fans content

Thought we played well at times today. Some super passing movements up
front - Zurawski played his best game yet, scored two, should have scored
two more and set up Naka with a wonderful goal, in which Thomson of the pars
needed a ticket to get back into the ground after Majic skinned him
something beatifully....

Hartson on the other hand was absolutely shocking.....when he plays like
that we are playing with ten men.....

The defence still worries me. Boruc looks solid - but the 4 in front of him
look anything but. Balde is superb one minute, Bomb-scare the next. McManus
is still finding his feet, Camara is much better going forward than
defending and Telfer a little short of pace - although when he pushes up he
is very calm and assured. Camara would be an ideal wing back in a 3 at the
back system, Telefer simply better in midfield.

Naka had a decent game - took his goal well and tried to get into the game
as much as he could. Petrov was simply outstanding - and deserves to be made
captain permanantly. However - his comments that he intimated he is happy to
see out the last two years of his contract worry me. We should offer him a
new contract next summer - and if he wont sign a new deal then he should be
sold to the highest bidder - no more should we let players walk away for
free - its is gross miss-management if we do....

Beattie did well out on the flanks and continues to get better each game.
Virgo played the holding role - and looked like a guy who hasnt played for a
while......

Some good stuff at times against a piss-poor Pars team. But thats not our
fault - you can only play whats put in front of you. Well done Celtic. Its
slowly coming together - and a good reaction to last weeks events.

ps - Lawson came on for the last 15 mins and didnt look out of place. Also
saw Pearson sitting on the bench!!

pps - Joke Brown has a new agenda - to highlight every minor misdemeanour
committed by a Celtic player - his constant harping about Hartsons challenge
with Mason - and then every tackle Balde goes in for is turning into a
witchhunt. Even Hately has to talk some sense into him most games.......

Cheeers
Yogs

2-1 final. I thought we were comfortable for most of the game until they
scored - then they threw everything at us but we held strong.....

Bellamy looks to have tweaked a hamstring and Beattie was given his chance
again (he was then hooked with about 5 mins to go - this is the second time
this has happened to him - and he took the last one really hard) - but if
Beattie had scored 1 of 2 glorious chances he was given then we could have
seen an empty Ibrox for the last half hour....if Bellamy had been on Im sure
he would have taken at least one of them.

Thought we were solid at the back, with Bobo and Varga coping with
everything thrown at them. Jackie and Agateh were sound - what a difference
Agathe makes at full back!!

In the middle, Stan Petrov looked like he was on a mission - cracking header
for the goal and ran the mmidfield - Bazzaned isnt half the player Stan is.
Sutton, Lennon and Thommo were solid throughout and up front Bellamy was
causing them alls orts of problems - his goal was very reminiscent of
Henriks first in last years cup final although Bellamy had a diddy to beat
first!! Pure class!!

Hartson and Beattie were the only disappointments for me - Hartson looked
laboured and didnt hold the ball up well and second half we needed someone
to hold it so we could bring the dfence up a bit - we were sitting too deep
and inviting them to attack us. Beattie, I am disappointed for as much as
disappointed with - he had the chance to make himself a hero when put clean
through - a delicate chip was all that was required to kill the game and he
blasted it wildly over. He also had another clear cut bouncing chance before
that but didnt get over it properly and the keeper got a bit lucky.....

Big mention must go to Marshall - after flapping at a corner first half he
went on to have a great game. Most of the saves were routine but he was as
safe as houses.

Their goal was just pure luck and they didnt really deserve it - but it made
for a very nervy ending.. but we hung on and deserved the win. We made them
look like the second rate outfit they are - Eck must be close to getting his
jotters ;-))

WELL DONE CELTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps -The Bournemouth club was absolutely bouncing!!

cheeers
Yogs

From www.nyceltic.com :

Following Rangers' debacle the previous day at Ibrox, several members of The New York Celtic Supporters Club had to seek early release from various Metropolitan area hospitals where they were being treated for a variety of ailments arising from split sides and other laughter related traumas. Nonetheless, a large crowd assembled at The Parlour for today's match broadcast, including several advance guard visitors getting ready for the forthcoming St Patrick's Day festivities. More of that later.

This looked like a tricky fixture but proved anything but. It took Celtic only 5 minutes to take the lead when Sutton slipped the ball through the Hibs defense to find the alert Stilan Petrov at the far post. Stan looked up, combed his hair, ran up to the stand and borrowed a mirror. Reassured all was well with his coiffure, the bold Stilian ran back onto the field and slammed the ball home. Another excellent goal from a player reaching his peak.

Craig Bellamy was torturing Hibs and within half an hour accepted applications for the posts of butler, dishwasher, garbage removal specialist and executive dog walker from various members of the home squad. Craig already has the gardener post filled so that should about complete his household staffing requirements. A great days work by Craig who thoroughly deserved the Man of The Match Award.

After a half hour Sutton again found space and this time squeezed the ball over to Johnny Hartson who slammed home an instinctive goal. Chris injured himself in the process and was replaced by Aiden McGeady who proceeded to further torture Hibs. By this time Celtic were completely dominating Hibs. After 40 minutes Rab Douglas became bored and retired to the Players Lounge for a quick pint and a pie. Unfortunately he dropped the pie while the pint squirmed out of his hands and spilled over Brian Quinn's new suit. Rab had a solid game today, looked confident and made several decent saves.

2-0 at Half time and high drama at The Parlour. Jim Denny left to pick up some morning sustenance and returned 5 minutes later with a bacon and egg sandwich, a cream cheese bagel and a packet of aniseed flavored Tic Tacs. Upon re-entering the Parlour, Jim was immediately set upon by John Kelly's dog who had clearly decided Jim's bacon sandwich was just the ticket to get Jim back for impersonating a dog whistle when Celtic scored their first goal. Jim tried to escape by jumping on the bar top, but the inventive animal anticipated this move and, using John Dillon's beard for a sling shot maneuver, hurled himself across The Parlour to confront Jim, facing him off, beer taps only between them. High Noon, man versus fearsome wild creature.

Tommy Donnelly saw the funny side of this and immediately called the Discovery Channel who he was sure would want to turn the encounter into a nature documentary. Petra meanwhile was having none of it. She immediately sprayed the combatants with beer, made Jim hand the Tic Tacs over to the hound and scolded the poor beast for getting involved. Tail between his legs, Jim responded and in a conciliatory gesture handed over his egg sandwich. Diplomacy won the day, order returned and The Parlour settled down for the second half.

More of the same for the Celts and Craig Bellamy sealed the points on the 70th minute with a goal straight from the Larsson scrapbook as he rounded the keeper to slot the ball home. A great goal from a player who epitomizes confidence. His speed gave Hibs problems right through the match. As noted previously, Craig well deserved his Man of the Match award.

Hibs pulled back a goal in the last minute, a good one, but the points were secure. Celtic capitalized on yesterdays slip up by Ranger, reduced the points difference to 4 with two games in hand, and reduced the goal difference gap to 10. The title is in Celtic's own hands.

An excellent morning at The New York Celtic Supporters Club was rounded off with a further bit of fun as members and friends recorded a St Patrick's Day message to be broadcast by Celtic TV on the very day, 17th March. We accept no liability for any shock, trauma or sleepless nights brought on by viewing our assembled visages or hearing our less than angelic voices !!

Hail Hail from The New York Celtic Supporters Club !!

watched this game yesterday with a genuine sheepie in the pub in his jersey...rare sighting dawn sarf...his son was a die-hard red as well- man utd as it turned out:-)

a welcome three points at a difficult place to go in january where we have often slipped up, on the kind of pitch that we struggle on. This should set things up nicely for next weekend, when rangers step out on sunday 6 points behind, with our goal difference improved, and aberdeen looking to get some revenge.

didn't think any aberdeen player particularly shone yesterday and their early season form certainly eluded them. In the dire second half we were primarily responsible for their revival by sitting far too deep.

mcnaughton, anderson and diamond were the best of their bunch (and the scandinavian on left mid (haika-something (sp?)), though he kicked petrov far too often).AFC showed some ability to hold the ball in central midfield and a had reasonable performance from their central defence. Wasn't sure whether mcgeady's quiet game was down to the midfield we were playing where he tended to receive the ball from lennon who was playing deeper therefore giving him less time and space to exploit on receiving it. Pitch didn't help either and the low quality match is another consequence of SPL stupidity trekking ICT there to help churn it up.

Aberdeen didn't seem able to hold the ball in the wide positions and most of their crossing and through balls were dreadful. They also played some rash balls out of defence direct to our midfield when only under light pressure.

the men in red were very anonymous up front as well and certainly didn't deserve us keeping a back four for the second half, and sitting so deep and not loading the midfield with five brought them on top of us imo.

neither esson or preece would feature in any greater sheep keepers vids eithers.

watching the first half you wouldn't have believed we would end up grinding out a one nil.

camara showed typical ineptitude in his brief sub appearance by taking up an offside position before blazing it wide. Also beating a man on the right before failing to deliver, (though tv watching didn't show exactly what he would have had to aim at in the middle when he checked back).

Best of the celts was mcnamara in my opinion, didn't really see sutton as motm. Laursen was quietly competent and should have had a penalty, and bobo balde swung wildly at the ball and his opponents.

Juninho tried too hard and was robbed of a decent free kick opportunity by a laughable so called advantage. Douglas completed his one 'catch of the week' early doors and then failed to get involved in some similar flighted balls to the six yarder....very frustrating flaws in a competent keeper.

Interesting to see some many changes for one our hardest matches on 'paper'. This was almost risk taking from yer MON, though maybe he has seen more our of aberdeen recently than I have.

The four four two with juninho didn't really work. And we really really flatter that attack by playing four against it. Near the end a sheepie (whelan?) was left with the ball on the edge of the six yarder as bobo watched without intervening nearby and uli laursen waited in alone to play 2 reds onside.
Varga would be the much better option than bobo in terms of reading the play.

Nice try martin, but we really need five in the middle to get the best out of the brazilian.

Right result but that football isn't going to get any purists setting their videos.

yours in green

brian k

ps there really should be a BBJ-abuse counter running in the corner of the screen. Another load of free kicks given against him for standing still and not challenging for the ball in an ungentlemanly manner.

The Huns began with their usual strong-arm tactics as they set out to provoke a reaction and this led to some frantic early exchanges. The deadlock was broken with a simple back to front ball with Hartson out-muscling Kishnavili and Sutton firing home the knockdown. At that point we were worth the lead as the Huns had not threatened our goal in a scrappy match.
Slack marking cost us dearly after the re-start when Ricksen equalized. The cross should have been stopped, and when it wasn't,Balde should have been tighter on Ricksen. It was a poor goal to lose.After the Huns cleared 2 off their line in quick succession , Hartson won it with 13 mins. to go and despite a few nervy moments I thought we deserved the win.
It wasn't pretty, but then again they rarely are. Best for us was Varga and Laursen, who had another solid game at left-back.With money tight and Laursen staking a serious claim to a starting spot at left-back maybe the signing priority should be concentrated elsewhere in the team. He looks more than competent enough for domestic competition and should improve with a run of games and is at least as good as his supposed replacement, Hamill from Motherwell.
A good win and roll on the league game.
Tommy

What can we say about today? A 15 minute spell in the second half when
Celtic decided to show the kind of football they're capable of,
unfortunately once Sutton's penalty went in it was back to the usual and the
cracking atmosphere descended once again into the morbid torpor we've come
to expect of Paradise on non-OF SPL days.

