Celtic vs Atletico Madrid, 30/11/2011, 6pm, ESPN

Ahh I see. They award the win to the better team over the 2 matches against each other in the group. Lol I was worrying about Celtic possibly having to play 2 extra midweek games..

 

Its got nothing to do with the result. I just hate them for numerous reasons.

 

The important thing is there are strong signs of improvement, another night we may have won and actually been out of sight in the first half (bar their miss with the header)

We gave them a game for most of the game didn't get a result but we still have our destiny in our hands so as far as i'm concerned the night although disappointing was not fruitless.

 

the main reason Forrest struggled was matthews. Matthews had his worst game in a Celtic shirt tonight, lost count of the number of times he punted the ball up the field and lost possession when he could have played it short to Forrest or one of the central mids. Kayal was decent but he should have stopped the goal, absolutely no courage from him. Maj was terrible as usual and Loovens was brave but gave the ball away in dangerous positions a couple of times, still twice the player Maj is. Ki was dreadful, more so once Wanyama went off and Broony did nothing of note when he came on.

 

Amen to that brother.

 

1974 ?? lumps out of Jinky ??

 

That and their links with Franco.

Their fans also flung bottles at our supporters before the game in Madrid.

 

Ach we were unlucky tonight, losing 1-0 to athletico is certainly no disgrace; kayal and forster could have done better at the goal but it was a good strike; plus, I felt the first half hour we played very well and we finished the game well, just didnt have that finishing touch, shame hooper was offside for his goal.

ki was very poor tonight though, very disappointed in him, otherwise there werent any players i could particularly fault.

and hey, if we'd been offered having to win our last game to go through we'd have taken it; put it this way, we are in a better position at the moment than spurs are

all in all, pleased with the effort tonight if not the final result, think a draw would have been fairer

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/15977261.stm

Forster looks like desperate dans long lost brother

 

does anyone else think the manager got it wrong tonight by not pressing the ball high up the pitch with two strikers not getting on his back but surely neil should know on a european night we need to take the game to the opposition to get the crowd going, just felt as if we gave them too much respect and let them build from the back.

 

I took this picture on the way to the game tonight, it was just 2 mins from Celtic Park, because I don't normally that way it was the first I'd seen it.

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A lot of positive signs tonight, I thought Kayal was immense before his moment of un characteristic madness. Its great to see us compete toe to toe against decent opposition. We're in an incredibly difficult group which wouldn't look out of place in the champions league and we still have a chance to get through which is a great achievement in my eyes.

If you look at our defence which consisted of Matthews who is fantastic but inexperienced, two centre backs who are constantly slated and a central midfielder we did well do only concede the one goal. Our defence won't have to face Adrian and Diego every week with Falcao coming of the bench which is promising.

Obviously losing is never good but there are some positives to bring out the match, if we keep the same intensity throughout the rest of the season I think we will be champions.

Proud of the performance tonight

 

I agree, mate. I still feel he's an important player for the team, though. He gets a response from people. As soon as he came on the pitch, Kayal handed him the captain's armband (something Craig Burley remarked disbelief with) and started shouting out instructions and cajoling his team mates to rally.

He's a winner and I want him to remain at the club, as long as possible.

 

We can hold our heads high after our efforts in Europe.once we get horsed at home from unirea,malmo and Maribor I will start to worry.even though the campaign has 1 game to go,we have shown the huns how to do it in Europe especially at home.even though we only won the 1 game,we certainly weren't shamed the way they were

 

Alot of positives to take from the game Athletico are the best team in the group by far and we still have a good chance of qualifying

 

Thought we played very well. First half we more than matched Atletico, save an unfortunate goal.
Thought Samaras was excellent, too.

Still in with a chance of qualifying, albeit we need an away win against a strong Udinese side.

 

we really need this option of the big striker who can score with his head as well as feet ,it could be the difference between 1 point and 3 in spl games ,reason i said he dont need to be top notch is really because he wont always be first pick ,and indeed none of the strikers should be .

 

Thought the fans were superb again,! I know these athletic are fav to beat us but I think tinkering with the formation stops our fluidity on the ball hooper shouldhave been on with stokes 442 with hooper dropping back when needed, no 1 should be sub after a hatric! But the guys played well enough,.

 

I would never have wanted us to start 442. The three players that operate between midfield and defence for them would have slaughtered us.

 

Any highlights?