UCL: Ajax vs CELTIC,Wed 6th Nov, KO 7:45pm, Live on SS4

That Ajax team were there for the taking.......if they were playing a better team. They had players with more technical ability, quicker thinking, making more correct descisions and more gut. We were shown to have too many average players making us an average team tonight. Van Dijk and Lustig were superb, Kayal had an excellent second half, Sammy? Could have taken him off and no one would have noticed.
Tactics?....So we play with wide players, rather than play for the back, we make 3 passes then back to Forster then a hoof up the pitch, it never changed when Borrigter came on. He hasnt often got it wrong this season but Lenny has to question his own descisions tonight.......Why was Sammy left on then put him up the middle when he clearly cant play there?......Commons was as poor as Sammy, why leave him on? and why take off Kayal? our best midfielder tonight, he was clearly not happy coming off.
Why leave it so late before bringing on Borrigter but not actually change tactics to use him? I felt sorry for Van Dijk being on a losing side, he run himself into the ground. Ach well, we will do it the Celtic way, draw with Milan at home and beat Barca away !!!

 

Just seen the goal again surely Forrest has to tuck in and help lustig, his pass aswell he should be doing better

 

Said the same thing. 100% agree.

 

About 4 times,how Lennon never switched mulgrew to left back an brought ledley on and left kayal on i will never know..

How samaras stayed on for 90 I'll never know and commons how he stayed on so long * knows,actually Lennon knows

 

Crazy talk. One of the only players that actually looked like he cared.

 

This

 

Lustig was absolutely phenomenal.

Forster, Ambrose, van Dijk and Izaguirre were good.

Kayal was ok.

Commons, Mulgrew, Forrest, Samaras were dreadful.

Words can't describe how little Stokes has to offer at this level. He is good at nothing. He can't run in behind. He can't win balls in the air. He's an SPL striker and no more. Pukki contributed more to the team in the minutes he was on the park and should 100% start against Milan.

As a team going forward we have no creativity. So many sideways passes. But the most annoying thing about tonight was players backing out of 50/50s.

 

Agreed,I guarantee you they will be thinking that right now

 

Absolutelly spot on.

 

Worried that ledley isnt just not match fit cause he looked at most 10%of the player he is.

need a goal scorer but weve got to get the ball to him

 

Virgil played amazing well, as did Lustig and Ambrose. Thank * because it could have been a lot more embarrassing if they had played at the same level as the rest of the team. Forster made some amazing saves but I'm still a bit nervous when the ball comes in high, he needs to improve in claiming the ball.

Forrest didn't get enough chances to run at the Ajax defence. When he did get the chance he put pressure on them but the service to him was dire to non-existent.

Commons was clearly not fit enough to play. His decision making was poor. I thinking of when Stoke peeled off the Ajax defender into space but instead of passing into him when went for a stupid chip which he was never going to pull off.

We haven't replaced Hooper.

 

Quote:
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset"> Originally Posted by THE James1888m
Izzy was woeful Lucky to stay on
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
Crazy talk. One of the only players that actually looked like he cared.

Think he may mean ,lucky he never got a red,could be wrong

 

On a more serious note, some players failed to show up but when was the last time we did things the easy way? If we go out over the next two games we'll go out fighting.

I believe we will beat AC and then who knows what could happen.

 

Forster - good
Lustig - exceptional
Van Dijk - great
Ambrose - average
Izzy - good (kinda)
Mulgrew - awful
Kayal - average
Forrest - *
Samaras - disgustingly bad
Commons - dreadful
Stokes - average, no more no less.

 

no way can we keep ff van dyk and lustig. theyll be away in the summer

 

''well at least we can sell van dijk for £10m in the summer. to cover the cost of failing to reach, even the Europa league''

Mr Peter Lawell .....................

 

Too many players didn't turn up tonight. Maybe changes could have been made earlier as Commons clearly wasn't fit and Samaras was poor. Forrest was poor for a lot of the game but came into it a bit at the end.

Once again we lacked a goal threat. I remember Virgil heading it towards their six yard box at one point and no one took the gamble. Maybe Balde would have been useful for when we were going with long balls late on but I suppose it's easy to say that after the game.

 

this !!!!!!!!!!!! too many players on easy money feart to get stuck in .

 

The board * up bigtime by not spending on a striker. Imagine what Finnbo would do in this game.

 

Our shortcomings at this level were laid bare for everyone to see tonight. We defended well and made ourselves hard to beat, no problem there, but as far as being an attacking force goes we were well short of the mark.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, our attacking players are not good enough for this level of football. Players like Stokes and Commons will cause havoc for defences in Scotland but they are bang ordinary players at this level. One goal from open play in four games tells you everything you need to know. We're not good enough, it's really that simple.

I don't blame the likes of Stokes and Commons for this, it's not their fault. They're out their on the park giving it 100% for the club and that's all you can ask of them. The blame lies squarely with the money men at Celtic Park. Once again they have sold the fans short. We've sold the only striker we had that was a goal threat at this level and didn't replace him properly, we also didn't push the boat out for a creative player that has the necessary quality to open up defences at this level. But we signed Derk Boerrigter I hear you cry? Well if we signed Boerrigter to play at this level, why wasn't he starting tonight??

The better team won tonight, no complaints or hard luck stories this time. 3rd place in the group is the best we can hope for now.