Disappointed but Proud

[Guest blueoracle60]

Bears travelling - loud and proud

 

Great performances from many - eg Sir David, young Danny, Shagger, Kenny, wee Naisy

 

Pleased for big Mac for scoring and using his strength where it counted.

 

How were we hammered in the home leg??

 

Can we still do it?

 

A must win v Stuttgart

 

...and i'll see you all there in Seville - travelling up from Malaga..details tbc

 

P.S. Might not be the most Galacticos RFC but they don't half put in a shift

 

Nacho Novo Loyal - "He said no to the Provos"

[Norris Cole 0]

Nurse !

[Union City Blue 0]

I thought we were garbage.

 

Pride was the last thing that sprung to mind.

[Zappa 0]

Bears travelling - soaked & tier gassed

 

Great performance from young Danny Wilson.

 

Can't believe the big bruiser Lee Mac scored for us, but a goal's a goal.

 

If only we hadn't lost the home leg & had got at least a point.

 

Can we still do it?

 

A must win v Stuttgart

Corrected a couple of things for you there.

[Frankie 8,552]

Good to read a positive post but while you're correct about McGregor, Weir and Wilson playing well; the rest of the team were no better than average while a few were outright disgraceful.

 

Third place seems to be as good as we can hope for but still don't see anywhere near enough from this team to suggest we can beat Stuttgart and/or get a result in Spain so even that may be out of our reach.

 

Hopefully a good result on Saturday will lift everyone's spirits and confidence.

[calscot 0]

I'm probably in a minority, but I thought it was a reasonable performance considering the level of our current squad and factoring in our injuries and lack of players on form.

 

Not a great performance but pretty acceptable. The biggest thing we lacked was a killer touch in front of goal with Kenny Miller again showing he is an expert at not putting the ball away.

 

Games in Europe are never easy for our club, even when we spend 70M we don't have on players or having teams containing the class of Laudrup, Michaelachenko and Gasgoigne. So we shouldn't be expecting a massive result or performance in the aerated atmosphere of the Champion's League - there is always a pretty decent team trying to do the same to us.

 

While we didn't exactly dominate the game (nor were we dominated) I thought we looked the more accomplished team with far better passing and a more studious approach resulting in higher quality attacks that just didn't have the zip to put the ball in the back of the net.

 

In contrast the Romanians were far more kick and rush then shoot as hard as they can from anywhere. Their approach means that with so many hard shots going all over the place, now and again they'll hit the top corner or get a deflected goal. Unfortunately we seemed to suffer from that far more than will happen to most other teams.

 

Apart from the luck factor, better teams than us will put them in their place, firstly take a few of the many chances that will definitely come their way (even like the ones we had) and also press them in defence more so that their shots are coming from a further distance, as well as tracking back better and keeping more players behind the ball while pushing them wide.

 

Keeping possession more would also cut down the number of scattergun shots meaning the chances of an exceptionally good one or lucky one hitting the bulls-eye would be much lower.

 

That last tactic could actually have won us the game - so many on here complain when we close out games by going into the corner instead of pushing for a second goal but the danger of the latter was artfully exposed this time.

 

I'm still gratified that we did play possession football for quite a few spells in the game, passing the ball well and being patient, however with 11 men behind the ball and our real lack of a star player who can open up defences (a Laudrup, Gazza, De Boer or even a young Ferguson) limited our effectiveness in converting possession into a decent attack. Too often we ran out of ideas and eventually gave the ball away and when we did get close, it usually just wasn't good enough.

 

Ironically, McCulloch showed that playing it their way can actually come up trumps - and I think we need to take more pot shots from distance - we've learned from these two games it can work; however, I wouldn't like to solely rely on it like the Romanians.

 

I think what we were showed is that we have team of above average players, but no stars or real class to pull something out the bag - or the defensive ability of the UEFA final team to close out the opposition attacks.

 

Every team needs a star player to do well in Europe and you just have to look at how many times Larsson performed a bit of magic to project Celtic into another round.

 

At the moment we're not great at converting chances and have lost the ability to keep it water tight at the back for the full 90 minutes. That means we're more vulnerable to bad luck, bad decisions and bad mistakes. When any of these happen we haven't got the resources to ride it our or turn it around.

 

It's not surprising considering the current financial climate when we've got over 20 clubs in the UK outbidding us for anyone and everyone with a bit of flair or exceptional talent. Local talent is also at an all time low and so the potential of the likes of Fleck are probably exaggerated by poor quality of young players around him.

 

So until our relative financial position changes, I think we need to enjoy the games where we are at least putting in a competitive performance and celebrate any results we get. The league is always more important and at least there, our rivals are mostly in the same boat.

[fraser54 0]

I thought when we got it on the deck, got Davis, Thomson and McCulloch on the ball we looked really good. Kept possesion well and that's where most of our chances came from, good steady build up !

We drew against Stuttargt away, beat them twice at Ibrox before so we can beat them at home. Then last night Stuttgart proved you can go to Sevilla away and get some points. Lets hope Sevilla beat Unirea with a weakened team, then we go there and play against a weakened team to try to take something. Remember the first half against Sevilla against us, we battered them !

 

Bring on the remaining two games.

No matter what, we are in the champions league and we should enjoy it

[andy steel 0]

I only saw the highlights, who was disgraceful?

 

Nacho might have said no to the provos, but he said no to keeping the ball as well...I wish to goodness our players would realise they don't have the chops to go for Brazil-passes.

 

And as an aside, how can STV make a 90 minute programme, featuring he cream of European football scoring some 40 odd goals, look crap? They truly have an inverse Midas touch. Big Terry, with his permanent expression of alarm, looking for all the world as though somone has just told him his house is on fire, and the other guy, effortlessly getting it wrong on every occassion.

 

Class.

[UCF2008 0]

I wish to goodness our players would realise they don't have the chops to go for Brazil-passes.

 

I'd still prefer to see them try instead of the triangular passing movements which go nowhere except to the opposition or back to Weir or McGregor only to be given back to the opposition.

 

Other teams only look impressive against us because they actually try to attack and this is despite the fact that they generally have a far lower quality of player than we do.

[Super_Ally 0]

Interesting post Cal and it all makes sense. But having not seen the game I can't comment on its veracity.