Celtic v City post match

[Gray]

It completely escapes you that you are in the position you are in due to geographical fortune, doesn't it? Had Celtic had the same fortune to spend on their squad, we wouldn't be a "championship" team either, we'd be facing you a couple of times a season. The history speaks for itself. We are where we are. That's life, but some humility in the place of arrogance with regard to the game would be a nice start.

We did very well.

As a Celtic fan, it's the most enjoyable game I've seen in a few years, simply because we were such big underdogs when you look at the quality of the teams. We have a very decent first team for our level, but the contrast is stark. To a man, we were excellent. Left nothing in reserve, mostly covered the skill deficiencies with endeavour and weren't too shabby with the ball when we had it. We harried, hassled and stuck in, and it worked.

We were shattered by the last 20 minutes and held on admirably, without it ever really feeling like you were pummelling us, though a 4th would've come if you'd had longer.

Overall, a superb night for our club at a level we can no longer be reasonably expected to compete at. Shame the game has gone this way but that's another discussion.

There was fortune in our goals, no doubt, but there was fortune in yours too. Kolarov's shot landing at the feet of Fernandinho when it could've gone anywhere (as we saw in another Kolarov effort that's just come back into orbit), Dembele's short pass to Brown that led to Sterling's (well-taken) goal, the parry by Gordon into the path of Nolito. You could go on about most goals, but that's just football.

Of course we raise our game when at home and the "big boys" turn up, what else should be done? Given that we're aiming for 6 leagues in a row, it's fair to say we turn up when the "little guys" arrive too. No?

There's no shame in finishing 4th in this group, that's not a put down. It's an acknowledgement of the relative circumstances we find ourselves in. There's no shame in raising your game as if this is our "cup final", we played out of our skin. And, for you, there's no shame in drawing with Celtic in Glasgow. Better teams have had worse.

This kind of result and occasion will become rarer and rarer for us until something changes with the "Champion's" league, so you better believe it's going to be milked. If we have to endure the 7-0s in Barcelona, we'll bathe in the points against teams like yours that cost hundreds of millions to assemble with arguably the best manager around in charge of them.

As much as I enjoy your delicious salty tears, maybe give Celtic a little credit as opposed to being a stereotypical arrogant fan of a rich club (plenty others seem to manage ok around here, I should add). It's ok to have off days, everyone does.

Well played, good game, I'm sure you'll still go far and even more sure you'll win the league. Some team.

Can not disagree with any of that, I always thought it would be a tough match.

The problem for City was that we slipped back into old habits - diving into tackles, misplaced passes, reluctance to shoot and shambolic defending.

I always though that Pep would need time to sort out the squad and thankfully he will have learned more last night than in all the other games put together.

We missed De Bruyne and a fully fit Kompany, they are almost irreplaceable at our club.

We need to beat you at the Etihad and then we should at least get Europa League depending on how BMunch get on in the two matches against Celtic.

I am not optimistic about our remaining two away fixtures due to our defensive frailties.

 

[supercity88]

Last night we played a team that have lost 3 of their last 23 home CL games. That record is incredible and though on paper they’re nowhere near our quality, they’ve beaten Barca before at home and they just pull it out of the bag in the CL. The Barca side they beat has Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Iniesta, Xavi et al. These results happen. What’s great is our fight. The first time we’ve conceded the first goal. We fought back. We fought back three times and nearly won the game. That character is incredible. And the mistakes we made can be ironed out ahead of the Spurs game, who I believe will press and harass us in similar areas. It’s a good game to prepare us for that to ensure we win the game on Sunday.

 

[IrishBlueSince92]

Think the players were a bit complacent going into the game, so hopefully its a wake up call ahead of Sunday. Celtic were in our faces right from the off in both halves, not letting us settle into the game, and it paid dividends for them.
Felt throughout the game that if we could just get in front that that would be it.
Credit to the team for coming back three times. I'd say they haven't played in an atmosphere like that this season, or many times in their careers!

Think it was a mistake not starting Stones. He was calmness personified in his short spell on the pitch, we defended badly for the three goals. Kolarov wasn't great.

 

[greenandwhite1]

What a game of football, for both sets of fans and the neutrals watching.

I was worried we would be on the receiving end of a real battering against what I'd say is the best Man City team i've ever seen, but I did say on a thread on here last week that 'Strange things happen at Celtic Park on Champions League nights'.. As said, we've only ever lost 3 times at home in CL..

I think most level headed City fans would've known it was always going to be a tough game up here, but it's nice to see a lot of the 'Celtic are a League 1 side' people put in their place. I was worried the way we set up under Rodgers would've played right into your hands, going toe to toe with a team that has a team packed with vastly superior quality players means we were always going to concede, but we rode our luck a little and played some good stuff IMO. The conditions played into our hands but we really did give it everything both on and off the field. To those in the away end last night, what did you make of your night up here?