Quite simply this was a dreadful game, aside for the above 15 minute break.
The midfield had a creative hole in it that was so obvious as to be painful,
perhaps it was this that resulted in the Route One tactics of most of the
game but whatever the reason this was grim to watch. Hoof, Punt and Jump...
Well ok forget the jump as the referee Thomson had obviously decided that
Sutton and Hartson had to play by different rules which includes trying to
jump with at least one Livi player hanging around their neck. Never the
less when we did try to play a passing game it was a different class,
exceptional even, so why the reverting to type when the lead was regained is
a mystery.

The first half was piss poor, no two ways about it. McGeady for all his
class overelaborated on too many occasions, Alan Thomson while putting in
some fine work at times repeatedly delivered dreadful passes especially when
trying to put players through or combining for one-twos. The midfield had a
Moravcik shaped hole in it (yes still) that perhaps could have done with
Juninho to fill it but he didn't come on until the referee was reaching for
his whistle. Elsewhere Laursen continues to show why he doesn't get a start
very often, shocking distribution and was skinned more times than a dot-com
investor.

Sitting in the east part of the North Stand the Livi goal looked
suspiciously offside which is kind of ironic considering the fact that the
North Stand linesmen flagged Celtic offside at every possible opportunity in
the second half. Never the less it was one of those moments of lax defending
that have become a bit too common this season and The Sieve continues to
remain just that.

It was also obvious during the first half that referee Thomson's previous
display was no aberration, this is one to really fill the cloven hooves of
Hugh Dallas when the brave whistler (copyright Daily Record) flutes into
retirement. Early doors the newly thuggised Livi (well done Gough) became
acutely aware that the MITB was intending to allow them free range in the
old kicking and whacking departments. For the rest of the match the visitors
cast aside their previous reputation as clean, attractive football wannabes
and decided to ahem.. "match Celtic physically" - which is tabloid speak for
kicking the sh*t out of anything in Hoops. It really was incredible. Jim
Hamilton had to physically tear off a limb and eat it while laughing in
front of the main stand as he demanded someone bring him some mustard sauce
before he was booked, well ok nearly.

Up front it wasn't really happening. Sutton and Hartson, as has been said
before, are too similar. There was little movement at times when their
should have been, none at all on occasion, and this is not to claim in any
way that the two were slacking - its just their style. We really could have
done with a nippy striker, someone who would run around like a mad bugger,
create space and lay off balls - hell even Camara would have been worth a
try.

Half-time we had some hairy Australian being the latest person to murder the
Fields of Athenry at CP. Thanks.

Second half started off far better. Celtic played some football and when it
began to work they played some more until we had a real game to watch. This
is more like it, this is what we want to see. Livi were ripped apart, only
the incredible display by Meldrum stopped it being a rout then again maybe
not for when Celtic eventually did score it was back into the hoof and punt
shell. It was as if someone had turned off a tap. One thing notable about
the penalty, when it was given Hamilton went apesh*t and remonstrated loud
and long at the ref but Thomson no doubt recalling that the skinhead thug
was on a yellow kept his cards firmly concealed. In fact if Hamilton had
kicked Thompson up the arse he would have escaped with no more than a
ticking off or possibly a kiss and a cuddle. Another of Hamilton's little
tricks is to lead with his arm in the face of an opponent when jumping for
the ball, he did this time after time today and not once was he pulled up
for it never mind a foul given.

All in all a dire match enlivened by referee Thomson's shocking display and
15 minutes of football at the beginning of the second half. When Celtic had
to adopt the hoof and punt game against Livi at home you know we have
problems.

Celtic totally dominated this match from start to finish and easily brushed Dunfermline aside.After a week of disappointment and turmoil concerning the direction of the Club we bounced back well and won in a canter.Results at the moment are more important than performances and we won this one without really having to get out of 2nd gear. We must get back into the winning groove and regain the confidence that winning brings and this was a good start on that road.
Celtic were aerially superior and used this to good effect when Sutton bulleted home a corner and then knocked down a header for Petrov to scissor-volley the goal of the season so far.Petrov showed great technique on his goal and I thought he was our best player all day on a playing surface that didn't do anyone any favours. Dunfermline's only tactic was to pump in high balls which our 2 central defenders coped with well. It wasn't a day for silky skills on a plastic pitch but we got the job done and returned to winning ways.
McGeady was doubled up on all day and we must learn to best exploit this phenomenon by swinging the ball around to where we have the numerical advantage. Petrov's movement and willingness to get forward was 1st class and he is so effective when in this mood.
No Juninho or Camara today even in a game we had well in hand.
3 points secured and we move on.
Tommy

Celtic lined up without Agathe and with Joos in the problem position of left-back. I thought we made a good start, zipping the ball around with McGeady looking dangerous. There were some alarming gaps when Milan probed in these early stages. Milan kept the ball for spells but that in itself is not unusual or unexpected at this level, the trick being to defend with discipline.Milan caused us problems by isolating on the flanks and using superior pace to blow by defenders. We got around this by keeping the midfielders a wee bit deeper to protect the flanks.
I thought our general play was good and we defended reasonably well after a couple of early scares.We asked questions of the Milan defence but never made the vital breakthrough. At this level you need a spark of genuine quality, that's the difference, and quality costs money.
McGeady looked at home in this company and Milan weren't long in sussing the danger he presented. They doubled up on him for most of the game and he showed a maturity beyond his years. If only we had more like him. We got to see Juninho although in fairness it was too late in the game for him to make any impact.The only word I can think of to describe Camara is brainless. There is no mitigating factors in his defence, he is crap. The sooner this waste of space is gone , the better.You just can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear.
A valiant effort but just not quite enough.
Tommy

From www.nyceltic.com :

The New York Celtic Supporters Club was delighted this morning to learn that leading member Jim Denny has won a walk on part in the Rockettes' Christmas Extravaganza at Radio City. Jim plays the part of Rudolph The Green Nosed Reindeer and is currently in training at The New York School of Ballet where he is learning to throw a kick higher than his ankle. Jim is also on a bromide diet to keep him sedated when he gets too close to The Rockettes chorus line (Jim is particularly fond of a couple of Santa's elves, but this is a family web site). Jim has promised to display his new balletic talent at The NYCSC Christmas Party on 18th December but has thankfully agreed to leave his green tutu in his dressing room at Radio City.

As for the match, another tricky Scottish Primitive League match for The Celts. Tony Mowbry has done a great job with Hibs and they truly did deserve at least a point from this match. Scrappy it was and, once again Celtic have John Hartson to thank for the three points. BBJ scored two great goals, first from a corner in the 18th minute, a trademark bullet header. Hibs equalized (deservedly so) midway through the second half through Caldwell, but John snatched the winner in the 83rd minute, latching onto a through ball from Camara which he duly slammed home.

Not a great performance by Celtic, another howler by Bobo Balde, Joos once again looked like he'd been on juice of the fortified kind before the match and Hedman flapped in goal like a stranded sea lion. Great performance by Aiden McGeady, but all in another very poor performance by The Celts.

In advance of Tuesday's visit by AC Milan, this Celtic team looks jaded. Not nearly as much as Juninho though who was last seen in Frasers store in Glasgow, deployed by MON as a helper in Santa's grotto..We haven't had much luck with Brazilians but at least Juninho isn't Schietd. At any rate MON didn't think he was when he signed him..

On to Tuesday's match against AC Milan, hopefully another heroic performance in prospect by The Bhoys(in addition to The NYCSC's planned assault on the Parlour's beer supply). See you all there!!

Hail Hail from The New York Celtic Supporters Club !!

It was great to see, and hear, the great welcome Celtic were given by the travelling support not that I would expect anything less.After the bitter disappointment of losing twice to the Huns this was a game that no-one gave us much chance in. The most optimistic predictions had us holding the score down and yet this Celtic team rose to the occasion once more.The early stages of the game saw Barca knock the ball around comfortably while we were content to sit in and give nothing away in what was at that point a low tempo game. The game burst to life when our defence was sliced open by the pace and movement of Barca as Eto'o gave Hedman no chance.I cringed as I wondered what might now happen but then Hartson resurrected our hopes when he tapped in at the back post after a terrific Petrov delivery. There was a hint of offside but so what, we deserved a break.It was a good 1st half as we doggedly stuck to the task.Belletti and Sylvinho displayed attacking full-back play at it's very best.
Our tails were up for the 2nd half as we emerged rejuvenated by the half-time talk. We looked more comfortable even though Barca retained possession for long spells. The half-time adjustments by MON curtailed the raids of the Barca fullbacks and I thought we were worth the draw. Barca failed to get in behind us as easily as the 1st half as every player chased and harried.
I thought Joos stuck manfully to the unenviable job of marking Ronaldhino and after a shaky start settled onto a good game, especially when we reverted to a back 4 when Varga went off. Well done too to Hedman who exorcised some personal demons with a sound display between the sticks. It's unfair to single out any player as they all played their part but a special mention to Neil Lennon who, despite picking up an early caution, tackled his heart out in midfield.
We now have the inside track on the Eufa cup spot but we gained more than a point tonight. We regained our self-belief and reminded everyone that Celtic are underestimated at your peril. Even the mighty Galacticos of Madrid left the Nou Camp with nothing. Well done Celtic.
Tommy

It wasn't pretty but the result was the important thing. It was a nervy, tension-filled performance that proved how important a match it was and how important our continued appearance in Europe after Christmas is, both financially and to club morale.
Shakhtar were sharp and their one-touch passing was fluent and dangerous.We caught a break with 2 Shakhtar players being dismissed but overall we never dominated the game and at times it was hard to tell who had 9 players. The 1st half was reasonable but Shakhtar were always dangerous and I always had a slightly uneasy feeling about the way things were going.
   When Shakhtar went down to 9 men I figured they'd go into damage limitation mode but instead they brought on 2 fresh strikers . We should have went on and finished them with a 2nd goal but I think we were a team a little bit low in confidence and we were content to pen them back into their own half and deal with their breakouts. The stakes were high and that was reflected in the tactics.We're now back in the race for the Eufa cup spot and Shakhtar have to go to Milan without 2 starters who will be suspended.
I thought the game hinged on Marshall's early save, if that had gone in we may not have recovered. Best for us were Hartson and Petrov, with Joos also playing well.
   If we were offered the win before the game we would have bit their hand off.Not anywhere near our best performance but the win secured, 3 points in the bag and the job done.

