Celtic in the UEFA Champions League 2024-25

Yeah my original post in the match thread was that in the context of the game it's a disappointing result/performance - but in the context of us in Europe generally the last few years, still being undefeated since Dortmund and being the qualification places with a favourable home game to come.. then it's not the worst result.

 

I’d argue we are already in a “what if” scenario.
IF we had have beaten Brugge, a very winnable game at home, and Zagreb, who were decimated with injuries and in terrible form, we would have been on 13 points.
That’s joined second in the table, heading into our second easiest game against YBs at home knowing that a win would almost guarantee a top 8 finish.

Now we find ourselves heading into that game with the pressure of needing a result just to get in the top 24.
As successful as this campaign has been on paper, it’s a huge opportunity missed!

 

Sorry but I’m not a fan of that patter at all.

 

Brugge are being massively underrated tbh, thought they were every bit as good as Leipzig and we were fortunate to get a point. Tonight however can’t be sugar coated, not winning that is poor and a huge opportunity let slip. Had we won tonight we’d then have no pressure on the next game, which lets be serious we should win, then we’ve got a game against Villa for a place in the last 16 who’ll likely be through by then and would’ve rested players.

Now we’ve got a game where the expectation is high and the pressure immense to go out and get the job done, and time after time at this level that’s where we’ve come unstuck. Until all 8 games are played we won’t truly know how good or bad a result tonight was, but at the moment you have to say it feels as if it’s 2 gone rather than 1 gained.

 

Exactly the issue. We should be able to beat YB but now we have essentially a cup final & the whole stadium will be on tenterhooks.

Personally, I’m not happy that it’s got to this stage.

 

Pretty safe to assume that anyone from 27th place and below are as good as out, barring some freak results.


So looking at the teams below us, we need to finish higher than at least 2 of those 7 teams.


Looking at the fixtures, and assuming all the most likely results, these are the points that those teams SHOULD finish up on.


Man City 8pts- (will play Juve, PSG and Brugge) should finish on 12-15pts


Juventus 8pts - (play City, Brugge, Benfica) should finish on 11-12pts


PSV 8pts - (play Red star and Liverpool) should finish on 11pts


Zagreb 8 pts- (play arsenal and Milan) should finish on 8-9pts


PSG 7pts - (play City and Stuttgart) should finish on 10-13pts


Feyenoord 7pts - (play Sparta, Bayern and Lille) should finish on 10-11pts


Stuttgart 4pts- (play YBs, Slovan and PSG) should get 10pts


We currently have 9 points, which at these projections won’t be enough to get a playoff spot, 25th place.

If we get a draw with YBs that leaves us on 10 and depending on goal difference with Stuttgart, they are on -7 now, we are on 0, but they could put a few past YBs and Slovan.


Looks like we may end up needing to beat YBs or else go to Villa needing a result.

That puts huge pressure on the YBs game.

We should be favourites, but if it’s not going well at the start and the crowd starts getting nervous/impatient, like the Brugge game, it could be a very nervy night!

 

Young Boys will get beat by Stuttgart tonight and be out the competition when they come to us on matchday 7. They're struggling domestically massively.

I can't see them fielding their strongest team against us.

We should win this game and win it comfortably.

 

On what planet do they just give up on the cl win bonus money, no chance are they fielding a weakened team.

 

It would be a real disappointment if we don't get 3 points against Young Boys, even in a bad year that's the kind of team we expect to be bea

He's right though. Look at literally every european campaign in the past 10 years and compare it to this one.

 

Just like we should comfortably beat Brugge and Zagreb?
Our performances (not results) in those games is really worrying, we start nervous due to the expectation and gradually freeze as the anxiety grows.
Now from a comfortable position, within the easiest draw possible, we have a must win game.
The anxiety will be absolutely off the charts v Young Boys on and off the pitch.

Be in no doubt, we have to perform at our best to win that game and will have to improve on where we are today to do so.
Maybe this was always going to be the case, buckle up Bhoys!

 

Your first line in this post makes no sense. Brugge and Zagreb are better than YB as the table clearly shows. Saying we should beat YB is different to saying we should be beating Brugge (who have been competing at CL level more consistently than us for a while now) and Zagreb - away from home - where we are notoriously poor.

Home to YB if we can't beat them we aren't good enough to play knockout rounds anyway. They're on 0 points just like Slovan and Leipzig, the two teams we've beaten at home.

Brugge were one of the slickest sides I've seen us play in this competition for a while outside the big leagues.

 

I absolutely didn't think we'd comfortably win those games, but majority of our fans did in the post Leipzig euphoria.
Brugge at home, no problem - we just humped Leipzig.
CZ injury and home form crisis, 14 fit players - no problem.

What I'm getting at is that same wildly optimistic, almost arrogance at times from our fans is already kicking in and is frankly misplaced given how poor our performances have been since Leipzig (which looks like a one off rather than new normal).
The 2 games we won - both teams are on zero points after 6 games, just like Young Boys

Young Boys WILL be a tough game that we'll have be at our best to win it.

 

I had a look this morning trying to guesstimate what the final standings would be and I think it is safe to assume we still need a win against Young Boys or as you say it will be likely coming down to goal difference if it is a draw.

In what I forecast I have us winning 2-0 and then losing 2-0 to Villa.

So based on forecasting results it would see us finish 19th on 12 points and a 0 GD.

However, turn that 2-0 against YB to a 0-0 and everything else remains the same we would be 23rd with a 10 and -2 but only a couple of goals above Feyenoord and 3 above Stuttgart. As you say if they rack up a score in one of their easier games that could easily change.

Essentially we need to beat YB at home to be sure.

Sadly I think Villa are going to need a win to get top 8, I actually have them missing out on it even with a win against us. It looks like 18 points will be needed for top 8. So I do feel a little better that we basically had no chance of getting to that.

If my guesses are right then likely opponent would be Lille in the play off as I have them finishing 14th.

 

There are so many ways this can play out, it’s very hard to make any predictions.
10 points might well be enough, but we really need to be looking to take the 3 points against YB.

I reckon the table will be madness on the final match day, with the standings changing literally after every goal!

 

Yeah I agree with you on that so much can change but one thing I think is certain win the next game and get to 12 points and we will have a place probably between 18th to 21st in the final standings of the table and a knock out game to play.

Regardless of where we finish if we make the knockout round we are going to be massive underdogs.

 

On a planet where they're not out of the conversation to be in a relegation battle.

 

Young Boys 1 up

 

good, they can get that * oot their system before they play us.

 

Stuttgart dropping points no harm to us

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Young Boys if they win tonight need to win their remaining matches at least 6-0 each to catch us and hope we lose to Villa.
Highly doubt that’s going to happen.