What a transformation in Sterling this season btw.. best player on the park by some distance. Gave young Tierney a tough time but the 19year old along with Dembele are our best prospects in years.

Hoping last night is enough to see us finish 3rd now but it's still a big ask. Barca getting that 2nd goal should be enough for them to take the top spot now.

 

[The Black Shed]

I was predicting a battering for Celtic! The stats may look that way, but it wasn't. Once we had put Kolarov to LB, and organised the discipline in centre midfield (in a positional sense), then we looked a far more composed and dangerous unit. Should have got a late winner but wasn't to be. We can't win every game. Onto Spurs and possibly another goal fest.

 

[blueonblue]

Spot on Hahoop, your lot played out of their skin an deserve full credit for their part in a very enjoyable game, seems some people forget there is no divine right to just turn up an get the points because your better on paper, on grass pride and passion play a large part an your team were not found wanting in either.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

What a game of football, for both sets of fans and the neutrals watching.

I was worried we would be on the receiving end of a real battering against what I'd say is the best Man City team i've ever seen, but I did say on a thread on here last week that 'Strange things happen at Celtic Park on Champions League nights'.. As said, we've only ever lost 3 times at home in CL..

I think most level headed City fans would've known it was always going to be a tough game up here, but it's nice to see a lot of the 'Celtic are a League 1 side' people put in their place. I was worried the way we set up under Rodgers would've played right into your hands, going toe to toe with a team that has a team packed with vastly superior quality players means we were always going to concede, but we rode our luck a little and played some good stuff IMO. The conditions played into our hands but we really did give it everything both on and off the field. To those in the away end last night, what did you make of your night up here?

What a transformation in Sterling this season btw.. best player on the park by some distance. Gave young Tierney a tough time but the 19year old along with Dembele are our best prospects in years.

Hoping last night is enough to see us finish 3rd now but it's still a big ask. Barca getting that 2nd goal should be enough for them to take the top spot now.

Good post. Celtic are about the level of a Burnley/Villa/Norwich yo yo club. Last night you played really well and we played pretty badly. You got three goals which all had an element of luck about them, but to be fair, got yourselves into those situations through agressiion and effort. You were lucky we didn't win the game after we totally controlled the second half. You were also lucky thast our best player in those type of open game, Kevin De Bruyne, was injured. So well played, I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for the comments.

 

[waspish]

Love pep after match conference positive positive positive.

 

[steviemc]

Not exactly great preparation for Spurs though mate.

Not just in terms of the halt to our winning run, but more importantly, it showed Spurs exactly what they need to do, and they will do it much better than Celtic.

Had we stuck to our normal playing style, not has such bad luck with their goals, or finished our chances better, we would have won comfortably. Managers would be scratching their heads thinking, "what do we need to do to beat these???? Nothing works".

Now they know what to do.

If only it was that easy. There will be games where we're unable to stick to our normal playing style, and it was plain to see last night that the oppositions tactics made that impossible. That said, it's not gonna happen very often because it requires the other team to change their playing style when they play us. Even if a team does this, they've gotta be prepared to do it 'til their lungs burst, hope for a few slices of good fortune, hope that we make some poor decisions around the penalty box and hope that they've got a crowd of 60,000 mad jocks spurring them on.

After all that, the opponents would still feel themselves fortunate to come away with a home draw. It's far too simplistic to look at last night's game with the idea that there's some kind of 'eureka moment' in how PL teams can play to get a result against us.

 

[Neville Kneville]

What a game of football, for both sets of fans and the neutrals watching.

I was worried we would be on the receiving end of a real battering against what I'd say is the best Man City team i've ever seen, but I did say on a thread on here last week that 'Strange things happen at Celtic Park on Champions League nights'.. As said, we've only ever lost 3 times at home in CL..

I think most level headed City fans would've known it was always going to be a tough game up here, but it's nice to see a lot of the 'Celtic are a League 1 side' people put in their place. I was worried the way we set up under Rodgers would've played right into your hands, going toe to toe with a team that has a team packed with vastly superior quality players means we were always going to concede, but we rode our luck a little and played some good stuff IMO. The conditions played into our hands but we really did give it everything both on and off the field. To those in the away end last night, what did you make of your night up here?

What a transformation in Sterling this season btw.. best player on the park by some distance. Gave young Tierney a tough time but the 19year old along with Dembele are our best prospects in years.

Hoping last night is enough to see us finish 3rd now but it's still a big ask. Barca getting that 2nd goal should be enough for them to take the top spot now.

It was a great game, & Celtic did themseives proud. It was never guaranteed to be an easy night but tbh could have been much easier if City had defended competently.

Nevertheless, Celtic put everything in & it created a great contest.