                                                                                            Tommy

An inept and clueless display.Shakhtar are a decent European team but are certainly no Milan or Barca and I felt there was something for us in tonight's game but I never reckoned on our suicidal and Keystone Kops -like defending.Our 2 statues at the heart of our defence cost us dearly tonight. Balde is too erratic and while Varga has good skills he is too leaden-footed for this level. Both of them together are a nightmare. In defence I would give only young McManus pass marks tonight and he deserves his chance in upcoming games.
   Sutton's departure was definitely a factor but we should be able to compensate for his absence and our failure to do so speaks volumes.After losing a soft 1st goal we were sliced open time and time again as Balde and Varga simply weren't up to the task. This is the 1st game in a long time I've seen Celtic heads go down as players hid out there.It had looked promising and then the sky caved in and we were lucky to avoid a real drubbing.We were directionless all night and could not make our minds up whether to go for the win or play for the draw. At one point Camara chased into the corner and then had to wait for ever for help and even then Juninho was the only player who ventured forward.
   Our 1st team squad is insufficient in both numbers and quality. We cannot expect to throw young players on in a game of this importance and then be surprised when results like tonight happen. We are the only club of our size that is intent on waiting for youngsters, who may or may not, mature into genuine starters. As a strategy it is flawed. Yes, the SPL is an inferior league but is it that inferior to the Ukrainian league? I would think that Shakhtar labour under the same constraints as ourselves i.e. league quality, T.V. money etc without the benefit of 60,000 home gates every 2nd week.I think that properly motivated we can beat Shakhtar in the return match but whether we can overturn their superior goals is another matter.It looks like no Europe after Christmas this year.
                                                    Bantry Bhoy

Talk about a game of 2 halves! I thought the starting 11 represented our best chance of taking anything from this game.We were under the cosh for the whole 1st half and were lucky to go in only 1 down. Milan looked the part in that 1st half but they were helped by our tendency to give possession away cheaply and by some shoddy defending. We had 3 central defenders who were unable or unwilling to mark the Milan attackers. Thankfully MON sorted this out at halftime and we saw a complete transformation in the 2nd half.We upped the tempo and showed tremendous heart in forcing our way into the game. I think the key to this was playing to our strengths instead of worrying about what Milan was doing, and it worked.Belief was instilled in our ranks while Milan no longer looked as comfortable. When we deservedly equalized I felt we could go on and win it but insane and naive defending done us in again. Our midfield competed well all night but schoolboy errors at the back are killing us. These late goals are not simply bad luck as they happen too consistently for luck to play a part.Its bad defending and bad decision-making by defenders that is contributing greatly to these late goals. It's a crying shame because we were worthy of at least a draw and had given a good account of ourselves against a tournament favourite. We must now beat Shakhtar twice and hope Barca carve up Milan.
Bantry Bhoy

As enjoyable a wee game of footy as I've witnessed at CP in a while (caveat : outside of "big" gemmes). One factor was the decision of both MON and Yogi to avoid all pretence of fielding defences, but the other was our diminutive trio of Juninho, Aidenho and Rossio - they were bloody marvellous to watch; in particular a spell in the second half when the two youngsters took it in turns to trick and flick their way beyond the reach of defenders and cross the ball from one side of the box to the other. Ah, twas a joy :-) Downside for the new Nike Tics was that our backline was fcking shocking. Balde (at 2-0 he lashed an attempted clearance against our crossbar), Valgaeren and Laursen were frighteningly inept - at least Douglas and McManus got pass marks. The full-backs weren't helped by the lightweight, attack minded McGeady and Wallace. Falkirk only scored once, but the final score could have been 12-3. Enough of that, though. This was a night when the fun was when we were in possession. The skill and movement was great, but the vision and passing of Juninho was fantastic. "Aye, but it wiz oany Fawlkurk" some may say. Well, bollox to that. This was marvellous entertainment, with some terrific goals thrown in. Wee Paulista's through balls for Sylla (Goal 1) and Wallace (Goal 7) and the way he sent Sylla away to cross for Lambert (Goal 4) were exceptional. Wallace's free-kick (Goal 6) was a stunna, and possibly best of the bunch was McGeady's (Goal 8) as his turn on the inside right channel stranded two defenders, before he flighted a curling effort into the top corner with his left foot. When the final whistle was blown by the Grand Dame of Refereeing, Willie Young, I was really sorry. Auld Headmaster Willie's theatrics were funny throughout and the Falkirk crowd behaved like a bunch of raucous, naughty schoolboys at assembly - even if they do have a series of unintelligible, and unintelligent ditties (singing "There's only one Henrik Larsson" brought a cheer and applause from the Hoops fans and was quickly dropped, never to be repeated :-)) Their best moment was a chant of "So fcking easy" after they reduced the deficit to 6-1 :-) And so into the wet'n'windy night we headed, smiling and recalling the goals. And safe in the knowledge that we'll never see that back four ever, ever again. Please... Cheers Alex.

I caught the game on free-to-air SBS television this morning before
heading off to work a tiny bit later than usual.

The end result was about right as far as balance of the game for the
whole 90 mins, although Celtic holding out for so long and then gaining
the upper hand for a time at 1-1 made the result disappointing. Celtic
could have been down and out of it before the half.

It really was obvious the class difference. Celtic's passes were going
astray, Celtic players' control of the ball on the run generally wasn't
good in comparison, nor was the control on receiving the ball. In these
technical areas there was a gulf, especially in the first half.

There was a fair period in the game when Celtic just wanted to punt the
ball upfield to end the Barca pressure - the Celtic midfield must have
been frustrated as all hell. I don't remember seeing Lennon involved in
the play much for example. He was being by-passed by Barca making very
quick passes, and he was never given the ball to feet from defence.

But in the fightback, I reckon Celtic showed more steel and
shell-shocked Barca players for a good 15-20 minutes.

Great moment the penalty save, and then topped by the equaliser. Must
have been a fabbo moment in the stadium. I know I was jumping around.

I reckon Junino's yellow-card will be withdrawn, but Alan Thomson was
fortunate to escape for his lunge under the nose of Mr Merk. It was
along the lines of the "tackle" that got John Hartson booked just a few
minutes earlier. I agree that Chris Sutton got pinged for body contact
that seemed mostly quite within the Laws of the Game, but I also reckon
as an experienced player he should have worked out the standard that was
being applied and backed off a bit - he was at risk of being booked for
persistent offences.

Good on the support though for urging the team on. It would have been
easy to have been brought to silence by the overwhelming class
difference of the first half when Celtic didn't look to have a prayer,
and was living on the edge.

It's a tough old Group, Group F. I'll be a bit surprised if Celtic can
get anything much out of AC Milan next outing, but I'll be watching and
hoping anyway.

Alan Clark
Melbourne
Oz

It isnt often I can summon the effort to report on a match we have lost. Not in the Normal manner in which I report anyway. I use the word normal loosely here.
Although there is some disapointment in losing our wonderful home record and unbeaten run there are certain up sides to it.
We are under no pressure from here on in with the monkey around our necks. Mickey Mols please dont take offence.
The Huns will be mightily miffed that they wont get a crack at our record although they did manage a fanny in alex Rae. A bit like Europe really we get the European cracks and they get the fuds, same thing no?
And to be honest if anyone deserved a wee break at CP it was the dandy Dons. I have a soft spot for them and I would rather it was them than Hearts that ended the run. Hasnt what tension there was left in the final Of game evaporated?

The evening promised so much to begin with as well. Being driven along the tollcross road there seemed to be a slimming club out for a jog and there were bouncing diddy's everywhere. Just like CP at the end of the last OF game only this was no act of bravado.

I can only imagine what CP would have looked like had we only managed a point at the weekend. as it was it was dead. Low attendance. Early leavers, late arrivals, feckers cheering because they had Prunty at HT at 25/1 for first scorer. These particular idiots are not genuine Celtic fans. I dont know what they are other than feckers at a loose end when theres fitba oan.

Depsite the result Celtic did play some breathtaking football and ultimately with little reward although they scorned enough chances to win ten games. The Dons had two chances defended well and basically worked their socks off.
We on the other hand were brilliant in places and mediocre in others.<Shrug>
If I can take one defeat in seventy eight games every time then gimme gimme gimme as Abba would say.

The Dons fans also deserve a mention for their behaviour during the minutes silence to faither. Impeccable boys and a credit to your team.
I wonder if Ronnies death had an effect on everyone inside CP last night with the exception of the dons fans and players and rightly so.
It was all flat and uninspiring and even when Henke nodded home a Glasgow cross the celebrations were muted.

Celtic played like Celtic for most part and Ross wallace was outstanding in everything he done. Everyone was doing their bit with one exception which I will get to in a minute. but poor finishing, a stout Dons defence and apathy from the fans all contrived to make this much more difficult than it should have been.

We also had some paranormal activity in a Lenny rasper from the edge of the box, Lenny threatening to repeat the feat and then popping up a few times in the dons penalty box. A Memo to The institute of paranormal research is winging its way as we speak.

Now I hate to harp on or get on top of any Hoops player and even said Hello to Joos when he passed me outside the stadium but to me, Didiers body language is all wrong. when he recieves the ball the first thing he does is look to see who he can give it back to. His confidence is shot and he looks like he could do with a rest. He just wasn't in it last night and with Momo up front then it was going to be a long night.
Its plain that MON doesnt fancy Beattie or we would have had a start or even come off the bench at some point. but he hasnt and I think that speaks volumes given the present circumstances.

So even though we went hell for leather for the points it was this in fact which was our undoing as we were caught a few times and punished twice on the break. well done to young Prunty for a good performance even if it did cost us.
The winner was down to Lambo being too fecked to run any further allowing Klinsman to finnish off with relative difficult ease.

It all had to end some time and I for one feel a bit relieved and would have been gutted had we surendered it to Hertz or the Hunz.
It wasnt ideal but it wasnt catastophic. all in all it was a decent game of football and we were treated to some delights as well as the mediocre.
Dont be too hard on what has been an excellent run and now we get to begin it all again.

Performances.

Marshall. Couldnt see any real fault and inspires confidence in the fans anyway.

McManus. excellent game for the youngster a wicked delivery almost set up a goal.

Varga. Solid and meaty in the tackle.

Jackie. Consistent as usual until he limped off.

Bobo. Replaced Jackie and was rampaging like a housewife at Ikea

Lenny. SUPERB!!!!!!!!!!

Lambo. Legs are gone now and against the youthful dons he was always under pressure.

Gieitaway Agathe. Nuff said

Petrov. Roamed the midfield like a catholic in the gloamin

Wallace. Fine performance from the wee man. Very skilfull

Thommo. Pish

Sylla. He tries bless him

Henrik. He truly is the sonnagod

Miller. Manu were robbed.

Smith. played one sublime pass and flattered to decieve for the rest of the time. Tiredness cant be his excuse.

Ok Now we should really see the weans now as there is no reason not to play them at Hertz. I was particularly impressed with young Rosco and McManus although I am concerned that in two starts he has gone off injured both times. Bad luck I hope.
So when all's said and done it was bad to lose it was good to see Henrik score at CP again, I hope it isnt the last. OUCH!!!!!

Hail Hail
From Yer Mate Cáit

rugby park in the sun...

a rare terr at the fair,

well close enough;-)

thank you very much to alastair duncan for kindly sorting me out with a ticket for rugby park and for the pleasure of his company and mutual support during the nervous closing stages.

also thanks to david mcbeath for the offer of 1 on the way to the ground..thankfully by then (2.30ish) we were finally in business

Due to the final two tickets not being collected for parkhead to 1pm on the sunday (not by choice) the chance to catch up in a pub was missed....

Mate had gone in to pick up tickets via security (without a mobile) and was supposed to be back after 12 to get on the road. At the back of 1 with no sign of the bhoy, no knowledge of the tickets and still sitting in motherwell it was beginning to get tense. Alastair then phones to say he has reached a pub in killie, I tell him I can manage that pre-match pint but it might have to be the railway tavern in motherwell;-)

Mate re-appears from phead with envelope marked t.burns and 2 tickets....
Finally on our way and picking up the last member of the gang in hamilton. He with the IPOD of 1000 tunes some of which are actually quite good. Then I show my ignorance of latest developments by not realising the IPOD can broadcast to the car stereo by radio. (amazing)...(later I heard how his ipod barca bar attempt stalled when his batteries failed. A lung bursting trip later he returns from his gaff to amuse the catalans by trying to get things going again with a UK plug and no adaptor!:-)   ).

