Photo: Vagelis Georgariou biglens.co.uk
We’ve often discussed that the difference between success and failure at Champions League level more often than comes down to which team makes mistakes. In the group stages Celtic were 31st out of 32 teams for the amount of possession they had, and for the number of chances they created, but they were immaculately drilled and progressed while more creative teams failed.
Cluj had less possession and chances than Celtic but also know the route to effective football, finishing on 10 points and being denied qualification for the knock out stage on goal difference.
Against Juventus, home and away, things changed. Defenders twice jumped for balls they couldn’t reach, instead of turning and standing their ground. Twice players were dispossessed inside their own half instead of getting rid of the ball early. These moments led to four of Juventus’ five goals and decided the tie. By contrast, Celtic enjoyed the bulk of possession and chances, home and away, against the Italian champions.
What are the lessons have been learned in our Champions League games?
Xavi has learned not to try to control a clearance from Fraser Forster at chest height. Spartak’s Insaurralde will know to keep his eye on the ball while clearing the ball when last man while Suchy will know not to clatter into strikers inside his own box.
No Celtic player made a single mistake inside his own half in either of the home games against Barcelona and Spartak and as a result, both games were won.
Our players’ normal mode of play, week-in-week-out, is the intercept passes, not cautiously move to a covering position. They also hold onto the ball and take a moment before releasing, activities which don’t often lead to a goal being conceded within seconds, but Champions League football is stunningly different than the domestic variety.
The most important lesson from our Champions League campaign is that Celtic are one of the most effective teams in Europe. We can create goals and defend successfully against the best on the Continent. We will look back on this campaign as the one which put us back on the map, and we’ll look back on the Juventus games as an important stage in our development.
The strategy is working; same again please.
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Italian press praising fans! Calcio Mercato “The fantastic Celtic fans gave a real lesson in civility in sport. The chants and insults which blight too many games in Serie A are light years away from the spectacle of education and sportsmanship that the people in the Celtic away end offered”. “That horizontally striped white & green jersey is the uniform of a club worthy of the applause of the world”
Celtic Mac
Indeed. Or the Donegal Express :)
TET You can’t compare a pre-season with a competitive game. I reckon 15/20,000 could travel over from Scotland alone, for the craic as well as the game. As I said try it once and then re-evaluate it.
Just back from Turin…good 3 day trip…Not a place or a club I will ever have great desire to go see again.
Really nice modern stadium, great for generating atmosphere, fantastic sight lines to watch game from.
Horrible, inhospitable hosts, treated many Celtic folks badly as I saw it, stadium way out of town in soulless area where the old alpe was.
I am not always seeing our support through green tinted specs but last night I was as proud to be a Celtic supporter as at anytime…
I thought the team did well given resource gap, and are work in progress.
Great connection between club, team and fans demonstrated throughout, especially in airport on way home…..
There is more good than bad at Celtic for sure right now… Hail Hail …
I read constant denigration of Scotland and things Scottish here. Yet speak of Ireland in anything other than the hagiographic and some CQNers are crying for their mammies.
Great Idea Corkcelt, think the demand and travelling support would be substantial.
It would also give the club a great opportunity to rekindle passion amongst some of the 26 counties’ potential supporters. The impression I have is that many Irish football fans align themselves to EPL teams rather than the ‘tic.
The main men we need to keep at Parkhead are Lennie and his backroom staff as they have shown they know there stuff.Neither Hooper or Wanyama need to leave Celtic as both have been offerred deals to stay however,I cannot rate Hooper in the top bracket of strikers that I have seen over the years playing for the hoops and I am sure he will move on but it is only my opinion that he wont be a huge loss big Victor is an entirely different kettle of fish as he will be very hard to replace and a huge loss it might be worthwhile breaking the bank to try and keep him. H.H.
Calcio Mercato
“The fantastic Celtic fans gave a real lesson in civility in sport. The chants and insults which blight too many games in Serie A are light years away from the spectacle of education and sportsmanship that the people in the Celtic away end offered.
“They are a worthy rival for Juventus. That horizontally striped white and green jersey is the uniform of a club worthy of the applause of the world.”
This Anzhi team are absolute mince.
Does not say much for Russian football if this is the kind of team that tops the league.
Corkcelt
You could be right.
I hope they do consider it.
