Scottish Football Discussion Thread 2010/11

[Dr Green and White]

I agree cash in on him, if he was scoring 15+ goals a season from that position I would keep him but he just isn't getting enough goals.

[buba3d]

superb result for the bears on and off the field.

[David]

Well, Celtic won 2-1 on the evening, but the Champions League is over for them this season.

 

A second leg victory was not enough as Celtic crashed out of Champions League qualifying at the first hurdle.

 

Leading 3-0 from the first leg, Braga increased their advantage when Paulo Cesar glanced in a neat header midway through the first half.

 

Gary Hooper pulled one back from close range after the break and Efrain Juarez added a header on 78 minutes.

 

A stirring comeback never looked likely and Celtic now drop into the play-off round for the Europa League.

 

The defeat to the Portuguese means a second successive season without Champions League football.

 

The home crowd did their best to lift their team with a rousing reception but Celtic were insipid from the off and did not trouble the visitors at all in the first half.

 

Celtic were jittery in defence, gifting their opponents possession with several stray passes, and were guilty of thumping aimless long balls forward far too often.

 

Braga comfortable coped comfortably at the back and always looked lively on the break.

 

And the Portuguese silenced the home support with a goal from a lightening quick counter-attack on 20 minutes.

 

Alan was given room to deliver a sweet cross from the right and Paulo Cesar ran across Cha Du-Ri before steering a header beyond the outstretched arm of Lukasz Zaluska and inside the post.

 

Celtic striker Georgios Samaras, who was off target with an early header from a corner, later stretched his leg towards a fizzing delivery from Jaurez but could not turn the ball on target.

 

The hosts almost fell further behind when they were exposed down their left flank, with Matheus breaking away from Jos Hooiveld but Zaluska narrowed the angle and blocked at his near post.

 

Hooiveld was then beaten for pace again and was booked for pulling back Paulo Cesar on the edge of the penalty area - the resulting free-kick failing to trouble Zaluska.

 

Needing five goals from the second half to progress, Celtic threw on striker Marc-Antoine Fortune for left-back Charlie Mulgrew.

 

However, it was Braga who were first to threaten after the interval, with Cesar stealing in behind the home defence but somehow failing to pick out one of two team-mates bursting into the penalty area.

 

Celtic made the most of that reprieve, with Hooper, making his first appearance at Celtic Park since his move from Scunthorpe, bagging an equaliser on 51 minutes.

 

Fortune's power and skill won him space on the right side of the box and his excellent low cross was bundled home by Hooper.

 

Braga retreated deeper after conceding but Celtic needed a saving tackle by Cha to prevent Leandro Salina converting at the back-post.

 

Samaras curled free kick narrowly wide and missed with a header as Celtic pressed with increased passion but a lack of guile remained among the home ranks.

 

Neil Lennon's side went in front on 78 minutes when Juarez nodded in a cross from Samaras from a suspiciously offside-looking position.

[Aidancorrigan]

seem to be a second half team at the moment... but defence was lucky at times...

 

I'd rather not be the team everyone in the champions league wants to play(Rangers)....

[FUM]

seem to be a second half team at the moment... but defence was lucky at times...

 

I'd rather not be the team everyone in the champions league wants to play(Rangers)....

 

We can turn this round however we want but I'd rather be in Rangers footballing position that ours. They've just done 2 in a row and are in the Champions League, I'd rather be the team everyone wants to play than not be in it at all.

[David]

Motherwell 3 Aalesund 0

 

Jamie Murphy was on target as Motherwell progressed in the Europa League with an impressive win over Norwegian outfit Aalesunds.

 

The striker gave 'Well a dream start after four minutes when he collected Chris Humphrey's cross and fired home a superb effort into the top corner.

 

Craig Brown's men were warming to the task and John Sutton swept home a Steve Saunders centre to double their lead.

 

'Well breezed into the play-offs with a late Jonathan Page strike.

The pride of Scotland continue their European dominance in good fashion.

 

From what i've heard, we are in group seven for the play-off draw, and thus would meet one of the following;

 

Villarreal CF (ESP)

Fenerbah

[Aidancorrigan]

Totally agree dude but we are building a team and a pretty good team from what i can see... If he can sort it out at the back then there is pretty strong team...

 

Motherwell too pump city oot... hahaha....

[David]

Totally agree dude but we are building a team and a pretty good team from what i can see...

Well, you better hope your team is sorted for the end of the month, because that's when you lot come visiting Fir Park.

 

And we'll be ready and firing on all cylinders by then.

