A few nits to pick but lots went right for Celtic

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Lots went right last night, with only a few nits to pick.

Compare and contrast the key area of the field – central mid – with the game away in Malmo. With Bitton and Brown in their usual roles, Stefan Johansen dropped off his common (or Commons, if you like) position behind the striker to give us a central midfield three. As a result, everything clicked. Ajax were unable to pass through us, while central defence looked protected.

Again, Bitton was our main man. Always looking for a pass, always comfortable in possession, no matter how many opponents were in close proximity.  He even managed a Paul McStay-esque (that’s where you recognised it from) pass 40 yards ahead of Johansen in the second half. Brown and Johansen ran like clockwork alongside him and we looked like a team!

You’ll also have recognised the corner which led to Mikael Lustig’s goal. It was a carbon copy of Kris Commons’ effort, minutes from the end of the Qarabag game, and minutes after he came on as a substitute, which brought the only goal of that tie. It was drilled directly with the top of the foot, a very unusual and difficult delivery but one which, if executed well, is very dangerous.  Commons also got an assist for the first goal, an even more impressive piece of footwork before placing an inch-perfect pass between two Ajax defenders. Bitton’s controlled shot was sublime (I’ll avoid calling it Wakaso-esque, no need to jinx the lad).

I thought both full backs played well, until Izaguirre’s second yellow, of course. Izzie and Lustig were both booked for throwing themselves into challenges. It wasn’t a game for holding back to see what will happen next, so I’ve sympathy for the initial yellows, but Izzie had a game-intelligence bypass. His second yellow came a minute after another robust foul. The red was inevitable. It probably cost us the win.  The player is fighting for his place, and next contract, right now.  The pain on his face as he left the field was real, but he needs this pressure.  The lack of competition hasn’t been good for him in recent years.  Don’t write him off yet.

One frustration I had was that we didn’t get James Forrest on the ball often enough. James has the weapon of pace in his boots but we didn’t once manage to exploit it. Perhaps as a consequence Leigh Griffiths had a frustrating night with little to feast on. I’d have changed James role or replaced him earlier.

And what about Efe? Why he decided to take a man on, 20 yards from his own goal, a moment after coming on, only Efe will know, but thereafter he was the most influential player in securing the point. When Janko came on Efe pulled tight into a role as a defacto central defender.  He took responsibility and helped what was by then a relatively inexperienced defence.

When my youngest heard that Jozo Simunovic was making his debut there was a sharp intake of breath. “But what if he makes a mistake? All we’ll know about him is he’s made a mistake in a huge game.” Jozo looked the part, covered ground efficiently. It was a good start.

So what went wrong? Lustig went to ground on the wing, didn’t get the ball and left 20 yards of space open behind him. This drew Celtic defenders out of position to cover, which Ajax exploited excellently to score their first goal. They opened us up once more like this shortly thereafter, but that apart, they didn’t lay a glove on us until we were down to 10 men.

I’m pretty angry at the second Ajax goal. It was another cross into the six yard box we failed to attack. Dedryck Boyata ran between the two Ajax attackers in attendance, but seemed to be distracted by their runs. No one attacked the ball.  Get your starting position right and attack the ball – that’s the rule on set-pieces. We’re not following it.

And for the record, Craig Gordon was faultless for this one. A keeper has to stay on his line when a cross flies over attackers and defenders alike.  Whatever lies behind our recent frailties at defending cross balls, I suspect it’s not gone away.

The margins between success and failure in this group are shaping up to be thin. Ajax could have snatched three points at the end, we would have won the game if Izzie had stayed on the field. I’m not sure how I feel about Molde winning in Istanbul. A group with two difficult competitors now looks like a group with no easy games.  The group’s top seeds and the early favourites are both licking wounds this morning.

So let’s win it.

One big benefit from last night is that we can look forward to Sunday’s important game with a bit of enthusiasm.  The good people at Magners have again offered us two Premium Seats in the Jock Stein Stand for Sunday.  To win them, all you need to do is answer the following question:

Who do Celtic play on Sunday?

