DMAA

What a total and utter scumbag that player is. He shouldn’t play another game in this competition this season. And Goldson should have his yellow rescinded. 

1 minute ago, Bill said:

Balogun has been reckless but if we’re honest both central defenders have been poor. Hope we don’t get hammered now

There was no need to disrupt the Goldson-Helander partnership, Balogun is a pretty clear downgrade for me

McGregor’s positioning looked very suspect there

Referee has set the tone and killed this game though by giving constant free kicks for absolutely nothing

Balogun has been a causing us trouble all night, that’s game definitely over now. 

See that replay, he touches the ball then throws his heels in the air. Infuriating. 

Can only hope they get complacent and we catch them out but I don’t think so

Game over 

We’re struggling here, they are hard to break down and they are comfortable

This looks bad

Professional divers this mob

Arfield struggling to make an impact, might be worth bringing Hagi on and pushing Aribo back one. Aribo isn’t getting much joy anyway. 

We complain about Scottish refs but IMO European refs are worse every time, they have made football a non-contact sport. 

That booking is a disgrace!! Misses the next game!

3 minutes ago, gisabeer said:

Stood off them again.  

You gave me a heart attack posting that so long after their goal, I thought they’d scored a second!

Good move, Morelos jumped too soon I think

37 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said:

Quite an interesting line up just announced with Balogun back in for Helander, Arfield in midfield and Aribo further forward with Hagi benched.

 

Helander & Hagi very unlucky to miss out, both been playing very well recently.

 

 

Yeh I’m a bit disappointed about Helander in particular, I think he’s a key player. My guess is they decided that Sima’s pace is too much of a danger, and maybe they are right. Hagi I can understand, it’s a tie we win if we don’t concede and Aribo is always a risk on the right side of the midfield 3, but Aribo’s form is probably a little bit better than Hagi’s at the moment and he caused them more problems last week. 

Huge game. Every round we get past builds our reputation, fills the coffers and tops up the co-efficient. 

We are certainly favourites;

• Gerrard has lost only 1 out of 20 home EL ties, Slavia have a very patchy away record
• With the away goal in the bag they need a goal and we don't
• We held them off at their fortress, even when our game preparations were interrupted by celebrations
• They had an away league game on Sunday (4 days before game) whilst we've had a full week to rest and prepare.
• Psychologically I think we have the advantage after they threw everything at us and didn't get the home win, epitomised by McGregor's save
• Zima suspended, he's played 90 mins in each of their last 8 EL matches (albeit the on-loan Simon Deli, who turned down Rangers last summer for Club Brugge, seems an able replacement)

Pointless and it always has been. 

On 12/03/2021 at 15:04, ian1964 said:

 

That's incredible. It's going to be hard to replicate this in future. Next season we will have 5 Scottish teams in Europe so points earned by Rangers and Celtic will be diluted somewhat. I believe this season we have been awarded 0.5 for a win, next season this will be 0.4 per win. Ukraine's slippage in the rankings means the inverse will be true for them, they are losing a place I am pretty sure so Shaktar and Dinamo Kiev's points will tally up quicker than ours.

Edit: Ukraine will still have 5 places next season which is good news for us. I believe it will be Czech Republic, Croatia and Greece who will benefit from losing the 5th spot.

3 minutes ago, CammyF said:

Helander all day long - Slavia switched their front 3 constantly as none of them could get any change out of Big Fil. 

I think he is a quality player. Fun fact, Goldson and Helander were signed for a combined £6.5m, £500k less than Celtic paid for Christopher Jullien ?

1 hour ago, the gunslinger said:

Arfield is ridiculously good at stealing the ball in a tackle. 

Yes, he provides a bit of defensive discipline and aggression too compared to Aribo. 

11 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

I still think a few Bears will turn up at the Piggery, regardless of when it is played

Guaranteed violence and arrests if that happens.

Very hard to decide. McGregor obviously saved us in the end, and made some other good saves too. Patterson and Goldson both did well and made some big blocks. Patterson also provided energy down the right hand side all night and his pace was vital in stopping some dangerous counter attacks. Aribo grew into the game and was probably our main man going forward for a spell in the second half. Hagi somehow managing to get to that ball and direct it across the goal got us the goal. Morelos was altogether very good. They didn't do their homework, they got too tight to him and played right into his hands at times. I've gone Helander because although he did have some stray passes and had 1 or 2 shaky moments I thought he was a rock for most of the game and stopped Kuchta, who I think is a very good forward, from getting much joy at all.

42 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

Still not that impressed by our substitutions, Arfield was okay, yet Wright should have been on to keep them occupied in their half, why Aribo was hooked for Roofe I don`t know, as he just got into his normal stride while Kent was "too sussed out" by Slavia.

Arfield did his job well, I felt much better when he came on because he provides more protection than Aribo and has more energy than Davis. Aribo was doing well, but I felt Roofe was brought on with only 10 minutes left as his hold play is good and he is a goalscorer so if the game got stretched we had a better chance of scoring on the break with him on. I think Kent was kept on because of his defensive work, you have to remember that 1-1 was a good result for us, otherwise I think Wright would have come on.