Corkcelt
As I said a while back I’m sold on the idea but as I also said the biggest problem would be to sell the idea to the ‘other’ club specifically Hibs. They and any other club may not be happy to surrender home advantage simply for money. I think there would be real issues of Sporting Integrity in this scenario. Is Croke Park a definite non-starter?
But I think that we would get the crowds okay whichever stadium was used- I agree crowds were dire for the tourney a couple of summers back but I am old enough to remember when Celtic played Waterford in European Cup at Labdsdowne Road and that got a really big crowd.
Have you thought of contacting Celtic?
Jimbo
Sir Paul
Brilliant Summary o’ how we goat There..How we Fared.. There…and how and Why..
we Couldna.. Stey… There.
Ah wid like tae add my Pennyworth.. tae.
Ah noticed..
Whenevah, wan o oor Defenders..happens tae Obtain the Ba…
Nine times oota Eleven..
The Newly,and often, Hard won Ba..is Quickly and SPEEDILY..
RETURNED, tae Enemy Hands..Via …the Frantically Frenzied.. and often times.. Blind.. Hoof up the Park.
Ah noticed ,also.. that
Teams ,such as oor Opponents of last eve..
DON’T DO SUCH A THING.
Na..
Thur Defenders..are maist Careful..in Retaining Possession of the Fitba..
and they are most Consistently Precise.. in Making sure that their Pass . reaches a Colleague
without.. an INTERCEPTION..
which would Inevitably lead to
THE DREADED..
TURNOVER!
Fur a Turnover.. Except. it be of the Apple Variety..
In Many Cases…Leads to the Loss of a GOAL.
Thur Is nae sign of the Desperate..and Hurried..and Aimless..
HOOF UP THE PARK..which is the Wont of the Celtic Defender.
And with their Forlorn…
“Hope, tae Catch Lightening in a Boatle”
Which seems tae be the S.O.P. Tactic,which is displayed frequently,by oor . Harrassed, Harried , and Anxiety Driven, Defenders
..and often times, by oor ineffective Mid Fielders, as Well.
It seems that oor Guys.. Must be following ..the Advice.. of
“Get rid of the Ba..and Whitevah ye dae..
Nevah Pass it tae a Colleague..if ye kin help it…”
Yep, kiddo..
In Ma Opinion..
Only , An Opinion. Mark ye..
That The Pre-Eminent.. reason..
Should we Dae Lose a Game..Eethur in Euope or.. Clachnacuddin..
Is Because..
WE GIE AWAY the Ba’
TOO CHEAPLY..
So..
The Answer tae that Failing is..
Well..
We Shouldnae DAE That!
It is Screamingly obvious,therefore..
That..
“Houston.. Celtic, are Noo… experiencing.. a
COACHING PROBLEM..”
Maks sense.. Tae Me..
Kojo
Still, Laughin’
.
It’s definitely worth looking into CorkCelt. The Aviva very rarely has seen a big attendance since it was built.
not gonna be negative after the brilliant campaign the bhoys have had this season …. but …. …. nah .. no negs
Lacine Traore of Anzhi. All 6’8 of him.
Whit a lump of wood. Couldnae hold up a newspaper
celtic done every well to get to last 16 of c/l and the supporters done well to promote all that is good about our club.
i suspect hooper, victor, paddy, miku, rogne, bangurra, gouron will leave this summer. we should see about 15-20 million for the first two players mentioned and overall we should save about 3 + million in wages per year. getting a quality young striker and centreback in is a must.
foster, mathews, lustig, wilson, efa, fraser, charlie, izzy, chambers, forrest, commons, mcgeogh, rogic, ledley, brown, kayal, sammy, watt and stokes should remain at the club.
the core of our team is unchanged for the most part and that is what should assure overall improvement in team preformance, rather than buying better players etc… to make us better.
celtic’s goal must be to become established c/l group participants anything over and above over the next 5 years must be viewed as a success.
hail hail
Joefillippis haircut
Agree 100% re Hooper. What we need is another Henrik!
The great midfield debate, what’s the matter with you guys, are you blind!
The three midfield for me is, Lubo , his wife and his wean, seemples
Hail Hail
KINGLuBO
Gotta Leave..Steve..
See You Folks..
Kojo
Still..Laughin
ntassoolla
18:39 on7 March, 2013I read constant denigration of Scotland and things Scottish here. Yet speak of Ireland in anything other than the hagiographic and some CQNers are crying for their mammies.
…………
The big difference is that those on here that denigrate Scotland are invariably Scottish.
