Lets not overreact. Celtic played very well tonight. They didn't outplay us contrary to the rubbish bbc commentary, but they did play in a way that we couldn't cope with. They defended superbly and harried us at every moment. Thats life.

As far as Yorke and Cole go - I just believe they cannot play together. It must be Cole and Jansen when possible. Both of their first touches were poor tonight and they either need a good kick up the arse or dropping.

As far as midfield goes - Tugay is a luxury player. Flitcroft, Dunn, Thommo and Duff is the best midfield combination we have, and is good enough for top 6.

Defensively we know we are poor and we need to strengthen but until we do we'll have to struggle on. Nothing new or groundbreaking about or defence has come out of tonight.

Tonight was disappointing but every cloud has a sivler lining. I'd have liked a better performance tonight but I'm not too upset to be going out - the league is important and playing games on a Saturday again will be a better balance for the team.

Where do we go from here? Same place we would've gone had we won - up the league. Tonight changes nothing. We are still a good team.

Do my eyes deceive me? Is Peter Q back?? Baby Jesus and the orphans!!!!

I was just thinking about starting a "Whatever happened to Peter Cucumber?" thread just the other day, glad I don't have to now!

Welcome back Peter, I trust that if Rovers were to do the impossible and dump Celtic out tomorrow you will document it in glorious song? Please say you will!

AS so cole yorke and jansen arecrap yea? your one of the 'supporters' who lick there lips when wesign big names, not cos they might just do well, but cos you can slag em off, 'not giving there all for rovers' ect... whos the guy whos got the 'form is temporary class is perniment' signature, cos thats very true... who adopted you anyway??

Sod it, I'm due a yellow card.............

Regular Blackburn watchers claimed they excelled themselves at Parkhead and won't be able to reach that standard again, just as Celtic are unlikely to allow them as much possession.

Do any regular Blackburn watchers on here really believe that?

I agree that it takes all sorts, and input from new sources can be refreshing, but I do think that it can get tiresome.

Perhaps I'm just too easily offended?!?!?

Not to mention differing opinions?!

It is my opinion that the Celtic fans are a nuisance that aren't needed. Surely there are Celtic boards they can post on? After a while an influx of certain fans from certain clubs can get tiresome. All the Liverpool fans over the summer whilst Duffer's contract talks were ongoing are one example. As soon as he signed they were all gone. There's nothing wrong with having visitors, I'm just of the opinion that the Celtic ones have out stayed their welcome.

I thought the comments on here (the beginning of the thread) weren't smug at all, but then I don't read between the lines..

Perhaps you should begin too. Might make you realise that all are not as innocent as they profess.

Well there are 3 things that really irritate me as far as the Celtic fans go, and it seems to be consistent throughout.

Firstly, is the notion that "Celtic will not play that badly again." Why can't they just face up to the fact that we didnt alow them to play? Celtic's poor performance was not down to them, it was down to us.

Secondly, the idea that Rovers couldn't possibly play any better. Anyone who says something like that obviously doesn't watch the Rovers play very much. It is going purely on the idea that we are just a small team and as such last Thursday must have been some sort of freak performance. This view is ignorance of the highest order.

Finally, I can't fathom why the Celts still wont give credit where its due. We are continually being reminded that Celtic won the game and being asked to recognise that, but I'm yet to hear a Celt comment on how good we were without blotting it with a sly or negative comment just afterwards. Most if not all neutrals that saw the game have commented on how we were far better and how we outplayed Celtic, not to mention how the atmosphere was terrible on their part. All we hear are excuses about all these things and how next time will be different.

Rovers have given people reason to believe we are the better side, but yet we are all still expected to believe Celtic will come to Ewood and beat us 2 or 3 nil. I can assure all you Celtic fans that far superior teams have tried and failed. At the moment it just seems that no matter how well we play the Celtic fans will still condescend about "little Blackburn." Surely its about time they faced up the reality?

I only hope we can show them up for what the really are when they get to our bit. Although for some reason I feel that still wouldn't be enough to shut them up.

