23 Nov 2017 15:53:19
There is a saying in life "you get what u pay for", nothing could be more true regarding the CL.
It has now gone to different levels for me, Bayern, PSG. Barca, Real are on different planets to ALL other teams including Man City Juve Man Utd etc and they are spending 100s of millions.
Then there is the next level which would include the above with maybe a Monaco Chelsea, Spurs, Dortmund, Napoli etc.
Then there is teams who we are expected to compete against like Zenit, Benfica, Donetsk, Seville, Milan I could go on, but even these teams are spending 80-100m.
How do we compete against that.
I not moaning guys just putting out the reality of the situation. For me at the minute getting in the CL is a trophy for us cos we have literally no chance of qualifying unless we get real lucky.
Nobody likes getting gubbed but does it benefit us? that's a big YES from me cos not being there is much much worse believe me.
So I would ask stop dissecting our defeats to the likes of PSG etc and concentrate on what we CAN do.
23 Nov 2017 16:59:41
First of all Man City are better than Real and Bayern (who are really poor at the moment) and are possibly the best team in the world at the moment.
Secondly a Martin O'Neill, Gordon Strachan or Neil Lennon would not be embarrassed like that in Europe. I don't think Celtic should be beating teams like this but they shouldn't be shipping 12 goals in to games. Look at PSG's results in the league against Montpellier or Dijon who they've beaten 2-1 and 2-0.
One win in 11 CL group games isn't good enough for Celtic and is worse than O'Neill, Strachan and Lennon.
23 Nov 2017 17:02:42
I agree rayman and the financial reward helps us a lot along with a good chance of 3rd place. its just reality.
23 Nov 2017 17:47:40
Should be renamed 'who's the richest' league because three of the teams mentioned there Barcelona Manchester City and PSG aren't even champions but are all loaded. To get remotely near these teams we need luck on our side because for all I thought SIMUNOVIC and Boyata were horrendous last night . who are we going to buy or afford that would have stopped that? Said before domestic dominance is our bread and butter. How much longer can we continue to ship goals galore before becoming a laughing stock in europe.
23 Nov 2017 17:52:52
C bear I know you've probably lost track of modern day CL football, but i can tell you the financial gulf now compared to O'Neils Strachans or Lennons day is huge. We could compete better then because we weren't being outspent so hugely back then. PSG had a player on the bench last night that cost roughly twice what the whole Celtic starting 11 cost to assemble. I noticed you hand picked 2 of PSG's worst results of the season ( which they still won) rather than the multiple hidings they've handed out.
23 Nov 2017 18:01:43
Who did they have on the bench worth 100 million? Financial gulf is no different than Dijon v PSG. I think the players values have now become vastly inflated recently but in not sure the gulf is that different between lennons side and Rodgers team.
23 Nov 2017 18:19:52
They didn't have anyone on the bench worth 100 million but they had Di Maria who cost 46 million and the Celtic team last night cost roughly 20 million.
23 Nov 2017 19:27:02
Great Post Rayman99,
While I’m extremely disappointed by the result last night, our target was to qualify for the Europa League/ Cup. We are on course to do that providing we don’t balls it up.
I’m not one who likes to criticise any Celtic Player as I always try to back the Team. But there’s a first time for everything. Hopefully the performance last night shows Brendan must strengthen the Defence. At the moment Boyata and Jozo are good for the Scottish League but the CL is a completely different matter.
This is where the problem lies, we could go out and buy 2 new CB in Jan for say £5m each. We might improve but can we honestly say this will make the difference in the CL?
Getting to the Group Stages is a major achievement but I feel the Europa is our level at the moment.
We just need to hope we’ll learn from this and try to make our Defence a more solid unit, which will take time.
Oh well, looking forward to Sunday. I’m going as my daughter gave me a hard time and basically said we’re going to Hampdump.
We have dreams and songs to sing! ðŸ€ðŸ€.
23 Nov 2017 23:20:33
The above posts made me think of the serenity prayer - "Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change and the wisdom to know the difference" I think its fair to say that in the present world Celtic are not going to compete with the PSG's of this world because of the money that have available to them. Of course anything can happen and we will occasionally get a result just a Progres did against the best team in the universe but realistically I think we have to accept that PSG are on a different planet so what do we need the courage to change and perhaps that means that on occasion we need to play with "catenaccio" style of Giovanni Trapatoni's teams. I will however not presume to have the wisdom to know the difference so I will leave that up to Brendan. Anyway a cup on Sunday should help to ease the pain. COYBIG.
24 Nov 2017 09:36:57
C-bear85 I guess you forgot Barcelona skelped Lennons side 6-1 and strachan lost 5-0 to a team of nobody's in his first season.
24 Nov 2017 09:54:42
So are we saying that because two £5m defenders that won't make a difference in the CL? Of course it would. What's the alternative? We just say what's the point?
Improving us defensively is vital. If we improve defensively for the CL we increase the likelihood of domestic domination and access to the money.
Four of the goals were defensive balls ups. We need to address this and a keeper is also a must.
Putting us in a position to win 3rd place every year and post Christmas participation, should be our goal and in order for that to be remotely possible means the defence needs gutted.
I thought we threatened them well at times. But when your defence gifts four goals it's too much to overcome. Changes needed to be made in the summer. That it was'nt worries me. This result will be looked back on as a pivotal moment like the semi defeat to Rangers. Everybody knows what needs to be done. There is no hiding place now, sufs in the street know it and I believe Rogers will sort it.
24 Nov 2017 13:10:52
Magicpole I didn't say spending won't make a difference. You would hope it does but there's no guarantee.
Just look at the money Everton have spend and where are they?
I hope that with good coaching and with our World wide Scouting system we'll pick up a couple of CB gems at a affordable price.
25 Nov 2017 08:05:25
Who was the manager when Barcelona beat us 6-0, a few years ago?