Celtic's Interest In The Big Cup Ends At Match Day 1

"The Chaaammmmmppppppeeeeeiiiiioons...pa, pa, pa, pa, paaaaaaaaaaah"

"Boooooooooooooo" (Celtic Park crowd on 93mins)

There had been a certain sense of gallusness in the Celtic support since Saturdays 4-2 win at Motherwell. The Bi-Polar nature of the win, 4 up at HT then losing the 2nd half 2-0, seemed to be forgotten and also the last time we played well in the 3-0 win against Falkirk, giving us the 2nd taste of gallusness we had this season- after passengers of XL Airlines having more chance of travelling to Europe than The Huns- before getting royally humped from The Average Huns. 

Some had seem to come to the opinion that our manager may had showed tactical genius wie his team selection for the game against Motherwell and not just stumbled into it due to circumstances. Some thought that get together wie Demento, Arsene and Jose had worked and he was now a tactical genius and that we would need to fight off midtable EPL teams wie a shitey stick for those who would court his services.

The manager proved, again, that he has form, off stumbling into solutions for his teams failings but when he believes that he is a tactical genius and a tinkerman , then, now being favourites to finish bottom of the Big Cup group is the outcome of that belief.

So last night the 0-0 draw against Aalborg BK ensured the gallusness was drowned out by a chorus of boooooooooooooos, from 'fans' and that we are now hanging on to oor UEFA Vase hopes like a one armed man hanging from a cliff wie an itchy bawbag.

Aalborg BK, who Bruce Rioch had lead to the dizzy heights of 9th in the Danish Superliga, will not frighten the French and will not frighten the incumbents of Old Trafford or El Madrigal. The next time they will cross the halfway line, nevermind get close to scoring a goal, will be when Celtic roll into Denmark to suffer the expected away defeat.

So how come we ended up being favourites to end up bottom of the goup after Demento Ferguson said that we were ...."In terms of their home results, they're probably in the top four or five clubs in Europe".... and it's statements like this that cause delusional foaming at the mouth from the 'booooooooo' brigade that believe that we only need to turn up to beat anyone at home in the Big Cup, qualification for the last 16 is a given and that Aalborg BK are a forth pot team hence are cannon fodder.

We were average last night. Missed a penalty, were kept out wie a keeper called Zaza (?), missed a few half chances, had a goal chopped off wrongly, had 61% of the possession but had 0% chance of scoring on a night where the Italian ref, Matteo Trefoloni- whom my St Vincent Street Mole was talking to on Tuesday night and the M.I.B said he was looking forward to the game as he had heard so much about CP on Big Cup nights, well he can fuck off and not come back- could have sent off 8 Aalborg BK players and we still would not have scored.

Artur Boruc never had to get his gloves dirty for the whole of the 2nd half. He will never have another as boring Big Cup night this season. At left back, Lee Naylor continued a vein of OK form but at right back, the German Ross Tokely, Andreas Hinkel, showed that he is a German, as his performance bordered on the boring, uninteresting and forgetable. Hoof, Stephen McManus, got an early booking and look as uncomfortable as oor UEFA Vase chances while his partner, Heid, Gary Caldwell proved that he is one of the inform players in oor squad and oor best defender by some distance. He also can start attacks you know....

Scott Brown, had a decent 2nd period and look like he had got a grip of himself and role he is supposed to play but Barry Robson had his worst game for us since he last played a Big Cup game for us. His straight down the middle pens are old hat and he should now never darken the spot again. That's the last 2 pens we have been awarded in the Big Cup missed. Last person to score a pen for us in the Big Cup was Kenny Miller. That's not right.

Shunsuke Nakamura, skirted around the edge of the game against a team that he would usually destroy and the Undroppable Shaun Maloney, proved he is undroppable wie a performance that bordered on good but never great. He won the pen though, which proves his worth of a starting place. He was replaced by Manchester Utd target Aiden McGeady , who seems to have fallen out of favour, came on done a few wee twists and turns but couldn't change the game, which was a hard ask.

Georgios Samaras, Scotland's top goalscorer, showed that he has the ability for these nights while maybe lacking the experience but Scott McDonald toiled and the thought crossed my mind, when I saw how poor Aalborg BK were, why did we not start wie Jan Vennegoor, who done his usual 1st challenge, 1st foul trick, then bring on McDonald for the last half hour. Why Marc Crosas didn't play some part in a game where we needed someone to unlock a workmanlike team and a game where your scouts should have highlighted that a player like Crosas was needed.

So we go onto the El Madrigal. The manager says....."We need something from the Villarreal game now"......... while bemoaning missed chances but not his team selection or his like for like subs. We do need something from the Villarreal game and we need to hope that they get struck down by a horrible plague, which renders them useless and beatable.

Aalborg BK, are the least experienced team in this seasons Big Cup. They have a record now of W1 D2 L4, in only their forth Big Cup away game they got a point. We need to hope we can learn the lessons of our last 1067 away defeats in the Big Cup.

Jesus.......Booooooooooooooooooo

Forza