What a difference 3 weeks makes. After the Udinese game everyone was fairly happy, we played well and had a dubious penalty decision late in the game that cost us three points.
Now the club is in a bit of a shambles, with a 2-0 defeat to Hearts and a 3-3 draw with Kilmarnock a lot of fans are now asking for a change of management. It is time for Lennon et al to start earning their wages and start getting positive results on the field.
Unfortunately that won’t happen tonight. There are just too many factors going against us. Firstly, we have not won away from home in Europe in a life time. This year we have conceded three at FC Sion and two at Atletico Madrid. To make matters worse we have also conceded nine in our last three away league games.
Now consider the fact that we are bringing along five youth players, I doubt they are all there for team bonding, so I would imagine one or two of them will get some game time which suggests we might have thrown in the towel. We can also be certain that Stade will not be resting players against us.
The last thing is that Stade Rennes are actually a very dangerous team. There is pace throughout the whole attack from wingers to forwards and this is the last thing our fragile defence needs. We have no pace at the back there and will struggle.
Without a doubt in my mind Rennes will score against us. If this game was at home they would score against us as well. Our only hope is to play higher up pitch and look to attack early and sneak a goal.
We also need to work harder in the midfield than we have done all season, closing down quicker and retaining ball when we get it back. If we line up with a 4-5-1 formation the game is over before the referee blows for kick-off.
I just can’t see us getting anything tonight as our strikers have not been prolific yet and our midfield has gone missing in every big game this season and our defence is, well, can it be called a defence?
In the other game I think Udinese will take Atletico Madrid. It will be tight, but not many go to Italy and score and Madrid have found goals hard to come by lately.
Predictions: Stade Rennes 2-0 Celtic, Udinese 1-0 Atletico Madrid
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