The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[Main Street]

It ended up a well beaten 2 nil, but not bowed.
I found it hard to credit that Brown was over at RM when Centre Midfield was being overrun and crying out for his presence there in the first half. When he was moved into the middle he ran out of steam (prob due to lack of matches) until he found a second wind but only after the game was lost.
He ended up expending the rest of his energy in a firefighting role.
McGeady I thought was the diamond in the rough, he kept possession amidst the Arsenal defensive jungle and his lay offs generally found their man.
Fortuné looks like he is getting worse with every game and is heading to write off territory. At least Samaras is getting better.
Bizarre for Mobray to be bringing on McCourt right out of the blue, hopefully just a temporary managerial aberration.

[tyroneman]

The money spent on Fortuné worries me a great deal.

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

We were beaten two nil, one off the back of an opposition player in our penalty area the other kicked in our own net by our centre back. Yes it was 90 mins of torture but we played well, defended well and had no luck. Oh yeah did I mention the ref giving the Arsenal ballet dancers plenty of free kicks for their swan dives and "look I've just been shot" dives.

Emirates will be a different story, we now have nothing to lose, just play.

Agree with you Tyroneman, fortune looks a bad buy! (needs a goal - maybe that'll do?).

Hail hail

[dillinger]

We were beaten two nil, one off the back of an opposition player in our penalty area the other kicked in our own net by our centre back. Yes it was 90 mins of torture but we played well, defended well and had no luck. Oh yeah did I mention the ref giving the Arsenal ballet dancers plenty of free kicks for their swan dives and "look I've just been shot" dives.

Emirates will be a different story, we now have nothing to lose, just play.

Agree with you Tyroneman, fortune looks a bad buy! (needs a goal - maybe that'll do?).

Hail hail

Watch the match, sadly Celtic where not in the game. Ah well, Europa League next

[lfdown2]

jaysus wild annoyed with that, while celtic didnt look like scoring neither did arsenal, they got the luck that celtic didnt like a stonewall penalty Bedner (sp) moved his arm towards the ball, cant believe its not being mentioned!!

[Clown]

hopefully when mowbray talks about selling players before he buys gary caldwell is the first man to go
i can think of 6 or 7 times in big european games when he has let us down badly, it can't always be down to bad luck. he just isn't good enough!

thought celtic were unlucky not to have a penalty early in the first half. the 2 arsenal goals were pretty lucky but overall the better team won and even if we had got a draw i dont think it would make much difference cos arsenal will progress next week
our strikers still worry me, mcgeady was our only outlet in an attacking sense last nite and kept the ball very well at times. the form of maloney, samaras and fortune is worrying - mcdonalds touch is terrible at times.
if a bid over 8 million came in for scot brown we'd be mad to turn it down also - he struggles to pass a simple 10 yard ball at times.

[T Fearon]

Warning signs.

Whatever you thought about Strachan there were some unforgettable nights at Parkhead under his reign...last night didn't compare.

Why is Mowbray persisting with Donati?

[Clown]

he's giving everyone a chance. Donati still isnt doing it for me and i wouldnt b surprised or disappointed if he was back in italy before the end of the month

who else do u think are the most likely to be sold before the deadline? the likes of samaras, caldwell and killen hav never and will never be good enough to play for celtic so id start with those 3!

[clarshack]

celtic were well in the game up until the gallas goal and were matching arsenal well. this goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of celtic as it would. disappointed with fortune, maloney and mcdonald in the 2nd half as i thought they could have done a lot better. overall getting beat 2-0 by arsenal is no disgrace as they will beat plenty of premier league teams this season by this or more. not only are they a top 4 premier league team they are also a top 6 champions league team. actually getting rid of toure and adebayor has helped them to play as more of a unit so far this season.

[lynchbhoy]

apart from th result it was a good game to watch - well in the first half anyhow, both teams were on an all out attack drive. Both teams had nothing in the final third of the field and I'd include the second half in that also, as for me Arsenal created nothing and Boruc didnt have to make any kind of save - neither did almunia.

Negatives - caldwell still annoys me as he cant tackle, has brutal positioning sense - the two things you need as a centre half. I'd love if someone bought him.
fox's first couple of crosses were ok but needs to improve. There seems to be a malaise in crossing the ball in top flight soccer as Celtic have been crap at it for years, and most epl sides I see are the same (dont even mention Ireland and woeful crossing).
Thought the ref was v poor and some of the free kicks he gave inc the one that lead to the deflected goal were questionable at least. Too much diving from some of the arsenal players.
Woeful givin the ball away by some Celtic players - the commentators picked on Donati, but whle he gave a good bit away, he defended well and they didnt seem to pick on others giving the ball away more like maloney or nguemo who had a good first half but was poor in the second.McGeady reverting to type and going it on his own too much played into Arsenals hands in the second half.

Positives
Loovens proved himself THE centre half at the club.Fox and hinkel good at defending and while caldwell is a bombscare, the defence kept out the highly vaunted Arsenal attack who are bang in form right now apart from the two 'lucky' goals. Boruc not being tested apart from those two would back this up I'd say. Some great passing in the first half and playing so quickly you will give the ball away more - so either side not to be dishearted , some great passing. Arsenal for longer periods were a joy to watch. Great work ethic as well as their accurate and fast passing.
Mowbray only at Celtic a few weeks and trying to create a winning side up against the continuity of a gunners team that has the continuity of last season playing together and under the guidance of the master Wenger - well its not an easy thing to do in beating them.
Mowbrays tactics were working in the first half. I'd hate to think what a strachan team going out last night would have conceded with his lack of tactical awareness !
Last nights game reminded me of the Celtic v blackburn match a few years ago. they passed th ball to death and were equally as toothless in the final third. Difference here is that Arsenal have two goals and its virtually impossible for Celtic to claw that back. Not impossible but very near it.
Shows how seriously bad strachans failure last season has cost Celtic ! Both these teams would do well in the CL group stages!

[nifan]

Dont think Arsenals second goal was lucky - was a good ball that Caldwell had to try to deal with, unfortunately for him it didnt end well.

McGeady impressed me last night, though got a bit greedy as the game wore on.

[lynchbhoy]

Dont think Arsenals second goal was lucky - was a good ball that Caldwell had to try to deal with, unfortunately for him it didnt end well.

McGeady impressed me last night, though got a bit greedy as the game wore on.

caldwells positioning for it was dreadful, most times a team would not expect to concede from that position, which is what I was thinking just prior to that (poor) cross coming in.

disagree about mcgeady (being in any way impressive- not that he didnt impress yourself) . Decent enough effort in first half but no end product. Maybe a case of trying too hard. Still developing and def improving year after year. Will expect more from him in future.
Still not fully there just yet. Consistency and taking right options will come with more exp.

[Main Street]

I'd agree with you Lynchboy totally on the back 4. Caldwell has the agility of a tractor
and Loovens is out for the return leg for an act of probable pure frustration.

But McGeady did very well in the second half, he did not lose the ball and found a player in some space time and time again, can't be faulted for the rest not keeping up with him.
Maloney for instance doesn't have 1/4 of McGeadys football brain.

[DennistheMenace]

Arsenal dominated the game and were a class apart from Celtic whose tactics amounted to being physical and closing down the space but Arsenal have played and dealt with that type of game plan many times before. Worthy winners in the end.

[Eastern_Pride]

Arsenal dominated the game and were a class apart from Celtic whose tactics amounted to being physical and closing down the space but Arsenal have played and dealt with that type of game plan many times before. Worthy winners in the end.

Arsenal won because Celtic were shite. Full stop.