SENTINELCELTS

Morning, all.

I went into last night’s match with a certain amount of trepidation, and I’m not going to deny it. My misgivings were certainly justified, because LASK made this a very difficult night for us. They had more shots than us and more on target, and even outscored us in xG by 1.75 to 0.88. That we kept a clean sheet was down to some very good defending when required, and an excellent display from Sinisalo in goal. That we significantly outstripped that xG? Well, bear with me!

LASK started like a house on fire, and even had the ball in the net inside twenty seconds. A simple ball over the top into the left hand channel was met with an unstoppable strike across the keeper and into the far top corner. It really was a peach of a finish, but fortunately for us he had wandered offside. It was a wake up call-but it took us a while to do so. 

We looked good going forward all night, but our defence took a while to get a grip on proceedings-and if I’m honest, the midfield didn’t quite get there. Baur played well, but he is still getting to know his colleagues. Nygren does his best work going forward, though he manned up well when needed. And CalMac took a while to come into the game, though his second half performance in particular was excellent. For all the criticism in those words, it’s worth remembering that they had five in midfield to our three. And even more as the game wore on and they went hunting for a goal to get back into the tie. 

We knew before the game started that these difficulties were likely. What we didn’t know beforehand was what we were going to bring to the table-and what a feast it was! I’ve seen better performances from us over the years, but I don’t remember being able to say that every goal was a peach. Not even the 6-2 game, though as far as I was concerned at the time-and now!-they were all a joy to behold!!! Let me explain…

After 25 minutes of end to end stuff, we were all breathless but with hearts in mouths. It was obvious this game wasn’t going to finish goalless, but could we get that vital opener? It hadn’t been for the want of trying, with Duran unlucky early on after a great ball from Donovan, and then shooting wide just afterwards. Hogh was tireless in his endeavours, tying up the opposition centre backs, but the goal when it came had a comfortingly familiar look to it. 

Tierney received the ball on the overlap, crossed it in to the danger area. It was half cleared to the edge of the box, but there didn’t seem any danger as we had nobody running onto it. Still, it was close enough for Nygren to step across and whack it with his left into the postage stamp. As I said, a peach. And better was to come. Twice!

The second one came about due to Yang pressing the keeper. The ball broke to Tierney again, and in an almost carbon copy of our first goal, he swung it in and it was half cleared to the edge of the box. This time it fell to Duran to hit with his left, and he whacked it on the drop past a helpless keeper. The stadium was rocking-and so were LASK! It remained that way till half time, and till halfway through the second period. And possibly the best of the lot. 

Donovan, who had a career best match in my opinion, looked to be in bother in his own box, but got it to Sinisalo who immediately spread it wide to Trusty. He got it forward to the circle for Høgh to lay off to Nygren. He went wider still to Duran, who returned it as Nygren ran into the box. With me so far?

Nygren then switched it straight back to the onrushing Duran to hammer into the net for the third. Three goals, all left footed. There’s one for the anoraks amongst ye! 

At this stage, LASK knew another goal could be fatal for their hopes but getting one back would put a different complexion on things altogether. They had caused us bother all night, and the loss of Baur from our midfield didn’t do us any favours. Neither, sadly, did his replacement Hatate. He didn’t hide, no suggestion of that, but the drop in standards from him is shocking to watch. Sinisalo had to work hard for his clean sheet, I can tell you. One of his saves (EIGHT on the night!) in particular was a cracker. 

We also continued to press till the end, and a flurry of corners plus a late break from Hassan had us hoping. Unfortunately, the fourth wouldn’t come. Not last night anyway-but this team has goals in it, and hopefully we will prove that again over in Austria. It would be even better if Duran added to his tally, as he is now the top scoring Colombian for any Glasgow team in the Champions League. Fatboy, then, is back in second place again (!)

To sum it up? A fantastic game of football from a neutral point of view. A fantastic result for us. A frustrating night for LASK, who must wonder how they drew a blank. And with both sides not playing this weekend, there is a lot for each management team to think about over the next few days. Normally, it would make sense to hold what we have while hoping to hit them on the break. But I suspect that sitting off this side-who look excellent going forward-might not be wise. 

Who’d be a manager, huh? 

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Above article by BMCUWP