Mowbray confident despite opening defeat

Sat, 19 Sep 15:13:21 2009

Manager Tony Mowbray doubts the significance of Celtic's Europa League defeat at Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Thursday night's Group C opener looked to be going the Parkhead side's way when Georgios Samaras fired them into a deserved half-time lead. But with 15 minutes remaining, Hapoel playmaker Nemanja Vucicevic grabbed the equaliser to set up a rousing finale and two minutes from time, substitute Maaran Lala knocked in the winner for the hosts.

"Let's not get carried away," the Hoops boss cautioned. "It will take a few games before the group starts to take shape."

Rapid Vienna pulled off a shock 3-0 win over Bundesliga leaders Hamburg in the section's other fixture, but Mowbray insists it is far too early in the competition to be drawing conclusions.

"We have two home games on the bounce - and if we win them then we will be in a good position for the next one in the group," added Mowbray. "Then it will be complicated for somebody else - so let's wait and see."

Mowbray saw enough from Celtic to retain faith in their ability at this level.

"We will go into both of those games with confidence, as we did this time," he confirmed. "All teams away from home in Europe try and make themselves hard to beat - and for 75 minutes, we did just that and got our noses in front. But ultimately we lost 2-1 and we have to take it on the chin and get ready for the league game on Sunday."

Celtic were given the day off after a gruelling flight through the night from Tel Aviv, before preparing for Sunday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League match at home to Hearts.

Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo insists he has not been surprised how quickly Craig Thomson has adapted to first-team football. Injuries forced Laszlo to blood the 18-year-old at right-back in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League play-off clash with Dinamo Zagreb last month - but he has impressed enough to remain an ever-present since.

"I'm not surprised by Craig Thomson and how he has fitted into the team," Laszlo told Hearts News. "He has done well in games. But we also have Jason Thomson and Eggert Jonsson, so we have three very capable young players. There will be good competition for places when Eggert is fit again."

 

Comment 5 - 24 of 24

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  1. Doing a great job Tony.Keep up the good work.

    From Haunchy P, on Sat 19 Sep 12:50AM
  2. JOKSTER , I THINK YOU ARE CONFUSED YOUR TEAM PROVED IT­ LAST NIGHT THAT THEY ARE THE EASIEST TEAM IN THEIR­ GROUP

    "FAIL FAIL" YOU`LL BE LUCKY­ TO GET A SINGLE POINT

    From Duncan, on Fri 18 Sep 8:21PM
  3. yes we the tic fans will give TM a chance but come on­ we can and should be disappointed about losing that­ game after all they were the easiest team in our group

    From jokster, on Fri 18 Sep 5:00PM
  4. Give Tony a chance, its only start of season. There us­ a lot of jealousy coz hes been appointed. Its not his­ fault blame the players who are not bothered

    From green.julieann, on Fri 18 Sep 3:06PM
  5. all that good money wasted, thank's tony mowbray?

    From Matthew, on Fri 18 Sep 3:05PM
  6. GREAT TO SEE ALL THE PLOUGHBOYS UNREST IN THE CAMP­ LOOKS AS IF YOU`RE GOING BACK TO THE JOCK BROWN OR JOHN­ BARNES DAYS

    "FAIL FAIL"

    From Duncan, on Fri 18 Sep 3:02PM
  7. i think we can all see now why mogga and granty both­ got the sack from WBA and norwich they havent got a­ clue. the way to beat the tims is very easy to­ understand you just simply attack their powder puff­ defence and you will score goals against them. a blind­ @#$% can see that.but the mongo teams in the jock­ league just want to defend against the tims so always­ end up losing and make the tims look good in a pathetic­ league/ENGLISH SAM

    From john, on Fri 18 Sep 2:29PM
  8. c'mon to feck guys!!!! when TM was appionted he­ was given at least a season to get things sorted,by­ most of you now,you're calling for his head. Yes­ the second half was a disgrace and we deserved to be­ punished. But christ on a bike. I dont remember TM­ having mega millions at his disposal,to buy a new back­ line. I think he's sussed GC thats why theres no­ contract talks. Give the man the time he needs to­ build his own team. Then judge him!!

    From sherbet_d, on Fri 18 Sep 2:14PM
  9. so what happened to the total football we are going to­ play the celtic way and show the world we the celtic­ invented football. the tims could hardly string 2­ passes together and looked like a 10th div pub team in­ the 2nd half/ENGLISH SAM

    From john, on Fri 18 Sep 1:54PM
  10. Heh heh, let's not go down that road metz, eh? what­ we really need, in fact what football needs worldwide,­ is to shoot all the agents and player reps. There are­ too many players putting their hands up and saying­ 'my agent will decide'.

