Strachan last 16

Depends on the draw if we qualify.

Lestar last year had the equivalent of a Europa league group!! Admittedly, they were outrageously given top seeds.....changed now though isn't it??

Even with green specs off we've had some right howling draws the last few times we've qualified!

 

a lot of things have to go right for us since it has arguably never been this difficult to progress to the last 16.
in order to fulfill a little miracle we need luck (and lot's of it), an easy group draw, no injuries, everyone on form and being hungry. also a keeper with world class games in europe is a must.

 

Bang on the money here mate...Munich and PSG were better off the ball than us too so where does that leave us playing out from the back.?? Not against it per se but there's a time and a place and these whippings are teaching us not a lot imo!!

 

I dont think the last 16 is inconceivable (just very unlikely) but I cant see us ever competing once there like Strachan managed. As great an achievement as it was, the gap between Europes haves and have nots wasnt nearly as wide in most cases. Teams like Celtic could still put up a decent show against the likes of AC Milan. Nowadays even teams like AC Milan couldnt put up a show against Europes elite.

 

The way lenny and Strahan set up certainly. Rodgers style writes off any chance of that against a top team

 

We would all love it if that day would come, where we go toe to toe and do justice with the quarter and semi cl teames ,we are miles away from that and for me we should be making it difficult for these teams like killie did to us ,and if they can stop us we should be able to stop these teams ,at least stay in the game long enough to make them worry and make mistakes .

 

Horses for courses. I get the argument that sticking to the principles might yield better performances further down the line but if anything performances were poorer this season than they were last (albeit we’ve made the Europa spot)

When up against teams with vastly superior resources like Barca and PSG going toe-to-toe plays into their hands.

Killie at the weekend there was a great display of pragmatism from Steve Clarke. He realised we have far superior players and played solid defensive lines and then hit us on the break. If they came at us against the likes of Musonda, Forrest, Ntcham, Dembele then it was more than likely we’d have won.

 

To not take a single point a home regardless of the group was pathetic.

The widening of the gap is doesn’t cut it. Weaker Celtic teams on paper overcame bigger odds at Paradise.

I also fear the fortress notion as you put it is completely gone. No one fears coming here. Meekly rolling over to Anderlect, a team well within our reach consolidated that. We use to approach these games expecting to take points of anybody.

Bar Bayern 2-1 and the Anderlect away (which massively flattered us as we should have lost just as many goals) we were a joke this campaign. Rodgers has to take the flak for that and learn his lessons for next season.

EL is our level at this time.

 

Bayern Munich and Man City at home. A bit more quality and experience and we could have had wins there. He’s had his two seasons to build from the team Deila left, I’d love to see us actually win one of those kind of games and I think we will.

 

we went toe to toe with Man City at home and showed it can be done without being defensive, but to go on the front foot agressively and high pressing so we drew the game but it was thrilling,gave a good account of ourselves down there too on another day might have won.

 

150k of us will be in Lyon the week of the 16th of May and we won’t have any Champions League qualifiers this year as we will go straight into the group stages seeded

 

We didn't "meekly roll over" to Anderlecht. We went into what was essentially a two legged tie, 3-0 up from the first leg. We did what we had to do to protect that and progress past New Year in Europe.

 

Yeah we could win like that . But at home we have 1 point from 18 with that approach. Lenny got 10/18 with his approach and Strahan got 23/27 with Celtic teams that some would regard as weaker than the current lot.

Brendans approach has also now led some fans to believe that the gap is alot bigger than it is. There is no way that in under 10 years it has gone from us being able to get a draw over 90 minutes in the San siro against the future champions to getting beat 7-1 in Paris.

A more realistic approach similar to WGS and lenny is needed in the CL group stages and beyond because he is currently pushing into the wind with this style of play with the level of player we have and can attract. The EL is a different story though.

 

We went into the game not to lose 3 goals. At home. That’s * poor. We weren’t playing a top side.

 

I can't see it the way we are going currently. The last 4 seasons have been woeful in Europe, and while we've had difficult groups the last two seasons the gap has widened between us and the top side without a doubt, we haven't helped ourselves with the way we've set up.

Trying to go toe to toe with PSG - what did we expect? It was stupid the first time but to do it again was insane, we need to learn from those types of results and think about the way we set up for next season

 

Maybe this is the reason we are having this dysfunctional spell ,players start to lose faith in the tactics when humbled in europe ,at the start we became a team pulling in the same direction quickly with some good results and making the group's, it cemented brendan philosophy,players buying into it .
So it's not without reason to think players start to doubt if it goes really wrong ,I've no doubt br knows this and there is a system that will work in these games ,Kilmarnock showed how to do it ,if we keep it tight we have players who can unlock a team ,we have pace and skill ,but we also must understand that we lose a lot of goals from set play ,players switching off ,inexperience maybe ,we need a real leader in there like broony at cb .

 

It's all about tactics and mentality. Iceland on their day could go deep with a modest group of players.

 

Had the game been earlier in the group we wouldn't have played that way. If we went out with our usual attacking intent and somehow ended up losing out on 3rd spot (early red card or Astana-esque capitulation) then Rodgers would have been crucified.

It wasn't pretty and there were a few humming displays on the night but the job was done in the end.

 

This is the bit that worries me. Brendan’s biggest flaw is him carefree attitude to the defence, his Liverpool side would probably have won the league with a decent goalie or one good centre half, but they didn’t sign one.

We went into our biggest games of the season this year with a central midfielder in the centre of defence, and relying on a guy who can only play on half the pitches in the league due to his constant injury problems as our main man at the back for the season. We need to really, seriously look at it