Celtic v Benfica - Wednesday 7.45pm on Sky Sports 3

we conceded 1st game helsinki

 

Hmmm 21 now, let's not let this "he's just a young boy" tag last too long or he'll turn into another Shaun Maloney. Time for him to step up or step out.

Ratings:
Forster- 6: kick-outs were very poor tonight, but looked safe with his hands.
Matthews- 6: started very shaky, but even in the 88th minute was making a sprint.
Lustig- 7: looked solid, I'm pleased with his contribution.
Wilson- 7: Much like Lustig, been criticised in the past, but I feel he coped well tonight. Made one great tackle in particular.
Izzaguirre- 6: Caught out quite a few times, but at least he tried to make things happen.
Mulgrew- 6: gave it his all, but played one-too-many poor balls and got caught out a couple of times. Like Izzy, I'm pleased he at least tried to make things happen.
Forrest- 3: Terrible. Contributed next to nothing: poor delievery, Benfica had him in their back pocket.
Brown- 9: Best performance in a Celtic jersye for Broony? May just have been, he was magnificent out there.
Wanyama- 8: Some cynical fouls, but should great passion, won the ball for us so many times, particularly in the first half.
Commons- 7: Showed some spark and creativity. Caught out a few times, but I was pleased with his overall game.
Miku- 6: Had next-to-no service, so I sympathise with him. Didn't have much of an impact (or a chance to), but did nothing wrong.


Had Samaras played I feel we definitely would have won tonight.

 

Look im not trying to do a butch here and cause trouble but we have nothing up front....zero zip nada......our goal threat is a joke.
Barca will hump us home and away...we will lose in russia and if they can get two past barca away from home they may well beat us at home aswell.
And a couple of half fit players coming back from injury aint going to change much.
For this team to get better we need to be in euro and not CL.
Two years from now i would agree with you somewhat.

 

Benfica looked very solid defensively but they didn't seem to know how to break us down either. I'm actually getting the same feeling about this as I did after our first leg against Blackburn in 2003. Usually when you fail to win at home, you are never that confident going away but that night I felt it in my bones we'd beat them. Same rare feeling tonight. If we are brave in Lisbon, we will roar; I am certain of it!

 

If we can get a point in Portugal, it might come down to the two games with Spartak, so quite possibly it could be like two Cup Finals against Spartak to see who gets runner up, all conditional of course on how we do in Portugal.

 

We were missing a number of regulars and we still managed to put up a decent performance.For most of these players this is a new experience and should help them in their next game;Brown man of the match and big Wilson was'nt far behind.

 

sammy is injured and commons has 2 also,

 

Decent result overall. We didnt work their keeper anywhere near enough but at the same time they didnt test Forster. Forrest needs to up his game, he was an empty jersey tonight. Miku looked ok, linked well with Commons a few times. Commons was our main attacking force tonight, great to see him back on form. Brown was tremendous, as was Wanyama. Defence coped well, apart from Izaguirre - just seemed to be lacking composure.

Overall, a draw was probably fair enough. Considering this team had 10 players making a Champ League debut, they coped well. Lets hope they kick on from this and make an impact on this group!

 

To be fair Izzy was much better in the first 15 of the second half. Passing and postitioning looked better. Wasnt't letting his man through and seemed better. MAybe the occasion got to him? Forrest, however, has been poor for a while. Was really trying maybe needs to sit out 3-4 games. The real J-Fo Will be back

 

Hooper not 100%, Stokes injured, Samaras (who has looked useful) out...

We do have it in our locker. Just not tonight.

 

What an anti-climax that was...


Negatives....This team certainly does not have the Heart of the previous ones like strachan and o'neil. No fight at all shown in the last 15 mins. The crowd were shockingly quiet aswell.

Positives... Scot Brown. clean sheet and defence looked good.

Forster......7 Did what he was given to do well. As usual!

Matthews....8 solid at the back. Loads of pace and didn't look out of place in the CL

Lustig.......7 pleasently suprised with him tonight.. Delt with benfica well.

Wilson......8 Played well and had the benfica strikers in his pocket for most of the match.

IZZY.......6 A generous 6 at that. really bad performance that's summed him up this season. Poor

Forrest....6 didn't get into it enough. didn't do much with it when he did have it. Just seems to relaxed and It doesn't look like he's putting in effort to get himself into the game.

Brown.....9 Teriffic captains performance from him. flying around tackles everywhere top class..

Wanyama....8 Man mountain. Player just bounce off him. gets himself in great positions. He's a fantastic CDM.

Mulgrew....7 Did the simple things well and done ok defensively but doesn't look like an LM at champions league level.


Commons....7 Played decently but i've seen him play better. Always very influential and getting back to the player of his first season.

MIKU......6 Didn't do anything of note or hold the ball up for other players. Does not look like a lone forward.


Over all it wasn't bad but I'm just disappointed the player didn't want the win more.

 

Better not read it back then. :smiley-laughing002: I've been foolish enough to do so. I should have known better...there are always people turning up that say we were * unless we win with big figures.

Now it's just waiting for Butch to say Brown has been useless al night. :smiley-laughing002:

 

People were over the moon & knew it would be a struggle
when we qualified for CL.
why * on the bonfire now?
It's part of the progression for this team to play against
the best & improve as we go on,we were never going to be the
finished article so soon.

I look forward to the rest of the CL matches & hopefully
with some luck getting through.

Injuries didn't help either but i see you dismissed them

 

bbc says commons has 4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/celtic/top-scorers

 

ANd guys. Benfica are 14th in the club rankings....Were 67th. A draw is a decent result AND we has loads of injuries

 

happy with the draw, but we never got up the park much thought izzy was not in the game Wanyama had a decent game, but is a bit raw in the tackle.
Commons again did nothing of note, his shot he had earlier would have expected that from a school kid, Brown again some daft rash challenge there where no pass marks for any one, not impressed with big frank he did not look to cleaver at times.
Mulgrew had a ok game at times but could have done better with his passes mathews looked out of it at times the new player miku the jury is still out, as for corners * knows why we take them. but benfica will be the team that fancy there chances at home. need to get more players with skill in the box

 

Silence heathen. Come on, most of the players got pass marks imo.

 

Ah...there you are. :smiley-laughing002:

 

Spartak losing is a bonus, it's a dogfight between the three teams now

 

I suspected you were at it ,,,,, now i know you are