Battle of Britain my erse!

What will start now is the ‘The Death Knell for Scottish football’ malarky, the sensationalism that invariably follows any season where we underperform in Europe. Yes, Rangers were knocked out by Kaunus in the qualifiers and yes, Celtic will be lucky to scrape through into the UEFA Cup but it’s a fickle game; Celtic could and should parachute into the UEFA Cup (if we can’t beat Aalborg then we don’t deserve to be there) where, it isn’t inconceivable that we go on to have a run and all of a sudden everything’s on the up again.

The first half I thought we did exceptionally well. In fact Van Der Sar was the keeper called into more pressing action. Strachan had his formation just about right. I have issues with the personnel though. Not with playing Caldwell as the holding midfielder; I thought that was a masterstroke. He needed to accommodate a bit of extra height as we had a team of hobbits. Caldwell had a great first half in that role, granted the second half passed him by, but it passed by every Celtic player. The volley he wellied from near enough 30 yards was a screamer and had Ronaldo or Rooney hit it the commentators would have been reaching for the KY.

Where I would have changed it would have been Nakamura and MacDonald. Scott MacDonald is a good striker. Not world class, as we’ve been spoiled with in the past, but a fair enough striker with an eye for goal. This only applies as part of a little and large set up though, and there is no way he can ever play the lone striker role. To ask him to perform it against the best team in Europe is ridiculous and this is where Strachan should have shuffled the pack. *BLASPHEMY WARNING* Maybe Strachan could have looked at how Rangers were set up last season. If you’re going to set your stall out to defend, why do it in half measures? Rangers last season were dire to watch, yet had some outstanding results in Europe home and away. This was down to the 4-6 system he adopted. This isn’t having a go at Rangers as it worked a treat. 3 nothing against Lyon in France! Eff me, there’s no way Celtic could ever dream of that.

They played with no strikers, full stop. And that was a squad full of players who could hold the ball up front. They had a striker on the park in each game, granted, to make the wee patronising fake pitch they use at the start, for the hard of thinking with the numbers all laid out for you, look nice (even worse on Sky when they start pushing them about to show you where they’ll run). But it was a 6 man midfield which sat about 10 yards in front of the defence. As well as that, not to oversimplify it, the majority of the time Walter seemed to look at his squad and pick them on their height. He would then surrender the flanks, trusting that anyone who found the byeline found it impossible to pick out a player in the box, as he’d be crossing into a sea of brick shit-houses. The midfield would literally break forward as and when it was possible. Again, this isn’t a criticism of Rangers, merely observing that if you set your stall out to defend, which our formation suggested, then do it. Leave your creative Japanese midfielder, who can’t tackle and is a real luxury away from home on the bench. Play your Scottish international, who’s position is defensive midfielder instead. Don’t play your tubby, munchkin centre forward who can’t hold the ball up and will be eaten alive by one of Europe’s top defences. Play Shaun Maloney, who’s strength’s are taking players on and keeping possession of the ball and have him break from midfield. I’m not talking about at Parkhead because I think that no matter the opposition, Celtic have to at least attempt to dictate play at home.

The most galling thing about the game though, is definitely the gifting of two offside goals to the Manks. Taking on the best team in Europe, at their midden with a pretty stretched squad, you’re going to need a bit of luck. We competed really well in the first half but you’ve got to rely on the officials getting the decisions right. Or if you’re going to balls it up, at least do it in the favour of the poor wee underdogs, who’re getting pumped. So one offside goal followed by another. Game plan out the window. The third goal was annoying though and Loovens should definitely have done better - if that hadn’t went in we could have clung to the two offsides. Shut it! I know Rooney scored one that was onside, I’m trying to draw some positives here.

Another niggle which is building with me is the form of the Roly Poly Goalie. Another bad mistake, which cost us dear as it was the all important second goal. Before this season began, lots of European teams were supposedly in the hunt for Boruc and 15 million was quoted. I think maybe it’s all got a bit much for the greasy Pole. Don’t get me wrong, he’s my chuffin hero and would be my captain. I think your captain should be a big personality and a leader, which Artur is. No disrespect to McManus who is a thoroughly decent guy and a great ambassador but he is the safe choice, which isn’t always the most interesting. But I just wish he had a bit more of a hard streak in him and put his size elevens in a bit more. The Holy Roly Toly Axel Foley Goalie needs to get his head back in the game and stop fannying about. Although, I must admit to enjoying him acting like a big wean against the bad lads. Seemingly he’s getting a walk on part in Coronation Street, which is just the Manchester arm of the Celtic supporters club seemingly. Who in their right mind phones up a TV station to complain about a character in a frigging soap being a Celtic supporter? Get a grip!

Anyway. What was I talking about? Oh aye. Pumped in Manchester. Even the UEFA Cup is looking less likely. How the hell did Aalborg score 3 in Villareall? I fear the worst.

I was actually a bit disheartened to hear John Reid talking about how Celtic will never be bought over by a foreign investor. Hear! Hear! I’d absolutely hate to be in Man City’s position. You can stuff your limitless amounts of cash Sheik Ma Boaby! How hellish would it be to be able to afford the likes of Robinho and actually compete against Man U? If John Reid is saying that it wouldn’t be in the interests of the club then bollocks. It would be the only way we could move forward. He is talking about the long term, but long term Celtic will always be a massive club and even if a big investor is short-lived, it’s not as if when he pulled out we’d go to the wall. If a sugar-daddy bought Celtic with limitless amounts of cash and we started bringing in some really great players, with the worldwide audience Celtic have, it would be a very short time before we were in the Premiership. The English Premiership do whatever Sky tell them to and if we were big news financially they would insist. If that were to happen then I think that within a few years, both Celtic and Rangers (it’s a package deal) would be able to compete at the highest level and not go to places like Old Trafford as fodder.