What did we learn last night?

902

So what did we learn last night?  For a start, when we need to, we can defend effectively and shut up shop, last night was our fourth clean sheet in Europe this season.  The 4-5-1 formation, deployed for the opening 65 minutes, was not effective at producing attacking opportunities, although this may be as much to do with personnel as formation.

Emilio Izaguirre was swamped every time the ball went near him, which did little to settle his confidence.  It was wise for Neil Lennon to hook him and drop Charlie Mulgew back.  I felt sorry for Miku, who looked like a player in an unfamiliar line-up.  He is not a lone target man but will do well when we get the ball to his feet. He was only asked to play that role due to injuries Hooper, Stokes and Samaras and will only do so again under similar circumstances. By contrast, Hooper looked the part once he came on. He bullied defenders as effectively as he does in the SPL, a real pleasing point for me.

Victor Wanyama needs to improve his sharpness to make the most of his composure and tackling ability at this level.  The perpetual motion of Champions League teams means a fraction of a second off-pace can compromise the defensive formation.

Did you notice how every time Commons got the ball he was thinking “goal”? His turn before crossing from the left belied the meagre money we paid for him. He is every inch a Champions League player.

James Forrest was played out of the game by the full back. He/Neil needed to find a resolution to this challenge but it didn’t happen. He tried to knock the ball round the outside and pass on the inside a couple of times, which was over-ambitions, to say the least. I don’t think we saw him drop the shoulder and take the player on with the ball, which is a pity, as I’m sure he had the taking of his marker. Both Forrest and Wanyama will be stronger on Match Day 2.

The first objective from our return to Champions League football was that we would be able to compete at this level.  That achieved, we can look forward to Moscow in 12 days time.


Support a Scottish World Champion Boxer: Ricky Burns

On Saturday 22nd September, lifelong Celtic fan Ricky Burns is defending Scotland’s honour against England’s Kevin Mitchell in an unmissable World Championship boxing clash!

Burns puts his WBO World Lightweight Championship on the line, in a fight billed as the Battle of Britain. You can bag yourself the best seat in the house with BoxNationTV (Sky 437, Virgin 546).

Get the CQN discount now!

Celtic Quick News proudly presents to you a special deal for our faithful readers. You can sign up for BoxNation for just £10 a month with no registration fee (which usually costs £10) if you’re a Sky TV subscriber. And there’s no minimum contract, so if you decide you don’t want to keep the channel, you can cancel your subscription with no penalty fees after this huge world title clash.

To get behind a Scottish World Champion as he battles it out in the ring, subscribe to BoxNation now and enter the promo code GOALBOXING (all block capitals) to take advantage of this special offer.

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

902 Comments

  1. Good morning Bhoys from an ice cold but clear Glasgow city centre. I wish you all a happy long weekend for those off on Monday.

  2. Absolutely nowhere on that Zombie banner is there a green shamrock, never mind on the gunman.

     

     

    See the misinformation is starting in earnest. Utterly pathetic.

     

     

    IT WAS A ZOMBIE FFS. ZOMBIES ARE NOT REAL.

  3. Re DR-Just had a look at the rags in Morrisons,the banner is in full glorious colour on front and back pages.

  4. ernie lynch

     

     

    10:55

     

     

     

     

    Yes noticed that myself there is no Shamrock on that picture and only a RFC logo/badge on the tombstone.

     

     

    Of course we can only asume that the pic is the original until someone can clarify its authenTIC and has not been photoshoppped

     

     

    Link to image

  5. obonfanti1888-One of the posts last night had a Shamrock/4 leafed clover on it,photoshopped no doubt.PL should make this go away.

  6. saltires en sevilla on

    KevJungle – Murdo..10 men Championees..1979

     

    10:10 on

     

    21 September, 2012

     

    saltires en sevilla

     

     

    10:06 on 21 September, 201

     

    _________________________________________

     

    Oh yeah ?

     

    Maybe you could explain then, why we had only ONE shot at goals in over THREE hours of football v’s St.Johnstone and Benfica ?

     

    Btw, our shot at goal was Kris Commons goal v’s St.J

     

     

    ———–

     

     

    You never answered any of my questions ….

     

     

    hmmmmm

     

     

    which leads me to conclude you were not at any of those games and relying on MSM for your info. stats , opinions……food on the table ;-)

     

     

    please feel free to correct me ..otherwise,consider yersel hereby ignored

  7. !!Bada Bing!! @11:14

     

     

    Man in court today in Mancheser accused of murdering two policewomen.

     

     

    Banner depicting a zombie being shot (and not even in the correct place!).

     

     

    Which one makes the front page? The zombie!

     

     

    That the latter makes the front page in Scotland is an utter embarrassment

  8. Morning Celts

     

    I am happy with Wednesdays game,i thought we played well enough to get more out of the game,we missed Samaras as i thought we lacked some aerial ability up front.izzy needs to get back to his best,.all in all i think we will take points on the road.

     

     

    back to work with a victory over Dundee tomorrow

     

     

    Good luck to Donegal on Sunday against Mayo

     

     

    Bring Sam home to the hills

  9. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    GOOGYBHOY 1122

     

     

    That’s brilliant,I never thought of that.

     

     

    Cheers,bud!

     

     

    Oh,wait-I’ve got principles……….

  10. voguepunter

     

     

    Steinreignesupreme

     

     

    Guys, I apologise for delay. On the phone.

     

     

    Yeah, the ole DR hotline

     

     

    It was good to speak to Hugh Keevins about Murdo when

     

    Murdo was unwell recently. It was good counseling for me as I

     

    feared the worst for my favourite ever Celt.

