Celtic v HJK Helsinki - Wed, 1 Aug K/O 19.45 - Live on Premier Sports.

Totally disagree with your last point, thought Matthews was excellent, and I counted at least 3 last ditch tackles, albeit 2 at the other end, so might not have been as close as I thought.

I love getting back to the football, but I hate the start of the season, just takes a few weeks of competitive football to get the sharpness and match fitness in, last night I felt Helsinki looked sharper, and so they should, but we definitely had the better quality.

Only one game between now and the away tie, which is frustrating but I think we can do the business over there, though they will also cause problems, if they go one up, we are behind on the tie and it could go * up, but if we can score first, then the game will open right up.

I think we can do it, we * need to!

 

As for the point in people leaving early, it;s definitely a traffic thing, but seriously, how can so many need to leave early?, we were pushing for a third goal. That said though, the * Helsinki team bus passed us as we were still trying to hit the motorway, shambles man, maybe one day they will get it right, it's a piece of * getting in now, leaving its still a mare.

 

We desperately need to qualify for the Champions League

 

I'd say the discussion over here has been much more "civilised" as it is in the Finnish forums.

 

didn't leave early last night as I wasn't with my Dad but have to when he's with me. A lot of people have reasons for leaving early, they paid for their ticket, if they want to leave twenty minutes in that's their choice.

 

anyhoo, happy with what I saw last night. We were off the boil slightly, there's no doubt about that but our response after the goal was phenomenal, too many times I've seen us struggle after losing a goal, regardless of the opposition. Nice to see we've put that ghost to rest hopefully.

Did I see someone earlier saying Matthews was poor? That was one of my favourite performances of his, he was excellent whilst defending and we've not had too much chance to see his capabilities in that respect.

 

Overall i think theres only one way to look at it. Going a goal down and coming back the way we did was a great show of character.

Losing the away goal could still be crucial in the tie.

BUT

We are ahead in the tie. We know that any sort of draw is fine for us to go through.

The danger is if they score we then know it is a must for us to get an away goal and that could prove to be difficult.

I remember watching us against dynamo Moscow where nobody gave us a prayer and we went and won 2-0 over there.

So lets try be a bit more positive were ahead and a draw will do.

Certainly going to be an interesting game next week!

 

hail hail

2-1 is far from a good resulf with are away record in europe

this time is not the best but if celtic do the usual sit back and try and soak up pressure it could be costly

we played well and didnt deserve to lose that goal early on

2-0 would of been ideal for us

big vic should play in mid not cb

played well out the wings and 12th man was there for most the game

was good night but i fear for this second leg nerve wrecking

 

This team is no better than a Hearts or a Dundee Utd. We had 19 shots to their 3 and really should have scored a 3rd, but I would have obviously snapped your hand off for a victory after they took the lead.

There's no way Celtic should be going out to a club of that size, looked like their away support just came out a taxi!

 

Quietly optimistic we'll finish the job next week. All things considered I thought it was a good performance. We went 1-0 down to a team half way through their season but managed to come back to win 2-1 in our first competitive match and finished the dominant side.

If we play like that next week we should get a goal.

 

No he wasn't. He wasn't motm but he wasn't poor either.

He'll be vital next week, when I'd guess he'll play Brown, Ledley and either Kayal or Wanyama in a 5 man midfield with Samaras and Commons left and right.

 

Heard a few rangers fans joined them.

 

A win in our 1st competitive match of the season isn't too bad at all, especially a Champs Lgue qualifier and more impressively against a team halfway through they're league campaign who looked alot sharper.

We looked rusty after the brilliant initial 20 mins but you can just put that down to lack of match fitness. The way we rallied after they scored was superb, and it could or should have ended up 4 or 5 - 1. Hopefully after this game and the Aberdeen game we get a good bit of match fitness back because if we go over there and play like we did in the 2nd half i've no doubt we'll cruise it.

Saying that, it is an away European game and we all know what we can be like playing away so we need to keep it solid for the 1st 20 mins and hopefully settle after that. I'd go with this team for the 2nd leg;

Forster

Matthews Rogne Mulgrew Izzy

Wanyama

Forrest Brown Kayal Ledley


Samaras
​

 

Play like we did last night or perhaps a wee bit better defensively against this mob next week and I reckon we'll be fine.

 

What game do think i watched ya pleb! Is this not a Celic vs Helsinki thread?ffs

 

Eh?????????? Best player on the park by a mile. Kept Celtic out of jail a few times.

What game were you watching more like

 

It was a good response last night going down a goal however the significance of that away goal as far as the tie is concerned remains to be seen.

Not usually confident ahead of away ties in Europe however our last 3 performances, against sides far better than this mob, give me hope.

I'll stick my neck out and say that we'll go through, any other outcome is a disaster.

 

I'm confident of going through after last nights good performance. We can play good football and we can create chances so I'm not too worried.

The bhoys seem up for it this season and they know the big games now are all in Europe.

 

Just watched the goals again, * me we were very unlucky about that. The bounce could have went anywhere and Forster was a bawhair away from saving it

Izzy, Ledley, Broony, Mulgrew all culpable at the goal for me. Sloppyness all round.

 

* sake Lenny, buy a target man! Someone who will get on the end of Izzys and Jamesy's crosses!
Either that or get a fast striker who will look to beat the offside trap and feed off through balls!

Last night you had Hooper coming from deep and Sammy out wide. Our two strikers!
If Hoopers coming deep then someone should be making runs into the space he has just created!
Was annoying to watch at some points last night, lack of movement and running out of ideas!