Let’s get something out of the way before we start talking about the game.
There were over a dozen scouts in the stands tonight watching Celtic players; the media will not tire of telling us that. They can talk it out as much as they want. Chris Sutton asked during the match what the release clause in Kieran Tierney’s new contract was; what a ridiculous, utterly stupid, question that is. Scotland doesn’t have mandatory release clauses and no player who has just signed a six year contract with his boyhood club asks for one to be inserted.
Scouts can come and watch whoever they want; it takes two parties to get a deal across the line, and Celtic will not sell Kieran for all the money in the world. If I were Peter Lawwell I’d be offering Moussa a five year deal as well, and tying him to the club for at least another season. If Armstrong thinks he can better-deal Celtic he can try, but Celtic should offer him one last chance to commit his future to the club long-term as well.
The media will stir the pot and try to make out that this team is on the verge of being flogged off in parcels to the highest bidder … but we are in a place right now where there’s no need to do it and even a blind man can see where this is headed; we’re right on the verge of something very, very, very special here, something that will transcend Scotland.
Tonight we were excellent. We’ve lost the game, but to a world class A List team, by a single goal.
And both their goals were absolutely preventable; that will frustrate Brendan and the players themselves, but it’s all coming together and you can see it.
Paul Lambert, in the run-up to this game, talked the worst sort of garbage when he said Celtic needs to show progress instead of continuing to “learn”; in case he missed it there has been much progress already. And only a mug stops learning in football.
Everything Celtic has been learning was put into practice tonight, and it showed. There are more lessons to take from that one, such as our goalkeeper not acting like a clown and charging out of his box like he did for the first. A powerful central defender would not have been beaten to the second.
Those are not scattershot criticisms; I thought Nir was otherwise excellent tonight. As I keep on saying, Brendan’s decision to play him at the back is not just a consequence of our defensive woes, it is a tactical move, one that more and more top European clubs are adopting. His range of passing was brilliant this evening; in other games that will be devastating. If we play the same system against Anderlecht in the last game it could be a Hell of a night.
Every player in the team hit form. It was one of the best home performances we’ve seen from the club in a while. Yes, it’s a defeat but that was a European level display. We have got this now; the PSG game seems an age ago and I still think the defeat at the hands of Monchengladbach remains the lowest point in our European endeavours these last few years because that was a game, at home, that we should have gotten something in.
Not one player failed us this evening.
It was as mature a display as I’ve seen from our club at this level, against this calibre of opposition. Did you see the passing stats? At one stage, with about twenty minutes to go, we had a pass completion rate of more than 80% … it was only slightly under theirs.
We play a European style now.
This wasn’t Neil’s back to the wall defensive masterclass when we hoodwinked Barcelona … as much as we all loved this, this was us going toe to toe with one of the biggest clubs in the world, and giving them the fright of their lives. This wasn’t defensive at all … it was an attacking game, the Celtic way.
And we will get better at this the longer we do it.
The Europa League ought to hold not fears at all for us right now, and although the PSG game is one that I honestly want over and done with, a game to be endured and survived because they are a genuinely terrifying side, I think, the Anderlecht game at home is going to be one of those special Celtic Park nights, and beyond that who knows?
We will not face any team in the Europa League remotely as good as either PSG or Bayern, with the German club already bang on to win the Bundesliga, as reflected in the odds at www.online-sportwette.net.
If we can go toe-to-toe with a club like this, on our own turf, we can do well in that environment.
Some players deserve individual credit tonight; Kieran was magnificent.
Keep dreaming, English clubs. This kid will be a Celtic legend.
The words Not For Sale seem inadequate.
James Forrest was absolutely brilliant. Callum continues to grow in stature … his goal was a thing of beauty.
Stuart Armstrong had one of his finest games since Brendan took over, and that is so long awaited. Tonight he showed he belongs on this stage. If he screws his head on and commits his future to us he can have many, many, many more nights like this one in his career.
That was a great display tonight. It was the night this team came of age on the biggest stage of all. A few signings to augment the defence, perhaps one more upfront and yes, we’ll be on the brink of something very big indeed.