The morning after, the morning after. Finally got back home late last night after an epic journey home. A throughly enjoyable trip and a first visit to the Bernabeu.
Twice this season we as fans have appaluded Celtic off the pitch after defeats by Real Madrid. Are we happy to see our team lose? Absolutely not. Are we happy to see our team try to take on the best team in the world right now? Damn right.
We started the Champions League campaign as a pot 4 team and finished it where seeding expected us to be but in my opinion it didn't tell the whole story...
In years gone by we have seen Lennon and Strachan get us through difficult groups by defending for our lives and countering or using set pieces and we have all enjoyed the results probably more than the performances and then we have seen Rodgers naively think you can take on the top teams with possession football and watched us get picked apart.
This season felt different. We are playing a brand of football that enables us to push forward as much as it enables us to get countered quickly by quality players. Although a different style of football it feels more akin to the Martin O'Neill days of 4v3's, 2v2's and they kind of results but the only thing missing was we didn't have Larsson, Hartson or Sutton finishing we had Kyogo and Giakoumakis inexplicably forgetting how to score when it matters. 4 goals from 82 shots tells a story of it's own. It tells us we have competed in an attacking sense but we have been susceptible defensively. All of our CL games could have finished 4v4.
Sometimes you need luck, sometimes you need time to develop and sometimes you need everything to come together. Last year O'Riley was playing the likes of Crewe and other players were playing nowhere near the top teams but can hold their heads high today. If they can make that step up in one year domestically then I'd like to think in another year if we qualify for the CL again then they'll be better for it.
Had we drawn Leipzig first game when they were still playing awful football under a dire manager rather than them playing Shakhtar we may have got the 3 points and felt differently. If McGregor's screamer had came off the post and in and not across the goals. If's, buts and maybes
Back to being applauded off the pitch after defeats. We are not naive, you don't play Real Madrid and expect to win, very few do but when you have seen your team never give up from a point 2 years ago when under Lennon the whole team chucked it you know you have made significant progress.
Progress
posted on 4/11/22
comment by Call Sign (U3627)
posted 2 hours, 27 minutes ago
comment by Humble Hamish (U21959)
posted 2 minutes ago
He's the biggest purveyor of unfunny garbage on the site
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I must have missed that particular vote.
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Nominees weren't invited to vote
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Poor Hamish.
posted on 4/11/22
comment by Humble Hamish (U21959)
posted 2 hours, 32 minutes ago
He's the biggest purveyor of unfunny garbage on the site
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I must have missed that particular vote.
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It wasn't a vote. Its my opinion.
Almost all of what's on here is people's opinions. I don't feel the need to confirm when I'm staying mine
Do you always mention when you are stating an opinion or giving a fact or providing the result of a popular vote in the style of Tess Daly?
I don't think you do. Maybe I'm wrong though.
posted on 4/11/22
comment by Magnum (2 in a row easy) (U22391)
posted 1 hour, 49 minutes ago
comment by Call Sign (U3627)
posted 2 hours, 27 minutes ago
comment by Humble Hamish (U21959)
posted 2 minutes ago
He's the biggest purveyor of unfunny garbage on the site
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I must have missed that particular vote.
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Nominees weren't invited to vote
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Poor Hamish.
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Can't be that poor - lives in Bea...oops, sorry.
posted on 4/11/22
Beauly is a lovely village
posted on 4/11/22
Last paragraph has Lawwell loosening his shirt collar and reaching for the water were he there!
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Celtic need to be "aggressive and agile" in the transfer market to become a competitive Champions League team, says boss Ange Postecoglou.
Celtic are top of the Scottish Premiership but endured a chastening experience in the Champions League and are now out of Europe altogether.
"Other clubs our size are very agile," Postecoglou said at the club's AGM.
"Every couple of years they regenerate. We need to push forward aggressively in the next two to three years."
The 5-1 loss to Real Madrid rounded off a group stage that saw Celtic go winless and finish bottom of the group.
They have failed to win in their last 10 Champions League matches and of his regular starters, only Callum McGregor and Joe Hart had played major minutes in Europe's elite competition before this season.
However, Postecoglou believes Celtic can catch up with the Champions League regulars despite usually having significantly lower spending power if they execute a clever transfer strategy.
The Australian has been successful in the market since he joined in 2021, with Portuguese winger Jota, United States defender Cameron Carter-Vickers and Japan forward Kyogo Furuhashi among the biggest recruitment hits.
"My aim is to keep improving. Never stand still. My ambition is to make us a Champions League club," he said.
"Hopefully as our players progress, and as players leave, hopefully we can bring in others and improve. I think bridging the gap between us and the elite in Europe is one we need to keep chipping away at.
"We can make gains by being aggressive and agile in the transfer market.
"I make the football vision clear and try to fit the business model around that. We need to maximise the greatest amount of revenue into the club."
posted on 5/11/22
Like the sound of that from Ange, to be fair. It’s an admirable vision, and I can see where he’s coming from. BUT I still think we can “have a go” at teams without totally relinquishing any sort of defensive shape, which is pretty much what we do currently. We need to find a better balance between attack & defence, at least in Europe. All out attack and hoping for the best when we turn over possession will continue to get us the results we’ve been seeing, against better sides. Ange is bang on the money though about us needing to box clever in the transfer market.
posted on 5/11/22
I'm starting to think Ange is a bit doolally.
posted on 5/11/22
comment by Magnum (2 in a row easy) (U22391)
posted 31 seconds ago
I'm starting to think Ange is a bit doolally.
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Takes one to know one
posted on 5/11/22
comment by Call Sign (U3627)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Magnum (2 in a row easy) (U22391)
posted 31 seconds ago
I'm starting to think Ange is a bit doolally.
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Takes one to know one
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It's a fair point. Most of my brilliant ideas also failed in the execution!
posted on 5/11/22
comment by Magnum (2 in a row easy) (U22391)
posted 47 minutes ago
I'm starting to think Ange is a bit doolally.
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I'd rather his doolally than Gio's, or Pedro's or Murty's, or..