Yes us playing a Premier League side about your equals and not scoring 2 days after a European tie is indeed concerning, especially when you compare it to the thrashing that you handed out to whoever you played. No wonder you play on Sundays a lot of the time, standard of opposition and all one might say its quite apt.

Isn't it about time the Celtic antagonaists disappeared back to wherever it was they came from and annoyed someone else?

All you Celtic fans just arent getting it!!!!!! We didn't let you play!!!! Its not that you under performed, its that we didnt let you perform. We were far superior and will be again. Celtic do not have the midfield to compete with us.

We do that to a lot of teams, as you would expect from a Souness team, and we will do it to Celtic again. Games are won and lost in the midfield. Ours is far far better than yours.

As for our forwards - Cole hasnt played for weeks, nor Duff, and Jansen hasnt played for months. They are our best 3 attackers! But dont fret, they will be fully fit in two weeks, and the end product of our wonderful interplay will be there.

You've seen nothing yet.

we've seen nothing yet!!

are you guys prepared for the travelling Celtic support?

the atmosphere at Celtic Park is over hyped whereas the 10000 or so fans who come to Blackburn will sing from first to last minute. in fact Martin O  always acknowledges this as a key factor. doesn't Ewood only hold something in the region of 25000. it will be like another home game for Celts.

p.s sorry cant resist it but Tuguy!!! ha ha. if our players are Premiership rejects, he is worse. A Rangers reject(oh the shame...ousted by the likes of Fernando Rickson)

Anyway. im off to bed but i'll look in over the next few weeks. have enjoyed your banter

Yep, same Tugay who took the p**s out of your midfield all night long. People in glass houses shouldn't through stones. When you've developed a decent midfield, then you can come back and preach about ours.

..

At the end of the day, your beloved Celts have been shown up to be a bunch of second rate Premiership rejects and wannabes. You may have won the first game, but there is another to come and Scottish football has been exposed for what it really is - a joke.

We look forward to welcoming you to Ewood. Not to mention sending you back home with your tails between your legs.

You seem to be missing the point. i'm not gloating. in fact i'm more than aware of my team's weaknesses. the point i'm making is that you guys seem to miss the irony that, by your own somewhat fuzzy logic, your team has just lost a crucial game to a bunch of "second rate", "wannabe", "jokers". i did say the return will be close.  given the fact that we played the "mighty" Hearts and Dunfermline whilst Blackburn faced the likes of Newcastle and Arsenal, it only stands to reason that your guys are that bit sharper. nevertheless we have a team full of internationals who are no mugs and can, i can assure you play much better. (you of all people i would have thought would appreciate that Sutton had a stinker! Ditto that for half a dozen others and you have an accurate assesment of how we played). its game on for the second leg

Nah mate, you are missing the point. People keep saying that Celtic can obviously play better and they just had a bad day. Thats not the case. You didnt play well because we didnt let you play well. Taylor and Short snuffed out almost every threat you posed in the final third. Tugay, Flitcroft and Thompson showed your midfield to be very ordinary, and harried you for every second (although there weren't very many) that you had the ball.

The "point" is, if you couldnt get a kick at your place and couldnt be raised by 60,000 of your own fans, why should we expect you play any better, or more to the point us to allow you to play any better, when we get down to our place?

You think we played well tonight? You've seen nothing yet. If I was a Celtic fan I'd be extremely sceptical about my teams chances in the second leg.

Only having seen it on TV, I didn't think we were elaborate. It's just so difficult to get past those back three players when they play so tight in the box.

We battered them. It wasn't a case of them playing poorly - we did them. I hate these pathetic excuses - we beat Juventus, but were run close by you, hence you were punching above your weight, we played poorly, we will do you. @#/?! We showed ourselves to be the better team.

Hats off to Craig Short who's showed himself to be a quality defender.

"we did them"....Hmmm

thats the first time i've ever heard that phrase define a 1-0 defeat.

you all seem to have Craig Brown syndrome:  "ok, so we lost but we had more posession and more corners etc etc etc"

my heart bleeds

Cheer up Graeme Souness...

