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

Thoroughly enjoyable performance by Celtic in their opening league match.

I was particularly interested in watching Henrik play as the target man. Normally he makes the runs off of the flicks and little through balls from Sutton or Hartson who set up with back to goal.

Today his touches (for Maloney and Jackie) for example were sublime.

It makes for great football on the deck and just shows the man's versatility.

Highly impressed with Liam Miller in the midfield as well. He is not afraid to take them on, a welcome change.

James Walker

Tonights performance shows just how far we have come in the MON
years...........

We controlled 90% of that game from start to finish. We won very
comfortably and could have added more. By the end the opposition were
totally dispiritted and our players were revelling in it. It was our
turn to be the team with class, with poise, with clinical finishing. In
days gone by we would have faced that game in trepidation and fear of
losing......

Only a few years ago, we were the team on the receiving end of being
outplayed by class teams like PSG and Dortmund. In really think that we
have now figured out how to play in Europe - and that we are very
comfortable and confident in doing so.

If only we could have a midfield playmaker that would help us open up
tight defences then we would sweep everything at home this season and
maybe even reach the knock out stages in the CL. We should only really
fear the REALLY big guns now (ManU, Real M, Juve, Milan). If we played
PSG, Dortmund or Valencia again, I would really fancy our chances.

Hopefully this comprehensive win means that MON can now go out and buy a
couple of players that will improve the team. It gives him an extra two
weeks breathing space.........

Oh, and TFOD got found out..............shame.......... ;-))

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

Cheeers
Yogs

Pathetic display by Celtic is only one word I can use about today's Game. Lennon Lambert are two Supposedly mid Fielders who don't know how to go forward. Thomson swings in Balls from 40 yards and stands there admiring them he should be more Forward and giving some support to Forwards. Smith, Maloney sorry bhoys/Ghirls they just don't cut it for me. I don't even see them as promising, they have had all last season to prove they can do it and they have not IMHO.

Any team playing us just have to go forward, and when we get the Ball back opposition must only hope either Lambert or Lennon will be the ones two take it, because it is going back not forward and opps can all run back to cover.

I don't like criticizing the hoops at all or Martin O'Niel not at all but for what I saw today, we need a right good shake up. A blind man could see our mid field is a joke. I am not posting this as angry but I believe it to be constructive.

Right now we have only around 4 players doing there Job, Miller looks the part and I can only hope he gets more time. All that being said I still think we can win the league this season and even the treble lets hope this was a little glitch in the plans. But one thing for sure is we can not play like this or even close to it if we are to advance to the CL proper. Very disappointing game and result today .

Hail Hail Tam

Thought we were feckin around a bit. Dunno if they would've done it if MON
was there.
Disappointed with Jamie - a bit predictable. I think Mjallby thought he was
a free roll player for the night ! Also a little disappointed that our
wingers didn't go at them a bit more. If you're 4-0 up surely its the time
to take a risk or two? It would also be nice to get them out learning how to
put in 90% decent crosses rather than the 10% we get.
Hard to say much more as it was a bit like a friendly at times. My 9-0 at
50/1 was a bit optimistic in hindsight ! Still, the real stuff is on Sat.
and Wed.

As to Celtic TV - camera work better than last week's Lithuanian offering
but not the best at times. Somebody should send the lhads on a tv course as
well - don't keep swingin' in your seats when you're reading emails from
Phil McCrackin please! Or else perhaps somebody could fix the seats in a
permanent position? I find the young co-commentator quite good (Sullivan?)
but Archie is Archie.

There was a great atmosphere at Parkhead tonight with Broto having to clear beach balls from the field before the game got underway. Maloney started brightly and seems to be benefiting from starting matches. Celtic controlled the game from the start although Broto had to save smartly after a Dundee break. Since coming into the team he has let no-one down and has made some good stops at crucial moments. Celtic went ahead after a great passage of controlled possession football which saw Thomson chip through the final ball for Larsson to control instantly before rounding the keeper and lifting the ball high into the net.
We were well in control but some careless defending by Bobo and then Joos allowed Dundee to equalize. We hit back immediately through 2 quick Thomson goals and the 2nd illustrated how dangerous Agathe is when he hit the bye-line and crossed accurately for Thommo to ram it home.
The 2nd half began with us pushing Dundee back and completely controlling the tempo of the game. Wilkie gifted the ball to Maloney who gratefully slotted home number 4 and the same player added number 5 after Thomson had picked the defender's pocket. Dundee were now very ragged as we drove home our superiority. Wilkie was substituted soon after to the cheers of the Celtic faithful and after watching him really for the first time I don't believe he deliberately conceded penalties and goals to the Huns. He is just a big , cumbersome oaf who really should be doing something else for a living. I've seen better pub team players than him.Mjallby added number 6 but the gloss was taken off the performance by conceding a late goal again due to careless defending. I only hope that goal does not come back to haunt us.
    A great performance of attractive, flowing football against a decent Dundee team. The front pairing of Maloney and Larsson give us a mobility and variety that we don't get with the Big Men. Our passing and movement were 1st class and we now go forward to the Porto game full of confidence. Thomson was the man of the match and his performance was as good as I've seen from him, he never put a foot wrong and swung in dangerous crosses all night. Maloney deserves a mention for the energy and skill he contributed to the cause.
   For the time being we have done all we can in the league . The onus is now on the Huns to get a result at Hearts and the outcome of that game will probably decide the destination of the flag as I don't have much faith in Dunfermline to put up much resistance.
   We have more pressing business in Seville as the focus now switches to our week of destiny.
                                                                                          Bantry Bhoy

Man, it feels good to be back at the top. Mind you, it'll be Rangers'
turn on Sunday to know how many goals they need to score to go top, so
we need to keep in mind that there's a long way still to go.

As for the performances tonight, I really hope that MON has got a long
term contract drawn up for Broto. A couple of tremendous saves tonight -
it's a shame he's ineligable for the UEFA Cup, otherwise Big Rab would
be starting to worry over his place.

Maloney looked excellent again tonight, although he needs to keep his
head when he gets a scoring chance. Mind you, he was taking his lead
from Henrik, who certainly didn't have his shooting boots on tonight.
Still, I think he set up a couple, so we can't complain!

Lennon and Lambert were immense, with Lambert dictating the pace of the
game all night, and Lennon staying deep and making one tremendous
challenge in particular when tracking back.

Didier seemed far keener to come inside than usual, and was more
dangerous because of this. Jackie was his reliable self, and it's nice
to have someone who is composed on the ball at the back.

All in all, the team are hitting great form at the right time. We're
favourites for the title now, but we can't afford the give Rangers any
sniff of getting back top. A 2 or 3 goal win on Saturday will really
pile the pressure on them.

we just looked so tired today.....I mean if they had given us a week to
prepare properly for this we would have won by 5 or 6 !!! It was a disgrace
that the SPL used this ploy to keep our goal difference down to below that
of Rangers.....;-))))))

Absolutely fantastic performance and result - when we are on tis kind of
form we are unstoppable. We had a few nervy moments early on but we also had
our own chances as well. Henke really made a hash of a pass to big Joos
when the big Belgina had charged forward playing one twos with everyone -
that would have been a classic goal from Joos. Then there was Jackies free
kick from the half way line that was missed by everyone and came back off
the post! That would have been hilarious!!

A brick penalty from Dallas at Ibrox!! Well it had to be before our
favourite ref would give it!! Thommo took over the pen taking and slotted it
home easily. Great finish.

Second was a thing of beauty - Agathe beats Lovetodive and crosses, Henke
delicately flicks it back, and Hartson nips in to finish. Cue Party Time!!

Second half we simply sat back and soaked up the pressure - TFOD had one
chance and scored - again it came down our rights hand side (where for once
MON decided to employ Jackie as a Full back - overall the tactic worked a
treat) - it was swung in and Debumbboy had a free header past Broto. Apart
from that Rangeres were crap - we defended quite comfortably and almost
scored goal of the season when Sutton played an immense back healer to
Larsson whos shot was brillinatly saved by Klos.

We held on to record yet another victory over the huns who looked a
desperately poor outfit. Lets hope one of either Dundee or Hearts can hold
them in the coming weeks.

Lennon and Laursen were my joint MOTM. Both outstanding. The rest of teh
team were merely damn good!

Cracking pictures of teh Celtic end in the beach gear etc - looked to have
been a real party! Also classic pictures of two desperately ugly huns
sitting looking perplexed by their teams performances - boy were they ugly!!

the league is still on my friends - we need a bit of luck but you never
know....can Rangers cope with the pressure??

Party On Dudes!!

Cheeers
Yogs

Just oot ma pit after watching what was an absloutely breathtaking
experience...Celtic making the UEFA final!!! Ok, the game was naff, but
it's often the semis where the worst football is played IMO and i'm sure
come Seville we will be raring to go and turn over the other half of Oporto
:))

From the second when Henke lofted the ball into the Boavista net, i knew the
next 10 minutes would be the longest of my life and i wasn't wrong. I
watched the culmination of the match with one eye glued to the wee clock in
the top left of the screen which seemed not to be moving at all. I was
transfixed to the screen, barking orders to the good lady to get me another
beer from the fridge. God only knows how many cans were drained in that
final period, but i don't think i got any effect from the alcohol as the
euphoria kicked in when the final whistle sounded.

I sat back on the settee and stared at the screen...we had done it. started
to shake as the reality hit home.

I watched the match again later on Eurosport, to make sure that i hadn't
dreamed the entire thing and thank god i hadn't!!!

This is my finest hour as a Celtic supporter in my 32 years on this planet .
God bless Celtic, God bless Martin O'Neill, God bless all those bhoys and
ghirls the world over who have endured the hardships and the ups and downs
following this great club.

See you in Seville, God willing...

Cheers,
Brian

Guys........I don't expect us to win every game every season...........that
is unrealistic.....however I do expect every Celtic team to at least play
with grit, determination and a will to fight to the death.

Today we got yet another lacklustre performance froma team who were saving
themselves for Thursday night. They were second to every ball, allowed
Hearts to disposess us at will and lost every battle on the pitch.

We created one clear chance all day, with two other shots on goal. We
managed only two or three corners all day. This was Hearts we were playing
FFS.

I think in the end we were unlucky to lose - a misshit shot gets re-directed
into goal and a 30 yarder into the postage stamp - you cant do too much with
those ones.

However, what was more worrying was our total lack of creativity. We didn't
seem to have any game plan. Our wide men got into the game only once and we
scored - the rest of the time they were doubled up on as we were far too
slow to get the ball to them. Our game plan (if we had one) has been sussed
by all and sundry. We are basically playing with the same team and same
tactics that we did two years ago - everyone knows how to play against us
now.....

We always seem to be worrying about the next game - if your not totally
focussed on the game you are playing in then you shouldn't expect to win. The
team seem to always be saving something for the next game.....

I'm not going to call for MON to be sacked - that's just plain crazy, after
what he has achieved. But in the summer we must bring in some new faces and
adjust our style to be less predictable. Most teams add at least 2 new faces
every year in their team - we did add players but most of them are not
bloody good enough to even make it onto the pitch.

Another aspect defensively is our right side of defense. 80% of the goals we
concede come down Mjallby's side - I dont think Mjallby is solely to blame
(although why he went for the header on the edge of the box at the first
goal today is anybodies guess) - its probably a combination of both Mjallby
and Didi - but whatever it is it isn't working - teams are exploiting us down
that right hand side.

All our eggs are now in one basket - the UEFA cup - barring a amiracle we
will not win the league. We will certainly not win the next OF game playing
like that. But we are in danger of finishing this season with
nothing....which will be a crying shame considering it promised so
much.....but in all honesty our league form has been pretty poor all season
(mostly cos we seem to always have our minds on the next European game).

