Samaras went to ground from behind when the player was standing just in front of him and shielding the ball. It was inherently dangerous notably as Samaras had to extend his legs through the Inter player in order to tackle due to the lack of space. This is what piss poor officiating leads to. If players know they will not punished and the referee will let things go then they will look to push the boundaries notably when it is against a player doing precisely that against them (see Brown). It snowballed from the referee first taking a hands off approach when Celtic were doing all of the fouling early on to suddenly taking a hands on approach when Inter had enough and chose to respond. He has never been in control of the match and never been consistent.
Right. I think I've got it now. Everything bad that has happened in the match is all the fault of Celtic FC. Why didn't you just say that in the first place... Thank you for your completely unbiased viewpoint on the match. And for your consideration to opinions that don't match your heightened levels of unbiasedness. Much appreciated.
Are you trying to deny the approach Celtic and the referee took in the opening 10 minutes? The referee could have put a stop to it immediately and we would have had a game. He did not and the game suffered. The second half was effectively a non-event.
Celtic were getting in and about Internazionale. There is no law against that whether it's a friendly or not. There were no challenges with intent to hurt another player. But all I've heard from you is Celtic's fault, Celtic's fault ad nauseum. Hell, you even blamed Brown for Motta being sent off. Says it all really.
There is a big difference between playing a pressing game and simply fouling your way through the start of the match. The referee allowed it but then randomly took issue when Inter chose to play exactly the same game. How can you possibly deny this? Even the most blinkered Celtic fan must acknowledge the fouls committed at the start of the game that produced no cards and the erratic (at best) performance of the referee. Likewise had Brown not been clever and reacted (which equally merited a card) to a nothing challenge in the context of the game then Motta would not have been sent off and the second half would have had a point. I fail to understand how pointing out these facts someone makes me anti-Celtic. As I jokingly said above the victim mentality that has developed in Celtic fans is baffling to say the least. You guys can whine all you wish but when you try to deny reality...
Celtic team for today against Airtricity 11 is - CELTIC (4-4-2): Cervi; Matthews, Majstorovic, O’Dea, F Twardzik; Stokes, Wanyama, Towell, McCourt; Hooper, Murphy Subs: Zaluska, Loovens, Cha, Maloney, Commons Gee, I sure hope Teso turns up today to provide some more of his fantastic insight and scintillating play-by-play commentary...
Touche. I thought all the roughneck football would have offended your more feminine sensibilities. The players must have been waiting for you to leave before turning it on...
Darren O'Dea has signed a season long loan deal with Leeds Utd. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2022315/Celtics-Darren-ODea-joins-Leeds-loan.html Celtic boss Neil Lennon has welcomed Darren O'Dea's decision to sign a season-long loan deal with Championship side Leeds. Also, Glenn Loovens has a hamstring injury which came about during the 2-0 friendly defeat at Swansea. It will probably keep him out of action for the next 3-4 weeks. Shame...
Europa League Play Off Round Sion - Celtic Matches to be played on the 18th and 25th August Sion finished 4th in the Swiss Superleague last season. Almost 20pts behind Zurich and Basel. They've been busy in the summer so far bringing in no less than 9 new players including a familiar face in ex-Hearts defender Jose Goncalves and ex-Barcelona midfielder Gabri. As we are painfully aware from last season, no team is easy in Europe nowadays but this is a tie that we are more than capable of winning.
May be you lot are aware of this but just read that young Celtic kid Islam feruz will sign for Chelsea. Big loss for your lot & can't help but think that it's a bit of disrespect to Tommy Burns, after what he did for Feruz & his family.
Not the best news but not entirely unexpected. I'd heard he was high on Manchester Utd and I think a lot of Celtic supporters were always worried that this was going to happen. Turns out we were right to be paranoid... for a change.
Scottish Premier League Pittodrie, Aberdeen Sunday, August 7, 2011 ABERDEEN…0 CELTIC…1 (Stokes 74) CELTIC (4-4-2) Zaluska; Matthews, Majstorovic, K. Wilson, Izaguirre (Mulgrew 16); Commons, Kayal, Ki, Ledley (Forrest 63); Hooper, Stokes (Samaras 82) Not Used: Cervi, Samaras, Maloney, Wanyama, McCourt ABERDEEN (4-4-2) Gonzalez; McArdle, Considine, Arnason, Foster; Pawlett ( Paton 72), Milsom, Osbourne, Magennis (Megginson 82); Mackie (Low 87) Vernon Not Used: J. Brown, Robertson, Shaughnessy, J. Brown Attendance: 12, 947 This was by no means a classic but we picked up another 3pts and kept another clean sheet from our opening 2 away matches. We started well enough and dominated the opening 20mins of play. It looked like only a matter of time before we opened the scoring. However, a terribly unfortunate fall for Izzy, which left him with a suspected broken ankle, knocked us off our stride and we never really recovered the early initiative we held as the first half wore on. Without Izzy and with Matthews looking reluctant at times to get forward we struggled for width in our play. Neil changed things by pulling Stokes out wide left and pushing Commons further forward on the right with Hooper playing alone through the middle. Ledley tucked in more to make a 3 man midfield and gave the team an overall 4-3-3 shape to it. This did provide more width but we still weren't creating a great deal and were being held to efforts from outside the box and it was clear to see we didn't have our eye in today. The second half continued in similar fashion until NL brought on Forrest for Ledley. It then baffled me to see Commons and Forrest stay on the left and right wings when our 2 fullbacks weren't getting forward quick enough to hit the space created when either wide player cut inside onto their naturally stronger foot. Aberdeen were getting joy down our right against Matthews and Majstorovic without creating anything clear cut themselves and the game looked like it might have been heading for a stalemate until Commons dispossesed Foster deep in Aberdeen territory. Stokes carried the ball to the edge of the box before playing it wide to Commons and continuing his run. Commons cut the ball back for Stokes and he side footed it past the Dons keeper for the only goal of the game. All in all, a useful 3pts although we were far short of our best. + points * Another goal for Stokes who is looking sharp * Wilson looked very solid again at the back today * Another clean sheet - points * Losing Izzy will be a real blow * Once again today the long ball over the top caught us, and in particular Majstorovic, flat footed and could land us in real trouble * Shooting was off the mark Next Official Match 13/08/2011 - Clydesdale Bank Premier League - Dundee Utd - 15:00 - H In between that we have the Celtic legends - Manchester Utd Legends charity match on Tuesday evening.
