Manager Neil Lennon glossed over the defeat in Amsterdam last night by stating the obvious;<\/p>\n
\u201cSome players will have regrets about the game tonight because they were nowhere near their best. At this level you can\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe have to regroup, which we will.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a great deal in the game but our quality was missing at times and I need more from some players. But we will look to Celtic Park now and try to turn things around again. We have to improve our away form.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played well in Milan but didn\u2019t play well in the first half tonight. It\u2019s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barcelona have now qualified after beating Milan 3-1 in the Camp Nou, but will still want to win the group, so they should be expected to take something from their visit to Amsterdam next time out.<\/p>\n
Celtic have to beat Milan at Celtic Park to retain an interest in European before Christmas, never mind afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it very difficult. However, the whole thing could flip around again if we beat Milan and Barcelona come here and take something off Ajax.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we have to beat Milan now. It\u2019s imperative we do that to have any chance of qualification.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we will have to play better, particularly on the evidence of the first half tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lennon didn’t go on to say it was his own fault for picking the wrong team, playing the wrong tactics and doing nothing to change it when it was apparent it wasn’t working.<\/p>\n
But thats okay, thousands of Celtic fans are saying it for him today.<\/p>\n
Its all right to say that we should support our team through thick and thin, but they could at least match our effort, and perhaps even meet us halfway.<\/p>\n
Kris Commons, getting his practice in talking to the press for when he has to do it as part of his job-come on, he’ll be the next manager when Lennon goes, as he’ll be cheap- was refreshingly honest;<\/p>\n
“I think that’s one of the first games where we really did lack belief going forward.<\/p>\n
“The first half was probably one of the worst we have seen, attacking-wise.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes you can half accept it if it’s in the SPFL the week after one of these Champions League nights.<\/p>\n
“But, for the lads who felt fresh and played Ajax two weeks ago and beat them, we lacked confidence going forward.<\/p>\n
“There are not many times we have come to one of these occasions and not performed at a proper level.<\/p>\n
“Coming in 0-0 at half-time flattered us, really, because we didn’t pass the ball well, we didn’t look inventive.<\/p>\n
“We had no imagination going forward, and we were losing the ball too easily.<\/p>\n
“We looked a little bit out out of our depth.<\/p>\n
“But, second half, when they did score, we were looking more on top.”<\/p>\n
“That’s the last thing you need, because it is very difficult to score not only at home, but certainly away from home.<\/p>\n
“We came out with the bit between our teeth after the break, and, if other things had gone our way in the final third then we could have come away with something.”<\/p>\n
On the rest of the campaign, he added;<\/p>\n
“Barcelona will take a lot of beating, so there was no surprise Milan didn’t take anything from that game,”<\/p>\n
“The Nou Camp is a very difficult place to go.<\/p>\n
“But for now we have got it all to do at home against AC Milan, and we’re looking to win.”<\/p>\n
Commons seems to have had a reality check, and is hoping that his team mates wake up as well.<\/p>\n
“A lot of people went to Holland hoping we were going to beat Ajax. But, that’s not like going to Hearts or Hibs or Ross County away.<\/p>\n
“You are coming to one of the most elite clubs in Europe, and there was a bit of a reality check that, we beat them a couple of weeks ago, but you can’t just turn up and play.”<\/p>\n
In the post match interview on Sky, Virgil van Dijk said pretty much the same thing, and looked extremely pissed off.<\/p>\n
Well, that kind of result can actually inspire players to go out and put it right, and being ever optimistic, it could still all change.<\/p>\n
But the question remains, who is going to score the goals ?<\/p>\n
Put purely and simply, the class of forward required to do a job at this level, whether by scoring himself or creating room for others, simply isn’t there.<\/p>\n
But happily, we’ve got loads and loads of money in the bank, and Peter Lawwell says that next years season books will include a framed picture of the end of year \u00a0financial results which “would look great on the wall of any true Celtic fan. ”<\/p>\n
Sky Sports News is reporting the arrest of 39 fans, some Celtic, some Ajax, after trouble erupted on the square in Amsterdam yesterday. Dutch undercover police had been mingling with Tims when , according to a spokesman for the police;<\/p>\n
“At the end of the afternoon a large group of Celtic supporters attacked police officers in plain clothes,” a spokesman told Press Association Sport.<\/p>\n
Celtic fans, wearing plain clothes to disguise who they were, attacked the police ?<\/p>\n
“Eight were injured and one was knocked unconscious.<\/p>\n
“A few of them had broken noses and needed stitches above their eyebrows and on their lips.<\/p>\n
“Bottles and sticks were used in the attack which came out of nowhere.<\/p>\n
“There were 15 arrests, mostly Celtic supporters.”<\/p>\n
Later on, all hell broke loose as the police moved in to even the score, because although the statement is a bit vague, it was the police who got hurt, so they called their pals at the Rodney King police training college, and it all got propa nawty.<\/p>\n
I wasn’t there, a few of our CSC were, and I’ll wait until they get back before commenting further, as trying to establish the facts here would be difficult, and its important to give a fair and honest account of what happened.<\/p>\n
There goes that job in the MSM again.<\/p>\n
If anyone was out there, contact us at the usual address and we’ll try to tie them all up into an honest and fair report from the supporters point of view. And any coppers who want to put their views forward can add their peice as well, , but frankly, they will get theirs treated with a pinch of salt. I’ve never come across one who tells the truth, and I can’t imagine the Dutch are any different.<\/p>\n
Working title is ” All Coppers are Bastards. ”<\/p>\n
Most notably, if the person who took this photo, allegedly of bullet holes in glass, could get in touch, I’d like to hear their story.<\/p>\n
” \u00a0holes from the bullets getting shot at my family and other celtic fans.. Ajax fans are disgusting man “
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