Defeat on Thursday and failing to win Sunday will end this season on a
low.....and hand the poorest Rangers team (and manager) in 20 odd years a
treble.......and we only have ourselves to blame....

Cheeers
Yogs

Thought we played well today. The team looked fired up for it as if they
were mightily disappointed by Thursdays results and performance - they
looked like they wanted to prove a point to us. And they did.

It was 2-0 going on 5 or 6. But for some greedy play by Hartson - who was
the one standout in the team today - he stood out cos he looked Lazy and way
too casual - we should have won far easier. He did set up Larsson for goal
no1 but he should have squared to Henke again for no2 just before the break
and layed the ball off for Mjallby to tap in second half - on both occasions
he was greedy and ended up making a hash of it. Hartson if he had been in
teh right frame of mind could have helped himself to a couple of goals
today - instead he put on his worst performance in the hoops.

Larsson was immense throughout. His touch was immense. The rest of the team
(apart from Hartson) all ably assisted our star striker - and with a bit
more luck and better finsihing we could have pummelled Killie.

But overall, a much needed win and confidence booster - another win at
Tynecastle next week will set us up nicely for the run in...

Cheeers
Yogs

Disappointing game tonight - especially the goal we lost - one big
scream from Rab and Joos leaves it for him - piss poor defending at this
level. Same goes for the pen - you cant afford to miss them at this
level...

Had the same feeling tonight as I did with Blackburn and Liverpool home
games - that we didnt get the rub of the green. Maybe we didnt deserve
it I dont know - but everything fell to them. We simply didnt get the
second ball - whether that was through lack of effort or lack of luck is
open to question.

The one crumb of comfort (for those of us who paid a fortune for tickets
off e-bay!) is that Boavista never looked like scoring, while we had
enough chances for 4 or 5 on a different day. The other comfort is that
we seem to play better away from home.

The lack of imagination is troubling though - if we cant get our wingers
into the game then we basically have no out ball. Lennon was caught so
many times tonight cos he couldnt get a pass away to either Thomson or
Agathe. Instead he was forced either backwards or sideways or even
losing the ball - in short he had a nightmare but I dont think he was
totally to blame.

We need a huge effort now to win something this season - we are capable
of getting something from both Boavista and Ibrox - but do we have
enough gas left??....a 1 goal lead would have made all the
difference......oh Henke........ :-(

VTBhoy

We made a bright and convincing start against Dundee today , going ahead through Thomson after 10 mins. As the game wore on it was apparent that the Dundee front 2 were causing our defenders some problems. We missed the stability that Joos brings to the defense especially when Caballero skinned Sylla and Mjallby and crossed for Burchill, ironically his first for Dundee, to equalise.Our attacks were breaking down mainly due to Sylla being totally unproductive down the right. His final ball was atrocious and I lost count of how many times he gave possession away needlessly. The half closed with Petrov missing the chance of the match, which pretty much summed up his afternoon thus far.
The 2nd half got underway with Sylla continuing to squander opportunities to send in telling crosses and thankfully he was replaced by Smith. We huffed and puffed but were unable to convert our superiority into goals. At the end we can thank Broto, who made a string of fine saves, for salvaging a point.Thomson was our best midfielder but we still lack ideas against teams that are prepared to dig in and defend well , although we still made enough chances to win.We badly need someone with the composure and skill to open up opposition like todays.There seems little point in beating the Huns if we drop points against the likes of Dundee. The distraction of the Eufa cup could cost us dearly in the league and we must now take maximum points if we are to retain our title.
Bantry Bhoy

What is there to be said after tonight's game? Nothing except we were brilliant. If there was any doubt about the magic Martin O'Neill has woven since he came to our club then it was dispelled tonight.
Why is it that a player like Alan Thompson can look better than an experienced and seasoned campaigner like Dieter Hamman? Why is it that the ridiculously overrated Steven Gerrard looked decidely second rate when compared to Neil Lennon? Why is it that Emile Heskey looked sluggish, slow and lethargic when compared to Big John Hartson? Why does even a genuine talent like Michael Owen look second rate when compared to Henrik Larsson?
Why does even Rab Douglas manage to outperform his natural ability?

The answer is Martin O'Neill, it IS as simple as that. We have spirit and fight just like the Celtic teams of old. They want to play for Celtic and show their commitment to the club and their supporters.

If any idiot comes on this site again to complain about Martin O'Neill's 'deficiencies' I'll swear I'll swing for him. It is perhaps wrong to disparage fellow Celtic supporters but when I listened to some of the pish that was spouted by list members I almost gave up listening to them. Even after we beat Stuttgart we were told that we were weak defensively and that a good team would beat us. Well we beat one of the 'biggest' teams in Europe, quite easily as it turned out. Some people on here might wish to reflect before they start moaning about the manager, the tactics, the players and God knows what else.
Enjoy Martin O'Neill while you can, enjoy Henrik Larsson while you can, enjoy evenings like these while you can.

The CIS as I said before a ball was kicked is nothing. McLeish is not in the same league as Martin.
The conmen who officiated at Hampden are not in the same league as the professionals who refereed the game tonight. Tonight everybody did their best, we can no more from them. Sleep well.

Martin

A truly disgraceful performance by this character Clark who all but scored for the huns today.
I thought that apart from a few minor lapses we were immense today, no kidding. To think that we have had to play basically two games a week for the last three weeks against the likes of Stuttgart, Liverpool and the Huns and yet finish the game physically stronger with ten men says much about our attitude and application.
As for the game itself, well where do you begin? I was extremely surprised by MON's selection for the game as I honestly anticipated a weakened side. Far from it, and I was genuinely astonished to see the likes of Thompson and Sutton playing. You also have to bear in mind that both Mjallby and Henke are themselves just back after relatively long lay offs. In big Johan's case, it showed I am afraid to say. He is definitely responsible for one of the goals for ball watching. Moreover, his lack of mobility was exposed repeatedly by Lovetodive in the first half.
Celtic started the stronger and came out flying from the traps, I counted twelve minutes gone before the huns started making inroads to our goals. Only a remarkable clearance on the line by Joos prevented a goal from the diving Dane. However, the huns cut us open twice on the break and to be honest we did not look too good defensively.
As half time approached, I really felt that we were heading for a gubbing. I don't know what Martin O'Neill said to them at half time but they came out like demons in the second half. We tore into them and drove them back into their own half, they were restricted to the odd break out in the second half as we layed siege to their goals. Henk's goal came from a corner and was a powerful header which flicked in off Klos's coupon after Henke eluded his marker. From then on in, it was basically pinning the huns into their box and looking for the break through. It was at that point Mr Clark and his officials came into their own with a series of disgraceful decisions.The most obvious was the Hartson goal which was CLEARLY on side, that is now two on side goals that Hartson has had chalked off against the huns.
We saw Celtic players being regularly assaulted and Rangers players not even being admonished. One such incident was when Chris Sutton is rising to jump for a ball and the thug Moore comes in from behind and clearly knees him in the base of his back. Apart from being a booking (which of course would have meant that Moore would have to have walked) this could have seriously injured Sutton. A foul was given but nothing was said by Clark. Celtic had two clear penalties turned down as Rangers resorted to kicking anything that moved. The Celtic players frustration is mounting as they see the huns get away with late tackles and bad mouthing the ref. Ferguson throws the ball away after disputing a decision, his dissent does not merit a booking. Amoruso hacks down Momo Sylla as he powers his way towards the hun box. Incredibly, the big greasy Prima Donna has the gall to dispute the decision.
Henk is hacked down in the box, no penalty. The huns are going in late and leaving their studs where it hurts. Ricksen is winding Lennon up the whole time right in front of Clark. I don't know what he's saying but he's mouthing off. Neil overreacts but what a surprise Clark sees that one straight away. Yellow card.
We're driving forward and in a frantic corner clearance big Chris Sutton goes down injured.
Then Lennon is sent off for blocking Mr Bean who goes down like he has been shot. But still we don't lie down to this shower of animals!! Bobo gets the ball and turns Amaracist who hacks him down, even Clark can't ignore this one. Incidentally, if that was a penalty why again was Amaruso not sent off for a second booking?? Well beacuse there was no second booking. We'll never know. Big John Hartson misses and that's it.

Celtic, I was proud of you today. We went out to entertain and not cheat our fans by fielding a second choice team, even though it was what I would have done had I been in Martin's shoes! We played the game fairly and honestly, we WERE the better team of that there can be no doubt.
As for Rangers, let them have their trinket but deep down they know we are a FAR better team with more spirit, skill and heart than they could imagine.
As for Kenny Clark, you are not a man at all. Have you no shame? How can you call yourself impartial with some of the decisions you called today. I hope you can sleep well tonight if you do I can't understand why. Welcome to the honoured list of anti-Celtic refs, Bobby Davidson, Tiny Wharton, Hugh Dallas.
You deserve each other.

Martin

We are still in this....but the midfield will need to play a lot better next week. Hamman, Murphy, Gerrard and djouf ran rings round our middle 3 or 5 or whatever. I think we'll have Lambert in there next week, and they'll feel the need to come at us, so like I said, it is not over. That being said, Heskey's goal really hurt.

Liverpool looked poor in dealing with balls into the box. I think we should have stuck to that, rather than piss around towards the corner flags. Bobo was superb.

I thought that the ref was a right prick.....could have been Scottish, the way he gave us nothng. The linesman was standing right in front of Owen when he kicked out at Mjallby. Makes you wonder.

It might have been an expensive night, though with Sutton and Thompson hobbling. I think Smith deserves a lot of credit. He stank big time in the first half, getting stung for the goal. But bad as he was playing, he didn't hide, and kept coming back for more. Whether he makes it in the end, who knows....but he showed some balls tonight. Lesser men would have dug a hole and feigned a wee groin pull.

Saw the spitting incident clearly. The guy who gobbed Hartson in Vigo got 4 games. Cantona got hung (just about) for his discretion. This guy will get it for sure, but yoofa will possibly wait till after the next game. Liverpool, if they have any class, will throw the book at him tonight.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Make no mistake this was a giant step to the retention of the league title.The game was played at a frantic pace with most of the play condensed into the middle third of the park. The Huns employed their old tactic of sitting in and hoping to hit on the break. They fouled and stopped play at every opportunity in an effort to break up any rhythm in our play. They succeeded in stopping us getting Agathe involved which further clogged up the middle. Agathe having to go off with a muscle strain must be of concern for the L/pool match but was not a factor today and he was replaced by Sylla. We went close a couple of times but it was becoming obvious that Sutton and BBJ were a handful for the Hun defence.
    The 2nd half was a different affair as we controlled play and systematically wore down the Huns. There was the added treat of seeing Henrik's wife singing along with the fans, who says that continental players don't care? The break came when BBJ showed great composure to hammer home a Sutton knockdown. This was a special finish as he had missed a couple of chances beforehand. Big Eck looked stunned and bewildered, like a deer caught in headlights, as he struggled to comprehend what had just happened.It is now obvious that Wouters makes the tactical decisions as he was the only Hun who tried to change it. We now created chances as the Huns became ragged and disjointed. Balde, Mjallby and Valgaeren were too strong and motivated and the Huns wilted under their strong and resolute challenges. Big Rab made a vital save near the end which surely went a long way to redeeming himself in the eyes of the fans.
      In fairness the referee was not a factor today and he got most decisions right. He was hardly noticed and this is always a good indicator. My men of the match were Thomson, lively and dangerous all day, and Balde, strong and steady. We won because we have better players, have a better manager, are a better team, and made by far the better chances.The Huns are now riddled with self-doubt and fear as they feel us closing on them and Big Eck will now be under the microscope with his every decision being analysed. My feeling is that both Eck and his team are not up to it and we will triumph again. Next up , Liverpool.
                                                                                 Bantry Bhoy

another close one folks.......this isnt good for the nerves........

