Celtic v Benfica - Wednesday 7.45pm on Sky Sports 3

Our goals have been coming from midfield for far to long in the spl thats fine for most games we get by,but in euro you need the strikers to chip in aswell.

 

I thought Wilson was outstanding again tonight, that's the second time this season I've been really impressed with him. He is fast as * and that is really important at this level.

Once he tried to do a Balde and almost got caught out but if he can cut that * out and do what he did the rest of the night then I will start warming to him.

My MOTM.

 

Considering the lack of experience and the players missing I thought it was excellent tonight. Not a lot going forward but in all honesty neither did they. Considering it's our first game in the group stages and we've kept a clean sheet and not looked out of place I think we should consider it a good result.

 

Yeah, thank *, they were leading for long spells as well.

 

Good start , seeing only Broony (star) had CL experience before tonight ..I thought as a team we gave them nothing to feed off ..Thought Izzy was off form tonight and young Forrest wasnt his best either ....broony on the other hand was Immense , all over the park with Wanyama in tandem were a good partnership ....Wilson was good in defence too

Good all round performance roll on Spartak

 

Nonsense. How you can judge something like that after ONE game in the CL group stages for this squad is beyond me. Strachan and O'Neill both had a few years in the CL to prove themselves and Neil is only experiencing this as a manager for the first time. O'Neill also had megabucks to spend and when Strachan took over, he inherited a good few of O'Neill's players.

Lennon, on the other hand, inherited the absolute pish that Mowbray brought in and had to entirely rebuild the squad and get them back into the CL group stages in the space of 2-3 years. Lennon has done a fantastic job as our manager so far. We also had 10 players in the starting 11 making their group stage debut tonight, not to mention the notable absences of Samaras, Ledley, Kayal and Stokes. Hooper wasn't fully fit either, hence why he was only introduced in the second half.

As for the crowd, they were quieter than usual because we weren't really breaking them down and creating a load of chances. You can't expect them to be up singing, dancing and belting out the party tunes when most of the play is being restricted to the midfield area and nothing of note is happening. Did either side even get a shot on target tonight?

 

To be honest the only one we missed would be sammy and i really doubt he would have got through the benfica defence.

 

Hail. *. Hail.

 

Aye, Izzy was pretty shocking tonight and Forrest didn't offer much either. I don't think you can criticise the lack of goal threat though when you consider Sammy was out and Hooper only got 20 minutes.

 

espn and skysports had him at 2 but I may be wrong, I only remember 2 though

 

Aberdeen, Helsingborgs, Ross County, St. Johnstone.

 

listen lads benfica have been in the champions league 4 years running while we toiled in scotland they lost to the eventual winners last year and ran chelsea close in both legs a draw is no disgrace against a strong European side , group still seems pretty daunting especially with Spartacks performance tonight but we still have a lot of key players to return especially Sammy who would have suited the game perfect tonight and is a great player in europe
Keep the faith

 

all this talk about strachan and oneills teams having more fight is pure * does anyone remember Bratislava?

 

Happy with that

 

It's not about being new to the CL or having to build a new team... It's about not looking like they had any desire to win the game.. Time after time after time, we would just give the ball away with a whimper. Have no game plan, And seem unable to even get a shot on goal. Now we know we have players who have the ability to break down benfica so I can only put that down to mentality.

 

Considering they were the quarter finalists last year, I'm happy with a point and a clean sheet.

Bring on McGeady & Co.

 

Scored vs Helsinborg, Aberdeen, Ross County and St Johnstone.

 

I know they area very good side and i guess i just expect to much from my team.:icon_mrgreen:

 

Or Basel?

We are wet behind the ears in this competition and that was a decent result.

 

i thought he was at three i forgot about his goal against aberdeen