Arriving at an industrial estate we were slagging the driver for giving up ' miles away' from the ground. Force him to start going again and we turn 1 more corner and see the big safeway (oops). Get out the car and lose the last of the carry out to the polis within 30 seconds. This really is starting to be a habit in killie. The polis there swoop like vultures

Get a call from my mate Ian from Tamworth in the Brum no2....do I fancy a beer at ruskin hall...not this time mate!-

. Knockback from stowed local pubs and its off to the rugby park stadium hotel. Amazingly despite the throng outside we are straight in and sipping a beer in the very plush and not too busy main bar and function suites. Killie fans and celts mingling throughout and its all good natured. Cheers and laughter fill the place as a guy scales the moffat stand perimeter wall despite a cavalry charge by two mounted police who grab his feet and fail to stop him struggling over the top. If he got up the top of that without help he should be in the circus.

Finish the beer to go in search of fishul match programmes and half time draw tix...get in to find the kickoff delayed.

Game is in parts scrappy and reasonable passing. Didi of Barca has been replaced by the Raith Rovers vintage model and johann is getting turned inside out.
We don't seem to have the dribbling ability to beat a man but larsson is creating space for the midfielders by making some great touches.

From the opposite end of the ground the killie goal looks fair enough (with a great finish) so we are relieved to see the flag. Some of our crossing and corner kicks are skelping the first man to no effect.

I speculate as to whether Pearson would make a better forward than Stan with jackie mac out right and jamie down the left, and didi safely in the stand. Stan and MON prove me wrong. This theory had also worked earlier when I locked my sunglasses in the car boot to get rid of the rain and force the sun to appear;-)
Lennon the legend finds henke who demonstrates total skill by linking with Petrov who drives forward before prodding the ball round the keeper. How does this tiger normally get knocked over by a gust of wind? Bizarrely stan also impersonates a cave man fearing the sky is about to fall on his head when he ducks down and cover his head with his arms after losing sight of the ball due to the sun.

Lennon defends celtic's honour by taking on the entire killie bench. On reflection the tv picture shows the tackle into larsson was bad due to how he fell rather than how the killiie man went in. Later on Lennon gets hammered late and squares up to fowler. Lennon doesn't raise his hands and imo is harshly booked. BBC are later white with shock at the horror of his violence..but then cannot show us him doing anything wrong.

On the subject of the bbc.
Major incident        BBC coverage         BBC scottish laptop loyal panel view             BBC token outsider (english) view
---------------------        -------------------             ------------------------------------------                    -------------------------------------------------
killie non-'goal'      no reverse angle           def no foul, good killie goal        prob foul, need a proper view
                          (unclear from back)

celtic 'offside' goal no CLOSE UP!             def offside, def                maybe not offside, need a proper view
                            on who hit it to HL

lennon booking        no coverage of clash    lennon is guilty...believe us!        ???????........

at the end firstly celtic team does a wee celebratory walk around, bench come onto to celebrate..before all are up the tunnel.

Later team return properly visit each away stand and MON is nobbled for an interview in the centre circle. Finally yer MON is free to make his own solo trip to the fhans. Cue moment of the day for me, and big lump in the throat as Martin trots up and waves to the moffat stand. Notice that Larsson is now approaching tunnel and desperately start a larsson song. Larsson starts an avalanche of bodies by chucking his jersey into the crowd.

(later I watch the tape and am apalled to see the bbc version...why oh why not replay the interviews later and concentrate on showing the fans how the team and players are actually celebrating the thing as it happens. very very poor coverage)

Start heading out to find that my mate was five rows aways sitting next to tommy twists tommy turns himself and his missus. Abuse mate for not mentioning this at half time. Catch up with the throng mobbing tommy on his way. Meet up with everyone spread around the ground and stop for a team photo. Onwards to the car and go back down to the ground for the bus leaving. Henrik and co pose for some photies taken through the bus windows which are most likely defeated by the tinted windows. Photo or two of lambie standing at the door of the bus and cheers and shouts and a wave back from yer MON as he finally gets on and they are away.

back to the well and the tavern for celtic singsongs til closing time...phone my boss at some stage to cry off of work on monday afternoon...;-)

find that my champions 2003-04 david marshall t-shirt isn't suitable clubbing gear afterwards:-(

spend monday driving south..sigh..

yours in green

brian k

We were never really in any danger in this match and by the end it resembled a training exercise as we threatened to pass Livi off the pitch.Joos made the team and it was good to see him put in a productive 90 minutes. We started off a wee bit lethargically and Marshall saved well as a Livi forward broke free. He covered his angles well and is beginning to make these saves look routine. Very impressive.Livi's early foothold in the game was soon eroded as we gradually got on top. We enjoyed long spells of possession although Livi still had to be watched, as Pearson's last-ditch tackle to save the day proved.Sutton opened the scoring from a delicate Petrov lay-off and we were off and running.
We were very comfortable on the ball and kept possession with ease and with another couple of goals it looked like MON would be able to throw on the subs and save the legs for Wednesday. It was a routine, dull half but we didn't need a high tempo game.
Within minutes of the restart we killed the game when a Livi defensive mix up allowed Larsson to easily lob the advancing goalie. A third was added by Sutton but the game was effectively over at that point. Livi got one back late from a free header which I'm sure would not have pleased MON.In the last few games Balde's defending has become a bit erratic and he really must concentrate better on Wednesday or we could be in for a long night.
Best for us were Petrov, Sutton and Varga. I thought Petrov was particularly impressive as Livi struggled to contain his forward runs all day. I also feel Joos has played himself into contention for the Villareal game with a good, solid shift.
A decent performance and hopefully no injuries, although Sutton seemed to be limping as he was subbed. Let's hope it's nothing too serious as we will need all our Big Guns for Wednesday.
Bantry Bhoy

Can't believe all the negativity surrounding yesterdays game, I enjoyed it and apart from a cutting edge up front to finish off the chances I think they all did well given that they haven't played as a group on many occassions in such a big arena. We call on MON to play the younger players and what happens..a couple of bad occassional touches and the groans ring out - I couldn't believe my ears at times yesterday. Its already been said, Man U and Arsenal kids struggle also when thrown into one off games like yesterday all at the same time. IMO, yesterdays game showed that we have the nucleus of a side capable of coming through given the right time and coaching..patience is what is needed..not jeers. Providing we manage to retain most of the big time players missing yesterday and supplement the team with experience and skill in one or two key areas, the squad of the next 3-4 years look capable of carrying on our recent good form..give them support.

Chris

PS For me, Sylla was MOTM

You will have to make some allowance for my absence from the Lhist but the truth of it is that I had such a hangover I had to declare Friday a non day. Even if I had been able to focus enough to see the keyboard I still doubt whether my head could have withstood the noise.

Yes it was quite an evening. A game that I will remember for all of my days. The atmosphere inside the ground was absolutely astonishing and to be part of the 60,000 choir singing "You'll never walk alone" just filled my heart with so many emotions that I cried. I have no hesitation in saying this. The lump in my throat just could not be controlled and the tears just came rolling down the old cheeks as the sea of green and white waved before my eyes.

And then as the game raged from end to end my nerves were stretched, twisted, strung out and finally snapped when our No.7 sprung up above between two Barca defenders; seemed to hover in the air for five minutes, then calmly headed the ball into the path of the onrushing Alan Thompson. At that split second time just seemed to stop until we saw the net in front of
the JOCK STEIN stand bulge. Upon that signal the whole place just erupted into sheer bedlam. The chant of "We shall not be moved" was in the throats the 58,000 Celtic fans in heart rending; heavenly; harmony that would have been heard as clear as a bell over Bridgeton Cross as the battle cry rattled down London Road to roll bring the news to the Sons of William
gathered in that area, no doubt cheering on Barcelona.

I had to sit down after a while to gather a breath but the Battle Hymns ran on and on. I just sat and listened. Luckily I had had the foresight to carry a wee hip flask with me so I was restored in body and in soul. And all the while the battle for ultimate victory was played out between the 19 playew left on the field. We had our chances and Barca had theirs. Barca had the all stars but we had the fighters and towering above them all was BOBO. I do not believe that I have ever witnessed such a display of raw unremitting brutal aggression and commitment as was shown by our Ivory Coast colossus. Wave after wave of Spanish attacks were simply brushed aside as BOBO went about his business. Later on I tried to imagine what the Spaniards
must have made of this man and his defensive partners who seemed to take encouragement and comfort from his example.

Witness the two desperate last minute tackles from Jackie MacNamara to foil A certain Barca goal and the towering shape of Stanislav Varga charging from our defensive position to lend his power to our attacks safe in the knowledge that BOBO was looking after things at the back and protecting our young substitute goalkeeper Dave Marshall sent out defend our goal in the
absence of Rab Douglas And of course before they even got through on our defense they had to negotiate a way past Lennon,Pearson and Petrov. The new comer in this trio showed that once again MON, having completely ignored unlimited advice from every pundit in the land, bided his time to secure the services of the player that HE considered most suitable to play for Celtic. Having witnessed young Pearson's criss crossing of the pitch, chasing back to help the defence, thrusting forward to attack the Spanish defence from every conceivable position for all of the ninety minutes; I can only think that he
must be on something. It is hard to imagine such confidence and stamina in one so inexperienced of European football.

But in all this appreciation of our team it must be said that Barcelone brought to Celtic Park a style and qualitry of football which we know exists but rarely have the priveledge to witness live and in the flesh. Who could not fail to be mesmerised by the magical skills of Ronaldhino. The passing game that the Spaniards play is a joy to watch. I was awestruck in the first half when the Barca team played some thing like eighteen successive passes inside our half before releasing their captain into our box. Fortunately his final drive was not what it might have been and we escaped by the skin of out teeth. It is rare indeed that an opposing player is applauded by the home support but Ronaldhino was cheered to the rafters when he was substituted in the closing minutes of the game. I am keenly aware that some of these cheers were of relief but most were in recognition of the sublime exhibition of skill and vision that he had shown us

Yes I have used the collective words "us, we and our" as though I was playing. Of course I wasn't but I was up for every high ball, chased every long ball, made every tackle and scored at least three spectacular goals. As did every other Celtic fan in Celtic Park on Thursday evening. That is the lesson that so many visiting teams learn as they come through the tunnel onto our pitch. When you play the Glasgow Celtic you play against a team which numbers 60,011 players.

one nil win against top class opposition at CP.........and some of us will
still feel disappointed we didnt press home our 1 man advantage......

when we drew Barca I thought we would win at home but lose away and go out.
But given our horrendous injury situation then getting a home win without
conceding a goal is an incredible result......

hopefully Sutton will make the second leg....but even if we lose then we
have still done ourselves proud with this result.......we continue to make
Europe stand up and take notice. We have given ourselves half a
chance.........stand up and be proud!!

ps - watched the game at the Bournemouth Shamrock club - absolutely
bouncing!! ;-)

Cheeers
Yogs

A poor performance by our own standards, in one of the poorest Old Firm
games I've seen in years. But we won, playing in third gear. There's the
impression about this Celtic side - with Barcelona on the horizon - that a
Cup game at home to a Rangers team currently light years behind ourselves is
something of a passing nuisance, but little more. It would be nice to slay
them good and proper, but *so long* as we continue to raise our game in
bigger European matches, I'm quite happy with that.

