Celtic vs Malmö - Wednesday, 19th August Live BT Sport Europe

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John Collins speaking to the media on this morning’s #UCL play-off draw: “A good draw, from a travelling point of view not too far."

JC on Malmo: "Obviously a good team, beating Salzburg 3-0. Research starts this afternoon, got a few weeks to watch them."

JC: "We look forward to it. All the teams we could have played are very good. You always prefer a shorter journey."

JC: "Know they beat Salzburg 3-0, are the Swedish champions & haven’t had a good start in the league.”

JC: "What you find is that teams sometimes sacrifice their league for #UCL qualification as you can catch up in the league."

JC: "Always pressure & expectation but we want to get into the group stages, and Malmo will be no different."

JC: “What I do know is they must be good to beat Salzburg 3-0, who are a fit, organised and a high-tempo team."

JC: “We are at home and we want to win the home tie and keep a clean sheet."

JC: "We don’t fear going away from home – we have legs, fit players and acceleration."

JC on Jo Inge Berget: "A good boy, worked hard and looking forward to seeing him." #UCL

JC: "So far the boys have been fantastic and concentrated. We have stepped up since last season, confidence is high."

 

Is Ronny on holiday, or what?

 

By all accounts the majority of us on here are happy enough with the defence and most of the midfield but upfront is where we would like some more quality added. If we signed someone before the tie are they eligible to play?

 

Ffs top dollar team, from what we could have had?

Thankfully we didn't have to go up against top teams like Monaco, Leverkusen etc.

 

Feeling very confident we'll handle them no problem. If we can't beat teams like this then we shouldn't be in the CL groups. No need for so much nerviness guys, if you are worried about Malmo.. how ye gonna be once we in groups?

COYBIG!, 4-0 aggregate to us. Let's get some frigging swagger back

 

Very tough draw for us. They've beaten Salzburg in consecutive seasons in the qualifiers.

We definitely have enough about us to navigate the tie, but we need to improve in the final 3rd and stop giving away possession needlessly.

 

What the * is this comment I keep seeing.

"if we can't beat Malmo we're not good enough for the group stages"

We know we're not good enough for the group stages. It doesn't matter whether we're good enough to be in it. We * NEED to be in it.

 

From their website:

Malmo FF's coach Åge Hareide was pleased with the draw:

- It is absolutely perfect! I have faced Celtic once before in Play Off to the Champions League when I was coach of Helsingborg. Then we had a bad number after we lost 0-2 in the home game. If only we can get a good starting position after the match in Scotland so we have good experience of doing good result here in Malmö. It feels like their way of playing suits us very well and we have an eye on Celtic. I watched some of them last year and now we will be able to see them on Wednesday.

How does it feel to finish at home?
- It is absolutely perfect!

 

That annoys me too.

This isn't about whether or not we're good enough to be there. We can worry about that when we're there. We just need to * get there and get the £30m.

 

Bang on, mate.

 

Their best player is suspended for the first game and their next best thing is Jo Inge Berget. He's pretty atrocious.

I'm not saying this will be a walk in the park or anything. But we should definitely have too much for them.

Only player I'm slightly worried about is Eikrim. Was he not highly rated at one point?

 

Last season Maribor this season Malmo both teams were regarded as no hopes when they sent the mob from Govan out lets hope our team can up their game and get through this round and into the group stages.

 

Yes, Eikrem is arguably their most important player offensively after Rosenberg. Eikrem is fifth in points in the Swedish league this season, second among midfielders. 6 goals and 7 assists in 16 starts.

 

On Football Manager he was, haha.

 

not worried at all about them.

 

they also have Djurdic. The guy who was banging them in for Helsingborg when we played them.

Edit: in fact I think he scored a couple against us in a friendly a few tears ago too. For Greuther Furth

 

they have quite a good experianced coach.won titles in norway,denmark,sweden.

 

I think this will be Ronny's biggest test yet, we have a settled side and great quality so we need all the hard work of the last year to pay off. We need at least a 2 goal cushion to go over there with a bit of confidence, the away leg is going to be even more nervy. Can't wait :icon_mrgreen:

 

1-0 at CP and 1-1 in Sweden.

 

Malmö has good individual qualities but altogether the team is mince. They lost many players last year and had to bring many in, and in august (their season started in march) the team is still sometimes looking like they met each other for the first time in the bus.

Things will be much easier without Rosenberg, as their attack revolves around him. It might be just me but everytime I saw them playing Rosenberg had a lack of interest bordering on arrogance. Eikrem is their most dangerous thing outside him and Sana is a rather exciting player. Adu is complete mince and I am disappointed he won't play the first leg as it would make things much easier for us.

The wings are very unnefective. Their fullbacks' marking abilities make Izzaguirre sound like Maldini. Once you shut up your defence, they have absolutely nobody capable of opening spaces with creative dribbling or attempting long shots so what you see are fruitless attempts to pump the ball into the box. Our road to victory goes through that.

I say that as somebody who lives in Malmö and has obviously feelings for MFF. It's revolting, insulting watching a side that should be the Celtic of Sweden by now playing such an uninteresting football and being nullified by the likes of Örebro, Åtvidaberg and Zalgiris Vilnius. Our norwegian colleagues might disagree but I have very little respect for Åge, the team is visibly disorganized, demotivated and lagging behind. A good coach would have turned this Malmö side in a serious headache for us.

I suggest that we play cautious, patiently, do not panic with a narrow 1-0 or even a 0-0 at home because they play better without the pressure of being favourites and without a team consistently defending with all men behind the ball. Do not take unnecessary risks and play pragmatically. Sooner rather than later they are going to get frustrated and open spaces as home.