At the end of the day, your beloved Celts have been shown up to be a bunch of second rate Premiership rejects and wannabes. You may have won the first game, but there is another to come and Scottish football has been exposed for what it really is - a joke.

We look forward to welcoming you to Ewood. Not to mention sending you back home with your tails between your legs.

hello all. i'm a Celtic fan just back from the game and thought i'd give you my thoughts. first of all, hats off to you. Rovers are a lovely footballing team and should'nt have lost tonight. However the fact is that you did! Its all very well playing lovely patterned football but there was virtually NO end product. How may great saves can you honestly remember Douglas making? Its clear why you are not a really top premiership side because your side is powderpuff and lightweight. All the hard luck stories in the world don't hide the fact that your side lost (ok we were rubbish but who cares). Also, please dont assume this tie will be straightforward in the second leg. I've never seen Celtic play so poorly (including games against sides much better than Blackburn, i.e Juve and Valencia). i think we can score at your patch and it will still be very close.

p.s: just so you don't think i'm trying to cause trouble, just a word for the fans who travelled up. you gave tremendous support to your team and i hope you had a great night in Glasgow. see you in 2 weeks

Mate, your team didnt get a kick all night. You think this game showed why we aren't a top Premiership side? Pal, all this game did was show that you are no way near Premiership class and have a hell of a way to go until you are.

To all those arrogant sh*thead celtic supporters who left patronising "Blackburn are no more than a mid-table" team messages here and there

Up yours.

Your team was made to look like a Division one team at home.

Let's hope the proportion of Celtic supporters who truly and arrogantly believed this would be a walk-over will now watch their team sink out of the UEFA Cup at Ewood.

*claps*

Anyway, i'm going to bed. I'm gonna refuse to watch TV tomorrow and then i'll probably forget about it until i actually reach work.

Oh roll on Blackburn - Villa

BobbyZee

Mate don't worry. Hold your head up high. We were tremendous. Be proud.

Yeah be bitter, but it wont change the result.

You know what the headlines will say

'CELTIC WIN BATTLE OF BRITAIN'

ARRRGGGGHHH!!!

Or "Celtic Commit Biggest Robery Since Ronnie Biggs"

hell i'm going to be bitter, i'm not having it, we should have done better in the last third, and give them a good beating, lucky B*****ds!!!!

Don't worry about it mate, we'll do them second leg.

We've proved that they aren't good enough for our league, now its time to prove they aren't good enough for Europe.

I'm more confident after the game that Rovers will go through than I was before.

Anyway, i'm not going to be bitter, fair play to Celtic. They scored off a corner and got the goal advantage. Congrats.

Well said, there's no point in being bitter, this is a two legged game, and its far from over.

We proved our point that we are easily their superiors, and we'll show it - again - in the 2nd leg.

We absolutely demolished Celtic tonight. Make no bones about it. We could've and should've won comfortably. Paradise? Rubbish. Doesn't take much to shut their fans up does it? We were going to recieve a footballing lesson? Don't make me laugh.

Defensively they were woeful. Thei midfield was non existent. Sutton clearly hasn't got it anymore. Larsson world class? Absolute sh*te.

We were better man for man, and far better as a team. We just proved we are a far better side, and Celtic have got one hell of a shock coming when they get to Ewood. You can get lucky once, it wont happen again.

Friedel

Neill    Tiny    Short   Johansson

Tommo  Flitcroft   Dunn  Duff

        Cole       Jansen

Its our strongest available side.

Couldn't agree more. We have to play to our strengths. I too worry about Nissa but I think he'll cope. I think that team is better than anything Celtic have to offer. Lets just hope we perform.

On the midfield, you cant really compare Duff and Alan Thompson as they are so different.  Duff without doubt is your best player, but defensively im sure Thompson is 100 times better.  Healy hasnt really had a chance in the Celtic XI, but yet is now becoming a regular in the Eire team, which I suppose tells you how well the midfield has been playing.  As for Petrov, I think he could be our ace in the pack, mainly coz you'll all be focusing so much on our front two that you might not notice him ghosting in from midfield.  The number of goals he gets from midfield in big games has been invaluable.

