Glasgow Celtic

[smokie36]

Will there be dancing in the streets of Raith this afternoon...?

[salty]

Afraid not Smokie. A 3-0 win for Celtic though it took them a long time to put the game to bed.

Arbroath and now Raith. You certainly have the underdogs interests at heart.

[smokie36]

The first goal was never a penalty.

In fact your player should have got a red for his oscar winning dive.

Other than that you were the better side of course.

[CelticBhoy]

Will there be dancing in the streets of Raith this afternoon...?

When did Raith become a place? Has Kirkaldy shut down?

Anyway, they were gubbed good and proper. Next.

[salty]

Away to St Mirren in the 1/4 final.

[smokie36]

Will there be dancing in the streets of Raith this afternoon...?

When did Raith become a place? Has Kirkaldy shut down?

Anyway, they were gubbed good and proper. Next.

Funny.

http://www.footballandmusic.co.uk/dancing-on-the-streets-of-kirkcaldy/

I happened to be in Kirkcaldy yesterday....and the first goal was never a penalty. So there we are....

You deserved the win but I hate to see dives and bad decisions therefore commented on it.

Touchy lot on here sometimes!

[CelticBhoy]

Away to St Mirren in the 1/4 final.

This Monday can't bring any more bad news.

St Mirren again. Our bogey team. Wonderful.

[salty]

A 3-1 win at Inverness with many changes with Tuesday night in mind. Forster and Commons probably the only 2 who are likely to start against Juve. They are in action at the moment in Seria A and lead Fiorentina 2-0. Pirlo is playing and looks ok to me.

An interesting aside is the Div 3 leaders have offered Juve facilities to train at Murray Park. Whether this kind offer is accepted or not remains to be seen. They will be doing the usual pre match day workout at Parkhead.

[CelticBhoy]

18 points clear. Doesn't get much better than that.

Roll on Tuesday. We're ready.

[CelticBhoy]

After watching the highlights of Saturday's game I must say that Forster looked sluggish. I hope he is back to top form for tomorrow. He seemed very slow to react and on a couple of occasions cleared with his feet, which is not his usual style.

[salty]

He has been out for 5 or 6 games. We need another top class display from the big guy to have a chance. Juve have Buffon in goal who is one of the best keepers in the game.

When you consider both the Champions and the English Premiership Champions are both out Celtic have done wonderfully well to get this far. I hope we can keep it alive for the 2nd leg.

[CelticBhoy]

Today's the day. I have been looking forward to this for

quite a while now. Hope you enjoy watching it in Pattaya

Salty old son. And you too, Luke, in Ubon.

I don't know how it will go, but here's hoping. As Salty says,

we have done well to get this far let's hope we can keep up

the run. The SPL is sown up so Lenny can risk all tonight.

Hail Hail.

[CelticBhoy]

Any folks in Ubon getting together to watch the game on the 12th ? Is the game even on the television ?

According to today's paper it is being shown on TrueSport 1

at 2:45am on Wednesday morning. Early to bed, early to rise!

[CelticBhoy]

Gubbed 3-0. I should have stayed in bed,

and Ambrose should have stayed in Africa.

[salty]

A 3-0 defeat effectively ends our European odeyssey for the season and barring a miracle we will be playing for pride in Turin.

To concede such an early easily preventable goal was manna from heaven to the Italians. With an assured custodian like Buffon (124 Italian caps) they could sit back soak up the Celtic pressure, and in the closing stages as Celtic began to run out of gas make the killing thrusts. Celtics lack of competition at the highest level was ruthlessly exposed in the process.

With hindsight rushing Ambrose from South Africa back was a disaster. He was there in body but in mind somewhere between Parkhead and Soccer City. He was asleep for the cruical early goal. Forster our hero in both Barcelona games was very poor and unconvincing as well and his reactions to the situation were far too slow. As CB had noted he looked sluggish in his comeback game. It was interesting to note he was out for the second half well in advance of the team for a bit of goal keeping practise. Ambrose missed our best chance with a powder puff free header from a great cross by Brown. He then gave the ball away for the 2nd goal. Apparently he told Lenny he was fine before the game when asked but that was like asking is the Pope a Catholic. You are not going to get a negative answer.