The win at home to Lyon was our most accomplished European showing under
O'Neill to date, I thought. Hopefully, with Sutton back, we can reach a
similar level of performance on Thursday. We may very well need to.

As a conscientious objector to obscenely high ticket prices (not to mention
someone who is straightforwardly skint anyway), it was Sky Television's
coverage for me today; a vast improvement on the BBC but nevertheless
considerably marred by Ian Crocker's constant rambling at the commentator's
mic. God spare us such a tireless procession of clichéd irrelevances
(something of a media hallmark these days), most of which would be better
suited to a brochure *advertising* the fixture to an alien audience, never
mind match commentary in its home country.

The post-match coverage was a bit like the sports presenter's equivalent of
picking the bones out of a carcass. Jim White, Charlie Nick and Nigel
Spackman - for what their views are worth - appeared unable to even come to
grips with the sheer scale of Rangers' fecklessness. The consensus was that
their best, nay *only* chance of catching up with Celtic in the medium term
was if Celtic got markedly worse.

Then, an interview with McLeish in which he sounded like a thoroughly broken
man, making Tommy Burns circa '97 seem positively enthralled by events. His
insistence that he was "proud" with his players' level of effort and
application, and that he "knows the Rangers supporters want to see that too"
sounded like a pre-emptive attempt to endear himself to fans who are perhaps
not far from turning on him outright. "If we'd had that team for a three or
four game stretch then things may have been different." Assuming he watched
the same game as the rest of us - in which his team's 'effort' produced a
total of one single, 89th minute shot on target, and in which a Celtic side
*themselves* short of two-thirds of their attack looked largely untroubled
whilst playing poorly in their own right - then his assessment was
staggering.

Immediately after, on Radio Clyde, he spoke of how injuries had played a big
part in his team's season and how next year he would "like to stamp his own
mark on the team for the first time" (another subtle plea for clemency from
the support). He also commented that what Rangers have missed most is the
fire-in-the-belly style contributions of the "Stevie Thompsons and Gavin
Raes".

In which case, let me say this. Eck must bloody well stay. Rae missed two
great chances today as a simple result of the fact that for all his huff,
puff and 'true Scottish grit', he - like the vast majority of Scottish
footballers thus far bummed up following relatively brief purple patches at
provincial clubs - has ultimately failed to master the basics of technique.
One early chance from the edge of the box was pelted twenty yards over the
bar, another in the last minute was sclaffed wide from fifteen yards. If
this is the level of future Rangers signings for some time to come, then
they will only ever be as successful as they are permitted to be by
opponents. That is, us, domestically, and most anyone, continentally.

For ourselves, the game presented very little to chew on. Missing Sutton
obviously hinders our ability to play the high balls forward, and we were
below par as a direct consequence. Celtic under O'Neill have always been
capable of playing some extremely incisive, entertaining passing football
(in home ties vs Valencia, Lyon, Stuttgart, Anderlecht not to mention a few
of our most impressive Old Firm wins, home and away since 2000), but the
problem as I see it is that they are too often cowed into a more
conservative approach, often for no good reason. Today it was as a result of
losing two 'big men'. But there were a good few moments in the game where
Rangers looked ripe for being cut apart on the deck, only Celtic failed to
capitalise.

Pearson's running caused them problems, despite the gangly one's close
control often making Petrov's touches look more like gentle caressing.
Agathe flitted in and out of the game but always looked at least capable of
beating men in the wide position (when he failed, it was more often down to
his own poor control or misjudgement rather than finely timed tackles by one
hun hammerthrower or another), and when Beattie arrived there were a number
of occasions where passing movements involving he, Agathe and Petrov on
Celtic's right served to flummox the Rangers defence and midfield, but there
was never anyone around to make the telling run. Hell, even Valgaeran
managed to run three-quarters the length of the pitch, skipping around four
tackles en route, before feeding Beattie.

Still, the goal came from a set-piece and provided Larsson with his first
Old Firm counter of the season, expertly taken by a striker whose ability to
evade markers in the penalty area simply boggles the mind. He appeared
uncharacteristically emotional after the celebrations, looking like he had
his fists held tight to his eyes. Given he has only a few Old Firm games
left in which to impact, I think that was a big goal for him,
psychologically.

After the goal, the nature of Rangers' attempts to come forward (one
hesitates to use the term 'attacking') resulted in Celtic exploiting more
and more space in their last third. Klos, surprisingly enough, cut an
increasingly bizarre figure as he began racing off his line in attempt to
clear almost everything from through balls to innocuous midfield passes. On
one occasion, Larsson raced after a pass only for Moore to halt his path by
stopping dead in his tracks. A clear example of obstruction from the hun
captain who was getting away with his usual barrage of off-the-ball trips,
shoves and kicks throughout. But Larsson fought to get past him, and with
the keeper stranded in the middle of his penalty area, lifted a glorious
chip into the back of the net. What a goal it would have been! Dallas,
however, called back Larsson for the 'foul'. Utterly ridiculous.

Klos did save well from Beattie shortly after, with the young sub having
been found in space following a series of passes across the edge of the
Rangers penalty area which probed and prodded at their defence.

The defence were comfortable, with Balde in particular making one
*exceptional* sliding challenge on Ronald De Boer, who looked like inching
past him on to a loose ball inside of the box. But comfortable or not, 1-0
is always heart-in-the-mouth material, especially with Douglas exhibiting a
couple of instances of uncertainty that made him look every bit the usual
liability. He dealt well with Ball's turn-and-shot that got Rangers into the
'Shots On Target' column, but the bigger chance was Rae's sitter shortly
thereafter.

Two more wins in the Cup and O'Neill will have delivered the double. Only
our own mistakes will cost us in that department, from now on. So, to
Bar-th-elona then, a far more pressing concern.

Tonight we were poor with a capital P.

Consistent performers like Sutton, Thompson, Varga and Petrov lost their
edge tonight and we suffered. I don't think Varga was at fault for their
goal, stopping an attacking player getting the ball inside our box at
full stretch. Balde/Lambert should have been closer to the goalscorer
and again, I felt Douglas should have done better but to be fair, it was
a powerful shot.

Teplice were a cynical side, intent on stopping the game as much as
possible, the ref played into their hands, stopping for small, slight
fouls. I think they ended up with 7 or 8 yellows, which is no less than
they deserved.

Mystified again by the decision to award MOTM.

Still, we're through with a couple of goals to spare - once again.

Worryingly, Sutton looked as if he's f**ked his ankle. Hopefully the
magic sponge will come into play for Sunday.

Here's hoping we were lulling the Huns into a false sense of security
for Sunday - all a part of MON's cunning masterplan...

Cheers,
JP

Celtic 5 Livingston 1
From www.nyceltic.com "
Spring like weather has descended on New York, and no where was it sunnier than in the Parlour with The New York Celtic Supporters Club. A large crowd gathered for what was to prove an eventful morning. The fun actually started early in the morning. Your Web Manager had prepared www.nyceltic.com for update by bringing an earlier "View From the NYCSC" back from the archive, one that indicated a score of Celtic 5-0 Livingstone. Unfortunately this was published in error. One Thomas Kelly Donnelly logged into the site early today and was shocked and amazed he had missed today's match ! Apologies to all for the error, but I wasn't far wrong was I ??
Onto the match and another typical SPL match. This week we had the added pleasure of having The Dundee United vs Rangers game on one of the monitors. More of that later. Celtic started the match at the usual pace and no surprise when Celtic took the lead following a delightful interchange between Varga and Sutton left Pearson with an easy tap in to open the scoring. Celtic dominated and on 35 minutes Chris Sutton aggressively harried the Livingston defense to snatch the second.
News then came through that Rangers were losing at Dundee United prompting loud cheers, doubly so when John Kelly switched one of the Parlour screens to Tannadice just in time for us to see Dundee United score their second. Splendid stuff. Then, some poor defending by Celtic in the 41st minute allowed Lilley to slot the ball past Douglas. No fault by Big Rab this time, just as well since it turns out the Tree Surgeon he shared with Egil Olstenstad has committed suicide after Egil decided to branch out from football to become a scratching post for a Bavarian Black Bear in Glasgow Zoo.
2-1 at half time and the Parlour crowd was in great spirits. John Kelly's dog was running around and appeared to be having a terrific time playing with a tennis ball. Steve O'Brien suggested it might be humane to send a tennis ball over to Alex McLeish to cheer him up based on the look on his coupon at half time at Tannadice. Alex and David Murray are reported to be in consultation with UEFA regarding the possibility of arranging one off loan deals with Zidane, Beckham and Figo for next week's Scottish Cup Clash. Here in New York the question is how we will be able to accommodate the large crowd expected to arrive for the match broadcast at The Parlour. Reminder to all. Get there by 6:00 a.m. at the latest!!
Only 3 minutes gone in the second half and Thompson restored Celtic's 2 goal lead with a beautifully taken goal. King Henrik did further damage in the 55th minute with a superb shot following an indirect free kick in the box. All but over and Celtic played out the second half with a combination of neat interchanges of play and outrageous skill, particularly from Thompson and Petrov.
Celtic used all three subs bringing on Sylla, Beattie and Valgaeran for Larsson, Sutton and Kennedy. With 10 minutes to go Beattie was pulled down in the box and Thompson made no mistake, casually chipping the ball over goalkeeper McKenzie. 5-1 to the Bhoys and the record SPL win streak continues at 25 and counting.
And so another enjoyable morning at The NYCSC. More visitors joined the fun and all are looking forward to the broadcasts of the Teplice second leg match on Wednesday (12:00 p.m. EST) and next Sunday's Scottish Cup Quarter Final against Rangers (7:00 a.m. EST). Much merriment to come over the coming weeks !!
Hail Hail from The New York Celtic Supporters Club ! Ken Miller, Communications, New York Celtic Supporters Club

Celtic 3 Teplice 0

Great start, 2-0 up in 15 mins and I'am thinking we'll hit 5 or 6 here. Had some good chances to add but went in at HT 2 up and still you thought it was OK.

2nd half I think the team stayed in the dressing room. We sat back and let Teplice come on to us but they too were sitting back and it made for terrible viewing. I was getting a bit edgy that we hadn't finished the tie but Ghod scored 1 min into extra time and 3-0 is sound. I think at only 2 it would have left a lot of hard work in the Czech Rep next week.

Also, Petrov was singled out tonight for some abuse, he was battered everywhere but fair play to him for nor reacting.

