What warning signs there were, were observed. Last season Qarabag beat Salzburg (who then won at Celtic Park), drew home and away with Twente and Saint Etienne, drew at home with Inter, and beat Europa League finalists, Dnipro. Remotely disrespect their challenge, and you’d leave Baku empty handed.
I think we would be over-generous to either team to make too much of the chances on show. James Forrest had the goal at his mercy, before choosing to make a pass, which, if it got through the immediate defender, would have found a heavily marked Leigh Griffiths, but shots from distance don’t count. This was a game without real chances. It also provided some evidence that James Forrest’s confidence is not where it once was.
The defence scarcely put a foot out of place but the performance of Stefan Johansen and Scott Brown was pivotal to the outcome. Johansen disrupted Qarabeg high up the field, showing incredible energy levels in that heat. Scott Brown held a deeper position throughout and got himself in the way of Qarabag repeatedly.
We had nothing going forward. Gary Mackay-Steven was put on his bum a few times early on and looked to be suffering heat-exhaustion more than anyone else. Nadir Ciftci was isolated, again, but the hoped-for link play didn’t materialise. He needs a link player. That’s a problem for another day. Between now and then, you and I have a Champions League play-off draw to worry about. Once we know our fate we can worry about being more creative.
It was an absolute treat again to see the Celtic FC Foundation logo, this time on the first choice jersey. Magners could have put their bottled water brand there instead, but they get what this relationship with Celtic is all about. The help they’ve given our Mary’s Meals, school kitchen appeal is further evidence of this.
Our competition where you can win a Celtic third choice (bumblebee) top, courtesy of Mangers, closes at 14:00 THIS AFTERNOON. To enter, email celticquicknews@gmail.com with the name of the country Mary’s Meals have built four CQN school kitchens in the subject line of your message.
If you can cope with the excitement of also sending a £1 or £2 to the appeal while entering, you can do so here. Thank you.
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To be fair to Chick Young, Ronny hasn’t shot any seagulls
TheClumpany
Some really good stuff lately. Your ability to pick up on inconsistencies in the MSM and at Sevco and turn it into humour makes your articles a must-read.
Delighted with that performance (and agree, Antip, best Celtic TV reception since its outset).
Surprised not to see Biton mentioned – thought he looked ever inch a CL player last night, my MOM.
HH
glendalystonsils
If we keep him for another season we will have to sell him at a cut price. If we keep him another two seasons we will lose him for nothing. It’s clear he will not sign a new contract.
Celtic will have to weigh up willingness of the player to stay as much as the cash. If Celtic believe his heart is still in it then they are happy to let him run his contract down like we did with Hooper.
Let’s not forget that we are able to attract good young players as we provide CL football and a springboard to the EPL. If we dig our heels in and start holding players against their will, future young players might see us as untrustworthy.
frannyb67 on 6th August 2015 2:18 pm
While I don’t necessarily agree with Chick Young in this case if eg Neilson brings Hearts up and gets a convincing 2nd place to Celtic I’d say that was a better managerial performance than RD.
It’s not just about who wins what, you have to take the background into account.
Celtic losing to Barca in the CL semi-finals who eventually win it would for me be a better performance by RD than Luis Enrique.
Glendalys
The ole Paradise windfalls.
Highly delighted that we are where we are – in with a chance of qualification.
I think one, or, two of us are getting slightly carried away – Paul encapsulates it in his piece.
We are still work in progress – Qarabag were a decent enough side and would probably finish runners-up in our league, however their finishing was woeful and they completely ran out of ideas in the second half.
Was worried that the first game was at CP, however it worked out well – my guess is that if we had 0-0 from the away leg, it would have been more anxious at CP, in the return – now I am undecided on what would be best in the play-off, although I have a suspicion that the seeded club is always away first – anyone confirm?
We are now caught in a supreme ‘Catch 22’ situation – do we take a chance and bring one, or two, in before August 10 deadline, or, do we ‘stick’, hope we get through, and then be able to offer CL participation to better candidates.
I am sure that there will be a few top-class loan signings to be had at the end of August, when the top-half EPL clubs review their position and register their first team squads – depending on who we get tomorrow, we may decide to ‘risk it’ and wait till then.
On the draw – in my opinion, Malmo would be ideal – we know about them and, the travel is easy.
The exiled tim and Al Jazeera ticker tape
I recall when we were on the seville run we regularly got a mention on the international CNN ticker tape, it was a regular update of the 10 top teams in the world and we slid in at number 9
I watched it while at the gym and swear i could lift an extra kilo every time i saw it!
Heady days indeed!
Hello Philip,
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………..
Seems to be a standard reply.
Still, I’m sure someone will be counting them!
Had a hell of a job logging in.
Same thing happened yesterday.
Ah well.
It’s nice to be nice. Reply from, ahem, the BBC
Hello Bernard,
Thanks for taking the time to contact us with your positive comments about last night’s Celtic match.