When I saw the referee was Spanish I cringed as I expected that the only way Juventus would concede a penalty was if they killed someone. Commons was fouled early on, but it was from corners that the systematic fouling occurred. Of course as we well know this is par for the course for all Italian defences, but you need a strong official to clamp down not the type of arm crossing individual we had here. As for Platini's 2 spares as in nearly every game they are only a waste of space. And yes Atkinson on Saturday bottled it as well when Yaya Toure took out the Southampton player and merely awarded a corner.

Overall I felt Celtic gave it their all. It was a pity they shot themselves in the foot so early but it has been a heroic journey from the home game v Helsinki when we went behind early in the 2nd half and looked in danger of ending our European journey before it began.

[StevieH]

harsh that. hard lines bhoys. good side though juventus at the moment.

[rott]

harsh that. hard lines bhoys.

<deleted>. Juventus played them off the park.

[StevieH]

harsh that. hard lines bhoys.

<deleted>. Juventus played them off the park.

'hard luck' can just mean 'commiserations' you know. not literally 'you were the better team and you deserved to win that, you were robbed celtic'. harsh result to take. stinger. an ass-whupping. jesus.

[salty]

harsh that. hard lines bhoys.

<deleted>. Juventus played them off the park.

I have to wonder what game you were watching. Juve a much better side without question. They were under pressure for long periods. They dealt with it effectively not always legally. "Played off the park". Horsemanure.

[rott]

harsh that. hard lines bhoys.

<deleted>. Juventus played them off the park.

'hard luck' can just mean 'commiserations' you know. not literally 'you were the better team and you deserved to win that, you were robbed celtic'. harsh result to take. stinger. an ass-whupping. jesus.

Calm down H, perhaps I misinterpreted the "harsh" bit as meaning unjustified. But sad for British football anyway.

[smokie36]

harsh that. hard lines bhoys.

<deleted>. Juventus played them off the park.

I have to wonder what game you were watching. Juve a much better side without question. They were under pressure for long periods. They dealt with it effectively not always legally. "Played off the park". Horsemanure.

Agreed. The first goal was suicidal to give away but Celtic upped the tempo and were unlucky not to score. Some poor refereeing decisions and they were always going to tire in the second half playing that type of game.

Not much choice really against such a good side. Things might have gone differently had luck fallen their way.

[Chicog]

Calm down H, perhaps I misinterpreted the "harsh" bit as meaning unjustified. But sad for British football anyway.

They're as British as Guinness, wot you on about.

[CelticBhoy]

We've had quite a bit of luck here and there in recent times, but there wasn't an ounce of it dealt out in the wee hours of this morning. But I will point the finger at Ambrose for being pure <deleted> and a total let down. I do like getting up at 2:30 in the morning and cracking a beer open though! Only one more chance of that for a while, sadly.

[salty]

We would have needed an awful lot of breaks CB to keep the tie alive. Both Ambrose and Wilson are very slow and that makes things easier for opposing strikers. Forster was way below par and this did not help either. I must say I do not feel too despondent about the outcome.

I won't be cracking open a beer tonight but I will watch the RM-MU game and the Arse and barca games next week.

And I will be sitting in front of a nice fire for the 2nd legs and watching at a sensible time.

[Chicog]

On the bright side Celtic are quids in after a very successful campaign (there is extra cash for wins and draws).

They should have no trouble getting into it next year, draw permitting.

[spongeman]

Ambrose had a poor game but the Celtic goalkeeper did'nt come out quickly enough for the first goal and did'nt stand up for the second.

Buffon was really solid ( best in the world I think ) but a lot of shots went straight at him ).

I was surprised to see them play Ambrose, did they not have anybody else ?

[salty]

With hindsight he could have played Mulgrew there and Ledley instead, or had Rogne or Gershorn.

An interesting piece on the Scottish Sun

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4794409/Wrestle-mania.html

I would make the comment that Platini will not be bothered about the two spares behind the goal. They have consistently shown they are about as useful as a choclate teatop.

[rott]

Calm down H, perhaps I misinterpreted the "harsh" bit as meaning unjustified. But sad for British football anyway.

They're as British as Guinness, wot you on about.

I was taking the piss.

[FarangTalk]

Away to St Mirren in the 1/4 final.

This Monday can't bring any more bad news.

St Mirren again. Our bogey team. Wonderful.

Don't you mean the team that lay down for you to win the league title in 1986?

[CelticBhoy]

^ Happy memories of that day. In the Quinn in Bishopbriggs. Blootered.