     

    Also, I think that Hugh Keevins knows where the bodies are buried

     

    so to speak and was always feared by certain members of the hierarchy

     

    who, imo, have took the cheap way out and banned HK.

     

    Where where all these crusaders of justice when – McLean and Nevin

     

    were rubbishing the reputation of the support during the SCF v’s M/well ?

  11. BTW its been a bad year for the colour Orange and its getting worse. Orange Mobile will be soon going bye bye after it and T-Mobile were rebranded as EE.

     

     

    :-)

  12. wee Marco on the mend thanks, two steel rods removed from his hips Wednesday..

     

    going to see him this afternoon….

  13. LENNYisAwarMACHINE on

    Kev Jungle – I dont know ALL the shots on goal. but I definately remember the legs of the keeper stopping wee Tony equalising late on v St J. Is that not a shot at goal? and on target.

  14. obonfanti1888 @11:19

     

     

    Meanwhile the zombies tell us about paedos ftp billy boys and such like and its all treated as part of their normal culture

     

     

    Celtic will never get a fair deal from the rags here

     

     

    Now more than ever before they depend on the zombies bucks and they will do everything they possibly can to keep them buying their trash

  15. Kev

     

     

    , I think that Hugh Keevins knows where the bodies are buried’

     

    ———————————————————————————-

     

    Keevins wouldn’t know where the bodies are buried in the Linn Cemetery.

  16. corrib04 is Neil Lennon on

    Hateley:

     

    ”Too many of these players are going through the motions…..”

     

    is like a new signing for TheRangers

  17. KevJungle – Murdo..10 men Championees..1979

     

    Oh yeah ?

     

    Maybe you could explain then, why we had only ONE shot at goals in over THREE hours of football v’s St.Johnstone and Benfica ?

     

    Btw, our shot at goal was Kris Commons goal v’s St.J

     

     

    ………….

     

     

    We had 11 attempts against St Johnstone with 4 being on target.

     

     

    We had 5 attempts against St Johnstone with 3 being on target.

     

     

    Does that not make 7 on target and seven is waaaaaaaaay more than one!

     

     

    BTW i’m basing 7 being greater than 1 on the old fashioned 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 etc to infinity (and beyond) system with each figure being greater than the previous figure.

  18. corrib04 is Neil Lennon on

    Kev

     

    ”Also, I think that Hugh Keevins knows where the bodies are buried”

     

    Care to expand?

     

     

    Also is knowing ‘where the bodies are buried’ like new signings for the Zombies?

  19. BOBBY MURDOCH,S CURLED-UP WINKLE PICKERS.

     

    Dont lose the principles but put Fatherly love slighltly above them on the priority scale……..result your dad no longer peeved. you get back to CP……no face lost

     

     

    when decisions are prioritised no-one can castigate you as they are purely personal RESULT ?

     

     

    HAIL HAIL

  20. saltires en sevilla

     

     

    10:06 on 21 September, 2012

     

    ________________________________________________

     

    Chill man Chill.

     

    I apologise if I appeared to ignore yer questions. Not my intention. Sorry

     

     

    Was I on the Mungo Jerry – NO(Irn-Bru totaller)

     

     

    I don’t go to any games anymore as – I refuse to be had by the bored

     

     

    Michelle Platini – Hisny banned the huns from football. So he is an irrelevance. imo

     

     

    Not trying to be flippant.

     

     

    Again – I apologise if you took me the wrong way. Sorry

     

     

    God Bless

     

     

    Hail Hail

  21. Steinreignedsupreme on

    KevJungle – Murdo..10 men Championees..1979 11:26 on 21 September, 2012

     

     

    “Yeah, the ole DR hotline

     

     

    “It was good to speak to Hugh Keevins about Murdo when Murdo was unwell recently. It was good counseling for me as I feared the worst for my favourite ever Celt.”

     

     

    I don’t remember mentioning Keevins in anything I posted. But I’m pretty sure it’s his brother that’s the priest. Maybe he could give you better counselling if that’s what you seek.

     

     

    “Also, I think that Hugh Keevins knows where the bodies are buried so to speak and was always feared by certain members of the hierarchy who, imo, have took the cheap way out and banned HK.”

     

     

    You’ve lost me with the ‘bodies are buried’ stuff. I have no idea what you are on about.

  22. The Battered Bunnet on

    Presumably Vincent Lunny is charging Celtic, in associating Zombies with Rangers, with bringing video games into disrepute.

  23. An Tearmann

     

     

    11:22 on 21 September, 2012

     

    _________________________

     

     

    We will be Doon Well if you can Knock out the Croagh Patrick men.

     

     

    We can only pray.

  24. greenjedi

     

     

    11:34 on 21 September, 2012

     

    ___________________________________

     

    Totally disagree.

     

    Don’t care were ye got the figures from.

     

    I know what I seen

     

    One shot from Commons = Goal

     

    Performance v’s Benfica got the desired result – 1 point

     

    Maybe Neil knows that he dizny have the players to play any other way that v’s Benfica

     

    What a lot of folk don’t seem to get is – due to all the cut-backs in quality on the pitch since Mo’N left – we’re the wee guys in terms of Europe.

  25. Steinreignedsupreme

     

     

    11:39 on 21 September, 2012

     

     

    KevJungle – Murdo..10 men Championees..1979 11:26 on 21 September, 2012

     

     

    You’ve lost me with the ‘bodies are buried’ stuff. I have no idea what you are on about.

     

    _________________________________________________

     

    Yeah, yer right.

     

    Maybe I’m giving out too much info there ?

     

    Lid back on the tin again – CSC

  26. Kev

     

     

    Do you disagree that 7 is greater than 1 or the fact that we had 7 shots on target over both games?

     

     

    Since its you, I thought I better check!

     

     

    :-)