As it was BT Sport Europe’s first coverage of a UEFA Champions league game, it’s good to receive such encouraging comments and feedback.
We hope you continue to enjoy the rest of our exclusive coverage of the Champions League and all that BT Sport has to offer.
Thanks again for your feedback.
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BT Sport Team
I said after the first leg it was too early to tell how good Carrierbag were. They looked a decent passing team but I thought it would be different when they were trying to win the game.
If anything the pitch was more of a disadvantage to them than us. I see a few people fancy drawing Malmo, not for me. They have recent CL experience and knocked out a decent team last night. I’d take Astana, I know it’s a long way to travel but we’ve been there and done that with Carrierbag.
Don’t understand what we want from Johansen. For me he looked most likely to get us a goal last night, he came damn close. Do we want him to retain possession first and foremost or do we want him to be a goal threat. In an ideal world he’d do both but in an ideal world these players wouldn’t cost £20m +.
By the way, I think the focus on new players for the next round is misguided.
New players take time to integrate. Even if we did sign somebody, I would be tempted to stick with the team that got the job done last night. Maybe bring in Leigh for Cifci.
I’d like to sign another striker by the end of the window and a replacement for VVD if needed.
I thought we needed another LB but maybe Tierney is the answer?
Just off the wee local bus,
Sevco driver nearly greetin when i left him:)))).
“how can yous be seeded for the draw on fri” he squealed painfully on my boarding the bus,
Coz were CHAMPIONS
I then informed him that last night ensured another 8 euro ties(at least)
4 at home plus Qarabag at home
A MILLION QUID a game(just to turn the knife), Thennnnnnnnnnnnnnnn if we get beat they give us £3million ,wid ye believe that 3 million fir gettin beat:))))
that s£8 million,then we will sell big virgil for £10m spend £3m on his replacement,ye need to speculate to accumulate, but we will put plenty in the bank , thats without the CL money,all in all last night ensured were rollin in it,think how many scott allens you lot could buy.:)))))))))))))))).
None of the above may be true but it had the desired effect on the deluded driver,
“Its awwwwww a corrupt clique” says he on the verge of sobbing.
BadmhanCSC
Wooooooohoooooooooo my names green:))))))))))
I don’t have anything of any value to say right now, I just want to see my moniker in big green letters!
.
HH!!
Tam
Aye, heady days indeed, wish there could be more, you never know.
I recall reading something roughly 10-12 years ago, there was a survey of college kids in America, predominantly mid west, to name football clubs they had heard of, Celtic came third behind Bocca Juniors and Real Madrid,
I know the feeling :-)
HH
Just noticed the green monikers.
Much better
HH
We all see the lack of creativity & we are missing an explosive striker to make a chance out of nothing. Hopefully with just one qualifier to come these two areas will now be addressed.
On the game last night, our fitness levels were terrific all over the pitch, however a couple of things concern me for when we meet better opposition. Qarabag were reluctant to put any crosses into the box despite countless opportunities to do so. Not just Armstrong, & GMS but they were giving away too much space & a better team would have punished us for this. Also at corners we vacate the 18 yard line completely. Thankfully Qarabag couldn’t hit the target from 20 or so yards as they had three or four real chances to do so, a better side won’t be as wasteful. These two aspects along with being more clinical in the final third & getting Nir tied up long term, really need addressing.
HH!
If we brought in a new player and he was as success, the view would be that it was a good move. The opposite would also be true so speculation at the moment is only a bit of fun on a football blog. Personally, I am happy with what we have and would consider keeping Virgil a greater factor to our future success than signing a new player.He is a magnificent Central defender and if he played for anyone other than us the Media would be very, very loud in praising him.
JJ
PS 10 out of 10 for the Green Monikers.
For me, there is only one club whose name doesn’t merit respect.
Qarabag are not that club.
We don’t like it when the name Celtic is misused, so why do some think it is smart to adopt Lineker’s recent sneering pronunciation of our recent opponent?
And we’re back in the Green:))
Lefty yer a bhadman:)))
Roaring at work!
Lefty 2.53 pm
Brilliant – lol.
HH
Had to listen to the whole game on the radio, and even from listening to shortbread commentary I could tell that the referee was giving us nothing. Strangely for me I wasn’t too nervous about getting a result as apart from CG flap I did not get the impression that we were ever in danger.
Just shows that even although we are seeded for each round , it is certainly not a given that we get thru..
Sevco , when they eventually get into Europe , if indeed , they ever get in , will not be seeded as their co-efficient will be almost zero. They have no chance of getting thru the qualifiers in order to earn enough money in the group stages to put a team together capable of getting thru to the group stages. It’s a catch 22 problem.
They’re f**cked.
Great to see my moniker in green!
Read an earlier poster say that he had emailed BT on their excellent coverage last night. Which encouraged me to do likewise.
So refreshing not having to listen to the likes of Whyte, McCann and Walker.
Although three ex Celts were involved I think there comments were fair and honest.
