Lennon sets new benchmark
To begin with, I have to say I am disappointed with some of our fans. As the 3rd goal went in, some fans stood up and slammed their seats and left muttering about how much of a disgrace the team were. For me, if the team are such a disgrace, then don’t go along to watch them. I say watch instead of support as that isn’t supporting anyone.
The likliehood is that some, not all, will be glory hunters who only went along so that they can look back in several years and say they were at a last 16 match at Celtic Park. I have no ideas where these guys are now but I suspect they won’t be back at Celtic Park for a wee while and wont be there for the games against the so called smaller clubs.
For me, you support the team and then if you have something to complain about, do it after the game but how leaving early can possibly benefit the team is beyond me.
Anyway, on to the game itself, at the start of this season, a lot of folk never expected us to qualify for the group stages never mind qualify for the last sixteen.
When you look at the match stats, we had far more attempts on target but failed to score. Juventus had 4 shots on target and scored 3 goals. They were a clinical team. Shortly after the game, I tweeted that I felt we were beaten by a more ruthless and experienced team.
We certainly did not disgrace ourselves. If anything, you could say it’s a complete role reversal of some matches that we play against some SPL opponents where the opposition leave with a 3-0 defeat and wonder how that happened ?
Part of me says that if one team scored 3 and the other didn’t score, then the score deserves to be 3-0. The other part of me is aware that there’s a bit more to a football game than just the final score. As daft as it seems for a 3-0 loss, there are some positives to be taken from the match.
We showed that we can create chances and above all, we showed a very disciplined performance. How many reading this could take constant pushing, shoving, grappling and being wrestled without reacting or ‘lamping’ their opponent.
They were also what you might call a pretty “fly” football team when it came to defending against us. It’s not really a secret that our main threat in these European games come from corners and set pieces. Recently, Neil Lennon has said that he will be seeking clarification from UEFA over what is and isn’t allowed, within the rules, to defend corners.
Given the fact that some referees will given a penalty kick when a defender obstructs an opponent and Tuesday’s referee didn’t, it would appear that the guys who are paid a massive amount of money to enforce the rules don’t even know what they are.
Although, the more paranoid among us might even suggest that there was corruption and that the referee had been paid to ensure that Juventus qualified I would have to question that as I have no ideas who would do this and what their motivation would be.
I would suggest that the referee was very poor. Perhaps some of the worse refereeing at Celtic Park since we were unfortunate enough to have the man sacked for circulating bigoted emails, Hugh Dallas.
Corruption within Italian football has been there before and given that the referee had not been giving us any of the ‘big’ decisions, I can see why it may lead to some fans to think there could be something more dark and sinister than incompetence.
I have no ideas on how the ref normally handles similar situations but from reading an article on Celtic Quick News, there is a suggestion that Juventus had researched the referee and they build their game plan, or at least the defensive part of it accordingly.
Neil Lennon was quoted as saying he might just ask our defenders to defend in the same manner. As much as I know this wouldn’t happen, I would love to see us do that for a few games. Have I lost my mind when I say this? Perhaps, but it would be interesting to see how differently a Scottish referee interprets the same events.
Really, the game is gone and there’s nothing that any of us can do about it now. Moving on, my hope is that the players who are still around next season along with the manager are able to learn from it. With the spine of the team the same plus a bit more creativity, maybe we could get to the same stage again or even go one better?
Think back to Neil Lennon’s first foray into European football – knocked out at the qualifiers. To a decent Europa League campaign to qualifying for the last sixteen of the Champions League. If that’s his rate of progression then I am happy with that.
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