The league was probably heading to Ibrox had Mjallby not scored the
winner........but the big man saved us with a 92nd minute goal.......

But lets get one thing straight - we would probably have won this game by 4
or 5 had Broto not made a complete Arse of the first goal - what the feck
was he thinking dilly dallying around letting the guy close enough to block
his clearance. Problem was he was way too casual and that had already been
reflected by his performance in the first half hour.....

Before this, Hibs were dead and buried........and their looked no way back
for them until this abhorration.....suddenly they gained confidence and the
second half was particularly uncomfortable for us......

I guess the whole thing boils down to us trying to rest our first team
players when we can - we sometimes run the risk of closer games without
them.

Alls well that ends well.......but it was way to close for comfort.......

But at least the huns weill be spewing once more...bring em on!!

Cheeers
Yogs

Wow!!! You can hardly call that boring, can you???? If you look just at the last 20 minutes, it;s hard to avoid the conclusion that we were crap....both players and manager. However, if you look at the 90 minutes, you'd have to agree that we played some superb stuff, and produced 2 great goals away from home to send us through.

Looking at an even bigger picture shows an even greater sense of accomplishment. It only seems like yesterday that our Club was bankrupt, saved at the 11th hour by the wee specky bollix, homeless and at the mercy of the arseholes who run Scottish football, relying on people like Lou McCari and Wayne Biggins. And here we are tonight, in the Quarter Final of the UEFA Cup. Wow indeed.

We had no easy ride over these years....or this season for that matter. Blackburn, Vigo and Stuttgart. From 3 of Europe's 'Big' leagues. Yes indeed, what a journey it has been. Not without it's hiccups. A bit like tonight, if you like. But we got there.

A few wee comments on the game. Agathe is a guy who has gotten it on the neck from me on a few occassions - but tonight I thought he had his greatest ever Celtic game. His attacking in the 1st half won the tie for us. He crossed a peach for Hartson to knock on to Thompson. His run and cut back from the byline for Sutton was brilliant wing play. In the 2nd half he was more like a full back, but he did that superbly well. Yes, he coughed up a few balls, but overall, I thought he was the real deal.

Another guy who has gotten stick from me is Ulrik Laurson. Ulrik tonight proved me right. He's useless. But Didier, I take it all back::))

I don't know why we persisted with Hartson in the 2nd half. He's a penalty box guy, and we had no chance of getting near their box by that time. In effect, we were playing with 10 men, everyone got knackered, and we didn't introduce fresh legs until we were pretty well done like dinner.

So, on that note, I harken back to where we were in Febuary 1994. Bankrupt, homeless and hopeless. We have come a long way. Uefa cup quarter finals. Who'd have thunk it.

And our fans were brilliant!!!
Cheers,
Ronnie

I watched the game on the german tv station ZDF(I was one of the lucky bazza I guess).
I watch the German Bundesliga every week so I know this Stuutgart shouldn't have been underestimated and I was glad we put pressure on them from the 1st minute although we were missing several key players.
I knew the german strikers were very agile and technical skilled esp. Kuranyi(sp?).When ye have to change key players like larsson ,BBJ ,big Dolph it takes some time to adapt esp. when ye know the Henke produces almost 50% of our goals.
After we went 1-0 down I was afraid we were going to get hit on the break but I must say that Lambo and lennon did an excellent job .Esp.Lambert impressed me and it's obvious that his european experience helped us.
We pushed forward but not as headless chickens and the wee man Maloney was a handful for the german defenders and so was Suttie.
We showed a lot of commitment after the equaliser and we played intelligent after Collina send the german defender to the dressing room.The only wee negative point I have is that our wingers Agathe and Thommo don't produce what's expected from them.In the 2nd half we played brilliant imop and it was obvious that the germand defenders aren't very confident.Great goals by petrov from an impossible angle gives us some breathing space but I won't underestimate the germans cos I've seen Anderlecht and Bruges Fc getting humped when they had won very comfortably at home years ago.

btw:Collina is pure class!

A great result and a great performance !!!
Up the Celtic!!!

Ghuy

Thought I'd have a go at one of these match report thingies , then I came to
my senses. People will only pick holes in whatever ye say , so I thought I'd
best just get straight to the point.

Celtic are pish. And without Larsson , they are now going to be one helluva
lot pishier.

With the expected partnership of Hartson and Sutton up front from now on , I
see no need for a midfield to be present . If anyone thought today was dire
stuff (Me , and the hordes around me) , forthcoming games promise to be
sore on the neck as we watch ball after ball soar up in the air from back to
front.

Thank feck I had a rake a beer in me today , made it half bearable to watch.
Gerry Cassidy

ghost town woo ooh this stadium's a ghost town..

well until the arabs got us in the mood for abuse by hacking everything above
the grass.

mcColls teamtalk must have involved the word commitment which they took to mean
leaving the boot in.

still got to look to the positives...Bobo was my candidate for MOTM before he
had scored any goals. I think these phone in things have people who say larsson
because they expect he will chosen anyway and want to have a chance of winning
a prize-sort of 'can't beat them join them' mentality. Good to see Ghod making
reference to bobo as soon as he was handed the champagne.

Excellent dick head interviewer question "henrik is your partnership with chris
sutton something you enjoy"....

"yes mr dick head I also prefer scoring goals and winning games to losing and
not scoring goals" ...should have been henriks answer.

Beechwood was quiet even at 7.10pm and it was easy to get served. Not many
tickets being offered about for sale...apart from one guy on the street
shouting 'last ticket for hampden' to much laughter.

climbed over the wee barrier in the north stand at half time so I could move to
the celtic end for goals in the second half. The steward who wouldn't let me
walk through the unbolted gate on the walkway at the back of the stand didn' do
anything about me climbing over the barrier instead:-)

Smith was very quiet first half and starved of service for most of the game.
Agathe was ineffectual and leads a charmed life when compared to previous
celtic wide men who were dropped for far less. Total lack of instinct as to
where to play the ball ahead of forward on a counter attack. Couldn't release a
budgie. Lambert, lennon, sutton, petrov, thompson and several others have more
chance of getting the ball to a forward in a postition then can run on to.
Doesn't have a notion.

Hedman could do with communicating with his defence more but hopefully that
will come with time. His distribution is considerably better than rabs imho.
Sutton was a bit out of sorts and BBJ seemed to tire a fair bit but there is no
doubting that neil lennon has shed a vast amount of weight. The bhold henrik
had an off night but did more than anyone else to convert useless punts into
useful play.

Punt, hack, punt, hack, punt, slice, punt would be the first half.
At least in the second we saw a bit of football.
If jamie smiths had gone in it would have been goal of the month.

When I was at the game I was sure that the disallowed goal should have stood
(don't we always)...on reflection having seen the video it did appear that
sutton impeded the keeper BEFORE the ball is struck (by larsson) but was not
offside or interfering with play after it.. The offside IMO is nothing to do
with it. I reckon a foul was given.

Atmosphere wasn't great but still better than 57,000 have achieved at parkhead
for the last few home games. Far far too many leaving after the second goal
went in. It was like a firebell had suddenly started ringing.

onto sunday...and maybe 3 OF game in as many weeks in march...

yours in green

brian k

This was a good professional and composed victory. Celtic comprehensively overwhelmed a Thistle team that were simply out of their depth. The game kicked off in near blizzard conditions and saw Laursen re-instated for the injured Mjallby. To me the defence looks more balanced and compact with Joos on the right-hand side and they were never really troubled all day. Laursen did well as it would have been easy for his confidence to have taken a knock after his recent omissions.Joos remains , for me , our best all-round defender and never put a foot wrong.
   As early as the 8th minute the game was finished as a contest when Sutton opened the scoring. A second from Sutton, after good work from Agathe, and it was all over.If Agathe would do more of this direct running he would be a lot more effective and a lot less frustrating. When Thomson returns I would like to see Smith get a run in the right wing back slot as he looks more comfortable on the right.
   Lennon looked leaner and fitter after his lay off through injury. He continually mopped up in front of the back three and rarely wasted possession. Could his return coincide with a return to form in defence? We certainly did not look as stretched and Lennon's presence allowed Petrov to break forward more often.
    For me , McNamara was our best player.He chased and tackled as well as linking well with the forwards. Could he provide the creativity we need in the short term?He deserves to keep his place and will be better assessed against more formidable opposition.
    Overall our movement and passing were good. Players were willing to move and provide options for the men in possession. We don't always have that with BBJ in the team, as Sutton is more mobile up front. This game should end any more speculation regarding Lennon and Lambert playing in the same team. That combination has had it's day and we need to explore other options. Three points in the bag and sterner tests ahead.
                                             Hail Hail
                                                 Bantry Bhoy

Just in from tonite's game and I dunno about the rest of you but Jamie
> > Smith got a well deserved MOM. He assisted in both goals and imho
> > should have got the MOM on saturday too but that was another game ;o))
> > Hartson and Larsson were putting in a great shift but Sutton seems
> > disinterested to me. Bobo and Joos were their usual brick shit hoose
> > wall in defense. Mjallby had to go off after he was seen to be
> > clutching his genitalia after scudding a couple of yards up the park on
> > his erse in the first half..Ouch!
> > Is it jist me or did BBJ look a lot trimmer than usual? He has
> > definitely drop a stone or so cos he was much fresher and energetic
> > tonite. Speaking as someone who has put on the odd extra pound here and
> > there over the years I know what a struggle he has with his weight..
> > shut it PieMan!!! and having met his brothers it's a family trait cos
> > they are all BIG ghuys.
> > Back to the game.. Underhill yer a DIDDY!! an absolute eejit.. when
> > Larsson was fouled and seemed to be in a lot of pain..he continued to
> > motion to our golden bhoy to get up as if he was play acting.. this was
> > met by Boos from the support and rightly so.
> > After several attempts a goal from Larsson, Hartson Lambert Jamie Smith
> > and Stan we got 2 goals when it shoulda been 12.. they needed a humpin
> > for their cheek alone but it wasn't to be.. but we came a way with 3
> > points so my porridge is ready and I'm away to ma bed.. Night sweet Tims
> > PS I'll be round at Barrowfield early ra morra to check out if Mjallby's
> > tackle is OK so expect a full and thorough report ra morra.... though ah
> > don't know how ah'll sleep for worrying about him, btw dis embdy else
> > think big Johann is auditioning for Jesus Christ Superstar? Cos he sure
> > looks like he fell oot a Holy picture these days ;o)
> > Yours Forever Green
> > Cáit Coyle - the Lioness sleeps

Disappointing to say the least.
Aberdeen were really up for this one and tore into us all day. They competed for every ball and chased and harried the whole game and , in fact, were unlucky not to win it.Celtic were lethargic and strangely nervous and were completely off the pace of the match. The Sheep attacked down both flanks consistently which pinned back Jackie and Thomson, who both spent most of the game having to defend stoutly. It was in the middle of the defence were the hesitancy was worse. We really have to start defending as a unit. Bobo and Joos were ok individually and Mjallby is obviously not match fit, but as a unit they were all over the place.
In the 25th minute a Larsson strike was ruled offside after being put through by a lovely Hartson ball . It was a borderline decision and could have went either way and in fairness Celtic did not make too much of it. Larsson showed marvelous opportunism and bravery shortly after in opening the scoring, sustaining a concussion in the effort and having to be replaced by Fernandez.
   Aberdeen's equaliser, early in the 2nd half, had shades of Big Rab about it. Hedman came for a corner he never got near and the Sheep were tied. Thomson went close with a long range shot and Hartson missed a sitter in the last minute. We spent the rest of the half keeping the Sheep at bay.
    Fernandez again failed to grasp his chance showing nothing and suffered the ignominy of being subbed himself near the end. These were 2 vital points dropped and could cost us dearly later in the campaign. We looked tired and jaded and it's pretty obvious that our replacements aren't up to it. Assuming we have at least as many fixtures in the 2nd half of the season, we will be out of gas before we even get to the run-in. The squad has to be freshened up with genuine competition for places a priority.