Morning lads
RIP George Cole. Quite liked Minder.
On VVD moving on ….. If he wants to go, I dont think we have much choice. Unfortunately, Celtic is not seen as a top tier destination for most players; rather, it is seen as a stepping stone for young up and coming players. For players like Denayer, they will win trophies (which never hurts), and will get first team game time, including in the coveted European games. They will love playing in front of our fans, but, most importantly, this puts them in the shop window for richer teams. As such, the league we play in and money we can pay will always mean that we will struggle to hold onto those sorts of players.
They come because they know they will put themselves in the market for a move to a bigger, richer club in a bigger, richer league. We know it and they know it. If we stop them moving when reasonable opportunities arise, we may struggle to attract top young talent in the future. Unfortunate, but that is the reality we must face, at least, until we can get several years of sustained CL progress and money (which, may allow us to compete financially and otherwise with some of the richer leagues). Maybe then some of these good young players will want to come and stay for the CL, instead of taking slightly less money to play for Watford or some such team. But for now money talks.
So, get as much as we can for VVD, but make sure that we have a replacement ready to take his place.
I saw the statistics about our goals conceded. hard to argue with numbers, but I think it might be overstated somewhat. (what is it someone said about statistics?!) Our defence is good, but we have to keep in mind that our mids and even our forwards were defending last night (and not always from the front)….. not giving up goals is great, but, its importance can be overstated, if it comes at the expense of creating and scoring … which (except against SPL dross), it largely has …. the real test is if we can continue that excellent defensive record, while at the same time managing more possession and creating chances. We cant expect to (i) keep two clean sheets in ties against better european teams, and (ii) progress if we only manage one goal. But if we can maintain our solid defence, while starting to create and take a few chances, then we can expect a really productive CL run this season. Fingers crossed/coach for the forwards needed to help RD.
Just watched some girl on Sky the interview Andy Walker. She says, ‘Celtic weren’t very convincing last night’. Good on Walker, who said the compete opposite.
There really is a concerted effort to belittle or associate a negative aspect to everything we do. The BBC and Sky are leading the way with this, while mounting a supportive campaign behind the deadboys. We need to challenge and counter their campaign.
Good time hear Chris Sutton & co last night.
Leftclicktic on 6th August 2015 2 53
Brilliant.:0):0):0):0).HH.
Anybody know if you can buy the Hoops with the Foundation badge on it? Well smart.
This was a game without real chances. It also provided some evidence that James Forrest’s confidence is not where it once was.
I wonder how much of that is due to Celtic ‘supporters’ treatment of one of our own.
As one who confesses to unease when Izzy goes bombing up the left wing – though I love the wee mhan – I thought he was brilliant last night and proved without a doubt that he can defend well. Hope he continues with the game plan. also thought GMS played well, but was very unlucky with the state of the pitch – his coupon alone, never mind his ability and tricks, and effort, is enough to make your heart sing with joy. Great to be in the green.
A wee aside: emdae give me a steer on a good bus from Buchanan St to Maryhill for the PT match on Sun? First time there since the old Firhill in 1971 – just after that game, when we recovered some pride to win 5-0 I think.
HH
ps … like the names in green! feels more like CQN!
Friesdorfer,
Get the 60 or 61 First Bus from Hope Street, will drop you off on Maryhill Road.
glesga bus routes.
loads between centre and maryhill. or a 25 minute stroll if your adventurous.
http://www.firstgroup.com//ukbus/glasgow/assets/pdfs/maps/Glasgow_Network_Map_July2015.pdf
Chic Young thinks McInnes is the best manager in Scotland AND Ronnie isn’t.
Dog bites man.
Might post later once I’ve stopped laughing…
U
Scullybhoy,
Seersly…………………………………..
James Forrest is an impact player at best, turns it on 1 in 5, he’s a professional so if he cant get himself up for an important game then the buck lies with him.
Whilst not a huge fan, i thought, his pass apart, he did his bit for the team.
What is Jim McGuiness’ role ………………………………………….
SCULLYBHOY on 6TH AUGUST 2015 3:23 PM
This was a game without real chances. It also provided some evidence that James Forrest’s confidence is not where it once was.
I wonder how much of that is due to Celtic ‘supporters’ treatment of one of our own.
=======================================================================
Sorry I must with all due respect take issue that Celtic supporters treatment is a cause for James Forrest’s erratic performances.
In my view he is given more slack then any other player,for not a lot of return,” Young James ” is 2 years older than Neymar and 3 yrs older than Sterling yet he cannot hit the target from 12 yards.
His contribution in marginal,does not chase back,or tackle,and now no longer will take on a full back,these traits were evident in Barcelona 2 years ago when his inability to track Alba,after he lost the ball,cost us the game.
Playing with Celtic he is protected in the SPL as we wait for a 10% contribution.
The reason GMS was on in his place last night is he keeps working even when things are against him,European football is not the place for a petulant underachiever.
As for “one of our own” really?