Celtic FC vs Udinese FC

Hi mate, nice to see some other fans on a Celtic site.

I'll be reporting back to Neil Lennon with your information

 

Really not sure how I see this game going, we aren't playing very well and our defending looks far from convincing so that suggests we'll concede a couple.

Udinese are a good side, was quite impressed with them against Arsenal in the CL Qualifiers, they looked frighteningly quick on the counter attack against Arsenal.

We're at home so hopefully we have a good go at them. We don't have much pace in defence now with Cha, Izzy and K. Wilson injured, so it's going to be really difficult for us to push up without being exposed by their pace.

Would go for this team;

Forster

Matthews ~ Loovens ~ Mulgrew ~ Wilson

Forrest ~ Kayal ~ Ki ~ Ledley

Hooper ~ Bangura
​

 

Counter attacks are your strength and our weakness as our style is to keep hold of the ball and attack in the oppositions half so you'll have a lot of chances to counter attack us..

Ill predict you to win 2-0.

 

I say start Bangura with Hooper, we have yet too see bang bangs amazing potential.

 

Bring on the Tallys

Celtics most famous victorys

Celtic 2 Inter Milan 1

Celtic 4 Juventus 3

Celtic 1 AC Milan 0

 

Mulgrew has to play at CB. The thought of Di Natale running at Maj and Loovens is giving me nightmares.

Not overly confident, but the good thing is they will come looking for a 0-0 and will most likely sit in and let us come at them, which may just suit us.

1-0 Celtic.

 

Don't care about the defence, whoever we play they'll be *.
Midfield our best part of the team by far atm, hopefully Ledley keeps up his good form, then i'd have Forrest on the right with Kayal & Ki in the middle as, apart from a few mistakes, they're a good partnership. Hooper & Bangura upfront I honestly think Stokes is as bad as Samaras, doesn't get the hate because he's Irish but from the matches i've seen this season (all of them except for Hibs & Caley) he's wasted just as many good opportunities as Sammy.

Think the best we can hope for is a draw from this, Udinese were a bit unlucky not to go thru against Arsenal in 2 legs, their strikeforce is pretty lethal in Italy so against Scottish opposition i'm fearful of how many Di Natale might get. Typical Italian defence will be tough to break down, Hooper needs to start taking more of the chances he's making as his final ball hasn't been as great this season so far - despite the goals he has banged in.

 

Whoever we play at CB will most likely get ripped. Lets just hope we ride our luck and avoid embarassment.

 

Sorry that part is just complete bollocks.

Stokes' goalscoring record cannot be questioned, whereas Sammy's is absolutely shocking.

 

We should position someone outside Glasgow Airport and kidnap him on arrival

(On the very slight off chance that Di Natale does actually get kidnapped before Thursday's game, I'm not being serious here).

 

Whats the attendance likely to be ?.

 

I know it seems crazy and yes Stokesy has scored more than Samaras - * sake I almost have! but I have really not seen anywhere near enough from Anthony either last or this season so far for me to think he deserves to even be on the bench. He's just as greedy at times as Samaras and that fantastic chance he wasted on Saturday after great work by Hooperman wasn't the first of goalscoring opportunities he's wasted.

Quite apart from how good or bad Stokes is, I would just like to see Bangura start a match as he's looked lively but hasn't got enough game time yet to grab a goal, I think he needs a goal to set him on his way then like Hooper he could start terrorising defences as he seems to have good pace and skill.

 

Forster
Matthews Loovens Mulgrew Wilson
Kayal Ki Ledley
Forrest---------------Bangura
Stokesy

451 when defending. 433 when attacking.

Thoughts, everyone?
​

 

Stokes is a good player

Its just his attitude which isnt right

 

I think Stokes's attitude is ok, sometimes he's too greedy, but he does try hard - he just isn't good enough. He tries little through balls and chips and whatever but they never come off for him. He can't split apart defences like Kayal or Hooper or even Ki, isn't as fast as Forrest, isn't anywhere near as good at shooting or finishing as Gary and i've not seen him run at defenders as well as Samaras - and he only does 3 good runs a season.
I know it probably seems i'm being harsh on Stokes and I don't wanna be harsh on any bhoy but if you're not good enough - you shouldn't be playing, end of. Fair enough in the defence, we've not got anyone good at the back (excluding Izzy) so we just have to put up with it and hope in January we find another good bargain, but in attack we have decent options - so Lenny shouldn't have to just keep on rotating between Stokes and Sammy to partner Hooper. Play Bangura from the start and let him pay back his big (by Celtic standards) transfer fee.

On topic about Thursday's game, I think we should go 442 or maybe 433 with Hooper as the out and out striker and maybe Bangura and Forrest playing near him but more wide to cut in.
Lenny will probably want to go 541 or 451 and hope to keep it tight then grab a goal at the end, but we should not be inviting teams on to us, in the SPL it works becuase no-one other than Rangers is good enough to trouble us but against European quality opposition much better and richer than us, we will get torn apart.
We should focus on and play to our strengths - which is defo midfield and upfront. Might as well try and make a game of it.
I would rather lost 4-3 after trying really hard and playing well than go down 1 or 2-0 like against Atletico when we didn't do enough up the park in the final 3rd and just got exploited in defence.

 

1 change for me from that tea, would be zaluska instead of lurch just dont and propably never will tbh rate the big guy just to cumbersome(spell check) for me and maybe wanyama instead of loovens but propably too young and inexperienced

 

formation plan is an idea but loovens should not get the honour of wearing the hoops,and why is our main striker hooper out,.?

 

What channel is it on?