How far have we come since Sion last August?

We were flying.. On a 17 game winning streak.. We went on to win the league by 20 points.

 

Sure i seen Burley write something similar to that, end of the day we are a young team... progression is key... onwards and upwards

 

But what's that got to do with how well the team's done this season. I've had you two ganging up on me for my opinions but nice change of subject by the way.

Slaw: "We were flying.. On a 17 game winning streak.. We went on to win the league by 20 points."

Still the extra 10 points significantly eased the pressure on the Celtic team. My point was that this team does not handle pressure well.

 

This season has been a rollercoaster since the Sion game, but Neil needs to get the team to move onto the next level. What is the next level? Well, for a start we need to start winning important games domestically eg cup semi-finals, finals, Old Firm matches at Ibrox. This season we conceded SEVEN goals to them in 2 very sore defeats at the bigotdome yet Hearts and Kilmarncok both beat them there. Its OK being able to beat them at CP when our home crowd is roaring them on, but it is at their place when there is over 40,000 of them baying for your blood, that the players have to step up the plate.
Therefore, we need to start winning important games in Scotland as well and racking up the demestic cups along the league titles we will win in the next few years (given the Huns situation) People salg off the League Cup and its importance, but you need to win it to win Trebles or Doubles.
Then and only then can we think about Europe as we have consistently shown that we are not good enough for European level opposition, especially away from home. People will argue about the state of Scottish football, and the lack of TV money etc but the other poorer leagues in Europe have teams regularly competing and in the in the CL eg Portugal, Holland (and in the old format winning the European Cup on SEVERAL occasions eg Benfica, Ajax). Given our financial prudence in the past, we are not short of a few bob so firstly we need to move onto the next level domestically.

 

Portugal, Holland poorer leagues than the spl?

 

Opted for SPL and nothing more.

The Europa campaign helped turn around our season imo, but we are far from ready for a European onslaught, what encourages me though is that we learned stacks from that Europa campaign, but * me not, qualifying for the champions league group stages is going to be a * nightmare.

We can, and need to strengthen, we have probably the best foundations of a squad in many a year, we need to add some experience and class to it, then Europe can be tackled.

 

I felt exactly the same after Lennon's first season; looking back on the Braga and Utrecht ties thinking we should have done better. We finished Lennon's first season playing such good football and we all knew we should have won the league that season bar some honest mistakes.

I know we're good enough for the CL group stages but the qualifiers always seem to come too soon while we have no pre-season momentum so I'm not getting my hopes up for the third year running; we SHOULD make the group stages, but it's up to our team to show some bottle and do ourselves justice.

 

I think we could qualify for Champions league, and maybe be 3rd in group with a bit of luck in the draws!!

 

No, what I meant was they are not viewed as the best European leagues and don'tget the same global exposure as the EPL, La Liga etc yet their teams always seem to at least get to the Group Stages eg Benfica, PSV. The league we play in cannot be used as an excuse for our atrocious record in Europe in recent years. The Belgian, Swiss, Austrian leagues etc could also come away with the same argument.

 

I dont think you should ever consider a season we won the league as mediocre. That is still bread and butter for any team and the primary objective of celtic every single season.

But it is hard to argue aganist anything else you say. We are the best team in Scotland this season no doubt but if we struggle against the likes of Hearts and Killie in the big games I see zero reason to assume we are champions league material. We have progressed of course but I see no evidence at all that we are close to champions league level yet to be honest.

 

mate Benfica are one of the most supported teams worldwide, plus the swiss/Portuguese etc have alot more lenient policy on signing foreign players than we do

 

I think we're a much, much better team since last August, but ... those *two* games were no fluke.

Sion cheated, no question, but we still got beat pretty solidly in both games.

I think we'll go far in the Europa League next year.

 

To be honest it really is a fine line between making it into the CL and not making it, impossible to tell whether we are good enough or not.

 

A couple of signings and we should be good enough to have a decent EL. But CL qualification will be tough as usual

 

I think we're capable of qualifying in for the Champions league. We've got a strong team and Lenny might bring in some new faces in the Summer. I find it hard to imagine us getting past the group stages at the moment though.

 

Think we're a europa league side at best,been let down with this team in big games far to many times,therefor i always tend to aim low now.

 

Good SPL team- if we get a run in Europe soon I amy change my mind!

 

Sion was dreadful but hardly a surprise given our appalling away form in Europe - I also watched us getting thumped at Utrecht the year before. My shamrock-shaped heart says maybe (with a bit of luck) we could scrape through into the group stages of the Champions League - Apoel Nicocia got to the last 8 FFS, but my head says I'd be happy enough with a couple of decent results and surviving into the new year in the Europa League

 

Spl side , too incconsistant for my liking , and we didnt fair too good in the EL last season , but i think if we but a CB and ST (Better than we already have) then a think with a gd bit of luck we could maybe finish 2nd in a EL group !!!

 

When the pressure is pushed hard upon us then we falter e.g. Scottish League Cup final, Scottish cup semi final and winning the League at Ibrox....I think CL would present to much pressure for now and we wouldn't go anywhere.

Right now I feel we are a strong SPL side.