Celtic's Champions League season 17/18

Having said that I'll take Spartak, United & Anderlecht thank you

 

Never mind predicting groups,Im predicting the final,Celtic vs Ath Madrid.Read it here first.

 

No easy games the way this competition is set up we will do well to get into and through the group stages.the results away from home need improved Last time out we never won a game at home which is usually our stronghold away we did better getting 2 draws.

 

I'm confident we'll make the group stage.

Anything after that would be a bonus for me .

 

Fair enough but paying attenton to what exactly, its not like folk on the forum are gonna scout the other teams and send reports to brendan

 

+1 But to have progression we should be aiming for qualification now

 

This qualifier is no cake walk though, possible unseeded teams if we get through to third round includes Malmö, Rosenborg, Astana, Be'er Sheva and Partizan. Astana, Malmö and Rosenborg's squads will be 100% match fit being in the middle of their respective seasons and in my book the ones to avoid.

 

Agree Mr. Monaghan, and I honestly think we have the best squad in the Champions route of the qualifiers, only matched by Olympiakos and maybe København/Salzburg.

 

I'm not at all worried about our match fitness for this year's qualifiers. If anything, I'm more worried about burnout. The majority of the team has WC qualifiers and/or other competitions this week to keep them busy. Those that don't will have only had 3 weeks off before returning to training. Plus, a year of Brendan's fitness regime has this team in far better shape than they were at this time last year. If we come close to the levels we were showing at the end of the season, we should have no problem with anyone in the qualifiers this year.

I think squad rotation will be more important than ever this year, especially in the first 6 weeks of the season as the team will be playing 2-3x a week until the end of August once the qualifiers start. Avoiding injuries to the core of the team that won't have had much rest over the summer will be key to getting back to the group stages.

 

I think there's a bit of overconfidence here TBH. Historically, we tend to qualify about 50% of the time. Under Brendan we have a really good team, so our odds have to be quite a bit higher than 50/50; but it's far from a foregone conclusion. You never quite know what you're up against in the qualifiers and a lot depends on the draw.

Remember that Seville team that was one of our best teams of the modern era? Well it failed to qualify for the CL, that's how it ended up in the UEFA. It lost to exactly the type of side we could face in the playoff round this year (who turned out to be no mugs and did very well in the CL that year).

 

Saying we should have no problems with anyone in this years qualifier is a bold statement. We all know that if we're off our game just one night it could ruin our CL experience before it even starts. Aberdeen gave us a fair fight in 60 mins in the cup final, and the teams we can come up against in the later qualifying rounds might be of far better quality than the sheeps.

I agree with you on the squad rotation, and it's more important than ever to hold on to our quality squad players like McGregor, Gamboa, Forrest etc who can do a more than decent job on their day if we get injuries on key players.

 

Totally agree......actually looking at rounds 3 and play-off there's very few i would pick....round 3 would be the Moldovans or the Icelanders and Maribor in the play-off. I think a lot of the rest carry danger and should be avoided.

*...just noticed Zilina in round 2 as well....have they not got a bit about them??....i think we may be ok actually because of the zonal seeding..phew!!

 

It's not the case of you being right, or RR being wrong. There isn't a Celtic fan in the world that also doesn't have "a bit more confidence". We all do, and with good reason.

As ruthless as we were domestically, we don't really know how it's going to transfer into Europe. Celtic should always be beating the likes of Malmo, Legia, Astama, Be'er Sheva - But unfortunately, as we know all too well, it doesn't always work like that.

These ties are horrible events, so much on the line for a club like ours. I'm way more confident than usual, but a part of me is always the pessimist when these games roll along.

 

That Basel side is one of the best we've faced in qualifying in my opinion under MON (and we should've still went through) , and probably third behind Arsenal and Dinamo Zagreb side before that. Spartak Moscow were a really good side as well..

I don't see anything as good as those side's at the moment. They were tough side's and all would've * all over Legia, Maribor and Malmo in my opinion..

As mentioned, although it'll be hairy scary and always is.... we have every right to feel confident with a settled manager and side who've all done it together a year previously..

 

That's true, mate; but we didn't know that in advance. These sides do pop up from time to time. You just genuinely can't know in advance what you're up against.

 

I think the we're all reaching the same conclusions here albeit from differant approaches.

We should be confident. There are so many more positives this season to last seasons successful attempt to qualify. A full year under Brendan & his staff. Settled squad, who are in form. Treble behind us & massive Euro experiance in the squad.

We should win our first game in the second round, there's nothing there to scare me. It's geographical to an extent so I think Zilina, the strongest imo, won't be an opponent. Most likely Finland, Ireland, Lithuania and should the top seeds progress from the first round Wales, N.I or Faroes.
The next rounds get dramatically harder, in comparison to the first game, but still quite winable.

I won't be taking any of these ties as a given but at the same time I do feel more confident than I have been in years going into them. Knockout football anything can happen.

I'd love Paddy to be signed up for these & personally AC Milan can shove their 30 mill. I want Dembele leading us into these qualifiers.