Undermanned Celtic no match for United

By: Matt | October 22nd, 2008

It was always going to be a tough task getting points at Old Trafford, given Celtic’s away history and United’s class, but things were not helped when four key Celtic players missed the match due to injury. For all of these reasons, Manchester United was able to defeat Celtic 3-0 on matchday 3 of the Champions League. There was some controversy surrounding United’s first two goals by Berbatov, as it seemed like he was offside for both yet the linesman’s flag stayed down. However, before scoring the third goal of the game, Wayne Rooney seemingly had a good goal taken away by a offsides call that was not offsides, so the shitty linesman giveth, the shitty linesman taketh away. Celtic did not see much of the possession during the game, but unlike another team’s European travels, when Celtic did see the ball they tried to get forward and had a couple of very good chances. Aiden McGeady forced Edwin Van Der Saar to make a diving save early in the first half. The best player for Celtic on the day, Gary Caldwell who played a defensive midfield role, fired a good shot that Van Der Saar had to deflect into the stands. Celtic played a decent first half, though was lucky to only be down one goal.

The second half was another story. Celtic came out of the locker room flat and seemed as if they were already defeated. The kept even less possession than in the first half and seemingly lacked any good scoring opportunities. After a good performance, especially considering the opponent, in the first half by the defense, man marking became lazy and Celtic was lucky that United only scored twice in the half. Overall, it was a disappointing trip down south, but there were a few positives to take from it.

Gary Caldwell continues his renaissance. After spending most of last season as a whipping bhoy, Gary Caldwell’s performances continued to improve. His SPL performances as a member of the backline have been wonderful and when put into the central defensive midfield role against Man U, he was Celtic’s Man of the Match. He can play a good long ball and has the ability to stop counter attacks, a key trait for a central midfielder. It is not as if Celtic are in dire need for more center backs (take Massimo Donati…please!), but if a situation as last night where there are injuries, it is good to know Caldwell can step in and take care of business.

The defense held the current European Champions for 45 minutes. Besides a goal that probably should not have counted, the Celtic defense was able to keep the likes of Ronaldo, Berbatov, and Rooney without any real scoring opportunities. Sure United had the possession for most of the half (mostly because Scott McDonald has seemingly left his first touch in Australia), but the goal was the only real good scoring opportunity and the Celtic defense was able to eventually deal with everything else.

Aiden McGeady continues to make midtable EPL teams drool. Aidendinho was the only offensive threat that Celtic had, but it was almost enough in the first half. Seeing that McDonald, Naka, and co. couldn’t hold water if they were a sponge, Aiden often had to take on the entire Man U defense and did so a couple times effectively. He was also about a centimeter away from putting Celtic up a goal early. But there was plenty of bad for Celtic.

McDonald and Nakamura go missing again. Have you seen Scott McDonald or Shunsuke Nakamura? There families and national teams are worried for their safety. Seriously, how many times did Caldwell play a pretty good long ball to McDonald, only to have Skippy butcher the first touch and give the ball back to United. If Strachan is going to insist on playing a 4-5-1 in away European ties, then we need a striker that can win the ball. I know Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras were out, but McDonald does not seem like a striker suited for the 4-5-1. Hell give Hutchinson a chance before McDonald in that formation. Nakamura is known for his free kick abilities but did not really have a good chance on net for a free kick, which is not his fault. However, his corner taking was awful. The first corner of the game for Celtic, Naka sends the ball behind the net. BEHIND THE NET! When I saw that, I knew it was going to be a long game

After a good 45 minutes, the defense decides they no longer need to mark these guys. “Ronaldo? Ah, he’s got him. Rooney? Nah, no need to close him down. Berbatov? Why mark HIM in a dead ball situation?” The backline did a complete 180 after a good performance in the first half. United had boat loads of chances mostly to unmarked men, bad giveaways, and general incompetency.

So now we have 1 pt, with Manchester United at home, Vilareal at home, and away to Aalborg. Qualification is looking unlikely, so perhaps focus on a UEFA Cup spot. I think we can beat Vilareal or Man U at home, but it will likely come down to Aalborg away.