[The Cum Doctor]

I haven't been this excited about the first game of a season since we first got promoted. I think I'm even more excited now than I was back then though. New manager instead of the increasingly annoying one we had, major pre-season clearout and some promising looking players brought in and a new youth system which is showing some results.

 

It helps that it's at Cappielow as well.

[Aidancorrigan]

Ur mobs a canter!!!

[David]

Europa League play-off;

 

Celtic vs FC Utrecht

Dundee Utd vs AEK Athens

Odense vs Motherwell

 

Odense is a tie we could win, that's for sure.

[cogitoergozoomo]

Europa League play-off;

 

Celtic vs FC Utrecht

Dundee Utd vs AEK Athens

Odense vs Motherwell

 

Odense is a tie we could win, that's for sure.

 

Any team with Roy Carroll in goals is beatable.

[unfitfinlay]

Totally agree dude but we are building a team and a pretty good team from what i can see... If he can sort it out at the back then there is pretty strong team...

That's what everybody was saying about Mowbray's team last season.

 

Lennon's signed the wrong players to win the League this season, I think. The foreign players are going to have to adapt to a different country, a different style of football and the pressure of playing for Celtic. He hasn't offloaded anybody either which has left the squad really rather bloated, and could cause problems in the dressing room.

 

I'm quite surprised though. I thought Lennon, of all people, would realise that Old Firm Managers don't have the luxury of time to build a team. I do wonder how long it will take Celtic fans will give him to get things right before calling for his head.

[FUM]

Totally agree dude but we are building a team and a pretty good team from what i can see... If he can sort it out at the back then there is pretty strong team...

That's what everybody was saying about Mowbray's team last season.

 

Lennon's signed the wrong players to win the League this season, I think. The foreign players are going to have to adapt to a different country, a different style of football and the pressure of playing for Celtic. He hasn't offloaded anybody either which has left the squad really rather bloated, and could cause problems in the dressing room.

 

I'm quite surprised though. I thought Lennon, of all people, would realise that Old Firm Managers don't have the luxury of time to build a team. I do wonder how long it will take Celtic fans will give him to get things right before calling for his head.

 

You can't judge that already, you have no idea whether the players will adapt or not.

 

11 players have left, that is a whole team, so how has he not offloaded anybody?

 

I don't know what you mean about having the 'luxury of time' when he still has the best part of a month left in the transfer windows and when Martin O'Neill used to leave most of his dealings to the last minute.

[stevon]

I have to agree that the signings have been wrong, not so much wrong but just wrong time. Lennon went on about buying British players and then hasn't really done so (Mulgrew doesn't count as a player, Ledley and Hooper being the exceptions). I'm not saying British players are any good - but if we'd managed to get the likes of Campbell and James in there I'd have felt a whole lot better going into the season.

 

PVH was spot on when he says we're missing that touch of class recently. We've got nothing but squad players left - with the exception of McGeady and Hinkel (for now). Theres no really any Lobos, Henriks, Suttons, Hartsons, Thoms, Borucs, etc. that the team can be built around. I don't think McGeady is good enough to build a team around and there's the lack of a prolific striker as well. Here's hoping Hooper or Murphy can fill that gap, time will tell.

 

Looking through the squad there's not the five or six or seven players you'd expect to play week in, week out. Hinkel and McGeady are the only two players I'd be confident of putting in a performance.

 

Just hoping that he's got some targets in mind/in talks and is keeping it till deadline day...

 

On a positive note - Samaras seems to be finally getting a bit of form together, but we all know how quickly he shys off and Hooiveld is looking like a decent player. Also, there is that "look at Rangers" factor there as well, who have many of the same problems - but the squad seem to pull it together no matter how little resources they have at their disposal and that's probably down to the fact they've got Smith at the helm who's been there and done it so many times before.

 

There's an interesting theory on KDS that if Lennon doesn't get it right this season, it'll be the board that get the stick this time, not the manager. We all know Neil will try to do the business and providing there's no Mowbury-style tactical madness I can see it happening.

 

Last tidbit from me - we've now got TEN midfielders (12 including Conroy and Grant) and TEN defenders and FIVE realisticly starting forwards... two squads worth easy... And none of them are much good. Why we don't cut it down to say 6/8 in defence/midfield and 3 strikers I'll never know. MON was brillint for building a starting eleven and had the likes of <any player in the current squad> as backup incase of injury. That's the path we really need to go down I think. Having 25 squad players isn't going to get us anywhere - having 8-11 good players and 6/7 squad players for cover might just be the way forward.