Your constant snipes at Ireland and the Irish and the Irish aspect of our club is a different kettle of fish .
Are you Irish
MSM – zombie panderers the lot of them. Put them in a big bin
Confession time.
Used to buy The Herald in the days when Jabba actually seemed to be a football journalist rather than a brogue-eating pie-wearer.
Have in the distant past bought the Sunday Mail and even, forgive me, The Record
Have only recently stopped listening to my big guilty pleasure, the Jeremy Kyle oggle fest and anger generator that is the moronic inferno of SSB.
Bin the lot of em folks.
You will feel better
“@SkyNewsBreak: London Welsh deducted five points & fined £15,000 for fielding ineligible player in rugby premiership”
Hun on Clyde
RFC financials “Astonishing figures”
I agree
My Dear Kojo….
‘Nail On The Heid!’…..
The Quality Of Our Coaching Must Improve……
Are Mjallby And Parker Working Towards Their Badges..?
Still…..Sickened…
By The Cheating,Corrupt Italians…
jimbo67, just testing the water here first. If its not backed here, it won’t be backed anywhere. If enough of people here think its a good idea, I will contact Celtic, The Spl and the AICSC.
p.s the best way for celtic to increase her stock is to play in c/l group stage every season
best way to ensure that happens is to have talented players continually coming into our squad and selling at profit to reinvest
and
by only ever making incramental changes to squad every year, always keeping a core together that knows each others game inside out.
Hooper will not be that badly missed.
Scored a few good goals and a few vital goals at that. But he’s a six yard poacher and he’s not the best six yard poacher i’ve seen at Celtic either. He’s strong, but he was easily pushed off the ball last night. He can head either.
What Celtic need is a clumsy centre forward. One that’ll poke defenders eyes out with his elbows. Niall Quinn did it for years and Niall Quinn was not a great footballer. You need to unsettle these continental defenders. Once you get their temper up you’re half way there, Those Juve defenders last night didn’t even break sweat.
Anyone hear about Mr McGoo from Hertz? he’s 11 foot 29 Inches apparently.
What ever happened to Rasmussen? Was he away in the drink?
David Prowse,
Shame on you.
Surely you must know that the Carrickfinn flight goes to Glasgow Airport and has done for at least, a year.
You should get out of Ranafast more ! :>)
SSB = Cloud Cuckoo Land
Clinko what constant snipes?
Produce one. In full. No rewording or rephrasing. Include the context.
Standing up for Celtic as a Scottish club and for Scotland as a nation does not equal anti-Irish.
You may be in the ranks of those who who hear it differently.
The treaty of Rome has now been implemented fully in terms of the free movement of goods, capital and labour. Take advantage. I have.
Perhaps the small business owners around these small Scottish clubs don’t count in the grand visions of the armchair tycoons. Perhaps the small businesses of Dublin are more deserving. More meritorious.
I come from the Townhead, Glasgow, Scotland. I support my local club.
Where do you come from?
Corkcelt
Good luck with an interesting idea.
Awrrabest
Jimbo
“The fantastic Celtic fans gave a real lesson in civility in sport. The chants and insults which blight too many games in Serie A are light years away from the spectacle of education and sportsmanship that the people in the Celtic away end offered.
“They are a worthy rival for Juventus. That horizontally striped white and green jersey is the uniform of a club worthy of the applause of the world.”
WHAT CHANCE THIS COMMENT WILL APPEAR IN ANYOF OUR RAGS TOMORROW? Yes, think we all know there is no chance. Glad I don’t buy them.
Bada bing.
How brainwashed was the hun on just there?
Actually feel a bit sorry for him…not.
The delusional fools deserve what’s coming to them.hh
thomthethim
Ahhhhhh!!!!! Dang! The last time i was over i flew from Derry into Prestwick!
Grrrrr. Public flogging in Annagry car park next Sunday after mass for me!
see that last game in dublin was that no overpriced madness for a kickabout, i’l like to think the irish still support celtic/ have celtic as their team, look out for result, have an interest
but i dont know
Prestwick Airport?!
Great so it is – or – ‘Pure dead brilliant’ as the blurb says.
A ten minute drive to my house from there.
HH!!
Cheating Italians????
We were beaten by a better team H and A.
It’s always a sign of weakness when people seek to place restrictions on one’s right to speak based on country of birth or ethnic origin.
And another thing, if you buy The Sun even taking their latest pooh mixing guff, you are beyond the help of tablets and the medical profession.