The New York Celtic Supporters Club welcomed back one of its famous sons today as Martin Neary returned from a successful diplomatic mission to the Q Continuum. Martin had discovered that the Q were planning to intervene in the 2003/2004 SPL run in by changing the laws of physics that govern the kinetic motion exhibited by a 10 pound football being kicked in the direction of a Celtic net. Since intervention by preternatural omnipotent beings is the only thing that will stop Celtic winning the SPL this year, Martin activated his magic kilt and transported himself across the Astral Plane in a diplomatic mission to "Sort The Sods out".
Needless to say Martin prevailed with another impressive demonstration of the resilience of his under kilt nano technology and he was welcomed back to The Parlour by a relieved group of New York Celtic Supporters Club members and friends. The Q on the other hand have subsequently turned their attention to helping the Sons of William with their debt crisis, a problem that threatens to challenge the collective powers of the Continuum itself.
On to the match against Thistle, and an interesting turn of events as former Celt Jorge Cadete took his seat on the Thistle bench. Prior to joining Thistle Jorge had been discussing a move to Ibrox having pre-qualified on the grounds that he was over 35 years old. Rangers were prepared to offer Jorge GBP 20,000 a week, a five bedroom house in Newton Mairns as well as private use of David Murray's Lear Jet. Unfortunately a glitch came up and the last minute when Jorge actually passed the Ibrox medical, so he joined the Maryhill Magyars for 14 pence a week and was duly pitched in against the Celts.
A very comfortable first half for Celtic. Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton linked well and Alan Thompson put in his usual sterling shift. Ulrika Johnsson must have really made Sven go blind. The only surprise was that it took till the 35th minute for Celtic to take the lead. A neat exchange between Kennedy and Larsson saw the Swede set up Chris Sutton who headed home from close range. Stan Varga was next up when Alan Thompson floated a delicate free kick into the box. Stan timed his run perfectly and headed across the goalkeeper and into the net.
Half time at The Parlour and this time John Dillon provided the half time entertainment with an impromptu demonstration of the Martial Arts skills he has honed through 4 years of door-keeping practice at the New York Celtic Supporters Club. John explained the he had learned these techniques from an ancient Master who manned the turnstile at Central Park, home of the Blue Brazil, Cowdenbeath, John's home town. John has never had to emulate the master who used to practice rendering people unconscious and dragging them into Central Park to get the attendance up over the 250 mark. However, he demonstrated his own interpretation of the mysterious arts by charging a sales rep in the GAP across the street $15 for looking in the general direction of The Parlour. John's Master taught him well.
The second half started with Celtic again dominating. Only 5 minutes gone and a stonewall penalty to the Bhoys that not even the Daily Record will be able to fault. John Kennedy was bundled over in the box and Chris Sutton stepped forward to execute his usual professional hit.
Then Rab Douglas did us proud again. Rab clearly disagrees with the goalkeeping textbooks and yet again demonstrated his defiance by pushing a shot from Billy Gibson directly back into play. Britton gleefully slammed the ball home causing Rab to immediately reach for his cell phone for another consultation with the Tree Surgeon he shares with Egil Olstenstad.
The match slowed down after that, with Celtic clearly content to see the rest of the match out. In the 64th minute Partick Manager Derek Whyte realized Jorge Cadete was in fervent conversation with a daffodil growing behind the home dugout and was apparently receiving advice from the plant regarding appropriate accommodation in Maryhill for a budgie called Fergus. Jorge was sent on and frankly showed some nice touches rather than just being touched as he appeared to be when he departed Celtic in a straight jacket all those years ago.
Jorge sparked the Jags up a little, but with 10 minutes to go Stan Varga had a free header form a Thompson corner to make it 4-1 for The Bhoys and game over. 24 straight wins in the SPL and while the opposition is admittedly rank (and none ranker than in Govan) this is a significant achievement in any league and one that is not receiving anywhere due attention from the Scottish media.
Another good morning then in The Parlour and this coming Thursday the European adventure continues as The Celts take on Teplice in the UEFA Cup. The Match Broadcast starts at 2:45 pm in the Parlour and the New York Celtic Supporters Club will gather in force as usual.
Hail Hail from New York City!!!!
Ken Miller, Communications, New York Celtic Supporters Club

Hail Hail,

From www.nyceltic.com :

Members and friends of The New York Celtic Supporters Club began arriving early for this one, lured by the prospect of watching the Sons of William facing an uphill struggle at the Sheep Pen. To great mirth at The Parlour this proved to be the case as the Blue Meanies were held to a very fortunate draw dropping a further two points. In truth the worst Rangers team to crawl on God's Green Earth since King Billy ordered a pre-emptive ethnic cleanse of the mole population. Unfortunately for him he missed one.
Some pre match entertainment was provided by a moronic rugby fan who stormed in demanding the Wales vs Scotland 6 nations match be put on one of the Parlour's TV screens. After Petra explained The Parlour didn't have access to the Setanta channel for this match Mr. Neanderthal Scotsman unleashed a torrent of abuse in her direction. Unfortunately for Fred Flintstone's first cousin this was overheard by several of The NYCSC members in attendance who politely instructed this low life in the error of his ways. Sensing her Caveman was about to get himself into a nasty scrum the Troglodyte's wife literally dragged him out of the Parlour. Just as well, since one Patsy Keane had already begun a search for a suitable object to insert in the knuckle dragger and was homing in on the Tricolor bearing flag pole at the front door.
Initial excitement over and all eyes turned to the screens for the expected route at Celtic Park..which promptly failed to materialize. A poor first half performance by The Bhoys despite good effort by Petrov and Larsson. Dundee United did well and gave Celtic more trouble than better known recent visitors such as Bayern Munich, Lyons and Liverpool. We won't mention Rangers since we're only counting opponents who can actually play.
Half time at the Parlour and Jim Denny took the stage to make the shocking announcement that, having narrowly missed out on being elected Governor of California, he is placing himself in the running for the Democratic nomination in the forthcoming Presidential race. Jim is basing his candidacy on the fact that "all the other candidates are diddies" and that "It'd be pretty cool to fly to Celtic Park in Air Force One". The New York Celtic Supporters Club wishes Jim well, and we will be covering his campaign as the coming months unfold.
On to the second half and more of the same. More urgency from The Celts but Dundee United held on with tenacity and downright thuggery on the part of a couple of graduates from Satan's College of Unruly Behavior, Govan chapter (Dodds and Miller). Then, in the 58th minute, the seemingly unthinkable happened. Rab Douglas was once again looking for help from the tree surgeon he shares with Egil Ostenstad as Archibald headed home.
Celtic now looked in danger of losing a proud home record stretching back 69 matches. Martin O'Neil thought otherwise and brought Maloney on for Pearson. Shaun had been given specific instructions to inform the team that unless they pulled three points out of this one John Hartson would be brought down from the stand and locked in the Walfrid restaurant where the team was planning an after match banquet. John was then to be given open access to the kitchen where dinner was being prepared and was to feel free to help himself.
This did the trick and the team reacted to their fear of having to do with John's sparse leftovers. In the 80th minute Shaun himself slotted home a Sutton cross. Two minutes later Petrov was pulled down in the box. Stonewall penalty despite what the Daily Record and anyone else says. Up steps Chris Sutton to coolly slot the ball home. Cue Bedlam in The Parlour.
Two last minute events raised further peals of laughter in The Parlour and probably everywhere else in Timdom. First Henrik Larsson juggled the ball on the touchline before slamming it into Charlie Miller's ugly visage from about 2 feet. Then Billy Dodds received a red card for a vicious hack on Petrov. Billy may not be the Elephant Man but he's certainly a close relative of the pachydermic genus.
Poor performance by Celtic but a strangely entertaining match. At least Dundee United made a game of it unlike most other visitors to Celtic Park this season.
Hail Hail from The New York Celtic Supporters Club!!
Ken Miller, Communications, New York Celtic Supporters Club

Thompson made a welcome return today especially as our options were limited due to Hartson's injury and Balde's absence. We made a great start when Petrov made a late run into the box and dispatched a perfectly weighted pass from Larsson to make it 1-0. Celtic looked calm and in complete control as Sutton went close, denied by a fine save from Gordon. We were firing on all cylinders and Petrov doubled our lead with a spectacular finish after great inter-play between Sutton and Larsson. This was as good a goal and lead-up play as you'll see anywhere in Europe today. Hearts were now in damage-limitation mode and resorted to their tried and trusted method - putting the boot in. A series of heavy challenges followed as Hearts lost the plot, with Lennon and Petrov , particularly, being singled out.An excellent 1st half ended in which we controlled the tempo and flow of the game.
   The superb football continued after the break as Celtic toyed with the " third force" of Scottish football. We drew the sting from the game and ran out easy winners with Larsson adding a third in a four-man break in injury time.We turned the game into a training exercise and threatened to pass Hearts off the pitch. Hearts finished the game with 9 men, Hartley and Maybury rightfully being sent off for bad tackles. Maybury's challenge on Lennon was particularly vicious and the Dublin Hun deservedly saw red.
Overall we completely dominated this game from start to finish and some of the play was a delight to behold. Lennon came in for some harsh treatment as Hartley and Stamp attempted to provoke him all afternoon. Kennedy looked comfortable at the heart of the defence with Varga and performs much better there than when he is cut adrift out on the right flank.
   Best for us today were Petrov and Lennon in midfield and Larsson up front. Henke's hold and link-up play was superb and he deservedly got his goal at the end. Petrov had a great game and when allowed, like today, he is a more effective attacking midfield option than Miller . His late surges into the box provide goals and space for the strikers as defenders are pulled all over the place and his presence will be vital as our Euro campaign resumes.
    A great display .
                                                                    Bantry Bhoy

Hail Hail,

From www.nyceltic.com :

Today's match broadcast was notable for the first weekend attendance of 2004 for NYCSC Club President Jim McGinn who was temporarily suspended from security duties at Newark airport after taking 26 hours to personally search a visiting delegation of The Swedish No. 1 Ladies Celtic Supporters Club. The two ladies involved showed up at the NYCSC none the worse for their encounter. Unfortunately Tommy Donnelly's welcome involving a special rendition of "Give My Regards To Broadway" severely unhinged the two lovely Swedes who promptly jumped onto an ice flow in the Hudson and were last seen heading to Statten Island where they hoped to catch the match in the nearest Massage Parlour with a Setanta satellite dish.
A good crowd of the usual suspects for today's early match and in fact it turned out to be an enjoyable contest. Unlike the usual SPL dross Aberdeen actually made a game of it which led one to believe the local woolly herd had a really pleasant evening Friday night. Nonetheless, no surprise that the gulf in class between the two sides soon became apparent. John Hartson had emphasized this prior to the match by breaking the world Stovie eating contest in Aberdeen's Palm Court Hotel prompting an unplanned increase in the slaughter quota of 5000 extra Angus Cattle as a contingency in case he decided to stay on in the city for Saturday night post match celebrations. John had a great game and was named man of the match after eating Neil Lennon's well deserved nomination.
The big man really played a blinder and was instrumental in Celtic's first goal. In the 30th minute John deftly lined up Larsson who chested the ball down to Petrov. One glance at goal, left foot shot, 1-0. Celtic then poured sheep dip on Aberdeen's chances. Henrik Larsson made it 2-0 after 43 minutes, again following great work by John Hartson and half time came with the Aberdeen players being rounded up by a pair of Collie dogs who guided them back to their home pen.
Half time talk in The Parlour turned to the New York Celtic Supporters Association participation in the Caledonian Society's annual Burns Supper event. Paul Hendry bemoaned the fact that the freezing temperatures will play havoc with his celebratory haircut (the one on the left) while Jim Denny expressed concern for the health of three kilted brass monkeys he planned on bringing along to the event. Martin Neary wondered whether protocol would allow him to activate his magic kilt to demonstrate a mating dance he learned while on a peace keeping expedition to Cardassia Prime in the Gamma Quadrant during The Gay Gordon. Ken Miller explained that he wasn't going on the grounds that he would likely get arrested for showing off his knees in public. Steve O'Brien promised to refrain from singing Wolfe Tones songs during the toast to The Queen. A good thing really since we wouldn't want to offend Her Majesty by Steve's angelic singing voice..More of this next week.
A good second half saw Celtic continue to control the game, no surprise when Stephen Pearson added a third in the 58th minute after terrific work by King Henrik, looking more and more like his old self. Aberdeen managed to pull one back, but all said and done a canter for The Celts.
At time up Tommy Donnelly attempted to put himself to sleep by counting Aberdeen players leaving the field but was immediately woken up by Patsy Keane who handed him a pint of Guinness and explained how Charlie Tully had actually appeared to Henrik Larsson in a dream and taught him everything he knew. Another typical day in New York!!
Hail Hail from The New York Celtic Supporters Club!!

