Leverkusen v Celtic - All Comments Here

[Lubos left peg]

Button was immense tonight, if he had stayed in it would have been a different story.

All opinions mate. He made some important blocks. My biggest issue with bitton (not hatred) is how casual he is on the ball. He slows down play and his passing is poor. There are times when you're screaming for a quick direct pass and he turns unto trouble and gives it away. I also don't understand his role. Yes he defended well when we didn't have the ball but when we do have the ball he camps in between the opposition midfield. He creates no spaces. When mcgregor, and brown before him, played that role they don't stop moving. Coming back to collect the ball, moving left to right. Bitton doesn't do that. He just stands in the middle. I don't think he's the right player for how Ange wants the game to be played. But that's just my opinion.

 

[Magnificent 7]

Honestly there is no God its official ....the wife took naw well today with a migraine and couldn't make it . We had planned to go with her maw of 93 to the parkhead forge for a bit of crimbo shopping. She asked me not to let her down. Of course I dutifully carried on and took the auld yin to both the market and the shopping centre. She also asked if she could get a wee fish supper ....but would only buy the wan in paisley she liked ...I of course obliged .
Got in the hoose about 3pm and looked after the wife and settled doon about 5pm to look forward to the Gemme. So much to like and thought this is my reward for being a dutiful husband and son in law.
Reality and boot in the baws....phone call from the mother in law ....."ye cannie win awe the time " God's a bastard .

 

[Richie745]

Unlucky in the night

Great penalty, great saves by Heart and what a goal for the second.
Bitton going off changed it for us I think we could have taken off Jota and Kyogo and got.a result if Bitton had stayed on.

But not worried rather have the league than this cup.

Hopefuly they wankers get thumped at the Goven shithouse

 

[Spherical Planet]

Not going to get caught on a wave of optimism because a lot of that tonight was really bad.

Wee Tony's positional sense is really, really poor. Can't fault his effort, but they had the width of the park to play in.

We don't have enough good footballers to play short from the back. Bitton wants far too many touches and allows them to easily get back into shape and Turnbull is two steps off the ladder of being a truly effective player.

Can't fathom out Ange's logic. Jota and Forrest still had plenty of running in them and why not try Abada through the middle after Kyogo put in a shift?

Some good stuff, some pretty poor stuff too. Don't get why we look promising when we play one and two touch at pace and then go back into slow-motion and taking too many touches before getting caught in possession.

I'm annoyed because that was a winnable game against a decent side and it was more a case of us losing it than it was them winning it.

MJ? I just don't know about the boy, but I can't remember a time when he last had a positive influence on a game. Ajeti? Nah - he just hasn't progressed at all. McCarthy looked like he was towing a trailer park, but we know that, so surely the coaching team know that too?

 

[Espiritosanto]

Played welll up to 80min,,,subs contributed zero..stupid mistakes cost us,,,don’t think we deserved to get beat!!bring on the sheep

 

[POD]

A reasonably creditable performance but still a loss. My priority is the league, so I am not too disappointed. But against good teams our defense is still shocking. Individually they are fine as players. As a unit they are appalling. It is simply down to tactics and coaching. It has gone on for too long now. Thank God for Joe Hart tonight.
Full backs playing to the corner of the box and eighteen yard line. Crowding the centre for fear of breaking midfielders through the middle, leaving oceans of space in the wide areas. Always waiting for the mistake from set piece defending. For me Juranovic is not a left full back. Fine player, but not his natural side and makes the typical mistakes with this. Midfielders disappear for periods of the match.
Leverkusen are a top team, but we need how to close out a match from playing these teams.

I can't say I am a fan of his. He is talked about as being fast but he rarely seems to get past anyone, rarely gets to the byeline, frequently gets bundled off the ball too easily and never scores. I keep hoping that he will light up a match but it hasn't happened yet.

He doesn't get his head up either, Neil. Always watching the ball at his feet or the man he is up against. Too many turn and touches. Does not play players in.

 

[John nó]

Disappointed with the result, gutted to take nothing from the game and so close to.
Yet stated earlier it was all about preformance tonight, and the bhoys I believe done us proud.
Not to far away from being a decent CL team and that extra cover and quality that's still needed to become that team is there for all to see, so open your eyes board members and allow Ange to make it possible.
Still think we can go a long way in the conference competition, even good enough to actually WIN it imo

 

[Lubos left peg]

We don't have enough good footballers to play short from the back. Bitton wants far too many touches and allows them to easily get back into shape and Turnbull is two steps off the ladder of being a truly effective player.

Not ignoring everything else you say SP but this is my point about Bitton and why it may come across like I "hate"....its every single game he plays in he plays the exact same way. There's a reason he's been a bit part player over the years. I believe he will vanish again after Ange signs new players in January. He wouldn't even be in the team if Rogic was fit. I certainly dont think he was immense tonight.