   Finally, he may not be popular with a lot of lhistees, but we could really have done with Lennon today. Could it be coincidence that the central defence looks exposed when he is absent? Mmm....
Hail Hail         Bantry Bhoy

A good day for Celtic. We win, the huns lose::)) Today we saw the best and worst of Celtic. Shambolic defending and brilliant attacking play. We were a goal down before we knew Hedman was between the sticks. The big hertz forward getting between Laurson and joos to head home.

Larsson had a perfectly good goal called back for offside. It wasn't even close. Later in the 1st half, Henrick was clean through but again - wrongly- flagged by the south stand linesman. Hugh Dallas was his usual self. If Pressley had been playing against rangers, he'd never have made it to half time.

Still, Hartson was in awsome form. His equaliser was a header into the bottom corner. His 2nd, just before the half, was a cracker. Taking a shot that was going wide, he cushioned the ball, stepped round the keeper and slotted the ball home. That should have been it. But with Paradise rocking to the news that Motherwell had taken the lead, hertz simply walked through the Celtic defence and scored. However, the crowd got into it, and the team picked up. Hartson scored a great goal from a Thompson pass, hoisted beyond the hertz defence, I am sure that BBJ actually broke into a run, as he fired the ball first time past the keeper. Henrick beat the linesman to waltz round the keeper for number 4. Just wondering.....but where did Petrov disappear to for 85 minutes????

As soon as the game was over, we switched to Fir Park, for the last 2 minutes, plus highlights, plus eck's greetin faced coupon as he answered questions from Chick Young's greetin faced coupon. But who was the burd in the Setanta studio? She either just had a good shag, or she was quite pleased at the huns demise. Either way, she seemed quite happy:::)))

Top of the league by New Year, I say,
Ronnie

Ho hum...poor fare. We won, but it wasn't a great show. I'll keep this short...yippeee...and stick the positives (mostly). Bobo got the official MOTM, but we have ONE guy to thank for keeping us in this till we sorted ourselves out...Rab Douglas. He had a great save from a Dundee player who was through one on one. Then he saved a penalty....all of this at 0-0.

I nearly got lynched at our CSC for suggesting that Ulrik Laurson didn't have a rotten game. His distribution was not great, but no worse than his team mates. He intercepted a few balls, and I thought he tackled well. Not enough for my pals, however, who think that we'd have been better keeping the money and playing Creaney.

Hartson scored a cracker. Agathe crossed a great ball for Larsson to score the second. That cross and that header was their total collective effort. Don't know why MON didn't use the subs a bit better, but that would be me getting negative::))) The referee was an arse. I'll stop there.

So have a safe and happy Christmas, one and all.
Ronnie

Well, maybe today was the day that we handed the huns the title. We certainly coughed up the points without making any great effort to keep them. After the game, MON said that the team were tired, and reminded us that they had a tough night in Vigo, and they had just got off the plane. Hmmmmm. While MON may have been justified in thinking he could have got another big effort out of his main players, he has NO EXCUSE for not seeing that they were fecked by half time, and NO EXCUSE for leaving two subs on the bench.

For those who think that Agathe is a player....look at this video. If we have no-one among the young lads who can do a better job, then let's throw in the towel right now. This is beyond a joke. It is almost as if MON insists in playing the same guys as a way of leveraging money out of the board. Bloody hell. There are guys on this list who would have given more effort today. If Sylla and Maloney couldn't have given us a bit of energy today, then why are they on the books?????????

Yes, we could complain about 2 or 3 bad calls. But lets look at ourselves first. Did the manager do everything possible to win the game? Don't think so. Yes, we hit posts and had a bit of bad luck. But is that what we should be relying on? Nope.

After we equalised, Killie made a sub, and changed things around a bit. For the next 10 minutes we got nowhere near their box. Their coach did what he got paid for. I don't know what our coach was doing. What is galling is that not only was this a poor performance, but that it was avaoidable. Sad, slow, predictable....and the only change MON made appeared to be one that was enforced, when Stan went off. Don't get me wrong. I don't object to Thursday's heros being tired. I don't even object to MON playing them again. I do object to the manager's inability/unwillingness/apathy....take your pick.

Poor.
Ronnie

I'm shattered!!
I would luv to throw the tv oot of the windae!
If BBJ ball on the post had gone in we were going to win the game.Another
ball was swept of the line by Noman.
No excuses but I think there are several players tired cos we play more
games than the mankee mob.At certain moments we pushed them back and passed
the ball around well.But then all of a certain the engine broke down and due
to a lack of concentration we found ourselves 3-1 behind.Douglas can blame
himself again.
I thought Agathe was useless and so was Guppy.It's time MON to get a reality
check about Agathe.In the first half
he's standing in the right corner,he got all the time of the world and he
feckin kicks it against that Numan prick.
Agathe's crosses haven't improved one tiny little bit and how many months
has he been at CP ?? I says:punt him and get a decent winger.
Laursen:did some good things but I've seen better than him.
Joos:did some good interventions but playing in a back three isn't his type
of game.
(I think MON should focus on getting a defender who's got some pace and who
doesn't kick the ball up the park).
Lennon:did some good interventions but in the 2nd half it was obvious that
his fitness level isn't 100%.
Larsson:not one of his best performances but I can't really blame him as the
swede was probably 100% fit after he has been sick.
Hartson:one of his better games.It's a pity he's not speedy gonzalez.Aye
magnus I saw the back heel tip from henke and BBJ didn't get to it ;-) Pure
class Henke!!
Petrov:he tried to pull the strings in midfield and imop he did well but
sometimes he hides himself to much for his colleagues.
Sutton:an incredible working-rate,scored and made it difficult for the HUns
midfield.
Thompson:he did better than Guppy imop.

My conclusion:if MON doesn't sign a creative midfielder in january I think
we're going to have difficulties to win the title.And a good defender and
right winger would suit me fine Santa.

ps:the racial abuse,the sectarian singing;the abuse lennon had to go
through(again) from the Huns ....naw it's not real.Just take some flags out
of the pubs and everything is solved.ma erse!!!

Dirty scumbag Huns!!
Ghuy

Another gemme gone, another 3 points earned for the bhoys. And earn them they did against a Hibs side who harassed and snapped at a Celtic team that looked positively toothless in the absence of Larsson & Sutton...

With one eye perhaps on the OF game on Saturday, Celtic were a far cry from the side who last Thursday, played Spanish cracks Celta Vigo off the park.

The bhoys handed starting slots to Momo Sylla, Alan Thomson & David Fernandez but it was evident soon after kick-off that this was a match in which Celtic would have to dig in and work out a result.

Douglas:    Little to do overall, but lucky to escape a caution with a blatant handball outside his area. Good stop just after half-time and commanded his area well. (6)

Valgaeren:Worked hard all night and made some good interceptions. Made good use of the ball.    (7)

Balde:    Strong in the challenge as Townsley tried to outmuscle the Frenchman. Won everything in the air but distribution was poor.        (6)

Laursen: Gets better with each game, but was caught out on more than one occasion by McManus. Made some timely interceptions, but like Balde, his distribution let him down.                              (6)

Sylla: Started well but the pace of the game soon overtook him. Made some good runs but another whose final ball had deserted him. Subbed for McNamara    (6)

Lennon:    Broke down everthing in the middle of the park and chased the ball all across the park. Some errant passing and got involved in some petty arguments    (6)

Lambert:   Tried to get forward and create the play. Final ball, like many others was found wanting                (6)

Thompson:   Started in place of Guppy and looked uncomfortable throughout. Poor distribution of the ball, although cleared off the line at an early hibs corner. Subbed by Guppy                (6)

Petrov:    Had a decent game and made several good runs. Team-mates could have helped him out more by giving him the ball in obviously better positions. Took his goal well   (7)

Hartson:   Well marshalled by the Hibs defence and hardly got a sniff of the ball all night. Snatched at a couple of chances. Could have set up others but chose to go himself for goal.        (6)

Fernandez: Started brightly, but tried to be too intricate with his passes. Lack of matches resulted in his failure to read the line and was consistently ruled offside. Subbed by Maloney    (5)

Guppy:    Replaced Thompson, but saw little of the ball. (5)
Maloney: Replaced Fernandez and had a few nice touches but the game passed him by         (6)
McNamara: Replaced Sylla and got forward well on the right. Some good touches and kept possession well. (6)

All in all, a poor performance by the bhoys tonight but ultimately another 3 points heads back along the M8 tonight. Getting a result in what was a tough match should give us a boost going into Saturday's OF gemme, and with the Huns almost capitulating against Livi, the psychological high-ground may just rest with us...

I wouldn't be surprised to see McNamara get the nod for Saturday ahead of Sylla, especially if Agathe still isn't fit...

Heres hoing that Larsson & Sutton recover in time as well...

Cheers,
Brian

Ugly stuff in that first half. That first 45 minutes might have contained our worst preformance of the season. Slow, lethargic, predictable. We spurned a few chances, but so did motherwell, with Rab pulling off three good saves in as many minutes. It could all have been so different had Larsson converted a very early penalty. The lad has missed too many to be still taking them.

Second half was much better. No doubt, there were some arses kicked in the dressing room. Even though he was having a poor game, you can always count on Henrick to get a goal. And so he did, effectively ending the game. When Guppy's cross was diverted into his own net by Leitch, you could see many in the crowd head for the exits. Joos made it 3, and might have had another had their keeper not pulled off a fine save. We blotted our book by letting them score from a free header. Ironic, after getting in a tizzy about the huns, we ourselves got a penalty and had an opponent sent off for punching the ball into the net. It might have come earlier, but ref rowbotham let a lot of bad challenges go unpunished.

Performances on the day.....

Rab, first class again, with good saves at 0-0.
Joos, solid.
Bobo, VERY solid::)
Crainey....my MOTM, this kid had a good outing, making Laurson look like an imposter.
Agathe....frustrating::(((
Guppy...poorish
Thompson, poor
Lambert ok
Fernandez, quiet start, came on to a game, got the official MOTM...still don't the position that he was supposed to be playing.
Larsson, rotten,
Hartson, not quite as rotten as Larsson.

How's that for a technical analysis?::)))

Motherwell are bottom of the pile, and I hope they stay there. They are the modern day airdrie, arsholes one and all. as Yogs said, let's hope they disappear up their own arse.
Merry Christmas:)
Ronnie

I had a lot to drink last night but it was an excellent game to watch. I did predict a three -nil win so I got that wrong. However, with a decent ref and a cooler head we could have got three easily. MON has matured rapidly at European level. If we are so devoid of skill, how could we cope so well with a fluid, more than competent Spanish side?
I felt Petrov was out to prove a point, I thought he was excellent and I would imagine there are a lot of big teams out there very interested in him. He IS that good. I thought big Hartson was immense and caused them real problems. The Spanish weren't very good because they weren't allowed to be very good. However, it will be a very different game in Spain and they will come out all guns blazing but we're good enough to cause them problems. I still think we'll go through.

Martin

Absolutely diabolical display of refereeing!!! I've seen some biased displays over the years, but this one is right up there. Having given us the penalty - disallowing a goal to do so - stuart dougal then proceeded to allow livvy to kick us at will. There were enough shocking fouls in this game to make the headlines, but probably none of them will.

It wasn't too long ago, when the meeja and the sfa were tut-tutting at Alan Thompson against aberdeen - 'well, if you raise your hands, you have to go', they opined. Your man, sherriff gave Jackie a two hander right in front of the ref. BOTH players got a lecture, and NO booking to the livvy player. Petrov was knocked out of the game within 5 minutes.

