CL sqaud ?
HH
Just seen the first goal and it appears to me that Efe Ambrose gives up on the ball as its trickling towards the line it certainly looks to me he had more chance of reaching the ball than Kelvin Wilson who overtakes him.
The only thing that remotely interests me from last night and our next Juve encounter is how much we will make and the impact that will have on the team going forward..
asonofdan
13:17 on
13 February, 2013
Can’t argue with that……..if he wasn’t misquoted, Kris needs to ‘hold his counsel in this country
Comebacks…..
Real Madrid – Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-5 and 4-0 (1985)
Metz – Barcelona 2-4 and 4-1 (1984)
Deportivo – Milan 1-4 and 4-0 (2004)
Red Star – Dynamo Berlin 2-5 and 4-1 (1978)
Real Madrid – Anderlecht 0:3 and 6:1 (1984)
Jist sayin’ like……
Good summary of the game paul67.
Badly missed samaras for an arial threat in the final third. I thought (defensive errors aside) we were excellent last night. It almost reminded me of the way tommy burns Celtic played against them in mid 90’s – constant pressure with little reward; we didn’t get a break all night. Never mind a strong referee.
A couple of tactical decisions I could not understand however;
Mulgrew in midfield didn’t quite work – he rarely crossed a ball and when he did hooper & Forrest had little chance of winning the ball. He wasn’t taking set pieces which was infuriating, possibly Lennon wanted his height in the box? Every corner far too close to Buffon. So from this point of view I’d have preferred ledley playing.
Forrest contributed little, I couldn’t understand him being deployed away from the right wing, this may have worked if Matthews was at right back to get forward, but he wasn’t. We were almost playing a man down with Forrest out of position.
A very harsh 0-3 scoreline, considering we played well but for me there was plenty to learn from last night.
I would have thought the planning for last night’s game would have been worked on for the past few weeks.
The players as a group would have known how Juve play, during team meetings and group discussions within their key areas such as at the back, midfield and attack. Just like the team meeting with Stein and his players on one of the video’s I have somewhere. McNeil & Auld I think asking some questions to Stein.
In the past week, the first team should have been allocated roles and duties for corners, free-kicks both for and against, who to mark, possible training ground moves Juve have tried in recent games. (just like our corner kick, effective for us and Scotland). A couple of the Juve corners were played to the edge of the box, don’t think the shots were on target was this normal?
With all of the above completed, Efe should have been told, weeks ago, barring loads of injuries, stay with your Nation, and we will see you when you get back, if you get to the final you’re not playing for us on the Tuesday.
Asking Efe if he would like to play in the last 16 of the champions league against Juve, after all the travel and missing his nations celebrations what is he going to say! Nah you’re alright boss, I only came back to watch the game!
Lennon bottled the management decision that had to be made and passed to the player to make.
What if Efe had said no boss I’m not fit, Neil, then speaks to A.N.other, I know you have been playing well, but I was willing to risk Efe, I still want Efe to play, but he said no, so I’m left with asking you, so you’re in, only 7 hours till kick-off, hope you’re in the right state of mind to play, we will work out tactics and what to do after lunch.
I don’t think it shows good management skills, Neil must have told the players he asked Efe if he was fit, he said yes, so he’s in, the players, (commons) are now blaming Efe. This should have been a private discussion between Neil and Efe.
Is there problems in the dressing room?
The manager should be taking the blame for what was his decision.
Having said all that, I still blame the Ref!
So does the same ref take charge of the 2nd leg? If so, I shall see if Kent Walton is available to do the commentary. (Anyone under 45…dont ask)
I think James Forrest should be cut some slack. Sure, he wasn’t very effective last night but we have seen others come back from long lay offs due to injury struggle to find their previous form (Kayal, Izzaguirre). Give him time.
In another universe Celtic’s last 16 game got off to the worst possible start when they conceded at home after just three minutes. However a powerful display saw them draw level after Juve conceded a penalty from a corner. Down to ten men, Juve were in disarray as Celtic bagged another from a corner early in the second half and eventually ran out as deserved 4-1 winners.
Ford, who sponsor the tournament and whose design centre is in Turin where they enjoy the top importer status, and a market share of 9.2 percent. With the Ford Fiesta retaining its status as the best selling import car Ford is still the No. 1 seller of estate cars in Italy….. were said to be less than happy at the performance of the referee.
4-1 will take us through in Turin.
Off to the bookies.
Keepthefaith CSC
LB
CultsBhoy loves being 1st forever & ever
13:20 on 13 February, 2013
The only thing that remotely interests me from last night and our next Juve encounter is how much we will make and the impact that will have on the team going forward..
Are you serious? So did you switch off the game last night and watch a hot spreadsheet instead?
Oh aye, meant to add – izaguirre was outstanding last night, looked very quick. Wanyama was strolling the game but list his way towards the end, like most. But any club watching him was bound to be impressed.
I was proud of the team last night. I thought we played magnificent in places and the tactics were bold and mostly spot on.