The Celtic team showed one change today as Pearson replaced Thompson, who was injured, for his first start in the Hoops. Hearts made the early running as they chased and harried in all areas of the field.Celtic weathered the Hearts pressure and went ahead through Petrov from a slide-rule Larsson pass in 27 mins.This goal seemed to quell Hearts and we were unlucky not to go 2 up when Larsson went through on the keeper , who made a good stop. Half-time came with our lead intact in a game that was more akin to a cup-tie.
   The game became scrappy after the re-start, or should I say scrappier, but we never really looked in any kind of trouble. Neither team seemed capable of retaining possession for any length of time as the ball ping-ponged between the 2 teams. We ran out winners in what was a dire game, which only gives ammunition to those of us who feel we must get out of this league before we are dragged down to the dreadful standard of the rest.
   Hearts attempted to play a physical game , but to no avail , as this Celtic team is more than capable of standing up to a physical approach from opposition teams. Best for us today were Varga, Lennon and Petrov. Larsson looked a bit more interested today and he put in a shift chasing back and harrying defenders. I saw nothing in Pearson that would suggest he will be anything other than a squad player at best.
   It was dire stuff, we won today without being at our best , but we won nonetheless.
                                                                               Bantry Bhoy

The match against 'Well was always going to be about the result rather than the performance. Hartson gave us the perfect tonic with an early goal after fine work by Thompson and Sutton, how many times have we mentioned these 2 in that regard this season. For me the return of Lennon was a major factor in the steadying of the ship as he tackled, harried and snarled all afternoon in his pursuit of the 3 pts.Big Rab made a great save from the penalty on the half hour but still does not inspire confidence. This was evident with the look of disgust on Varga's face when Rab hesitated again for a cross which Varga was then forced to deal with. The penalty itself was soft in the extreme as tv replays clearly showed Mjallby made contact with the ball but it was a bad decision , among many bad decisions, by the ref all day. Larsson was forced to go off after a re-occurrence of the injury he sustained against Hibs but again looked strangely out of sorts as did Miller who was anonymous the whole first half.
The game improved in the 2nd half and to be honest we never looked like losing.Miller moved to the middle and came onto a game. I wonder if the protracted contract negotiations are having an effect. Thompson put the game beyond Well from an exquisite free kick which gave Marshall no chance.
This was a hard-fought but vital win. It stops any rot and re-establishes our 8 pt. lead at the top before our January confrontation with the Hun.Best for us today were Varga in defence and Lennon and Petrov and Thompson in midfield. I also thought Mjallby , a man I have criticized recently, had a good, steady game in the back 3.
A good , solid win.
Bantry Bhoy

The regulars were brought back for this game, with the exception of Hartson who was on the bench, with Sutton and Larsson up front. The midfield 4 of Petrov, Miller, Lennon, Thompson were in midfield and , IMO, are the best that the club can field at the moment. We started well enough and looked sharp as we immediately went on the attack. Livi stayed calm under the early Celtic pressure and gradually pushed their way into the game, although Celtic were still the dominant team. The half-time whistle blew, or should I say blue in honour of Mr. Dallas, with the score tied at 0-0. To be honest , it was pretty dreary stuff and the 2nd half would hopefully be better.
   Sutton opened the scoring , early in the 2nd half, with an assured strike after some good close control and turn in the box.The game opened up after this as Livi had to be a bit more adventurous. Thompson finished off Livi 8 minutes from time with a fine left-footed volley which tore into the net. It all ended a bit untidily as some of our players became involved with the Argentine, Pasquinelli, after an elbow on Jackie.
   Another 3 points secured and another away obstacle negotiated although this was pretty dreary fare and we will have to be much better against Lyon. The best for Celtic today were Sutton, Petrov and Thompson. Thompson will especially missed in Lyon where his work-rate and control would have been vital.Miller has went off the boil a bit of late and will have to be fully focussed and at the top of his game if he hopes to influence matters in France. Also this was my first look at Gray and to be honest I was not overly impressed. He looks lightweight and his distribution and crossing were a bit disappointing and he will have to do better if he wants to secure a long term contract.
Next stop- Lyon. Allez les vertes !
                                                         Bantry Bhoy

This was supposed to be our moment but someone forgot to tell Bayern, I guess. I felt we made a good start but Bayern looked dangerous when breaking forward. We went for their throats but the Germans would not wilt, patience was required as we finished the half the better team.
We lost our way a bit at the start of the 2nd half and we needed a spark or should I say , a spark plug - Miller. Agathe , who in fairness had done well, had to go off injured and we had our wish. Miller failed to make an impact as Ballack and Geremi worked hard and competed well in the midfield area, as you would expect 2 seasoned Internationals to do. BTW if Hargreaves is International class then England must be in bad shape for midfielders as he was given the run-around by Thomson, a player who is ignored.
The game finished with a whimper rather than a roar and credit must go to Bayern, who defended well and got what they came for. Ultimately , we ran out of ideas and as the game wound down Bayern had their best spell with some neat, slick passing.
The tactics were right, our best chance lay in trying to upset the tempo and rhythm of Bayern by going at them hard and fast but they showed they are better than Anderlecht and refused to buckle. The injury to Agathe upset our flow as Miller for Hartson looked the best substitution with Sutton going up front. Hedman performed well , apart from a few comedy cuts towards the end and Sutton and Lennon held their own against 2 solid German Internationals.
One point is not a disaster but we will have to break our away hoodoo and get something in Lyon.

There really is no place like home.We faced a must-win situation and , unlike that shower across the City, came out fighting.A 30 min spell in the first half , where we equalled the Lyon performance, saw the Belgians vanquished. At times the Anderlecht defending was non-existent but that shouldn't detract from some scintillating Celtic play. Anderlecht just simply weren't at the races and we outhustled them, outplayed them and completely broke there spirit in the 1st half.
   Larsson's header was precision itself as he got to Agathe's 1st decent cross in a while, and when Miller made it 2 from a cushioned Hartson header the Belgian heads dropped. Sutton capped a sensational spell when he powered home nos. 3 and the game was effectively over.We knew it and Anderlecht knew it as well. Anderlecht pulled 1 back from a penalty rebound but we were never going to lose this one. We closed the game out and have given ourselves a great chance to qualify.
The Belgians had no answer for Hartson all night as he showed strength and skill and he made the wonderboy, Kompany, look his age. It really was a man against a boy. Miller and Sutton were superb in midfield as they controlled play and continually tormented the visitor's defence. For me the man of the match was Neil Lennon. He reminded me of those WW2 battleship escorts as he patrolled in front of the 2 big central defenders, protecting them and providing cover when required.
   The group is now even tighter than before, but a victory over Bayern should be enough to get us to the knockout stage.
                         Well done Celtic
                                                        Bantry Bhoy

Always in control from the start - maybe a wee bit shaky until we got the
second goal but not under any real pressure. Hartsons goal killed them off -
good free kick swung in - Sutton flicks it on and Hartson heads home
perfectly.

3rd came not long after - Hartson fed Larsson who squares a great ball for
Sutton to crash home.

Ross Wallace came on for Gray, and picked out Maloney (who came on for
Hartson) with a beaty of a ball for the wee man to slot home.

Fifth was a second pen after Larsson did all the hard work, beats Dindeleaux
and gets brought down by him - Larsson gives McSwegan and Baggio some
verbals for daring to suggest it wa anything but a pen. Sutton gets his
hat-trick.

Game was never in doubt really - but until we got the second gola there was
a always a chance Killie could sneak one - after the 2nd it was all us. 5
goals and no score from Larsson - who otherwise had another great game.

Well done Celtic - roll on Wednesday.

Cheers
Yogs

What a difference today, when Miller is in the team!
The team just seems to have a better balance especially in midfield. We have a genuine threat from Midfield when he plays, something that was lacking in mid week.
I have not yet seen the Anderlecht game, but did listen to it on the web. During that game to me, we had lost the midfield, even when they went down to 10 men. I read someone saying people should remember exactly what MON has done for this club, and rightly so, but that should not excuse him from being criticised when he make mistakes. Leaving Miller out was to me a major mistake, as was introducing him with only 13 minutes to play and 1-0 down.
I hate when he plays Sutton in the midfield and it really showed at times against Aberdeen too. He is not a midfielder, pain and simple. MON got it wrong and my only concern after today is he may try the same team again in the CL just to prove he was right.
You may say Sutton played today because we had no Petrov. My preference would have been Thomo in the middle and Gray on the left. As for the right midfield, this is becoming desperate. Didi is just not doing it and when Momo came on it was worse. You would think he would try a bit harder to impress. He was shocking. I would have had our best strike partnership up front with Henke and Sutton, with BBJ on the bench.
Back to talking about Sutton, It seems to me that MON is scared to upset his forwards, especially Hartson, so he finds ways to have them all on the park. Not good enough. Hartson has played in both home games where we have scored 9 goals in 2 games and he has not hit 1 of them. So why does he command a place ahead of Maloney and Sutton to partner Henke?

Come on MON, I hate to criticise but I want to see Celtic move into the CL 2nd phase and the game plan last week just concerns me big time. Keep the faith with the younger players especially Miller and Maloney and tell BBJ to pull his finger out if he moans about losing his place.

This really was an opportunity missed. The game was there for the winning but a sub-par performance, especially in the 2nd half, done for us.From the start the match was open and stretched and to be honest that was not to our advantage. We caught early breaks with the Anderlecht shot off the bar and the dismissal of DeBoek but still continued to play route 1 stuff. The game was lost in the period between the sending off and half time. We had good possession and created a few good chances in that period and our failure to convert gave Anderlecht hope. We played too narrow against 10 men when width was what was needed.In fairness Agathe tried to get forward but when in good positions his crossing was criminal, whereas Thomson continually came inside which narrowed the play and allowed the Belgians to defend comfortably and conserve energy.
The back 3 looked vulnerable against real pace with Varga's positioning at times highly suspect.If his starting position is wrong he has no pace to recover and exposes the other 2. At times it looked like we had 10 men instead of them. We never made the extra man count and should have been stringing passes together to make Anderlecht work.The balls into the box came from the wrong areas, these balls should have come from the wings, not the midfield.
Anderlecht played well but are still a limited team. Tactically they got it right on the night. Even when reduced to 10 men they kept 2 front players whose pace caused major problems all night. Pushing Sutton forward nullified our advantage as it was the midfield that we needed to control. 3 up front simply doesn't work for us, as they seemed to impede each other and allowed the Belgians to quickly spring their forwards free.
This game represented our best chance to secure away points and defeat wounds us, but not mortally. The draw in the Bayern-Lyon game keeps us in the mix. It is now crucial that we win our home games as 9 points may in fact be enough. A good win against Anderlecht in 2 weeks will put us back on the right road.
Bantry Bhoy

What I will say about yesterday is that for all the criticims about "the
hoofs" I would definitely describe Celtic this season as a "passing side".
The number of passing moves are regularly exceeding 10 12 passes in games as
Celtic look to break down packed defences. The movement from Larsson, Miller
and Petrov is exceptional and even Lenny was well up the filed at points
yesterday. Still not sure about Hedman but yesterday was a fantastic
performance. As I said after the huns and Lyon games this year Celtic are
actually getting better. Fantastic times.

