Danish disaster!

By Buff on Dec 4, 08 01:13 PM in

How the chuff did we manage to lose to those Danish no-necks? Bad enough that we couldn’t beat them at Parkhead but for them to actually beat us. Nightmare!

I was away for the aftermath and just got back to enjoy going seven points clear. Is it a co-incidence or has Rangers slide just so happened as captain fantastic returns from injury? Maybe that’s a bit unfair as it has as much to do with Kevin Thomson being out. The excuses are that he is still trying to achieve match fitness; isn’t that what the reserve set-up is for? Or is superstar Baz too good for that?

Anyway, there will be plenty of time for gloating later, back to Denmark. After the game Gary Caldwell was interviewed and was really critical of the team’s performance. Then it cut to John Hartson (who is looking more like Clint Eastwood’s orangutan Clyde, everytime I see him) who said that he totally disagreed with Caldwell. Celtic had dominated in defence, midfield and upfront. I thought that was spot on. We pumped Aalborg and the game should have been buried at half time. The misses from Samaras and Nakamura were criminal and the two goals conceded were as much down to real bad luck as bad play.

Misses aside, it was hard to be critical of anyone. If Samaras hadn’t been injured playing for Greece we would have walked that. He’s half the player since coming back and he’s looking like the lazy player who we had for the majority of last season. Pity, because before the injury he was on fire. Don’t know whether he’s one of these players that thrives on confidence or whatever but there are games when he looks like he needs a boot in the moussaka’s. Furthermore I think that we could have won the game against Man U at Parkhead if he’d been fit. That game was crying out for a striker to give us an out in the last 20 minutes and we had none. None that were fit anyway, Scott MacDonald had ran his arse off, which is no mean feat when you’ve an arse as wide as his. Him and Boruc are needing to go on I’m a Celebrity or something; the two of them must have had there close season in Pizza Hut.

Nakamura’s miss was a heartbreaker. If there was a guy you’d want in that position it would be him. He’s a cut above anything else in Scotland and I’m glad he’s staying till the end of the season. Yes he drifts in and out of games and yes he sometimes struggles to cope with the physical aspect of the SPL, but he has that something different about his game, which no-one else in Scotland has. His touch and vision are a joy and he’ll be missed when he eventually goes.

I could have gret when that second goal went in. Even if we’d drawn we would have been more likely to go into the UEFA Cup, which I quite fancied a run at. The most galling thing about the way it all happened was that they were utter, utter bollocks in every department. And have the cheek to say after it that Celtic fell into their trap. So, absolutely hammered at home, go a goal down, have 1 effort on target, give away a hatful of gilt-edged chances and then pinch it with a deflected 30 yarder from as bad a player as has ever been in the Champions League (quite ironic that his name was Kaka - I used to go to school with a Kenny Dalglish, poor get was as bad a footballer as you’ll ever meet. Parents must have had a right sense of humour) and a freakish OG at the only time they’d got anywhere near us the whole game. That was all part of the masterplan? Well done Johan Mourino, you are the special one.

A lot has been made about the luck Celtic are carrying this season and the favourable refereeing decisions we’re getting. I can’t argue there; Boruc should have walked against St. Mirren, it was never a penalty against Accies and Rangers scored 2 perfectly good goals against Aberdeen and Motherwell which lost them 4 points. Strangely though, that luck has only applied to the SPL; we’ve been really unlucky in the Champion’s League:

We really should have horsed Aalbollocks at home on the opening game; missing a penalty and a string of chances, not really bad luck, bad finishing. Also our midfield was too square that night with Robson and Brown wanting to run with ball, which was never going to get through such a packed defence.

We were unlucky not to hold out for the 90 minutes against Villareal in Spain after containing them really well for the majority of the game, only to be beaten by a really good free kick from a special player (though the roly poly likes his holey goalie should have done better).

We were humped, eventually at Old Trafford but we played really well there and contained them easily until they were given an offside goal. Then another, after which we lost our shape and were pretty humiliated by the end. I’d say that any team going with a game plan of containing Man U in Europe, as we did would be applauded for how we handled them. There’s not a team in the world who could possibly come away from Old Trafford with anything when officials gift them two goals.

The return leg we were excellent and made Man U look very ordinary. With all our big strikers injured though, it was always going to be mission impossible. With 10 minutes to go, it really looked on; they’d had very little chances and Ronaldo was really lucky to stay on the pitch for a boot a Scott Brown. Another blunder from our greasy Pole and Ryan Giggs scored with an effin header at the death. I think it was a blunder; yes Ronaldo (should have been off) hits a ball with allsorts of ungodly movement but Boruc had his whole 18 stone behind it and should be able to turn it around rather than right into traffic.

Then onto the midden on Denmark. One player I think needs a mention on that night is Cillian Sheridan. He’s been a bit of a find during this bad period of injury, but for the love of the sweet Lord he can look like a total boaby! His touch in Denmark was worse than any professional player I’ve ever seen and I had a season ticket during the Regi Blinker time. Whenever the ball went near him it bounced 20 yards off his shin. He is just a boy, he’s looked really good in certain games and weighed in with some good goals; the one against Kilmarnock when he flicked it onto MacDonald, received the return to slide home a great finish was one that Sutton or Hartson would have been proud of (Hesselink would still be in shock at winning the header). But there are just some games when he looks like a wee boy in the park.

Always devastating to crash out of Europe but I think we’re looking good at the minute. We weren’t very impressive at the weekend but that was always going to be a hard one. We’ve a few players who’ve really hit form recently; Gary Caldwell has been outstanding for months, Brown and Hinkel are also flying. I think Brown needs constant cajouling to keep his game up, maybe Neil Lennon adopt him. They could go out at night down the West End, that would be a quiet night. I’ve not been impressed by Hinkel from day one but he’s really coming onto a game; the wee one-two shimmy he had against Caley was unreal for a full back. So another European season over. I suppose it’s better to have loved and lost. We can keep ourselves warm with the 10 million quid we’ve banked. We could buy ourselves 3 Kyle Lafferty’s with that. And we’ve still got that 7 points to make us feel all smug. If we’re still that clear by the end of December I think it’s all over. So let’s hope the month ends quick. Eff all to do with the fitbaw, Christmas shopping gets right on ma tits!