 

[Gary67]

With one game to go the teams currently 2nd in their Europa Conference League Groups, who we can draw for the Play Off round in February are

Spurs
Roma
LASK
Jablonec
Slovan Bratislava
Slavia Prague
Qarabag
Partizan Belgrade

 

[CelticRose]

I was jumping

Not going to get caught on a wave of optimism because a lot of that tonight was really bad.

Wee Tony's positional sense is really, really poor. Can't fault his effort, but they had the width of the park to play in.

We don't have enough good footballers to play short from the back. Bitton wants far too many touches and allows them to easily get back into shape and Turnbull is two steps off the ladder of being a truly effective player.

Can't fathom out Ange's logic. Jota and Forrest still had plenty of running in them and why not try Abada through the middle after Kyogo put in a shift?

Some good stuff, some pretty poor stuff too. Don't get why we look promising when we play one and two touch at pace and then go back into slow-motion and taking too many touches before getting caught in possession.

I'm annoyed because that was a winnable game against a decent side and it was more a case of us losing it than it was them winning it.

MJ? I just don't know about the boy, but I can't remember a time when he last had a positive influence on a game. Ajeti? Nah - he just hasn't progressed at all. McCarthy looked like he was towing a trailer park, but we know that, so surely the coaching team know that too?

thats what I was trying to say SP but don’t have the knowledge of the game you have. Just felt we looked slow at times in comparison to them. I thought we could’ve won tonight and was so happy and then the subs came on and that was that..

 

[Cairnsybhoy79]

So close to being wonderful, ended up being a boot in the baws.
The substitutions meant we had fuck all up front and McCarthy. It's a big improvement on where we were, look on the bright side.

We still need to fill out the squad but at least they're showing fight and belief in the gaffer we will awe just need to gee the gaffer a couple of windows to get the right kind of player in

 

[Docco]

Fans were outstanding tonight btw

 

[Miktim]

Aw well, so close, it’s a learning curve, I still think we’re on the up, that’s a side in the top 4 in the German league, with another wee bit o luck we could have drawn or even won that game, I won’t be too hard on the players, they gave everything, bitton going off was pivotal in our downfall, looks good in the holding midfielder position in front of the back four……

on to the hun game now….hoping for a few serious injuries, a couple of red cards, a total humiliation, and the usual embarrassing behaviour from the hun crowd

I expect nothing less

 

[Miktim]

Fans were outstanding tonight btw

German beer is good

 

[Bellshill bhoy]

So was Bitton

Spelling police on patrol the night

 

[Spherical Planet]

Not ignoring everything else you say SP but this is my point about Bitton and why it may come across like I "hate"....its every single game he plays in he plays the exact same way. There's a reason he's been a bit part player over the years. I believe he will vanish again after Ange signs new players in January. He wouldn't even be in the team if Rogic was fit. I certainly dont think he was immense tonight.

I thought he was poor tonight, Lubo. If you're front three are pressing high, then you depend on that secondary press from the midfield. Big Nir's walking aboot like he's on his holidays? His distribution was pretty poor too. Everyone has to take one step back because it's slowed down so much and some of that passing could end you up in traction.

He's a handy utility man on the domestic front, but a few lads got their arses felt tonight when they had to step up a level.

 

[Shottsghirl]

I don’t know wtf happened Still pro Ange tho I’m sure we’ll still win the league It’s a better team than last season for sure A bit complacent tonight Ajeti was a waste of a shirt btw

 

[bhoy4life]

If I’ve got anything negative at all it would be that Ange doesn’t seem to understand shutting the game down when ur in a decent position is part of the game, I’m all for exciting football but we had ourselves in a great position with 15 to play, bit more defensive with the subs and we cuda deffo seen a draw out if not held on.

 

[LC20]

Honestly there is no God its official ....the wife took naw well today with a migraine and couldn't make it . We had planned to go with her maw of 93 to the parkhead forge for a bit of crimbo shopping. She asked me not to let her down. Of course I dutifully carried on and took the auld yin to both the market and the shopping centre. She also asked if she could get a wee fish supper ....but would only buy the wan in paisley she liked ...I of course obliged .
Got in the hoose about 3pm and looked after the wife and settled doon about 5pm to look forward to the Gemme. So much to like and thought this is my reward for being a dutiful husband and son in law.
Reality and boot in the baws....phone call from the mother in law ....."ye cannie win awe the time " God's a bastard .

Look on the positive side. You don't know the ultimate outcome here.

I remember the crushing disappointment of losing to Basel in the CL qualifiers some years back. Thought we had a good team that could do something. So we dropped into the Uefa Cup and we all know what happened next...

Conference League glory will be ours !

 

[Spherical Planet]

The Betis game is just a free hit now. Nothing to be gained by risking key players in a dead rubber.

On the plus side, I feel we're only three (possibly four) quality players from having a right go at this conference thing and, more importantly, the league.