We could have had six or seven as well so that would have been a heck of a game, said Strachan. Jan (Vennegoor of Hesselink) had the best chance of anybody in the game from the header so that would have been different. And I don't know if he is counting the penalty as one of those chances.
I'm not having that as a chance. As it was, the Hoops were left to rue mistakes that were ruthlessly exploited by United and Strachan has called on the high profile names at Parkhead to live up to their billing. The Ireland international has been Celtic's best performer so far this season and Strachan has urged him to replicate his domestic form in Europe's premier competition.
We were all urging him on, he said. We know he has the ability and the talent but he will be judged at the end of his career on how he plays in the big games. People remember the big names and the big players and not the games against the nonLeague sides.
But hopefully he will get more big games and that is going to improve him. I don't want to speak about individuals, but one or two who are normally good at passing never got that going. I thought he was immense and actually unplayable at Old Trafford for an hour before he tired, said the Celtic manager.
Gary McSheffrey went to Birmingham from Coventry for GBP4million and Dean Ashton to West Ham for GBP7m, so make your own mind up about how much he is worth. The way he took his goal on Wednesday night was top drawer, said the Celtic captain. He just rolled Rio Ferdinand and then the way he stuck it away with his left foot, which I thought might have been his standing foot.
He has been excellent and he's surprised me because I didn't know how good he was, and he's a nice guy into the bargain who has brought a bit of personality into the dressing room. We did need that sort of option once John (Hartson) had left because we had players who were quite similar. He's got off to a great start and there's no guarantee that he's going to be a 30-goal a season man or anything like that, but he looks like he's very accomplished.
For Lennon himself, though, Wednesday night's game proved a point to himself as much as anyone watching. Talk that he might quit Celtic was in the air throughout the summer, but the midfielder believes he made the right decision in prolonging his stay in Glasgow for another year. I wanted to prove to myself that I could still do it, he said.
I felt really good last season but we didn't have any European nights. It would have been a lot to give up this season. I have played at Old Trafford a few times, but it was a great occasion on Wednesday night.
I thought we hung in there and played well ourselves, so there are a lot of positive things to take out of the game, he said. I think it's the first time since Juventus that we have scored two goals away from home and we created a lot of chances. If we weren't creating the chances, we would be disappointed, but it's not as if we sat in all night and just defended.
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