New Footy Season 2016/17 ..How's your team doing?

[Marco]

Yup, at one stage away from the CL group stages, you'd expect the teams you're going to be playing to be difficult

However, I can see Celtic getting fitter and stronger all the time, with every match. Kolo Toure came on tonight, slotted into the defence, and looked wonderfully confident, solid and assured. You can see that he's a top player, and with Dembele scoring his first goal tonight, that will give him a lot of confidence.

The team's shaping up nicely, and with more quality signings imminent (perhaps Scott Sinclair and/or Paddy McNair), it bodes well for the long season ahead. Hearts on Sunday next, away at Tynecastle, to kick off the league season... Not the easiest of starts for us, but one I'm sure that the players will relish

Marco.

[Marco]

City are in Friday's draw too.

Ah yes, I was forgetting about the English clubs! Another 'Battle of Britain', like Leicester City vs. Celtic, but more meaningful this time? Let's hope not (for us anyway), as I think you guys would be too good for us right now.

Marco.

[struth]

At least the ones like ajax etc are not any further forward in season I expect so it may be the time to get them. some of those sides far away are up and running

[Stratmangler]

Kolo was always a pretty solid player.
Apart from the communications cock up with Hart on Sept 11th, 2010 (we played Blackburn Rovers, and struggled to get the equaliser following a pretty calamitous defending incident), Kolo came to be one of the dependable players in the squad.
His fall from favour at ours was due to him taking slimming pills in a bid to lose weight.
With the subsequent ban it was always going to be difficult to regain favour with Mancini, so he was never more than a bit player thereafter.

If he was still with us he'd probably be training on his own at fat camp - Guardiola banned all overweight first team players from training with the first team until they reached their target weights.
Nasri was on the receiving end of that treatment, although I don't believe he was the only one

[Stratmangler]

Ah yes, I was forgetting about the English clubs! Another 'Battle of Britain', like Leicester City vs. Celtic, but more meaningful this time? Let's hope not (for us anyway), as I think you guys would be too good for us right now.

Marco.

Shouldn't that be club?
I hope we don't get drawn together - there's a young man of ours up there in Glasgow who looks to be shaping up very nicely indeed. He could do well in your CL campaign. Here's to a speedy recovery

[Marco]

Yeah, young Mr Roberts.... He's really coming onto a game now, looking very impressive, so hopefully the injury he sustained tonight won't be too serious

I'm also looking forward to Boyata (and Jozo Simunovic) coming back from injury this month, which along with Kolo (not to mention Erik Sviatchenko), should make for a formidable defence this season.

Marco.

[Stratmangler]

I always liked Dedryck - I don't think he was given enough of a chance with City.

The high profile sending off by that idiot Clattenburg didn't do him any favours - a ref with any common sense about him would have took him aside, given him a proper ticking off and a yellow card, and that would be that.
Clattenburg makes a meal over a clumsy challenge with no malice, and Dedryck's on the end of the wrath of Mancini because he's sent on the long walk, with just five minutes on the clock

Dedryck didn't get near the bench for a good while after that, and when he did make the bench that was where he often stayed.

The following couple of seasons Dedryck spent most of the time out on loan.

[Stratmangler]

It's a fair old hike for Celtic - which idiot decided that Israel is in Europe, even though it isn't and never has been?
Unfortunately Celtic's home game is the first leg of the fixture.

City have something a bit closer to home, although it's still enough of a trek.
We have the advantage of a 2nd leg home game.

I don't think either Celtic's or City's drawn opponents are pushovers.

[Marco]

Nightmare - that's the last team I wanted us to face. Still, it is what it is, and we'll get on with the job accordingly.

One thing I like about having the home tie first, is you can get the 'losing the away goal' thing out of the way, and if that does happen, have a full 90 minutes and another game, in order to plan for and deal with the situation, rather than it happening in the middle of a home match, without enough time or a proper game plan to rectify matters.

So who did City get then, Chris?

Marco.

[Stratmangler]

Steaua Bucharest.