Champions League: AC Milan vs CELTIC, 18th September 19:45 kick off, live on SS2

This.

We passed the ball well and looked good in midfield. But they dicked us tactically. As ruthless and clinical a performance I've seen in a while.

 

Ah, now I know you ddn't see the game. Both teams were playing flat out in top gear, trust me...you could tell from the way tempers were flaring all over the place. Their defence impressed me, though. We never looked like scoring from open play.

 

I don't think you've witnessed Juve in top gear. That was certainly not it. Trust me, my team has been on the end of a top gear Juve, and it was not pretty.

 

I dont think Matri is a Usain Bolt....and Wilson was hardly a slouch...I think him and Mulgrew would've dealt with him adequately...

 

:smiley-laughing002::smiley-laughing002::smiley-laughing002:

 

And for Pirlo to ping balls in behind our defence would have meant he would need the ball....which he didn't have that much

 

You can't say if this had happened or if that had happened etc etc.

It's utterly nonsensical.

 

I understand what you mean but Ambrose was the catalyst to our defeat...who knows what would've happened had he not played? And I think it would've panned out in our favour

 

Did you watch the game mate? Juve were definitely trying very hard, I think you do us a disservice when you assume that because they weren't as effective as they can be, they weren't "going up the gears because they didn't have to". We dominated that game for a very concrete reason and it's the reason Juve were not good enough to be in with a chance of winning the CL last year: their strikers. They struggled to build attacks because their strikers were second to every ball. Luckily for them, their defence was superb and we lacked that bit of quality to break it down; but I knew even before they played Bayern that, in spite of a world-class GK, defence and midfield, they had no chance.

This year they have good strikers...a team to fear for sure.

 

The reason he didn't have the ball that much was that Ambrose and Wilson were getting to every clearance ahead of their stikers so their midfield didn't have to many opportunities to get into the game (it looked * dangerous when it did, though!). Their midfield is stronger than ours, with Mulgrew at CB, their strikers would have got to the ball and been able to bring their midfield into the game and IMO we'd have been cut open by their superior technique.

But as Devlin says, it's all guesswork.

 

Yes I did watch the game(s). But if you watch Juve regularly, especially these last 2 seasons, their strikers are barely a factor to how they play. When I said they were tactically superior it's because they did allow you to play, gave you the ball to do with as you pleased in areas they wanted you to have it. In the end whether their strikers were good enough or not, they came away with what they wanted, and as it's been noted many times, before it's not the easiest of things to come away from Celtic Park with a win. But they did achieve that and I personally (and like I told you, this pains me to say it) don't think it's luck or because you had personnel issues, but the simple fact that they were tactically superior on the night.

Had the game played out differently and you had gotten the early goal instead of them, you would have seen what Juve can really do when they want to press you and out muscle you.

 

Just a question to the Milan fans, Do you defend set pieces the same way as lichstiener? The media claimed that is the norm in Italy just now

 

Not really, they did their research on the referee and we didn't. Appaarently they watched several DVD's of him before the game. Fair play to them on that. We need to learn these things rather than accusing them of cheating.

 

Not exactly like Lichsteiner, who is a very good cheater( and a very good player).

 

Juve playing dirty is always a given, and they usually get away with it. Agree on that.

Conte is one of the best young coaches around, he'll be out of Juve and to the likes of Real/Chelsea in 2 years time, make no mistake.

But be that as it may, I never talked about the quality of the teams and what you guys achieved, I just said that they were tactically superior which is what won them the game. Now if they were lucky or not isn't really the issue here. That's the way things go, especially in football.

 

5-0 and it's referee fault . You have some difficulties to admit that Juventus was better than you, with the money it´s normal, no shame to be beaten by of one the best european team.

 

Well there always tends to be a bit of pushing and shoving going on during set-pieces. It's the norm in Italy as refs don't do anything about it.

But please don't compare anyone on our team with that guy. Absolutely disgusting player.

 

It really depends, our team will look pretty different this season from last, it all depends on how Boerichter, Pukki and Biton fit in. Last season it was a 4-4-1-1 with wide men, though our wingers were usually Browm and Mulgrew who aren't natural wingers. Much of our width came from Samaras who would have a free role behind Hooper. He may have a similar role this season, or he may take more of a centre forward role with Commons behind him.

 

We got hammered tactically by Juve, there's no doubt about that one.