Celtic in the UEFA Champions League 2024-25

Zagreb got a point at home against Monaco who are having a decent season tonight, they took a beating off Bayern first game, they aren’t * but.

Not beyond us beating them or getting a point out them, but our supports in for a shock if the attitude up against them is they’re *. We need to be careful with that one I think.


Atalanta I’m fearful of something similar to what Dortmund done, last two games I’ve seen from them was that tonight against Shakhtar and last seasons Europa Final where they absolutely nullified and bullied Bayer Leverkusen who had one of the best seasons I’ve seen from a team. Unbeaten all season outwith that game, up against Bayern who got to the semis of CL, Dortmund who got to the final, a very good Stuttgart team as well. Bundesliga absolutely quality last season, Bayer bullied it, and Atalanta absolutely schooled them. They’re Italian as *, but they aren’t that stodgy defensive Italian style, they are that and dangerous as * attacking. They just stomp out threats as well.

 

Dinamo played a back 5 tonight & managed well but all my Croatian mates are saying they are in a hole at the minute & they are generally a slow side tho aggressive.

Its in the sense that its a winnable away!

 

The game probably should have been called off to be fair, but they adapted to the pitch and conditions far more than Monaco did. And they done a Celtic in Europe, they were winning, missed chances, and then dropped the win when when they shouldn’t. I’m definitely not saying we shouldn’t expect to beat them btw, it’s a team we should be aiming for three points and being able to beat. But they’re not useless, they’ve been a basket case club for a few years definitely though. Pretty sure the chairman or owner got arrested being a * Croat mafia type of *

They have some right good players still though.

 

That's not strictly true though. In his first crack at European football with Liverpool he drew with hearts at anfield with a team containing Gerrard, carragher, skrtel, suarez and sterling. Narrowly securing a 2- 1 aggregate win in qualifying. In the following group his team qualified but in doing so lost to Udinese, Anzhi, and drew with young boys. They then lost in the 1st knockout to zenit.

In his only crack at champions league with Liverpool his team finished 3rd in the group stage, losing to and drawing with Basel, drawing with ludogrets and losing twice to Real. In the proceeding europa league knockout they went out to besiktas.

In his first attempt at Leicester he fared fairly well, qualifying from a group that contained Braga, AEK and Zorya lugansk. They then lost the 1st knockout 2-0 on aggregate to Slavia Prague. In the following year they finished 3rd losing to and drawing with Napoli, losing to Legia and drawing with Spartak at home.

I've put in bold all the teams that, imo, the sides he was in charge of at the time should have been beating but didn't do so. Would you agree?

It could also be said that, while very early in his 1st tenure here, should we really have lost qualifying legs to Lincoln (freak result admittedly) and beer sheva and drawn with Astana. Surely all sides we were better than. Also were AEK really a better side than us when they beat us at Celtic park?

 

Dinamo Zagreb had a managerial change that helped a lot. Nenad Bjelica is a defensive manager who knows what he is doing.

 

Found Brendan's masterplan for Atalanta, surround the ball - needs a bit of work tho.
Watch from 2:30

 

I agree with all of this; but I think that was already very clear before the Dortmund game. We don't need to make a big deal out of this game. So it turns out we're nowhere near good enough to compete against a team that reached the final last season: who knew? It was very painful on the night; but it was so unsurprising that I was over it the very next morning. This is why I was so against judging us on this match and I warned against exactly the kind of negativity we're seeing now.

It is too easy to lose sight of just how far we've come. Ange's team was dismantled through 3 horrible windows in a row and that team last year was not a good Celtic team. We might not even have won the league if Beale hadn't given us such a big start. Do you feel any confidence that that team last year could beat Bratislava? I don't! And I'd be really worried about the games against Young Boys, Brugge and Zagreb too!

Now, though, we have a genuinely good Celtic team (by the standard of Celtic teams post-MON not by the standards of the CL). I'm not nervous about those ties, I'm excited! I don't know if we will beat those 3 teams; but I'm sure we'll give them all a right good game. This is incredible progress for just a single window and a single preseason! If we want to feel that same excitement instead of dread against the likes of Dortmund, Atalanta or Villa, then we're going to need to repeat the last window 2 or 3 or 4 times more. That's want I want us to do of course!

I also think we need to be totally clear with ourselves about what we want. Moyes would have had us set up to be as tough and gnarly as Strachan did and to have a genuine chance in these games; yet he wouldn't have us playing the kind of football Rodgers does both domestically and against peer sides in Europe. If that's what folk want (I don't), then let's not waste time and get Moyes in as soon as possible. Personally, I hope we stick with Rodgers and back him again in the next two windows.

 

Said it before but if we can’t get at least 10 points in this group we may as well forget about the CL in the future.

We will never get a more favourable draw than this one.

Absolutely no excuses for us. Brugge, Young Boys and Zagreb are all teams we should be beating if we think we belong at this level.

 

Have calmed down a bit.

There are fixtures we pinpointed as key to progression and the other night wasn’t one of them. Brugge, Young Boys, and Zagreb are absolutely massive and anything in addition to 7 points there is a bonus.

However.

Rodgers seriously needs to find a way to stop these maulings. It’s utterly embarrassing and only damages the club’s reputation around Europe. Dortmund are by no means favourites for the competition and to lose 7 to them in such feeble fashion was absolutely disgraceful for a Celtic team that’s supposed to be on the up.

Atalanta I expect another loss in and that’ll be fine, but we need to start making these kinds of away days more respectable. We’re an absolute laughing stock away from home

 

2 home wins and a draw should do it..

 

Well that's just silly.

 

100%… going out on a limb here as I haven’t checked the number but I bet our wage bill dwarfs all of those clubs.

Likewise with Rodgers salary versus his opposite numbers.

 

The set of fixtures we have was always going to be about the home ties.

Maybe pick something up in Zagreb but highly doubt it.

 

* dire if we don't get anything in Zagreb.

But aye, wouldn't put it past us.

 

I just want to see some sort of improvement against Atalanta.

Not expecting us to beat them or even draw, but another mauling would raise question marks, they don't have the same pace as Dortmund but they're a very smart team who can easily hurt us.

 

* me he's * at Europe

 

I think they’ll be favourites.

They lost 9-2 in Munich but I wouldn’t be rushing to put my mortgage on us doing any better.

We could play the weakest team on the continent away and I wouldn’t be confident. Always go in to our shells and just do ridiculous things defensively that your rarely see.

 

To be fair to us (or moreso Brendan) he's fairly good against teams close to our level.

Anderlecht, Be'er Sheva, Rosenborg, Astana, Bratislava, Feyenoord (reaching including this one but still), it's the bigger teams we * the bed against.

I'd still be expecting us to beat Young Boys, Zagreb etc, Zagreb will be a a bit trickier away, but I'd fancy us.

Guess we'll see, need to see how we perform against Atalanta first

 

He is, to put it kindly, decidedly mediocre in European competition.