Gary Bollan jumped at Larsson, Bollan wasn't even looking at the ball, he head butted Larsson on the side of the head, flattening him in the process. No lecture, no card.

Paul Lambert was tackled off the field of play, when retrieving the ball for a throw in. He was left in a heap. No lecture, no card. Gary Bollan took Sylla's ankle with his studs, right in front of the ref. No lecture no card. Sutton got fouled about a dozen times. No-one got any kind of reprimand for doing so - but Sutton got booked for complaining. Laurson got booked for his first foul. Joos got booked for his first foul, then Dougal had the cheek to threaten him with a red card for his second foul

An absolute disgrace.

As for the football, there wasn't much. We had a few chances in the first 15 minutes, but stepped down a gear and did the bare minimum. Livvy were no threat in the first half, but caused us problems in the 2nd. They hit the bar at 1-0, and the points were seriously under threat for a 20 minute spell. Up stepped Henrick with a bit of a fortunate goal to seal the points late on.

But we deserved a wee bit of luck. That bastart Dougall was going to give us nothing.
Cheers,
Ronnie

Another good performance today...........we closed them down, harried,
hassled and downright swarmed all over Thistle - a hard working peformance
and on top of that we played some top class football - some of our play was
a joy to watch.

4 goals -it could have been more - The Thistle keeper had a good game and if
Stans volley had gone in then you could close the book on goal of the
season........

No failures agin in the team and we seem to have several players now
displaying the hunger that looked missing at the start of the season -
Larsson and Sutton were desperate to get on the scoresheet and looked
determined and hungry all day - both were immense...Stan was also a cut
above today - he could have had a hat-trick or even more........

The rest of teh team were not far behind them either - and we managed to
rest Laursen and Guppy at the same time.

A solid win based on hard work and some class one touch football - great
result.....and back to where we belong......TOP OF THE LEAGUE.........

lets see how TFOD respond to having to hang onto our coat-tails - the
pressure is on.....hands up who thinks they can handle it?? ;-)

Cheeers
Yogs

A great night for Celtic. And a great night for Martin O'Neill. He got a great big monkey off his back tonight. (no, I'm not talking about Souness:::))) On recent big euro games, MON has too often been beat in game 2. Ajax, Porto, Rosenborg, Basle. Tonight he showed that he can adjust between ties. And what an adjustment!!!!!!!

There was no comparison between this Celtic performance and that of the first leg. Souness got humped, pure and simple. He was not a happy guy. I thought we would see a change in Blackburn's approach in the 2nd half. Nope. If anything, Celtic stepped it up in the 2nd half. Truly, this was a European performance. Celtic gave Blackburn NOTHING. All that possession they had outside our box last time? Well, they got that outside their OWN box tonight. Time and again, they knocked a ball into our half, only for their player to be hustled back into his own. In the 2nd, they resorted to humping it to Bobo. No contest:::)))

Sutton laid on the first goal, knocking a ball to Hartson, who fell over. His marker fall over as well. Henrick went through on the keeper, and cleverly lifted the ball over the diving keeper. Nice goal, 15 minutes gone, and the tie was over. Blackburn were limited to a couple of long range shots in the 1st half, that big Rab dealt with easily.

Second half, as they got desperate, we had more room. Hartson missed a sitter. Friedel tipped a Guppy shot (well, mis-hit cross) over the bar. Then Sutton did the biz with a great near post header. Party time:::)))

Rab had a fine game. Petrov was a busy. Lennon boxed clever and had his best game in ages. Larsson's control was poor....but his work rate was amazing. Blackburn never had a minute's peace. And my Man of the Match...by a mile....drumroll please....Chris Sutton. 6 million was a snip.

A great night.
Ronnie Campbell

Not a great performance. But 3 points and another away game out of the way. Few people had great games today. BBJ tried a bit harder than he usually does, got his goal and has every right to think that he pulled his (not inconsiderable) weight. Sylla had a decent first half, but little went right for him in the 2nd 45. Still, this guy is a trier. Unlike the imposter Agathe who took his place. Laursen continues to confirm that he is mediocre at best.

Douglas, on the other hand, did very well, coming off his line, getting at some crosses, and had a good save in the first half. Larsson...well, maybe one of his worst games in a Celtic jersey. At least he kept trying, but nothing went his way today. Thankfully, in Hartson and Sutton, we had players who could step in and get goals. I don't know how Hartson feels about being subbed, with Henrick staying on the park.

Underhill had a real hunnish outing today. Stonewall penalty denied...Celtic players booked....arabs allowed to do what they wanted with no risk of a yellow.

But, 3 points is 3 points. This performance won't take us far on Thursday.
Cheers,
Ronnie

Celtic 7 Aberdeen 0

Yes, we know, the spl is crap. No doubt that will be the meeja slant on this one. But I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Then again, I'm as biased as the rest of you::)) 7-0 going on 14-0. Hartson gets all the deserved credit, but if he had taken all the good chances he had, Celtic would have been in double figures.

Not that it started that way, as Aberdeen came out and had a go. They had the first real chance of the game, and has us penned in ( no pun intended) for much of the first 20 minutes. Notably, we struck when we started to play the ball quickly. 3 touch football became one and two touch football, and it was game over. Petrov's quick ball out to Guppy and his immediate delivery found Hartson's head for 1-0. A quick ball out of defence had Larsson beating the offside trap to square for Hartson's 2nd. From then on, it was a matter of how many.

Someone posted stats recently about Larsson's scoring rate being lower while partnered with Hartson that with Sutton. There might be something in that, as Henrick didn't really get on the end of much, apart from his excellent free kick. BBJ, on the other hand missed a sitter for every goal he scores. His 3rd was a class finish that Lubo would have been proud of.

I like Sutton in the hole. He's a good all round player, and seems to enjoy being more involved than when he is isolated up front. Stan also seemed to relish in the space provided by the absence of Lennon and Lambert. Our midfield 4 looked much quicker and aggressive than our usual 5. This was helped by the fact that Guppy was on fire, and that Sylla had as good a day in the hoops as he's ever had. His run from the half way line to the by line before cutting the ball back for BBJ's 4th goal was something that Agathe could learn from.

The only question was why it took so long to get Crainey, Maloney and Fernandez on. When they did appear, it picked us up again, and Aberdeen were taking a real doing. Bobo's goal was a cracker. Left foot as well::) Maloney's free kick was top drawer, and he went inches wide with another.

Hugh Dallas elected not to send of the Aberdeen player who was the last man in bringing down Larsson. He gave the free kick, but didn't even talk to the player, who had already been booked. Not that I wanted any more misery to be visited on the Dons, but that Dundee player must be wondering what the score is.

Still, a fine day for the Bhoys.
Cheers,
Ronnie Campbell

Ali v Foreman. The Champ looks like he's taking a pounding. Foreman throws lots of punches. Many are blocked. None do any real damage. Then....BANG!!! The Champ wins.

So, that's how it was at Celtic Park tonight. For a long time in both halves, we couldn't get the ball off them. But to the credit of our players, they never panicked. They didn't chase lost causes, they kept their shape and limited Blackburn to just 3 real chances. What was worrying was how many of our players coughed up the ball when you would have expected them to have kept it. Bobo, who defended very well, only passed to a Celtic man once that I can remember. Ulrick Laurson is not a great player, and poor Crainey must be wondering what the score is.

Neil Lennon was one player who showed that he knew how to play at this level. The wee man is no fitter than me, but he knows what to do with the ball. Larsson and Sutton got no service. We had no-one who can carry the ball between the defensive third to the attacking third, and Blackburn nabbed most of our long balls.

All of that being said, we stuck to the task. It is ironic that we won the game in the very way that we have lost so many european adventures. I remember us getting suckered by Sascherink Zwikau (sp:)...when Roy Aitken was a lad.....and so many other sad occassions. So, up the park we went, and got the goal::))) You just knew that Hartson was going to do something!!! I don't mind big Sutton in midfield either. If that's what it takes to get BBJ on, then why not?

As for the 2nd leg...who knows? We'll not want to give up THAT much possession again. But Souness will have trouble getting his players to believe that winning and keeping the ball will be enough to win the game.

On top of all of that, it's a lot of fun beating souness....beating the english....and listening to their commentators greet about it:::))))

Roll on round 2!!!
Ronnie Campbell

.....but in reality I thought we were really pretty poor I am sorry to say.
I suppose that puts me firmly in the curmudgeonly old B*****d camp as
opposed to the OpTimistic "the-season-is-over-we-will-win-the-Treble" green
sunglasses camp but you have to call it as you see it. As I watched and
took count of the reb songs (including p**s poor perennial pointless
additions to fine songs) -v- Celtic songs it occurred to me that the Bhoys
might be putting in their wish lists for Christmas and the January sales
and this is reflected in the individual player reports.

We came out very slowly. The first 20 minutes looked worrying and I was
thinking what with a few shady antics from Brewster and Scotts squared at
the back the Pars might be after getting something here. The team looked to
be lacking incision and seriously fannying about. If we have Lenbert in the
middle then we have enough players fannying around without sticking Duddier
out on the wing.

I feel that a rude awakening may be on for Thursday - I most certainly hope
not btw - but if we play as poorly as we did today then we are deceiving
ourselves by scoreline and living by relativity. To receive the compliment
from the Beast of Benfica that we would and should be in the Premiership
darn sarf is naice, but if we did go down there and played like this
afternoon's mince then it wouldn't be long before we were languishing with
the likes of Wolves. We flatter ourselves with Four-Ones against pish like
Hearts and the Pars today. If we play any more like the lethargy that was
the first 20 minutes today then we have one word written across the team
and that word is MEDIOCRITY. It was like nobody cared, nobody could be
arsed today and it's not the first time that this interpretation of the
fare on view has been suggested this season. Of course, I am no doubt about
to be savaged by those of the 4-1 , 3 points in the bag line but I thought
it was a shit Celtic performance today and I hate to see my team play so
poorly and professional players in the Hoops go about like someone had
spiked the tea with Temazepam.