    From lysdexic, on Fri 18 Sep 1:27PM
  11. Lysie,then perhaps its not a new manager you­ need,perhaps its a new board???

    From METZ, on Fri 18 Sep 1:14PM
  12. closs; with all respect, that mob last night were at­ best very ordinary, wev'e got a harder game on­ Sunday against Hearts, and if they don't pick­ themselves up and improve... big time, we could easily­ find ourselves on the end of another gubbing.

    From lysdexic, on Fri 18 Sep 1:08PM
  13. metz, you already know my feelings on Mogga's­ appointment, I would have given Willie McStay the job­ and to hell with the consequences, but he inherited a­ dressing room with a lot of problems, of that there is­ no doubt. I think he's been putting band-aids on a­ gash since he took over.

    From lysdexic, on Fri 18 Sep 1:03PM
  14. "Manager Tony Mowbray doubts the significance of­ Celtic's Europa League defeat at Hapoel Tel­ Aviv." Oh does he indeed? Well Tony, the­ significance is that we were mugged by a bunch of­ second raters. The defence isn't good enough and we­ haven't got a striker worth talking about.and if­ you can't do anything about it then you've no­ business being at the club. As for Caldwell demanding­ contract talks, well the only piece of paper I'd­ give him is his P45!

    From John L, on Fri 18 Sep 12:57PM
  15. #8 Apart from not picking them for the 1st team,sending­ them to the reserves for the rest of the season,putting­ them out on loan,suspending them,albeit on full­ wages,or transfer listing them,there is a lot a manager­ can do,it would appear that Mowgli is either­ unwilling,or incapable of showing he is the top dog at­ Parkhead,hence my analogy in previous post,lets face­ it,he done a pretty bad job at WBA & wasn`t that­ great when at hibs(couple of wins against the old­ firm,nowhere near a sniff of a trophy)still dont­ understand why the board plumped for him,dont hold with­ Mr.Reids"hes part of the celtic­ family"pish.Yes there will be people telling me­ "give him time",but in todays game time is­ something managers dont have a lot of

    From METZ, on Fri 18 Sep 12:52PM
  16. No one gave Celtic much of a chance after the home­ defeat by Dinamo - not condoning the second half­ performance but... wait a bit before all this doom and­ gloom

    From CLOSS, on Fri 18 Sep 12:36PM
  17. metz, the trouble is most footballers are about as­ bright as done globes, and with agents and­ representatives becoming involved, the managers'­ autonomy in the dressing room is under constant­ challenge, because it's not now about playing for­ the jersey, it's all to do with wages and worth, or­ more accurately perhaps, what they are worth­ comparatively. All it takes is one player, with an­ inflated opinion of himself instilled by his­ representative, to create an atmosphere of unrest and­ uncertainty which will permeate the whole dressing­ room. There's not much a Manager can do when the­ lunatics are trying to run the assylum.

    From lysdexic, on Fri 18 Sep 12:36PM
  18. Coming from a Celt... That was a fukin disgrace last ­ night... That so called team "Hapoel" were ­ rubbish and to top things of we were worse... we should­ have killed the game off in the first half when we had­ the chance instead of fukin about trying to show off ­ with the ball.
    "KNOW YOUR HISTORY" don't ­ make me laugh... the team were awful and had a cheek ­ playing with the shirt on last night... fans quite ­ rightly giving the team pelters at the end of the game,­ they deserved it and more!!!

    From stevoc1968, on Fri 18 Sep 12:25PM
  19. Lysie, you may have a point,some of your players­ certainly didn`t look like they wanted to be there last­ night,a few of them looked like they weren`t!!!! But if­ you have descension in the ranks its the managers­ job(surely) to sort that out,Sir Alex wouldnt stand for­ it(proven,Beckham,Van Nostrilboy,Staam),as far as I can­ see Mowgli looks like a traffic policeman on mogadon­ trying to stop a runaway truck,he needs to stop the rot­ now or the season will only get worse

    From METZ, on Fri 18 Sep 12:19PM
  20. #3 alan, against that mob last night in the first half,­ in fact in the first quarter of the game, Celtic should­ have dictated the pace and pressured for the win early­ bells. They instead were content to let Hapoel slow the­ game down and suck Celtic into running around playing a­ fancy passing game in midfield, like it was a practice­ game. The issues with defence have been ongoing for a­ long time now, and it's become a bit of a cliche­ that they don't wake up until after the first­ monumental blunder. I cringe every time I see a high­ ball come in with Loovens under it, he can trap a ball­ further than ever I could kick it.

    From lysdexic, on Fri 18 Sep 12:16PM
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