UCL Last 16: Celtic v Juventus Chat

The Divine Ponytail

 

This should do the trick.

 

Are you planning on decapitating him?

 

Hopefully if he loses the ponytail, he loses his football ability.:smiley-laughing002:

 

See the thing is, I *can* see then beating us at Celtic Park unless we buy a good creative midfielder. Let's look at our biggest weapons:

1) Dead Balls

This team (and it's worth putting the following in bold) are the first European team we will meet this year who know how to defend dead balls.

2) Celtic Park atmosphere

This Juve team have shown that they can win in an intimidating atmosphere by beating Shakhtar Donetsk in Donetsk!

3) Defending as a team

Yes, but we have known weaknesses defending the counter when (in the SPL) we try to push forward in an attempt to break down teams who sit back.


If I were the Juve coach I'd come to Celtic Park, defend deep (if we can't break the likes of Hibs down then we'll not manage it against their world class defence and goalkeeper) and try to hit us on the break.

Our best chance is not to get sucked in, not to try too hard to break them down and concentrate on not losing an away goal. I'd take 0-0 in the home leg right now! In Turin their fans will not let them sit back and we can then try and play our game and anything can happen.

Lenny will be aware of all this, though. Hopefully he can come up with a plan.

What I hope will happen:-

Home: Celtic 0 - Juventus 0
Away: Juventus 1- Celtic 1

What I fear will happen:-

Home: Celtic 0 - Juventus 2
Away: Celtic 1 - Juventus 3

What I think will happen:-

 

Every single team that has came to Celtic Park and lost had advantages similar to this nature over us. Didn't help them much.

I don't know how to explain it; I don't know why it is but at Celtic Park we are * insane in the Champions League.

 

Don't get me wrong, if we are streetwise enough not to push forward I think we have a good chance of taking a 0-0 draw to Turin (which with the away goal rule is not a bad result). I also don't rule out Lenny coming up with a set-piece to nick us a 1-0 win. But I fear for us if they sit back and we push forward to try and break them down. Of course, Lenny will know all this (and much, much more that I don't), but it's a young team we have here....

Edit:

For the first time ever I want us to drop Izaguirre for this game. I love him and would definitely play him in the CL, but the way he can get caught out on the counter is exactly the kind of thing that scares me about this Juve team.


Back 4 should be Lustig Ambrose Wilson Matthews.

Also, there was a rumour they wanted to sign Drogba a while back. If that's true, we'll have to drop Wanyama back to CB as neither Wilson nor Ambrose have the strength to handle him- and that would be a big loss to our midfield.

 

The key is Sammy. He plays well at Parkhead I think we'll win.

 

Wanyama for me, he will have a very tough job against Juventus midfield (not just Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio etc) where they are very strong, so we need a performance from him just like the ones he put in against Barca. Also needs to make sure he doesn't get booked lol

 

I'm going to offer up a different opinion and say that Scott Brown will be integral to any results we get.

If Pirlo is given time and space to do as he wishes, we will lose imo.

I'd be playing Brown and just tell him to do what he does best....chase the ball and put them under pressure.

No space, no time no GLORY!!!!!

 

I meant in an attacking sense, obviously the more defensive players need to everything 100%. Sammy is the man who can keep us possession though

 

Love Sammy, our best player in Europe this season IMO and will be vital in the away leg if we are to get anything...if he has a weakness it's against teams that sit back, defend and counter-attack.

Edit: Devlin, do you agree we should drop Izaguirre for this one, for the reasons I mentioned?

 

No mate, Izzy must play for me. His positioning is excellent, his timing of tackles rarely gives away fouls, he can keep possession and his pace can get us out of tricky situations. He just needs to be disciplined, that he can do.

 

My team for the home leg:


Lustig Ambrose Wilson Matthews

Wanyama

Brown Kayal Ledly

<-------------------Sammy------------->

Hooper (would prefer Miku, but can't see it happening)

Izaguirre on for Matthews and Commons on for Kayal if we need to chase a goal.

 

Hope you're right!

 

I agree.

I'd have to say that we will probably go with the 4-5-1 in both games.

Forster

Lustig Ambrose Wilson Izaguirre


Wanyama Mulgrew

Brown​

Forrest Hooper. Samaras

Samaras will probably be best drifting and collecting the balls from the air as well as exploiting the spaces left with their 3-5-2 formation.

Wanyama really does need to play in front of the back four as the defensive anchorman. Probably mulgrew (who will be a definite starter) for passing into space as well as expert delivery. Like I say - let Brown play as the advanced midfielder and dog their guys like Vidal and especially Pirlo into making mistakes.

I'd have Forrest for his pace, and obviously Hooper to do his thing.

 

Interesting ideas, Padmill. I always forget to include Mulgrew in my teams....

 

I hope Forrest is 100% for this, I want him on the bench coming on to run at tired defenders.

Kris Commons for his creativity and graft for the first 70 minutes or so. Then Forrest. Completely different types of players, we may be able to catch them out.

 

I think guys like Ledley and Kayal are going to have to suffer because of the importance of Mulgrew's delivery.

Actually - that's a better idea that.

I honestly hope that Stokes is fit and gets some match time before this game. What an option he would be to have on the bench for later on in the game!

 

I'd play the Commons that played against Spartak Moscow at home, question is, has he (like Brown) kicked on a level, or was that just a one-off?