Jansen instead of Larsson.  Im not going to comment too much on that except to say ill pretty much guarantee that you wont be saying that after the 2 legs are over, regardless of outcome.  Ive never seen a player work as hard as Larsson, and thats the beauty of him, such a team player, but a brilliant individual at the same time.

Firstly, I didnt compare Duff to Thompson. I said I'd rather have our Thompson than yours, and I'd rather have Duff than Petrov.

As far as Jansen and Larsson goes, you see Larsson a lot, I see Jansen a lot. There is no way I would swap the two. Not saying Larsson isnt good, as he is awesome, but you will definitely be surprised at how good Jansen is.

I think the fact that you said Duff is "without doubt our best player" shows how much you have to learn about our team!

For the record my strongest team if everyone was fit would be.

Hedman

Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren

Agathe, Lambert, Healy, Petrov, Thompson

Larsson & Sutton.

Im sure youll get another 100 variations of that if you asked 100 Celtic fans, but thats my choice anyway!

Well for arguement sake, my opinion of our strongest team is;

            Friedel

Taylor    Berg    Short     Neill

Thompson  Dunn  Flitcroft  Duff

         Jansen   Cole

I now firmly believe looking at the two teams that we are the stronger side.

Friedel vs Hedman? I'd take Friedel any day of the week.

Its hard to compare some as you play 3 defenders and we play 4. However, I'd admittedly take Balde over Berg, but I'd definitely keep Neill over Valgaeren and Taylor over Mjally, though I admit they are very close comparisons.

Midfield wise, I'd probably had to admit Lambert is better than Flitcroft, however, There is no way in hell Healy is better than Dunn, and David Thompson is far better than Alan Thompson, and Duff is far better than Petrov. Not saying these aren't good players, but I belive ours are better.

As far as the forwards go, I'd rather have Jansen than Larsson. I know Larsson has a great record and is a class act, but Jansen is young, extremely talented, works tirelessly and has a great hunger to win. In addition, I'd choose Cole over Sutton. Both are tremendous but the effect that Cole has on all those around him when he plays sets him apart from Sutton. Every player in the team seems to raise their game when Cole plays, and its invaluable to have a natural born winner in your team like Coley.

I haven't bothered to compare Agathe and Short as it would be farily meaningless.

I admit that it will be very close and you could well win, it would hardly be a shock, however I believe, along with many others, that we have the better, more talented players. Having said that, its a team game and Celtic do have a great spirit under O'Neill. Although so do we under Souey!

So many combinations and points to consider, really could go either way. Just thought I'd attempt to clarify as to why some of us are quietly (!) confident ahead of Thursday.

As a Celtic fan looking forward to tomorrows game I thought i'd have a wee look to see what the general opinion was by the Blackburn support. Couldnt quite believe that 99% of you were so confident of turning us over both home & away!

Now im not going to come on here and say we'll thump you, but how many of you have actually seen Celtic play recently?  Plus the mentions of our players are always likes of Guppy and Lennon?  What about European Champions League winner Lambert?  Golden boot winner Larsson or even Bulgarian captain Petrov?  Im sure you'll know all about these guys come 10.00pm tomorrow night!!

From our perspective, only Henning Berg is a recognisable quality defender in that back 4 of yours.  As for Flitcroft?  Whats he ever done?  

Prediction?  Home Celtic 3 - 1; Away 1-1  

Dont want to be falling out with anyone, just pointing out that it might not be as easy as you think!!!

To be honest mate, its not as much about Celtic as it is about our fans. On this site we rarely predict the other team to beat us. Arsenal on saturday being the obvious exception. What we usually base it on, is if we are a better team player for player. Since we always have a lot of faith in our players, we always tend to believe that we have an all round better team.

As far as it goes, would you care to name Celtic's strongest 11 for us? Would be good to see what your ideal starting line up would be when everyone is fit.