Barca v The Celts: FT 1-0
Frosty on for Donati in the second half and Celtic generally upped their game.
Managed to get forward more, tho' did not create many (or any) clear cut chances.
Sammy replaced Jan (who had put in a shift) and with 10minutes to go Skippy came on for Hartley (who had also put in a shift).
Naka almost nicked one at the death with a rasper of a shot that was palmed out by the Barca keeper.
On the face of it, at the end of the day, losing 1-0 in the Nou Camp and 4-2 on aggregate is no real disgrace. But ...
... I think there were just too many of our players who gave the Barca players too much respect. We only really had about 15minures at the start of the second half when we were in their faces and really fighting. Overall, I don't think we did ourselves justice.
How good it would have been to wipe the grins of the ugly mugs of Ronaldinho, Eto'o, and Henry.
Oh, aye, and Deco - the original StankMonster.
These two games against Barca just highlight the gulf that there is between us and the elite.
We only get to play a dozen or so games per season at this level - we need more.
But we will improve and hopefully become more comfortable at this level - the team is still reasonably young.
However, I don't we will be going into the last 8 anytime soon. We must content ourselves with what we've got and recognize our limits.
Ach well, back to the bread and butter...
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11 comments:
I blame satellite TV! We never used to worry about reputations in the early days of European footy.
We should at least match the physical strength of these players but we go into a shell. The inhibited approach only gets us to second place. Jings, I remember feeling I hadn`t done anything until I got my masters from the OU because all my previous success was local. This runs deeper than giving ourselves a shake!
Disappointed but I`ll feel worse if we lose any more matches. That`s enough Celts!
Hopefully we`ll be back to our confident best on Sunday and just in case you`ve forgotten that Spartak Moscow, Shaktar and Benfica are in our wake!
the guys who let themselves down, I hearby give them time to make amends.
Ian, I must be one of those half-full characters 'cos I am never confident before any game and indeed can only start to relax when we are two goals to the good.
I actually think Sunday v Dons will be a hard match despite beating them convincingly a couple of weeks ago. Not only because it's on the back of the Barca game but also because I haven't yet got to the stage where I have confidence in the current team.
I can think back fairly recently to the better MON teams and just KNEW we were going to win. Or further back to the Stein era when I just KNEW it was in the bag.
I just don't have that with the current setup.
Talking about "starting to relax when we are two goals to the good"...
I remember watching the France v Brasil 98 WC final with my in-laws. Even with two minutes to go and at 2-0 up, NOBODY was willing to admit it was game over (except me being the neutral). Only when Petit put the third one in on 93minutes, I could see folk STARTING to relax...
Irrational, illogical, but we all do it.
Aberdeen will be difficult. They did well at Ibrox and were unlucky. They did score a second goal but Kenny Clark thought it was a foul on the goalie. It wasn`t.
forza
Anybody else think we would have beat Olympiakos to go into the last eight?
Worrying thing - thinking about the uglies here - is that they finished above Werder Bremen in the CL group...
Any news of how the Tic fans got on in Barcelona - not a word in the papers. Must have been outstanding then!
:o)
I heard a wee bit of the Chelsea game on radio and the commentators were remarking, quite often,`how did this team win two away matches against Werder and Lazio?`.
Football is a funny old game.....
Things did get a lot better in the second. We maybe we could even say that we competed for a spell and that a number of players had no bad games.
Ian said aboot Willo and Sno. I agree: I thought Wilson done well and the dread I felt when Sno came on was soon replaced by a strange feeling that the bigman had changed the game.
The less said aboot Massimo the better, I just hope that he has rented instead of bought a property.
To add to Sno, I thought Hartley again proved he was made for these types of games and I was pleased to see Naka and Aiden getting the chance to drift inside. Unsure aboot the tactics- I reckon they caused the early goal- but, tactics smactics, players win games and if we held and had players who could hold onto the ba’ better then tactics widnae be as important.
I thought the last 16 was a ceiling as well, then I was reminded by Ian, we beat Moscow, Milan, Donestk and Benfica. Yesterday, in a pub in Nykoping- aboot 100 miles from Stockholm-, I watched Fenerbachie get ripped by Seville but have two chances and score, I then watched Porto, Schalkie and a poor Olympicakos…and thought luck of the draw, luck of the draw…..
Apart from Moscow, we huvnae scored an away goal. Like sixtae, I think the team lacks balance, has guid points but I have no confidence in US getting results and performances from one week to the next. For us to progress we need to have that confidnce both us and the players we need to believe that we can score in every game.
But back to Aberdeen on Sunday, back to the grind and back to an European hangover…I’ll take any sort of a result just now…
From the preamble, I never needed a binbag, didnae drink in the street found a nice wee Uni bar that was full of locals not guys from Castlemilk….
Ian- it was three degrees below in Barca…..but mair of that later
Catalan keyboard indeed….
After 20 hours traveling yesterday, two timezones and a day in the back of beyond…numerous hours in airports….I’m shattered….that shattered I canny be bothered thinking aboot the munkies….
Laters……
The early goal was caused by retreating without tackling and the dodgy wind. :-)
It was a game to forget though. I hope that you had a good visit, Kevin.
forza
Havin watched that tonight it was very easy to see why Olympiackos beat Werder....
They have a goalie that chucks things in and palms things oot for goals to be scored....
Just begining now to wonder if their luck is really in, will they be feckers from now until the end of the season, if not the buggers could win the UEFA Cup, League and cups......
They have had lucky draws in Europe and played teams that have massive off nights...
I ken you need to be lucky to win things but this is now begining to take the pesh....
Have a look at 101 goals on the toolbar and watch their goals if you dinny beleive...
I keep waiting for them to implode, for their luck to run out, for this bad joke to end.
But no, the are truely the Devil's spawn: 666 United.
Never mind about the them. I understand your dismay but we can still be successful. Come on the Celts!
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