Btw, plenty of jambos got on the train at Edinburgh on the way up to the
game but I never saw any on the 6pm out of Central. Presumably they'd
managed to get earlier trains!

Strathclyde Police in search for missing persons ...

Search has been authorised at 2.20 pm when it was revealed that Rangers
strikers, Arveladze, Mols, Lovenkrands and Capucho disappeared earlier
this afternoon. They were last seen in the vicinity of Chris Sutton's
back pocket.

Get it right up ye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Top of the league and you're no!

This was as polished and overwhelming a display from a Celtic team in Europe as I have ever seen. You will not have seen a better display from anyone so far in the CL this season. We were simply irresistible.Lyon are the 2 times champions of France and we outplayed them at their own game, skilful fluid football played on the deck. After weathering an initial Lyon flurry we overwhelmed them in all areas of the field.Even after the penalty miss we remained resolute and determined and when the breakthrough came it was a thing of beauty.The passage of play that led to the goal was sublime and you won't see a better constructed goal all season. When the 2nd goal that our play deserved came, the relief was palpable.
This was an awesome display. Everyone stood up and was counted. For me Bobo was outstanding, he was the rock upon which so many Lyon attacks foundered and Larsson showed, yet again, why he is irreplaceable. Also deserving mention was Lennon, who worked tirelessly all night and provided protection for the back 3, and Bobo's partners , Jackie and Varga, who stuck manfully to their task. Hedman didn't have much to do and handled his duties adequately. His test may well come on Saturday.
A fabulous performance that really puts us back in the mix.
Bantry Bhoy

Oh Bobo.......our no1 defender, normally the coolest guy on the park -
totally out of character loses it and lashes out - no complaints - he had to
go - but the biggest loss will be his presence next week in the OF derby.
The huns couldnt have wished for more - what a silly boy....will be
interesting to see if we use the appeal process to ensure he is available
next week.

Thought we played well today - but we didnt really wake up until Hibs
scored - although we had a sitter from Henrik just earlier. From there we
took control. Brick pen only seconds after Hibs had scored - Thommo chose to
go the safe way for a left footer and put it away well. Second half we
started with aplomb - Henrik had a good chance saved and the follow up
headed over. Then Bobo missed a sitter of a header from 6 yards. But we
werent to be denied - a nice through ball from Varga to Maloney who cut it
back for Henrik to tap in - good goal!

Then we were cruising before Bobo gets himself sent off and we then have to
dig in for the last 20 mins - which we did fairly comfortably.

Good performance bar Bobos red card. Although Maloney was pretty
inneffective bar his contribution for the goal and Agathe was anonymous
second half. Good shifts from Thomson and Petrov in midfield and Henrik was
class up front once more.

Roll on Tuesday and next Saturday - although if Bobo is missing we could
have a pretty shaky defence against the huns....

The officials?? Bizarre moment of the day - the linesman flags for offside
from a throw!! Ref then claims it was a foul throw to get his linesman out
of a hole......not bias - just sheer incompetance.

However, ater watching the first half of the huns game I cant believe how
many times Mols is sheilding the ball he gets a foul - any time Sutton did
the same he was penalised. Also - Arteta kicks out at Cabellero on the
touchline and doesnt even get booked!! One for video evidence?? Mind you
Willie Young was still managing to piss off teh huns big style - thought it
was ironic that they started signing `Willie Young is a Wanker' - its what
weve been telling them for years!!

Cheeeers
Yogs

Poor first half display. We looked like we were still feeling sorry for ourselves after Munich. Our build up was too slow and predictable, and allowed motherwell to get all their bodies behind the goal. Just like Hitzfeld did on wednesday, MON got things sorted at half time and it was a different game altogether. The 3 goals were superb. Nice to see Larsson and Sutton back together again.

Two stonewall penalties denied by the ref. One for them, when Petrov (I think) turned the ball away with his elbow. Then Larsson got tripped by their keeper. Yellow card to Henrick!!!!! Unbelievable. This guy was probably the most incompetent ref outside willie young. He made us take a free kick on the halfway line THREE times!!! He had no clue on advantage, and seemed to go to pieces after the Larsson incident. In about 10 minutes, he booked everyone and their grannies.

Hedman really worries me. I;m no great fan of Rab. But I wouldn't let Hedman anywhere near an OF game. BBJ is still short of fitness. Of course, he's never been fit in his life, but he's slower than usual, if you get my drift.

Gray got a wee run in the 2nd half. 20 minutes is nothing to go on....but this guy looks like he could improve our team. Most of the talk has been about him as a full back, but I like the way he took to Thompson's wing back position. And he can cross a ball. None of this flighting things gently into the air. He pings the ball over in a way that Larrson is going to love. If he can settle into that position and allow us to get Thompson into the middle, it will improve two areas in one swoop.

Petrov needs to give himself a shake. He went missing badly in Munich (AND Seville!!). Looked out of sorts today.

Sylla. Oh dear. Agathe is under no pressure from this lad.

Jackie....another good show on the left of the back 3.

Motherwell actually played some decent football in parts of the 2nd half. At 1-0 they had a few great chances. A lot is dumped on our keepers, but some of our marking both today and in Munich was shocking.

Still, 3 points.....and if you haven't seen them, 3 stunning goals.
Cheers,
Ronnie

This game was there for the winning and we passed up the chance through a moments bad defending and an amateurish effort to save by our goalie.It could and should have been so different. We settled well with Jackie on the left of a back 3 as MON reverted to his tried and trusted 3-5-2 formation. We asked a few questions of Bayern early doors with Lennon playing well covering and protecting the back 3. The slow tempo of the game suited us and the game became a sterile midfield tussle although I felt Celtic were the more enterprising of the 2 teams. We finished the half with Balde going close with another towering header and all in all Celtic were the better team.
Bayern upped the pace in the 2nd half in an effort to threaten the Celtic goal. This was to be expected but we kept our composure and shape and weathered their early pressure. In 57 mins Thomson scored with a flashing header from an incisive Agathe cross. Miller came on for Hartson as Celtic turned the screws on Bayern. The much needed 2nd goal never came and we started dropping further and further back as we nervously defended our slender advantage. We paid the penalty when Makaay shot home from a poor clearing header from Varga. As we entered the last 10 mins we continued to invite Bayern onto us and the inevitable happened when Makaay scored again from a speculative cross which eluded Hedman and ended up in the net, gifting Bayern a victory they did not deserve.
To lose to a goal like this is a travesty. We were always in this game and deserved at least a draw, if not the win. We did not look out of place in this company and I feel we will still qualify. A shocking piece of goalkeeping cost us dearly tonight. Why did Hedman not move forward and fist the ball clear instead of watching the man and waiting for the ball to land. By that time it's too late, he has to be proactive not reactive. A club of our stature deserves, and indeed must have, a competent, dominant goalkeeper. Sadly the 2 we have don't fit the bill.
Bantry Bhoy

Celtic lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Jackie and Crainey deployed either side of Varga and Balde with Hedman finally getting the nod in goal. The midfield lined up with Agathe, Lennon, Petrov and Thomson with Hartson and Larsson up front. Dundee had some early flurries without threatening too much. We took an early lead when Balde made a fantastic leap to bullet a header which screamed into the net. Shortly after , Crainey had to be subbed after taking a heavy knock to the knee. Celtic re-organised with Thomson dropping back and Miller being introduced. Crainey was particularly unlucky as this was his 1st start of the season. We were in no trouble until Agathe was red-carded in 25mins for a last-man foul. Why would the quickest man in Scottish football need to put his hands anywhere near Novo when he can clearly out-pace him.Absolutely brainless.Larsson was now forced to drop into midfield as we went with one up front. Even with 10 men we finished the half looking compact and comfortable.
      Celtic pushed forward immediately on the restart looking for a 2nd to finish the game and went close through Hartson. Lennon reacted to abuse from the crowd and I'm sure we'll hear more about the incident in the coming days. In every away fixture this season Lennon has been verbally abused by the home fans and yet some still believe it's because of his style of play. Dundee had a lot of possession but were unable to break Celtic down. We played out the rest of the game without too much trouble.A special mention is deserved for Larsson who dropped into midfield and looked as if he had played there all his life. He chased and harried and never shirked a tackle and even when injured he tried to play on and make a contribution. He is a great example to any young player coming into the game.
   Varga and Balde coped well with Caballero and Novo, who can be awkward to play against, and the central defence were well protected down the flanks. We stayed disciplined and kept our shape well.
This type of game may be good practice for Munich on Wednesday. We sat in and defended well, harassed the opposition and looked quick and dangerous on the break. Granted Dundee are not Bayern but we got a taste of what will be required on Wednesday.
   3 pts gained and a tricky away fixture successfully negotiated.
                                                                                            Bantry Bhoy

Good performance today but not great............

I think we actually played better against Dundee Utd - but whos
complaining - we swept aside Livingstone without any great trouble. We
scored 5, hit the woodwork twice and missed a penalty. And second half we
never got out of second gear.

Good performance from Henrik - his link up play was top notch - and he
deserved his goals for the hard work he put in. Maloney was much better this
week than last - he needs to start showing his stuff away from home though.

Stan got forward well and Thomson had a hit or miss game - brilliant one
minute, rank the next. Lennon did ok although his lack of pace was shown up
a few times. Agathe (and his sub Sylla) were anonymous. Best of the midfield
was Miller who looks a good bet to stay in there for a while - want to see
him against better opposition though.

Back 3 were sound - Varga enjoying mnay a forward run as well.

Hedman.....oh dear. Nothing to do all day and the one time he has to do
something he fecks it up big style. Big Rab is probably laughing into his
pint right now......no competition.

Some good stuff - some leisurely stuff - but 5-1 all the same and a good
win.

Cheeers
Yogs

Make no mistake , this was brutal on the eyes. The best thing that can be said is that we secured 3 points. Lennon was booed by the Thistle fans at the start, so nothing's really changed there ,and we had the return of the gruesome twosome, Lennon and Lambert, to the midfield with Miller dropping to the bench and Jackie moving to right back. We took an early lead through Lambert after the Jags keeper made an arse of it. Thistle equalized through Grady from a Britton lay-off which made the defence look static to say the least. Lennon and Lambert in midfield really have to go. We show no imagination with everything going back or sideways and Lennon, in particular, looked like a pub-team player stepping up a level. We were fortunate to receive a soft penalty award just before half-time which Thomson converted.
A shambles of a game , a shambles of a first half.
The 2nd half was much like the 1st as we struggled to break down Thistle. FFS it's Partick Thistle! Amateur hour was brought to a close with the introduction of Miller. We showed a bit of improvement after this but really the tone of the game was set.Petrov's game picked up when Miller came on and Miller showed some nice touches and much needed movement although whether he is THE ONE we'll have to wait and see.Regarding Petrov, the presence of Lennon and Lambert seems to inhibit him and he does better when paired with Miller.
As I said, 3 points taken and hopefully better days ahead.
Bantry Bhoy