Terrible news ... Wish him all the best and a speedy recovery. Emilio Izaguirre's broken leg clouds Celtic victory at Aberdeen A hard-fought victory for Celtic was overshadowed by the likelihood of a long-term absence for Emilio Izaguirre. The Honduran full-back, Scotland's player of the year last season and rated at £10m amid admiring glances from England, suffered a broken right leg in the early stages at Pittodrie. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/07/aberdeen-celtic-scottish-premier-league
Chelsea are hardly renowned for either developing or bringing through youngsters and London is full of distractions. McEachran has been given a handful of games due to injuries but Chelsea have already signed another young midfielder in Oriol Romeu and are still sniffing around Modric. They also have Lucas Piazon joining in January. That says it all. From a Scotland perspective this is a very disappointing move. I had no idea but it is now set to record. Bad times.
Ugh, hoping for a speedy recovery Emilio is an important part of this team, and his play will be missed. Anyone hear how long he could possibly out? I know they are waiting to see about surgery, but I myself don't know enough to say how long it takes to recover from a fractured leg.
http://www.celticfc.net/newsstory?item=1378 EMILIO Izaguirre will be out of action for between four to six months after suffering a fracture to his right ankle.
http://www.givemefootball.com/pfa/p...tic-and-united-legends-will-turn-out-in-force Celtic Charity Fund, the charitable arm of Celtic Football Club, has announced that the Legends match between Celtic and Manchester United tomorrow (August 9) will raise funds for Oxfam's East Africa food crisis appeal. The drought in this area has already caused devastation and was officially declared a famine in two regions of Somalia by the United Nations on Wednesday 20th July 2011. Legends of both clubs and the entertainment world will be taking part in the match. Already confirmed are players such as Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton, Dwight Yorke, Gordon Strachan, Patrick Kielty, Richard Ashcroft, Ricky Hatton, Nigel Benn, Angus Deayton, Ricky Whittle and Nicky Byrne. Billy Connolly, the Patron of the Celtic Foundation will be at Celtic Park on the night, and a host of others confirmed as lending support to the event and the fundraising effort include Wayne Rooney, Rod Stewart, Eddie Jordan, Sharleen Spiteri, Dougray Scott and Paolo Nutini. Fans coming along to the Legends game at Celtic Park this Tuesday, August 9 are in for a pre-match musical treat. Because world-famous tenor, Russell Watson, will sing on the pitch before kick-off. Russell has performed all over the world, and his albums have sold millions. He’s also sang at a number of sporting events in the past, including the 1999 UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich in the Nou Camp Stadium. GERARD Butler is swapping the bright lights of Hollywood for the floodlights of Paradise to take part in the Legends game at Celtic Park tomorrow night (Tuesday, August 9). The actor and Celtic fan will pull on the Hoops for the game against Manchester United, which will raise money for Oxfam’s East Africa Famine Appeal. Gerard, who was born in Paisley, has starred in a number of films, including PS I Love You, 300, The Ugly Truth and The Bounty Hunter.
13 August 2011 Scottish Premier League Celtic Park CELTIC 5 (Stokes 4, Hooper 33, Ki 58, Ledley 71, Forrest 90) DUNDEE UNITED 1 (Russell 31) CELTIC (4-4-2): Zaluska; M. Wilson, Majstorovic, K. Wilson, Mulgrew; Brown, Ki, Ledley, Commons (Forrest 63); Stokes (McCourt 77), Hooper (Maloney 66) Subs not used: Cervi, Matthews, Wanyama, Samaras DUNDEE UNITED (4-4-2): Pernis; Dillon, Kenneth, Watson, Dixon; Flood (Gunning 77), Allan (Armstrong 68), Robertson, Rankin; Daly, Russell Subs not used: Banks, Swanson, Douglas, Mackay-Steven, Dow I've been on holiday the past 2 weeks so I wasn't at our first home game of the season. I've only had a chance to see brief highlights and it looks like we ran out comfortable enough winners but things seemed a tad edgy at times. Especially in the first 45mins. We did score some nice goals and Anthony Stokes looked like he was at the heart of a lot of the good things we did in the game but it's a blow to lose Gary Hooper for the next 2-3 weeks.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaltSm2b9Hg"]Celtic FC 5 - 1 Dundee United (Goals Highlights) - 13/08/2011 (League) - YouTube[/ame] Highlights
http://www.celticfc.net/newsstory?item=1418 FOLLOWING a scan today, the club can confirm that Gary Hooper has a sprained ankle and could potentially be out for a few weeks. The striker was injured during Saturday's 5-1 SPL victory over Dundee United at Celtic Park. And he'll miss the Hoops' Europa League play-off against FC Sion this Thursday. Worrying to see Hoops go down with another injury, albeit only for a few weeks. Bad timing though with the Sion game on Thursday night. Could it have been worse? Is it fair to say that Stokes is looking like our most potent threat at the minute...?