Had another player been on instead of Ambrose we probably would have left with a good result. These things happen. He’s a young guy and will learn.
Wilson and Forster didn’t help him with the first goal, but he was entirely to blame for the third.
His sitter was also bad. Had he levelled the score, I don’t think Matthews would have been up the other end of the park for their second, leaving us exposed down that side.
There were loads of positives though. Forrest and Commons were a menace. Brown and Wanayama dominated the midfield. Hooper led the line well and Izzy was dynamite at left back. Lustig was also great before his injury.
Neil was brave to set the team up as he did but it completely nullified Pirlo, thus rendering their passing game ineffective. We just needed our defenders to maintain their concentration.
Another day it could have been so different; this young team will march on nevertheless.
Remarkable UEFA match report from their site
They complement “resolute” Italian defending.
The spinelessness of the officials isn’t mentioned, and quite wrongly claims the referee had awarded the first goal before Marchisio scored at second attempt
http://m.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/1910471/
Perspective .
Today’s Juve transfer rumors —
Luiz Suarez [ I think he’d fit in nicely ]
Alexis Sanchez.
Jovetic [great player ]
Verratti.[great player ]
Get rid of one of Matri / Quagliarella . Try and keep Marchisio out of the clutches of Real Madrid /PSG. Take Bayern’s money for Vidal..
Different world.
HarryM
no I watched the game and my heart hoped like any Celtic fan. In the cold light of day with a poor result to show for our endevours..all that matters now is £££ and how we deploy this to mount another challenge next year….this will require serious consideration as it will involve remoulding the eam minus key players like Hooper, Vic and possibly Fraser.
Thing is we will be there wiser next year..
After last night I believe we need two vital squad players to progress at this level –
One, a playmaker who can pick a pass at the crucial time – we have the right set of midfielders into which to insert a Pirlo-esque creative type; they’ll give him time and space to play.
Two, a young midfield sub with energy and savvy – someone to throw on at 70 minutes to maintain the tempo set and add some unsettling new vitality into the middle.
We were two flicks of Efe’s head away from battering Juve last night: The missed clearance at the first goal and the misse dsitter at 0-1. Miracles in Turin are possible with the same level of performance, caution to the wind with Sammi rampaging and an early goal.
Juve are NO Barca.
When Platini mentioned after the draw that Juve were already through to the next round, don’t you think that any chosen referee may have taken that comment as a career incentive?
It will be interesting to see what future games Alberto Undiano Mallenco receives from UEFA.
Lessons:
We have several good CL quality players. Wanyama could force his way into most teams. We will struggle to hold Izzy and Lustig from going to bigger teams than us when their contracts come up. Mulgrew, Commons, Brown, Matthews – and yes Ambrose too are decent about this level.
I don’t think with Juve sitting back deep it was ever going to be a game to make Hooper or Forrest look good. If they had got a chance or scored it would be off scraps – they didn’t really.
We can retain possession. Against Barcelona we were accused of being 1-D or ‘parking the bus’. Last night was totally different. Mulgrew had an excellent intelligent game in midfield. I cannot recall him losing the ball though he had a lot of it and kept setting Izzy up.
Lennon got the tactics right. Ultimately we lost 3-0. But you can play your best hand and lose to errors. We are neither as good as our scores against Barcelona paint us or as bad as a 3-0 loss to Juve suggests. We shouldn’t be fooled by randomness but look at our total Euro run.
That said Juve probably go their tactics right too – but they were fortunate with it.
We tired after 70 mins. I think this was partly our pressing game but I have heard it said that Juve are one of the fittest sides about. Maybe we can improve this?
Next year we will struggle to replace Wanyama. Juve sensibly gave up trying to play in his area and went long… Clever Juve.
Ambrose is a quality player. We should hang on to him. We are a much better team when we play out from the back and don’t keep losing possession. Bad night (understatement) – see past it.
Good article and sums up my thoughts.
I would add that Fraser would have saved one/two in his Barcelona form.
Does Dallas have anything to do with referee selection at Uefa?
Forget adding to the squad
Get big Dermot to sponsor the Champions League
Send Platini a couple of high class Bobby Moores and and watch us fly.
The Legend Johnny Doyle
Whatever he said, Platini had no business giving an interview to a Turin newspaper on Juve’s chances of progressing. He was a great player, but unfortunately he’s now a UEFA spiv.
Posted this article from 2011 the other day about the ref and his previous with Juventus.
The official has made the headlines for his contentious decisions in the past, not least when he sent off Miroslav Klose at the 2010 World Cup
Who is Alberto Undiano Mallenco – the Spanish referee who was the man in the middle for the crucial Champions League clash between Chelsea and Manchester United?
The official courted controversy by failing to award the Blues a penalty towards the end of United’s 1-0 win, as first Ramires went down under Patrice Evra’s lunge, before Fernando Torres took a tumble under pressure from Antonio Valencia.
The answer, it would seem, depends on who you speak to.
