When I learned that Croatian Marijo Strahonja would be refereeing the game I expected a fair and impartial official. Even today I still can’t believe that the Croatian made so many blatantly biased decisions that would have left even the SFA with embarrassed faces. The referee’s performance was simply incredulous. So with no Fifa decision until after the second leg last night may still prove irrelevant. However it was the first European night in Celtic Park of the season and everyone, including the manager, expected more." AnonymousCSC
Ar me be feeling a little glum me hearty’s this morning L. Perhaps I did over indulge in one too many bars of sweet, nutty Swiss chocolate pre match, our maybe it was that feeling you get every time things don’t turn out as you anticipated or planned. You know the feeling. It’s different for all of us, frustration, anger, contempt for some, sympathy, reflection and contemplation for others. Overall the pain is the same. ‘WE DIDNT GUB THE CHEATING INELIGABLE FIELDING BASSAS’
No matter how any of us feel the @sixtysevenlive captain and first mate @AnonymousCSC and @AnonActionCelt want to get the message out that win lose or draw, be you angry, upset or hopeful, they are here for you and will never divide the support in times of perceived trouble. So tweet them for a remedy to your ails (lashings of rum is always advised), seek them out on twitter onboard the good ship @sixtysevenlive and let them bring a great big Timmy smile back on to your face.
Let’s begin the report
GK I think the GK debate ended last night once and for all, unfair as it seems for Zaluska and we all have sympathy for him. Neil Lennon has an obligation as Celtic manager to field his perceived strongest team and rightly or wrongly he sees Fraser Forster as his No 1 and in fairness the defence did seem collectively calmer with the big man between the sticks. He was rarely called into action last night and handled his first competitive appearance of the season well.
Defence The Terminator Cha was in from the start and was immense. His recovery speed, willingness to get forward was great to see. ‘Charnie’ really did himself no harm in his quest to go back in time and eliminate John Connor; I mean stake his claim for a starting berth in the first team at the weekend.
Dan and Chico were back together in the heart of the defence, reunited like lost lovers due to Kelvin ‘Sexual Chocolate’ Wilson’s dead leg and enjoyed a fairly comfortable night’s work. Dan looked commanding throughout while Chico helped to try engineer build up play from the back.
The ambassador Mark Wilson was shifted to left back to accommodate Chico’s move inside to centre half and as always Mark gave it his all, though in truth his impact on the game was limited as he favours hugging the touchline and found this hard to achieve last night as he was switching inside a lot. All in all Mark and the whole defensive unit performed well and rarely looked worried by the attacking threat of the Toblerones.
Midfield Kris ‘Puff’ Commons was placed out on the right hand side for last night’s match to accommodate for El Capitan taking up a central position. He seems to be coming in for some stick from a section of the support and as much as their opinion is valued and respected, surely they can see that ‘Puff’ is proving to be a very versatile and hardworking member of the squad. I can only surmise that his electric start to his Celtic career was expected to continue unabated with Kris shooting thunderbolts out his arse into the net every time he receives the ball regardless of what position or tactical job he has been assigned.
Super Joe Ledley gave yet another tireless performance throughout, his ball retention and calmness under pressure last night did not go unnoticed neither did his constant tracking back to help out in defence.
The Seoul bhoy playmaker Ki started in the centre of midfield but was then pushed further forward to play just off the striker, this isn’t his normal role, as for me Dave is much more of a deep lying playmaker but as it seems that he is currently the most creative player in Scotland it was to be expected that he would be tasked with playing just off the striker. Later in the game as Celtic brought on more natural wide men Ki was able to drop back into his more natural role and began to dictate the game which created a few more opportunities.
Broony was brought back into the centre of midfield to play the Kayal role (god how we miss him) and did his job admirably. Scott will always give his all, though you can see even he seems to no longer favour a central position as he understands he can give more to the team out wide. A solid performance by the man who does this \0/
Forwards Stokes started up front but was moved out to the left wing in a tactical change to combat the ball being freely played forward into dangerous areas early on by Sion’s right back. Again as with Commons this in this reporters mind shouldn’t be criticised it should be applauded as the bhoy is fulfilling a duty. He wants to score goals but until you win the tactical battle in any match you are unlikely to create the chances to score. As for the penalty claim I’ve seen them given and like last night I’ve seen them rejected.
The Greek Gazelle: love or hate Sammy he must have one helluva pair of broad shoulders to take the criticism heaped on him. The fall guy for some, the ace in the pack for others, I can only say he was willing to play the lone striker role due to the formation change and won his fair share of headers, ran the channels and took the knocks required to play that role. For me quite simply Giorgios of Samaras has all the attributes of a modern day front man but needs to simplify his finishing technique. In essence he thinks too much when a chance arises and ends up snatching at the opportunity.
Subs: McCourt, Maloney, Forrest all came on to try and change the game. They all applied themselves well, though in fairness the tactics employed by the opposition to kick any Celtic player within a 40 yard radius of the goal proved troublesome in their quests to turn the tide.
Overall Summary We were without an estimated (lower end valuation) £30 million pounds worth of talent last night in the form of absentees Emilio, Beram and Hoops add to this Sexual Chocolate missing and the change of natural position for Commons, M Wilson, Brown, Stokes and Joe Ledley coupled with a change of tactics early on from an attacking interchangeable 4-4-2 to a containment based 4-2-3-1/ 4-5-1 to counteract Sion getting at us down the flanks. You can see why it may have came across as a bit of a disjointed performance. These aren’t excuses I’m offering these are facts though in all honesty I believed we played well against a team set up to play in effect with 6 at the back. This is European football, teams park the bus away from home in the hope of scoring a sucker punch away goal or to lose by just one and to their credit Sion defended albeit robustly (hacking) and, with the help of some dubious refereeing, admirably. I for one would be delighted to see Celtic adopt their tactics in the second leg as I firmly believe we are better than Sion in every department. People will argue about not getting a valuable goal but in reality if Sammy had scored with that header, had he managed to poke home his sliding effort to give us a slender lead, what we have done with it in Switzerland? We would have tried to sit in and defend what we have and mostly likely end up being beaten.
Now we go to Switzerland with the knowledge that we have to play, we have to score and that is what makes Celtic tick. That is the Celtic way!
Until next time me matey’s
#keepthefaith
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