Gould - (pair of hands or a crucifix) - As Alex said I wonder if Terry
Gennoe kept his player registration as we may need him come Thursday. Or is
it a part of the teachings of the man to let the ball bounce off the table
tennis bats as opposed to catching it. (4)

Laursen - (alarm clock) - Somewhat unfair perhaps but he is becoming
annoying in the way that he falls asleep at times. He did however do better
than usual going forward but does anybody else in the team have confidence
in him. (6)

Balde ( flying lessons) - Defended well. We need to STOP RIGHT NOW this
gameplan which sees us knock it around going nowhere before pass back pass
back pass back reaches Balde who then punts it upfield to the Invisible
13th Man. We are NOT and never should be a Long Ball team. Did I say we are
not a long ball team? Maybe we are. (7)

Valgaeren () - Still the best defender and looking to come forward. Pity
his presence is absolutely necessary at the back which gives him no chance
of getting forward as in past seasons.(8)

Thompson (bag of clothes pegs) - I don't think he looked good all game. Got
a goal but total misjudgement from Skerla. (5)

Lennon (booze,booze,booze or possibly some suitable lingerie - say, a tasty
corset or size 38D bra ) - why does Neil Lennon take free kicks? Either he
is the greatest thing since sliced bread, a midfield general, a colossus
that dictates the to-and-fro of play or else he is a slow coach that cannot
pass more than 5 yds without loosing the ball. I am not sure which. (4)

Lambert (anything advertised by Thora Hird, that bloke that did the James
Heriott vet thing or the bloke who was in Z-Cars) - Why wait so long to sub
someone not playing well. The missed trap that should have been No 1 to the
Pars was shocking. DID get better later (thank heavens). (3)

Duddier ( shooting lessons) - as I said I must be missing something here -
the way he was patted all round, the big hugs, the high fives, the John
Robertson grab-head-in-both-hands-and-stare-into-eyes treatment when he
came off and made it to the dugout would suggest that he is a valued player
and for a long run in the team. Have to say - was better than his recent
CIS outing. Really? That good! (5)

Stan ( new speakers for the Hi-Fi ) - Good goal aided by ultimate Larsson
deception and piss poor defending. Looked to be the only one with any
degree of get up and go about them - and the will to fight for the ball and
urge/exhort/shout at team mates to wake up. Looke like the only one that
wanted to be playing this afternoon. (8)

Sutton (a plinth) - that ex-crap manager of St J that was on said he looked
the complete professional wherever he played - maybe maybe the rider
"except Fir Park" should have been added - I thought he looked a right lazy
prima donna - not up there in the Regi Blinker scale but gone are the days
of getting back unless that's what the casual saunter is nowadays. (6)

Larsson (Junior Smokers Outfit, complete w toffee ashtray and licorice dog
ends) - a performance of the "Greatest Ever Celts" Dinner-type - that is
turn up, say a few words, pick at the meal, then slide out the door as
early as possible. (7)

Subs:
Garth Broadshorts (copla cumfy cushions) - unlucky not to score, will he
ever get a starting place in a game that is not considered a pushover.
Don't expect to see him on Thursday in the starting role. Thursday next
January that is. (7)
MoMo (Telephone directory) - increase in pace when he came on, knicker
elastic repairs obviously completed. (not on long enough)
Maloney ( Electric Shaver or Aftershave) - this is not giving people
chances in the team. This is lets fanny about and try and drag some time
out till old Bollock Brain in the Black blows the whistle. (certainly not
on long enough)

There. Thats done it. I fell REALLY depressed now. Kinda Paranoid Android
style. I think I'll just nip out and top misself or maybe nip down the
pier, leap off and pull a wave over me bonce.

Kevin Tole

Basically we played all the players who have probably been knocking on
MON's door asking for their chance. Well, last night they got their chance
and, in my opinion, no-one grasped the opportunity.

Individually:

Douglas - Didn't look convincing. Suspect on cross balls, but, that said,
he got little help from his defence.

Creaney - Not living up to his early promise. Some dodgy distribution from
defence.

Balde - Looked, as you might expect, the strongest of our back three.
Pretty much won everything in the air but, again, his distribution lets him
down.

Boyd - Booked on a rare foray upfield but otherwise fairly anonymous.

Agathe - Not a football player.

Maloney - Rightly won the sponsors MOTM. Always busy, and his build up
work and cross for Hartson's second was the highlight of the game.
However, the nagging doubt persists that he is just too wee to nmake it in
the modern game. A case in point occured midway through the second half
when he was easily brushed off the ball by an ICT player while on one of
his meandering runs from midfield. It looked like man against boy.

Thomson - Lucky goal. Uninspired performance. he looked as if was just
going through the motions.

Healy - Not good enough. Showed exactlyu why he failed to make a 22 man
ROI squad for the world cup. Did not at any time command the midfield, and
eventually disappeared altogether when he was pushed into the back three in
the second half.

Smith - A bright opening 10 minutes when he made a real impact. Drifted
out of the game after that, though, and made little impression.

Fernandez - See Smith. I was pleased when we signed this guy and he's
undoubtedly a skillful player, but I can't help feeling he's just a bit of
a sand dancer. The longer the game went, the less he showed.

Hartson - Clearly couldn't be bothered, but was still the only player with
any class on display last night. While his team mates huffed and puffed
around him to no real effect, he was the perfect counterpoint. A study in
the conservation of energy, but his contributions, when they came, tended
to be more telling.

Subs:

Kennedy - Clumsy in the challenge, and suspect in positioning. Not a good
night.

Wallace - One mazy run where he almost tied himself in a knot, but little
else.

Miller - Didn't rellly notice him.

Gough - Not used

Sylla - Not used.

Overall, not a great game. We were never in any danger - except from the
cold. At least MON will be able to look forward to a few weeks peace from
the fringe players agents knocking on his door.

David

Great first half performance from a Celtic team who were on fire. There were
not many teams who would have lived with us today. The early goals killed
the game but we also controlled it from start to finish. A lot of people
were hoping we would stumble today - but our performance had the huns
switching off their tellys within 10 minutes ;-))

There was not a failure in the side today - Lambert, Lennon and Stan ran the
show from the middle. Guppy and Agathe were at their best down the wings.
The back three of Laursen, Bobo and Joos were sooperb and Sutton and Larsson
ran them ragged up front. Even Douglas played well (saving a rebound bravely
after spilling a free kick).

Joos seems back to his best, as does Lennon who seems to have moved up a
gear in recent weeks.Also Laursen has now settled in at the back. Lambert
was my MOTM with a majestic performance - he was everywhere........

The biggest disappointment was that we didnt score more - Larsson in
particular could (and probably should) have had another 3!! Two sitters from
5 yards out and a stumble on the ball when clear through!

But all in a superb performance with some cracking goals. We have finally
hit a run of form - and it has come at the right time (albeit maybe a
fortnight too late). If we can continue this vein of form up to the winter
break then I have a feeling we will be looking down on everyone else for the
rest of the season.......the huns aint gonna live with us playing like this!

Cheeers
Yogs

3-3, very much a case of the good, the bad and ugly. The Good...Henrik Larsson, first class performance, the first goal being an absolute cracker. He has got the off the ball movement back into his game. Superb. Also among the good, Chris Sutton. My MOTM. Won 80% of the ball that came his way....got no mercy from the ref, but did a magnificent job of winning and keeping the ball. Right up there was Neil Lennon. Arteta and Ferguson were rarely seen. Neil owned the center circle. Also Alan Thompson, who had a superb game, and could have won it for us with a superb free kick that came off the bar.

The bad....Momo Sylla and Bobo Balde. How not to defend. We had just gone 2-1 up. Control the next 5 minutes, and we'd scoosh it. Sylla and Balde contrived to give the huns an equalizer.

The downright ugly? Step forward Rab Douglas. Goal number one was a blooper of the highest order. Goal number 3 was just downright bad goal keeping. He might have come for McCann's cross on goal number 2, but I think Sylla and Balde can take that one on the neck.

Honestly, apart from the first 15 minutes, and apart from the fact that they had a keeper and we didn't....we absolutely played them off the park. For long periods, we dominated in a manner that wasn't even achieved in 5-1 or 6-2. But Rab Douglas........

The ref wasn't as bad as OF refs often are, but he bottled it on several occassions. Morris Ross should have been booked twice before finally getting a yellow. De Boer did much more to Balde than Thompson did while earning a much publicised red card against Aberdeen last season. Lambert should have had a penalty, getting kicked in the box, while Ricksen blatantly pushed Petrov in the back.

All of that aside, we really did dominate for 75 minutes. But if you don't have a keeper....::(((((
Cheers,
Ronnie

Just what we needed - an easy win. Normally Kilmarnock are stuffy - today
they were not bad going forward but woeful at the back. And we took full
advantage.

Some cracking goals from Larsson and Sutton who both seemed up for it - I
presume MON told the whole team to play for their OF place next week. The
team came out fired up and played a good first half.

However, it was Killie who had the first real chance of the game - they got
in behind Joos and had a free header that went wide when they should have
scored. But as soon as Henrik clipped the ball home from a Lennon cross we
never looked back. A great Sutton and Larsson combination for the second
goal, then a good Bobo to Joos off the bar for a simple nod in for Henrik
for no 3 completed the first half scoring.

Second half we played at half pace until the subs came on. Maloney really
impressed with his direct running and won us the last minute pen when the
Killie defender simply put him up in the air as he ran past. Larsson
completed his hat-trick from the spot with the last kick of the game.

Before that Larsson was clean through on goal and unselfishly layed it on a
plate for Sutton to smash home for his second and our 4th.

Hartson should have had a couple as well - he wasted two golden
opportunities before the pen but maybe a lack of match fitness has caught
up on him.

Overall the team played really well. Henrik & Sutton were at their best.
Laursen was my man of the match - he looked very positive, won everything at
the back and never put a foot wrong all day - I think he may have just
settled in.

Lennon and Lambert were more up for it even if they did still pass the ball
backwards too often for my liking. They exceelled as everything went down
the middle all day. Guppy and Sylla didnt see to much of the ball as Killie
tried to double up on them - so we simply missed them out and went straight
through the middle.

There were some disappointments - Hartson looked dreadfully unfit and
unwilling to run for anything. He then showed what he can do with a run that
he nearly scored from. Thats what we expect John. If he doesnt improve his
appetite (on the park! ;-)) then we need to punt him in January. The gamke
also passed Stan by - one of his anonymous games where nothing ran for him.
The last aspect is worrying with next week in mind - we seemed very open
down the left channel - and thats where the huns new Danish Diver is going
to do any damage. It was Joos fault - he had a good game - but there was no
protection in front of him. Neither Sylla or Agathe have the defensive game
to deal with him - I would play Jackie in a man marking role on him. If
Jackie does nothing else all day except take him out of the game then he
will have done his job. Oh, and we also need to nail the little fecker hard
, right at the start ;-)

A good result, a good performance and roll on the OF game!

ps - my team for Thursday

Gould, Kennedy, Boyd, Crainey, Agathe, Healey, Fotheringham, Maloney,
Petta,Hartson, Lynch. (i am assuming that some of the young lads are
registered to play in the UEFA??)

pps - the Celtic TV coverage hit new lows today - I will be contacting CP to
tell them that their coverage made Arthur Montfords old Scotsport coverage
look highly professional.

Cheeers
Yogs

A good win against a decent Dundee team. Definately the best Scottish opposition we have seen this year. Jim Duffy has added a bit of steel to last year's sand dancers, and has not a bad side.

Apart from a squeaky last 5 minutes when we seemed to suddenly realize that we only had a one goal lead, this was a good, solid performance. Had we knocked in a 2nd goal, we would have scooshed this game. Petrov's chip that hit the bar would have put us in easy street.

I also thought that this was Larsson's best performance this season - thursday included. His touch and control were back, and his movement was brilliant. Sutton and Hartson could learn a thing or two. Just take the goal. Larsson scored from his own cross!! He chased a ball on the right touchline, beat his man and turned inside. His cross was a good one, right to Guppy. While we were all wondering why Guppy didn't shoot, Larsson continued his run across the box. Guppy laid it off and Larsson fired it home from the edge of the box. If only his strike partners showed the same non-stop motion.

Sutton had a decent spell for the 10 minutes before he got subbed, but up till that point, he was at his most frustrating. Simply put, he won't score too many goals while standing still. Sylla can be annoying as well, but I like the fact that this lad never quits. With his great attitude, there is always the chance that this guy can turn into a quality player.

Bobo is also in a decent vein of form, and he marshalled our defence well today, saving the day with a timely header when Douglas was performing his finest flapper impersonation. Laurson struggled all day, and it was no surprise when MON put Crainey on to help him out.

Finally, what a miserable crew that Dundee mob are. They booed everything that moved, greeted at every decision (aside from those that the shitebag of a ref gave them...the handball was right in front of him, should have been a stonewall penalty).

Anyway, I digress. A good win and 3 points that won't fall into the huns lap.
Cheers,
Ronnie

8-1 good and great stuff. The other mob was bad, but it was a good exercise for the Bhoys. Henrick certainly looked to have his game back. Sutton was excellent. Momo frustrates, but not as much as Agathe. Maloney must be disappointed at not getting in on this - not even on the bench (was he injured?)

Highlights were Larsson's treble, Petrov's cracker and Hartson's tip-toe through their defence before chipping on to the bar. Given that the 2nd leg is a few days before the OF game, I hope that Lambert, Sutton, Larsson and Joos are not even asked to tracel to Lithuania.