Bullish boy from Pamplona
To understand this man, let us first start at the beginning. Alberto Undiano Mallenco was born in Pamplona, the city famous for its Running of the Bulls festival, in 1973 and played football throughout his childhood until the allure of refereeing took hold.
In an interview with Goal.com before the World Cup last summer he recalled: “A friend of mine mentioned it to me once. At first I told him, ‘You’re crazy! What, me, being a referee?’
“But finally I decided to try it for one match, and I really enjoyed it and have carried on ever since.”
Mallenco worked his way through the ranks and impressed along the way. He finally got his break, at the age of 26, when he was assigned to a La Liga match in October 2000, becoming the youngest Spanish referee ever to be in charge of a top flight game.
He was a regular referee in Spain’s top division for four years, and in 2004 he became a Fifa referee, taking charge of Uefa Cup matches and qualifiers.
He has since gone on to officiate in 130 matches in La Liga, 21 matches in Copa del Rey, two Spanish SuperCopa and 33 international matches.
Spain’s top official – but watch out for those handballs
Within Spanish football, Mallenco has no shortage of admirers and over the years he has regularly been selected to take charge of the biggest matches, including four El Clasicos.
There were few complaints when he reduced both Real Madrid and Barcelona down to 10 men in one match at the Nou Camp in 2009.
Lassana Diarra’s reckless kick on Xavi and Sergio Busquets’ needless handball were both valid reasons for Mallenco to dish out a second yellow to both men – and attracted no gripes from the opposing managers.
More recently Real Madrid’s Alvaro Arbeloa suffered a similar fate after being given a second yellow card in his team’s 3-2 away win over Getafe in January.
The last match he took charge of was Espanyol’s 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Racing Santander on Sunday.
He awarded a penalty to the home side after Domingo Cisma handled the ball in the penalty area, leading also to the inevitable caution.
Sergio Aguilera of Goal.com Spain opines: “Mallenco is one of the most reputed referees of Spanish football.
“He is usually designated for the biggest matches of the Spanish domestic competition and has received several of the most important awards of Spanish refereeing such as the Trofeo Guruceta and Trofeo Vicente Acebedo.”
Branded a card-waving clown at the 2010 World Cup
Last year Mallenco received the honour of being his country’s refereeing representative at the 2010 World Cup.
Ominously, he flew to South Africa after dishing out four red cards in four La Liga matches at the end of the 2009-10 season.
An excited Mallenco told Goal.com last year: “When I was told I was selected I just felt fantastic.
“When you start to referee you don’t really imagine that one day you will officiate in a World Cup. It was a huge and a very nice surprise, and I think it’s going to be a fantastic World Cup and one that I hope I can really enjoy.”
But at the World Cup, where he would officiate three matches, Mallenco would find himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
He also suffered the ignominy of being branded a ‘clown’ by Mick McCarthy – the Wolves boss moonlighting as a TV pundit – after sending off Miroslav Klose in Germany’s 1-0 defeat to Serbia where he also dished out eight yellow cards and awarded a contentious penalty.
Further criticism came from the Germans with defender Arne Friedrich telling reporters after the game that the referee was too quick to brandish his cards.
He said: “With almost every foul he pulled a yellow card. There are few players who didn’t get one.”
Even the usually calm Germany coach Joachim Loew pitched in: “Klose just tried to kick the ball away and then was unlucky to hit the opponent’s leg.
“There were a couple of tackles where I felt the yellow cards were justified but there were many yellow cards given for tackles that weren’t malicious at all and could have been avoided.”
The following week, Mallenco presided over a cardless 3-0 win for the Ivory Coast against North Korea and also officiated in the Netherlands’ 2-1 round of 16 win over Slovakia, awarding a penalty to the Slovakians in injury time after Netherlands goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg had tripped Robert Vittek.
The night he gave Chelsea the blues
It’s unlikely however that Didier Drogba’s abiding memory of Mallenco will be for him being the man in the middle during the Ivory Coast’s stroll against North Korea.
March 2009 saw Mallenco officiate a hotly contested 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Juventus.
His performance in the Stadio delle Alpi that night led to questions about whether he was experienced enough for the big games with one report branding him a ‘referee so far out of his depth he was drowning’.
During the match he sent off Giorgio Chiellini and awarded a contentious penalty which triggered a 15 man-melee – for yes, you guessed it, a handball.
Infamously he waved play on after Didier Drogba’s free kick appeared to comfortably cross the line before being scooped up by Gigi Buffon.
It led to vociferous appeals from Drogba, John Terry and Michael Ballack whilst later an angry Guus Hiddink, Chelsea’s manager at the time, called for the introduction of video technology in football.
falkirkbhoy
13:24 on
13 February, 2013
Behave yourself ……FGS……..what a load of old nonsense………if we do as well next season in the CL, I will be ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED……!!!!!!!!
Morning all,
Still hurting after last night but still immensely proud of the manager and the team.
A better ref would have made the difference I think.
Hail Hail