UCL Last 16: Celtic v Juventus Chat

Firstly, we didn't go 2 up front. We played exactly the same style and formation we have done in all our European games this season, the only real difference was we had Forrest instead of Sammy. And whose to say we would've come away with something if we'd gone defensive? We beat Barca because we defended very well. We conceded 3 goals last night because we defended very poorly. If you're going to play for a draw you need to be at your best defensively, and we weren't there last night. A more defensive set up would not have made Ambrose more alert.

 

Forrest played up front with Hooper. Commons played just behind them. First time I've seen us go with that shape in Europe for as long as I can remember. Lennon opted for the pressing game which can work against lesser sides obviously (ei why Barca use it) but not against the best team in Italy. You're asking for trouble playing so open.

I firmly believe we could have got a draw out of that one last night which would have been a great result without Samaras.

 

You say we got the 'tactics spot on' and give me that? Aye, very good.

 

I am sort of torn. On the one hand I am proud of our very positive performance (one of our very best against a top team) but we dont have the quality in the centre of defence to get away with it. I think if we had played a 4-5-1 and played another DM rather than Forrest we would have been safer - something like Broony-Kayal-Vic-Mulgrew with Commons in the hole and Hoops up alone. I think a 0-0 would have been likely. it certainly wouldnt have been a 3-0 defeat. So many times I have seen that (unfortunately) negativity pays against top sides.

 

It was some kind of 4-3-3 wasnt it?

 

Again, spot on. Lennon blew it last night big time.

 

It was

..............Lustig.........Ambrose.......Wilson.......Izaguirre

................Brown...............Wanyama.......Mulgrew

.........................................Commons

..........................Forrest........................Hooper

 

The basic shape was a 4-3-3 though which unless done very very disciplined (constantly collapsing back to a 4-5-1 when under pressure) is a lot more open than a straight 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 with lots of DMs.

 

The forrest inclusion for me was the mistake. Firstly possible a bit too attacking. More importantly why put him in a new role in a game like that? One change - another DM for Forrest and it would have never been a 3-0 defeat IMO. The forrest thing really puzzled me. Why be experimental in a game like this?

 

I know Juve were like rugby players at set pieces but refs very rarely give pens for that sort of thing. Its wrong but its the reality that refs allow all that roughhouse jockeying all the time and are far too scared to give pens. I dont think we should focus on that. The issue is that we were porous through the centre at the back and there was a gap between the three CMs and the CHs which Juve threaded passes through. There were times when we were nice and compact but others where the defence didnt seem screened enough. That 4-3-3 type lineup needs one or two of the forwards to drop wide and deep quikly to screen the channels when we are on the backfoot and we didnt do that at crucial points in the game. A solid bank of 4 DMs would have made it very hard for Juve to do that. I dont think it was a tactical disaster but Kayal as another CM instead of Forrest would have made a big difference IMO.

 

No, Forrest and Commons played behind Hooper, exactly as we have done in Europe all season. The only difference between last night and our other European games was Forrest instead of Sammy (and of course one or two changes from weaker sides we've had to put out due to injuries.) As I recall everyone was really hoping for Forrest to start, loads of people on here were saying he'd do really well exploiting Juve's weak left hand side. To say we lost last night because of poor tactics is ridiculous. Lenny's only mistake was playing Ambrose, who clearly wasn't ready. Other than that we were spot on, which was reflected in a performance in which you'd be unable to tell who was the best team in Italy with a £100m+ squad and who was an SPL side who had spent less than £15m on their team. Had Ambrose defended better and our strikers been more clinical, we'd have won comfortably. The fact that we didn't is down to individual mistakes and Juve's tactics at corners, NOT poor tactics on our part.

 

Have you looked at the stats for the game? We played them off the park. One of our players had a bad game and it cost us ...end of.

And the ref played his part to.

Metrobhoy - Don't talk mince! Our tactics worked in a attacking sense we owned Juve big time.

 

Forrest and Ambrose were the mistakes in the selection. Ambrose cost us two goals and Forrest was the only midfielder that offered us abbsolutely nothing. I can't understand why he picked Forrest, we had Matthews on the bench, who in my eyes, is a far superior player. You know within the first 5mins if Forrest is going to have a good game.

To select Ambrose, who had only arrived off about a 10 hour plane journey that morning was madness. Apparantly Ambrose told Lennon he was ok to play, but that decision should have been taken out his hands in my opinion.

 

See that hunfucklurker vince. Next time he/it comes on here can someone send a computer virus down to his IP address and also that juve * lorenzo and in doing so crash their * computer systems. Maybe shut down cheating * juve site. And please remove all known hunlurkers credits as well as lorenzo's. Ban the * too.

 

Im still not over it yet

Its qwuite high up on my list of most pukingly sickening defeats ever

dont know how long this is going to take me to shake it of.................

 

That's the thing, usually when the dust settles after a defeat we will put our hands up and say fair do's, we were beat by the better team. But when the dust settled after this game, most of us will be even more * off because when we loooked back, seen the replays and the full scale of the total underhand tactics they used and what they got away with especially at this stage of the biggest club compitition in the world, is a * disgrace. At least that's how I feel...still * raging!

 

I think we need to waking up to the fact we have no one to blame but ourselfs, granted the ref had a nightmare but thats the harsh reality in europe after all whos to say we would be in the last 16 if hadn't been for the ref in the spartak game having a nightmare after all we got a big pen decision going in our favour that night that in my opinion was never a pen.

Defensivly pish poor, far to open and never took our chances, we should of been wiser to the juve tactics