I think the crowd enjoyed it as well:)
Cheers,
Ronnie

Another dour, dire home win that gives us another 3 points but that hardly
inspires confidence for the season ahead. At times this is dull to watch. At
worst its downright painful.

We have a team low on confidence. The Basle defeat seems to have knocked the
stuffing out of the team. We havent recovered yet. And we desperately need
someone to light the blue touchpaper and get us going again.

Its at times like this we need a Roy Aitken or Caeser to drive the team on,
to wind them up, get them going again. When I played football, if you went
through a bad stretch of results, you went back to basics - you make sure
you fight for every ball, you win every tackle and through shear effort you
will gradually claw out results and get the confidence back. Thats what this
team needs to do.

Larsson and Hartson were awful up front. Neither held the ball up well
enough to bring the rest of the team into the game. Instead they immedaitely
lost the ball and put us on the defensive. The midfield of Jackie,Thommo and
Lennon didnt work too well - they looked a little lost at times and didnt
gel.

Momo was his infuriating best - while a good ten notches up on the recent
performances of Agathe he would beat his man with ease then let the ball run
out of play while looking up to pick out a man in the box.

Bobo was immense -easily MOTM. Joos wasnt too far behind but still looks to
be recovering his form after injury. Laursen did OK.

We have several players struggling for form at the same time. We are
struggling to find the right blend at the moment, and with these players off
form, we are struggling even more. The worst aspect is how our second half
performances seem to tail off when things are not going our way. We always
start brightly enough but then it all goes downhill after that.

We need someone to drive the team on, to get the fans up for it again - to
get everyone pulling together. MON is one person who should be doing that. I
feel we lack a captain on the pitch the do the same when times are tough.

Larsson is going through a tough time - his confidence is at a low ebb. He
needs to bang a few in to regain that confidence in front of goal. What was
most disappointing though was his link up work was non-existant either.

That said we play badly and get another 3 points - but we desperately need
to improve with the Rangers game looming large....

Cheeers
Yogs

What can I say awfull ...truly awfull! Out played...out passed ...out muscled and out thought! How can a team regress so quickly

Douglas.......almost cost us a goal with his inability to catch a ball second half.

Laursen.......not good enough...If Crainey cant get a game god knows why! Cost us the penalty with schoolboy tackle.

Balde........Tebily that can head.

Valgareen..Operation seems to have ruined him ...far too slow...made to look a fool by Macfadden..continuously!

Lambert....too slow ...cant pass forward...looks ten years older...Scotland or Celtic cant do both.

Petrov....would look agreat player if in better side..brought down a level here if we cant imprve only fair to let him go.

Thompson..worked hard and tried....we've missed him

Guppy....great crosses...great skill....33 ...though still ..best Celtic player!

Agathe...We effectively play with 10 men when he plays...useless..may have better chance in athletics..cant play football...who told him he could...in fact we were had at £50,000.

Sutton....seems dissinterested...wants a fight or a chance to fall over...looks like a defender playing up front ( whats that ....he is..!)

Larrson...should have scored twice...seems to be in a permenant huff.

Maloney....did he come on??...are you sure??

Hartson....tried again and got a goal...must be longing for transfer window.

MON....I'll judge when I see an improvement in this shambolic team..and what changes are made.

Steve Walford & Robbo What do you do all day..agathe still cant cross...16 corners at least half fail to clear the first man..free-kicks less said the better.

All in all crap. Cant stand much more hoofing it up to the forwards hoping for a knock down..start passing Celtic and play football.

Discalimer..wrote in a bad mood may have better judgement tomorrow

Hail Hail

Clin

Today was my first chance to get to CP in eight months since relocating to
Houston. I cant help feeling a little cheated. What I was desperately hoping
for was a performance that entertained us and helped blow away the
depression surrounding Wednesdays result. What I saw was a dour, dull and
poor performance (particularly second half) that showed that half our team
were still feeling sorry for themselves.

IMHO they should have stuck out the same eleven as Wednesday and told them
to prove to the support that they arent a bad team really. MON should have
shoved some rockets up arses and told them to blow Livingstone away. What we
got was far from our best team, labouring away with little creativity and
low work rate. Too many changes in the team once again contributed to the
downbeat performance but even so I expected more.

The thing that gets me is that without the CL, the league is our main focus.
There should be no resting players when not required, and no taking the foot
off the pedal, saving oursleves for the bigger fish of the CL in midweek.
The league is all there is guys - get used to it and start slogging your
guts out for the cause on a Saturday/Sunday again.

and to top that off Mr.Larsson committed one of my pet hates......when he
was subbed he headed straight to the dressing room without even stopping at
the bench. Yes you were disappointed to be taken off Henrik but show some
respect to your fellow pros and at least have the decency to watch the poor
fare we were having to suffer.

Also - i dont think the team has put in a decent performance at home since
about February (the title clincher against Livi excepted) - 1 and 2 nil home
dour , dull ground out victories have been the flavour of the day for too
long.

Rant over........now to the game

the game started well enough and we were quite bright. A few chances here
and there before Henke buried a header from a great Guppy cross. Bobo
managed to knock a bobbling ball into the net for number two and that was
that. To be fair to Livingstone they held posession quite well and with a
more deadly striker could have scored a couple - two glaring misses second
half could have had us in trouble. Second half was a huge letdown - we were
simply aweful. Biggest farce of the day was when we broke away in a 4 on 1
situation - Maloney shirked responsibility and passed when he should have
shot and another chance was blown.

Hedman - very little to do - easy money
Laursen - pass marks
Bobo - solid at the back - good game
Joos - nothing to do all game - still looked a bit hesitant at times
Guppy - great first half, faded second
Jackie - MOTM - chased, harried and showed the rest the way
Stan - 6 out of ten - not bad but not great.
Agathe - shocker of Petta standards
Fernadez - tried hard in the hole behind the front two but struggled to make
an impact
Sutton - worked his socks off but the ball never ran for him all day
Larsson - great goal, good work rate first half, should have had a couple
more - looks to be sulking to be honest.
Maloney - came on and injected some pace - some mazy runs but shows his
immaturity sometimes with poor final balls
Hartson - didnt look interested.
Thomson - welcome back Thommo - looked keen and up for it but needs more
match fitness.

Im sorry to be so down beat but the looks on my fellow supporters at the end
said it all really. It wasnt a pleasure to watch and it certainly wasnt
entertaining. As I said I feel a bit let down. A good solid performance
would have blasted our despondancy about the CL result into oblivion. What
we got was a `just do enough' performance. I expected more........and its
time we got it...........

ps - Freeland was an arse

Cheeers
Yogs

Pure disappointment from this Celt today.

Going out on away goals to the Swiss champions is a reflection of the whole
Celtic organization inasmuch as it is on the manager and his players. The
official stance from the club in the offseason was that we wont add to the
team unless we make it through to the Champions League. Absolute nonsense. We
lost a star in Lubo Moravcik and did feck all to replace his talent. Lip
service was paid to the fans with the acquisition of David Fernandez and
Ulrik Laursen. No disrespect to Fernandez but come on was this supposed to be
a serious gesture of ambition by the Club. I don't fault O'Neill for the lack
of new players he has been dying to bring in quality but hasn't been given
the green light who's kidding who.

But then again we didn't see Fernandez today and Moravcik was used sparingly
last year in Europe. Which brings us to the managers tactics? Dear, oh dear,
a dear. Once again we showed industry and heart but alas a lack of guile. Is
this to be the stamp of the MON teams?

We looked ponderous and slow in midfield and defence. Much the same as the
recent games against Rangers indicated. We lacked a cutting edge in
midfield, a lack of penetration from the middle. I have never been convinced
by Momo Sylla in the middle and today I received no further indication that
he is our link up player. As for our defensive duo of Lambert and Lennon they
looked painfully slow and lack the ability to provide a real scoring threat.
The manager can't see past Didier Agathe's speed. To be honest the lad should
be sold to Juventus tomorrow if they will give us 8 million. On his opposite
side Steve Guppy showed us the tools that a winger should possess. Guppy
played well last season and didn't make it into the Cup Final team. Once
again he was regretfully absent from todays starting line-up. The managers
love affair with Agathe must end and a real winger of quality must come in.

Our defense has been found out. They are slow and unable to adapt to quick
forwards. See Peter Lovenkrands......a poor man's Brian Laudrup has been made
an instant star by our lethargic defensive trio and the writing has been on
the wall.

Doom and gloom stuff, I suppose. All I can hope is that Celtic have realized
that some changes need to be made to the playing staff if we even want to win
the title this year. THIS IS A WAKE UP CALL. All this talk of Premiership
football has been nonsense by upstarts who have finally won the league back
to back after twenty years. Concentrate on consistency and at least making
the Champions League every year in a similar vain as Rosenberg. This will
earn us the revenues we need to progress. Money makes money and without
investing in the playing staff and this critical time we have a bit of egg on
our face.

Perhaps this is the end of MON, who knows. The club has certainly dragged
their feet on his new contract. MON may well be the scape goat for this
recent disaster which I believe the blame should firmly rest with the club
hierarchy.

Keltspirit

Sutton, to Hartson, to Larsson, goal. Many Tims would be forgiven for
conjuring up images of this Celtic side at their very best, upon hearing
news of a such a match-winner. Unfortunately for those who witnessed this
afternoon's match however, the preceding 72 minutes put paid to any such
notions. We went to Firhill without a single starter that could be
reasonably relied upon to provide us with even the most basic manner of
invention. Invention that so often proves crucial during the kind of turgid
non-events these matches come to represent. As a result, we laboured
throughout, and rather than leaving with the three points, escaped almost
un-noticed with them.

We were in fairness the comfortably better side. But even given the
selection difficulties facing O'Neill, and the somewhat daunting prospect of
a trip to Basle in midweek, surely Celtic fans are entitled to expect
something even the slightest class apart from the cumbersome, especially
when up against toiling yet ultimately predictable SPL-fodder opposition.
The reluctance to pitch in Fernandez does concern me; if he is not yet
equipped for this sort of thing (and given a season in Scotland already
under his belt, I find that a wee bit hard to believe), then I would hope
that O'Neill is still searching very hard for someone of his ilk who is.

A midfield consistent of Lennon, Lambert and McNamara is ridiculously
ill-equipped in this instance. We worked tirelessly, as is to be expected of
O'Neill's charges. Yet we never once looked like any more than a slightly
better version of Thistle themselves (who also worked tirelessly). In the
first half we had our fair share of chances, and Larsson fought admirably
for them, however if he was unlucky with a diving header, he perhaps ought
to have done better when failed to hit the target having been put through at
an angle following a clever exchange of passes in and around Partick's
eighteen yard box. Other than such fleeting moments though, there was little
to talk of. We were too often bossed off the ball (not that Partick managed
much in their own right with it as a consequence), failed to impose any sort
of pattern of our own on the game, rarely got in behind Thistle on the
flanks and failed for long periods to bring Chris Sutton into the game, even
having predictably resorted to punting the odd high ball in his direction
when all else failed.

In the second half, the home side began to tire, and opened up a great deal
more as a consequence. Still, opportunities falling the way of Celtic were
duly squandered, Sutton being the main culprit. His touch let him down badly
when through on the keeper, with a defender in close pursuit, and moments
later he snapped rather hastily at a Henrik Larsson cut-back and skewed his
shot into the empty terracing behind Partick's goal.

Hartson was introduced with around twenty minutes to play, in exchange for
Neil Lennon. The midfielder had a painfully anonymous game, though I'd
imagine this had more to do with the flow (or more appropriately, lack
there-of) of a match that he simply failed to stamp any authority on from an
early stage, subjecting him to a game of catch-up thereafter. Lennon strikes
me as a resilient character, only one experiencing the extraordinary right
now, and I don't imagine that without events of midweek he would necessarily
have had a vastly improved performance this afternoon, though he wore a
subdued expression throughout and especially when exiting the fray. Many
professional footballers have a canny knack of casting aside even the most
unsavoury elements of their existence, during hours of business.

