I still haven’t told the wife I’m going to the game tonight. I’m waiting for the right moment. Which will probably be tomorrow morning when I get back.
Celtic have a must win game against Milan tonight in the Champions League. Milan are in crisis, they haven’t won for weeks-in fact since they played us, and there fans are in uproar. Thats all we need after the last champions League game.
The support waited outside for the team after the weekend game , to give them a kicking, I presume, and at least if they wait around tonight it will help us all get away a bit quicker. Maybe they could do a protest in the ground after the game, if they get beat.
Memo to Celtic. Spotlights around the stadium near the old bus park.
Figured I should mention that in case I forget. Exiting plans will need to be clearer than last Saturday. Perhaps we should get the Dutch police to help.
Neil Lennon seems like he’s up for it, but has a note of caution;
“I CAN’T worry too much about Milan’s problems. We’ve had them in the past ourselves and it’s not a nice place to be.”
“They have a calibre of player and they like these nights. They like the Champions League and they have the pedigree. They have a backroom staff with four or five Champions League medals. So the whole structure of the club is geared towards the Champions League.
“It might not be a vintage Milan team but it’s still an excellent side.
“People question Balotelli’s temperament on a night like this but I think he’ll enjoy it. I’ve seen him play at Old Trafford and City won 6-1. He scored two and played brilliantly.
“He played brilliantly the other night as well despite all the negative headlines coming out of the game.
“I know he missed a penalty but his play in general was really good. He’s so strong and his first touch was good.
“He had 13 attempts on goal and didn’t score but he was making chances for himself or getting on the end of things. He looked a top, top player.
“Yes, sometimes you see the head and the body language but sometimes he puts that on as a show.
There have been times when he has blown up in matches and I hope that Balotelli turns up tomorrow rather than the other one. But you never know. He is a bit unique. You forget how young he is and he probably won’t mature for another two or three years.”
Frankly, I’m more concerned about which of our players will turn up. Lennon answered that for me;
“Some of them owe it to themselves to make up for the Ajax game because they’ve been so good.
“They have played well above the expectation level thrown at them in the last couple of years.
“Sometimes you take it for granted and expect the team to play like that every game. But the first half in Amsterdam brought a realism again to where we really are.
“We need to find that high level we have been showing in previous games.
“We showed what we can do against Milan at the San Siro. Unquestionably that was one of our best away displays. One of the best I have been involved in either as a player or a manager.
“But we ended up losing the game. So while we can take a lot of things from it we still didn’t get the result we were looking for.
“If we can get the same type of performance and a result this time then I will be thrilled. But it’s all about winning tomorrow night.”
The crowd will call for a gung ho approach. High intensity both on and off the pitch should put the fear of death into an already fragile Milan side. Midfielder Kaka explained the mindset of the Italian side;
“It’s a bit tense but tension is not bad sometimes. It can motivate you.
“We are always under pressure at Milan.
“After seven matches without a win, that pressure of course gets more and more.
“Our big problem at the moment is we just can’t get a victory.”
Get intae them. As the saying goes.
Celtic will have pretty much a full squad to pick from, and hopefully we will start the game at one hundred miles an hour and pick up speed as we go along.
First player to do a sidieways pass tonight instead of a shot on goal gets a piece of doggy do in his letterbox.
Keep the tempo up, keep the atmosphere frenzied, and get the win that pushes us towards the last sixteen.
For all that talk, the odds are against a lot of goals. Celtic have only scored once from open play thus far in the tournament, and Milan have only scored twice in their last four games. Which is exactly how many Celtic have conceded at home in the five games in Europe this season. Is any of this relevant.
Well, thats what the bookies take into consideration when fixing odds. They are usually right.
Milan are favourites-just-to win tonight, but what statistics cannot factor in is the crowd. Granted, it won’t be a supporter who scores tonight, but the passion in the stands can be the wild card tonight-if its matched on the pitch.
C’mon the hoops.
Have to keep it short today, things to do before I set off. Like avoid the wife.
Incidentally, did you see that survey that says British couples are having less sex ? My wife has cut me down to just a couple of times a week, but i suppose I’m lucky. I know a couple of guys she’s cut out altogether.
It’ll serve me right.
We’ve had a lot of emails concerning the goings on at Sevco, and I’ll put all them together later this week. Thanks to those who sent them. Today, though, is about us, and the game tonight.
C’mon the Hoops.
That was Dixie Deans in the picture yesterday, or , as he was known in match reports when he played against Hibs-
Deans (3) -we could do with a Dixie tonight.
Today, who is this guy, and what happened after he scored against tonights opponents a few years ago ?
Their keeper Dida threw himself to the ground when a ned gave him a cheeky pat after Scott MacDonalds goal
After losing a goal which was clearly offside, the Milan keeper was attacked by a mass of Celtic supporters who had invaded the pitch and was savagely beaten with sticks and bottles resulting in his being in a coma and on a life support machine.
Well that was the gist of the Scoddish media reporting of the incident.
After he scored he was banned for life from attending Berlusconi’s Bunga Bunga parties
he’s promoting Europe’s premier competition on his jersey!
Skippy…..The man with the Arse that grew wider with each season…….still would have Skippy than Pukki though.
There was a hurricane blowing through Glasgow that night which caused Dida to fall to the ground after Skippy’s goal clutching his ugly coupon and unable to get up without the assistance of medics. It’s that bastard Scottish weather, it will do you a whole lot of damage including physical injury.
If we play like we did in Milan only with a bit more composure in front of goal then we will be absolutely fine. That being the case I go for 2-0 Celtic with goals from Derk and Commons.
NB, I’m sure James Forrest will hold his own tonight!
I never feel optimistic about these games, if only for the fact that we usually get the hardest group in the group stages and against some of the best teams in Europe, and referees who look like theyv’e been picked from the Huns with a whistle Referees Association, Europe branch. Sometimes think I’ll never see the day that we get an easy section in the group stages, and I’m 70.
Lets hope Samaras turns up tonight, his performance in Amsterdam was an absolute disgrace, if he wasn’t fit Lennon should have never have picked him, his performances in the last couple of games in SFPL(albeit Iv’e only seen it on tv) have been lacklustre to say the least
Don’t get me wrong,don’t want to seem as if I’m bealing, I want a win as much as anyone else, if only to ask the local huns in this part of Yorkshire that I reside, ” When was the last time you beat AC Milan or Barcelona etc” plus a few more millions to tell the huns what we have gained through being in Europe after Christmas
So against my kinda defeatist attitude hoping we get a win, if we don’t and had we a cat as a pet ,it would go flying through the door, just by the look on my boatrace.
Please, please, Neil, if it ain’t going too well, please please make substitutions before the last four minutes. Hail!! Hail!! GBNL.
…dunno if we really want a Dixie tonight. After all his penalty record against the Milan teams wizny that hoat !!!
I thought the sponsor on Skippy’s jersey were Sevco’s new owners! But then I thought no, they only accept valuables!
Garbage – sums it up
We appear to have serious problems defending set pieces, the only way we seem to win the ball is whenn it’s played straight to us. This has been a problem for a while now, against karagandy it was taking the piss, we got a wee bit better but now we are back to taking the piss. There goes the CL for another year at least the balance sheet looks good. HH
Two words to describe our CL show this year “Scott Brown” Lennon should not be defending his captain for his conduct on the field. Any responsible person knows the handicap he placed on the team with his sending off against Barca.
Can you imagine the late great Jock stein dealing with this sort of attitude.
HH