Hartson had a direct hand in the goal, receiving a smart, lofted pass from
Sutton near the by-line, before directing a similarly controlled lob of his
own across the face of goal and towards Larsson, who, in true predatory
style, nodded over the line under the close attention of goalkeeper and a
pair of unsuspecting defenders.

A powerful left-footed volley followed soon after from Sutton, and Thistle
themselves managed a few tentative shots across our bow in the dying
moments, but that was to be all. Mercifully, it has to be said.

Pass marks to Guppy for working hard and providing one or two moments of
cleverness on the left, but he remains second choice behind Thompson in a
position where we could do with further strengthening and some extra class
as it is. Hartson will feel he has done himself no harm with an immediate
hand in our match winner and best spell of the game, but he continues to
look some way off an effective all round performance for Celtic over the
course of 90 minutes in a bigger game. Laursen, Valgaeran and Balde were
given relatively little to do given the poverty of our midfield for the day,
though none were as commanding as they ought to look in such a match.
Douglas looks as if he is doing enough to keep one over on Hedman for the
time being, when it comes to more crunch matches at least. Still he manages
to fumble and flail un-necessarily though. That leaves just Agathe, who was
infuriatingly average on the right, keeping himself very busy but frequently
making the wrong decisions in possession and failing to deliver telling
balls.

I say much of the above and the following with a fair degree of caution,
since I suspect any overt criticism following victory in an away fixture
preceding a tough European tie and with fringe players all over the park to
boot, might prompt a few souls to reach for the flamethrowers. And in saying
that, I myself accept that none of the above can be discounted when weighing
up today's performance. It's my opinion though that we lack real impetus in
the early stages of this term, are more predictable than in previous terms
and making life easier for our opponents as a result, and in general, have
failed to move forward sufficiently in the year or so since our
performances, between a 3-0 win at Ibrox and demolition job on Ajax in
Amsterdam, came to represent a high point of recent history. Ah, but it's
early season, and this was a game we'd have lost not long ago, I hear. True,
but not long ago we were shite, which is hardly much of a barometer, and
just yesterday evening I saw Chelsea and Manchester Utd provide a quite
exquisite masterclass and lesson in early season form. Given the aims,
aspirations and resources of Celtic, there can be little excuse for not
hitting the ground running. Or at least breaking into a jog.

With, most notably, Petrov and Mjallby back for the game in Switzerland,
there is a natural improvement. It will still prove an incredibly tough tie
though. Beyond that, should there be a beyond, we require game-breaking
suggestions that not even the Bulgarian, or any existing team-mates can be
asked by the manager to routinely come up with.

No contest. Like so many other teams who come to CP, the arabs just died the death. If you didn't see the game, you might want to know what kind of keeper Hedman is. Well, you'd never know from today's showing. He plucked 2 crosses, and took a few pass backs. You could have put anyone on this list on, and you'd not have known the difference.

Same goes foe Laurson. Tidy and quick, but never stretched by the opposition. Celtic just went out and passed the ball. Once we started doing that a wee bit quicker, we got the goals. When the ball came out to Jacky, it looked like he was going to scoop over another cross....but instead he fired it into the top corner. Everything fell into place after that.

Not much to sing about, I suppose. The crowd at CP were fairly quiet, with little to fret about once charlie miller got subbed. Miller had an amazing match. He kicked everything that moved, and never got a card. Every time a Celtic player came near him, the ref gave him a foul.

Other highlights....Jacky gave us a wee bit of pace in midfield that lambert doesn't. Not as clever a player as Lambert, but he did give us an extra edge when the arabs had the ball. He knocked one outrageous long pass which Larsson headed on and Petrov hit the bar with. Sutton had a superb game and would have been miffed at being yanked for Hartson. Larsson, on the other hand seemed out of sorts. Petrov looked in the mood, and was my MOTM.

that's about it. The spl is a poor place, if this is the kind of effort that we are going to see from the opposition, though.
Cheers,
Ronnie

Bhoy were we awful in the 1st half!! To conceed a goal whilst playing
at home in the very first minute is bordering on criminal. Our defence
looked like they'd only just met and Larsson's converted penalty was
about the sum total of our shots on target during the first period. Pass
marks only to Petrov.

Big improvement 2nd half though. Cute backheel from Sutton sent us in
front but we continued to ride our luck. Big Rab pulled of a couple of
quality saves then the introduction of Steve Guppy in place of the
ineffective (yet again!) Petta changed the game for us.

For those that may not have seen the game yet or happened to tape it, go
count the vast number of deliveries Guppy swings in from the left - each
one of which causing distress in the Swiss defence. At last a wide
player that can deliver a cross - on this performance the lad certainly
deserves an extended run in the team.

Henrik missed the second penalty awarded to us and it didn't look likely
that we'd extend our lead. Indeed at times it could be argues that
Basle's play deserved an equaliser. Nerves were calmed somewhat with a
couple of minutes remaining when yet another inviting cross from Guppy
was met on the volley by Momo Sylla - What a sweet finish from the often
frustrating fringe player.

3-1 SHOULD be enough to see us through as I'd fancy us to score over
there. A fit Agathe will help as his pace could prove vital on the
counter attack but underestimate Basle at your peril. A far from vintage
performance from Celtic against very impressive opponents but here's
hoping we have a foot into the Champions League - If only just!!!

MOM - Guppy. Even if he only played about 35 mins, his introduction
proved crucial.

GaryB.

Not the greatest of games on Saturday it has to be said, but then season
openers rarely are. Nonetheless, it was nice to get back into the swing of
things after the summer, and the fact that once again it has taken me most
of the weekend to recuperate is a reassuring, if somewhat painful return to
the norm.

We were certainly made to sweat for our win, and even at 2-0, following such
an exquisite chip from our now Umbro-less talisman, I felt we could have
done with just the one more. Not long before Larsson's opening header,
moments prior to the half-time whistle, Dunfermline had been allowed into
the game. Granted, they never once looked like scoring, but for a side still
struggling to shed a reputation for instinctive blootering earned during the
halcyon days of Bert Paton, they are now surprisingly able to dictate the
play more conventionally from time to time under Jimmy Calderwood. To give
credit where it is due, their collection of roughly hewn youngsters and
anonymous journeymen never once looked overawed by Celtic, and the fact that
we struggled to assert ourselves as much as we ought to have in the opening
periods suited them well. When their goal did arrive, in the dying moments,
they were once again beginning to enjoy far more time and space in the
middle of the park than any visitors ought to be allowed.

Either side of that well taken lob from a barely introduced substitute, Gary
Dempsey, Calderwood's men could have scored a few more. Given the overall
pattern of play, it would have been a travesty had they managed to nick a
point as a result, but nonetheless O'Neill will have taken precious note,
I'm sure. Rab Douglas's headless chicken routine in rushing off his line
provided Dempsey with twice the goalscoring opportunity he had but a split
second earlier; moments later however our outgoing No.1 pulled off a world
class save when the self same scorer rifled a positively fizzing effort at
goal, from point blank range. The stop was as good as a goal for Celtic.

I don't imagine Douglas felt the most esteemed individual in the stadium
whilst Magnus Hedman underwent a warm-up routine behind him, that on
occasion came to resemble a lap of honour. Not that the Swede could have
foreseen even half the reaction the support were willing to provide, in
fairness to him. Yet it was hard not to feel a degree of sympathy for the
largely redundant Douglas whilst it all went on.

Back to events on-field, and I was disappointed with the manner in which we
squandered umpteen set-pieces before, ironically enough, Larsson bulleted
home the opening header from a corner. Beforehand, wasted free-kicks (for
which he was the culprit) included, we barely came close to finding the
target over the course of around ten or twelve dead ball situations. Ring
rustiness may have played its part, but not good enough all the same.

On the individual front, Sylla did himself a few favours with a fulsome, if
somewhat flattering performance over the ninety minutes. Few could doubt the
lanky Frenchman's dedication, and his willingness to track back in pursuit
of opposition raids was reminiscent of Agathe on his better days. Sylla can
cross with merit also, though there were often no takers. But too often he
confuses himself as much as his marker, and his control is erratic. But this
was all positively Brazilian stuff compared to exertions across the field on
the left, where Bobby Petta reverted to original type with a glaringly awful
performance, marred by chronic indecision and an infuriating tendency to
collapse under the weight of a stuff breeze.

Of our central midfield thrio Petrov once again looked best I thought,
though he took fifteen minutes to find the ball, and half an hour to find
his feet. Lambert and Lennon were average enough to get through the game
without cause for major celebration nor complaint. Indicative of the lack of
invention in this area however was the fact that not once did an attacker,
or anyone making an overlapping run for that matter, benefit from an
effective through ball. Indeed not a single one was so much as even
attempted, whilst we struggled to get in behind the Pars defence throughout.

In defence, Valgaeran looked very unsure, and it might have been wiser to
allow the Belgian some more time to train himself up, with Crainey favoured
for the time being. The young Scotsman arrived off the bench to fill the
left berth in a back four for the final ten minutes. Some of Valgaeran's
positional failings were to blame for Dunfermline all of a sudden looking
rather menacing during the game's last few instances, and both he and Balde
were guilty on occasion of over-elaborating with the ball at feet, though
they were never made to pay there and then. Balde was otherwise very solid,
and Mjallby too had another worthy run-out that will probably have done him
far more favours in terms of fitness and routine than on anyone's Fantasy
Football points sheet.

Sutton worked tirelessly in attack, and won everything that came his way. He
was also unlucky not to score with a snapshot at the near post following a
dangerous low cross from Larsson after only two minutes, an opportunity that
disappointingly enough came to represent our very best until the opening
goal forty minutes later. Larsson worked diligently in all attacking areas,
though he was in truth quiet and often ineffectual other than for his goals.
But what a goal his second was, and credit is always due a player able to
give the team such a fantastic option even on a slow day. Fernandez replaced
the perennial MOTM late on, but had little time to impact. John Hartson
can't have been too chuffed with his lot; he was stripped down to appear at
the 75 minute stage, but then on came Dempsey to upstage him, and O'Neill's
orders that the big Welshman zip up again.

Post-match, O'Neill got particularly confrontational with one Clyde
interviewer who pushed the issue of competition between Douglas and Hedman.
Having been asked if he felt it would be easy to deal with the potential
disenchantment of one big earner, O'Neill snapped "Tell me what wages have
to do with anything?" When the bemused reporter attempted, poorly, to
rephrase his original question, O'Neill again hit back "No, you tell me what
wages have to with your question?" Eventually, the reporter backed down and
said "Ok, lets just remove wages from the equation then", at which point
O'Neill happily responded, and then moved on.

Also on Clyde, Shug the Rug came an absolute cropper when quizzing a suit -
though I'm not sure exactly whom - on the latest, ludicrous proposed
carnation of an Atlantic League or Cup. "I hear now that there may be a
European style league played during the winter break - can you fill us in on
any of the details for that?" he asked. To which the response came: "Yes -
it's not a European style league and it won't be played during the winter
break." Cue much guffawing among listeners and a quite embarrassed Keevins.

As for Rangers, unsurprisingly enough I haven't seen footage of their game
anywhere yet. On the radio however, Jim Jefferies appeared convinced that a)
the corner from which Arveladze's goal arrived ought not to have been
awarded in the first place, and b) the goal was offside thereafter, at that.
That much could be put down to Jefferies innate proneness to a right good
whinge, admittedly, though it must be noted that reports in the media concur
almost unanimously with the walking depressant.

And with all that, fittingly enough, the season gets underway in earnest.

Joe .