Email me, with your answer in the subject field, at celticquicknews@gmail.com

The competition closes at 2pm today, so there’s not much time and likely to be little competition.  And while you’re at it, how about donating a £1 to our Mary’s Meals, Malawi school kitchen appeal?  It takes moments to get involved here.

Thank you.

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1,491 Comments

  1. Kevj

     

     

    ma man…..if it’s too bad, then too bad…..fight, fight, fight, fight…….my friend…..fight till it’s impossible,then fight sum-more

     

     

    H.H.

  2. Cannae believe JOBO is proud of (whatever)…..am sure some triple jumpers are close…..24’04″”…..they don’t take forever to get there tho…..;-))

     

     

    H.H.

  3. Kalemera from beautiful sunny Zante. Is there the remote possibility RD will go with 2 up front today ?

  4. For it’s a grand old team to play for and its a grand old team to see. And if you know your history it’s enough to make your soar.

  5. Celtic more than just a football club. The ties that bind us are greater than anything that can divide us. HH

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    Document requested by pope about Easter Rising revealed

     

    Only two known copies exists of briefing note for Pope Benedict XV in 1916

     

     

     

    Ronan McGreevy

     

     

    Fri, Sep 18, 2015, 01:03

     

    First published:

     

    Fri, Sep 18, 2015, 01:03

     

     

     

    A briefing document prepared for the pope relating to the Easter Rising is being made public for the first time. The pink-bound La Recente Insurrezione In Irlanda (the recent insurrection in Ireland) was only discovered in the archives of the Archdiocese of Dublin two years ago. There are only two known copies in existence. The other is in the Vatican Library.

     

    The document was prepared at the insistence of Pope Benedict XV who was strongly anti-violence and who made repeated appeals to the various factions during the first World War.

     

    It was written by Msgr Michael O’Riordan, the rector of the Pontifical Irish College Rome, on September 1st, 1916, and it was discovered by a researcher who was looking through the papers of Msgr Michael Curran, the secretary to Archbishop William Walsh at the time of the Easter Rising.

     

    Its contents have never been translated into English, but a note with it states the “perfidy of the British government from the early days of the Home Rule movement is charted”. The document will go on display, along with other archival material from the Archdiocese of Dublin’s files at Clonliffe College, as part of Culture Night.

     

    The pope had been briefed on the volatile situation in Ireland before the Rising broke out, by Count George Plunkett whose son Joseph Mary Plunkett went on to be one of the signatories of the Proclamation.

     

    “From what we have gathered so far, the only other copy is a photocopied one in the Irish College in Rome,” said diocesan archivist Noelle Dowling.

     

    Priests of the archdiocese were caught up during the Rising and there is voluminous correspondence within the files that relate to Easter Week.

     

    Two letters from Gen John Maxwell, who ordered the execution of the leaders of the Rising, will go on display. Writing to Archbishop Walsh, Gen Maxwell said he wished to ask for possible assistance relating to a “delicate question”.

     

    Some people were using Requiem Masses said for the “repose of the souls of those unfortunates who suffered death for the leading part they took in the late deplorable rebellion, to make political demonstrations outside the churches and chapels in which Masses are said”. He recommended that those taking part in such Masses should “disperse quietly after they had been said and take no part in such demonstrations”.

     

    In another letter, Archbishop Walsh rebuffs Gen Maxwell’s attempts to honour priests who had exhibited “individual cases of special gallantry or devotion”. Archbishop Walsh responded by stating that there were indeed so many acts of gallantry that it would be “invidious to treat these cases as if they were exceptional”.

     

    Among the other items is a letter from Mabel FitzGerald, the wife of Irish Volunteer Desmond FitzGerald and mother of future taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. It is addressed to Archbishop Walsh and pleads with him to intervene with the British government to get her husband’s 10-year jail sentence reduced.

     

    Mrs FitzGerald acknowledges that her husband was in the GPO, but protested that he was only there in a civilian capacity distributing food and Red Cross provisions. “He was neither responsible for it, nor took a prominent or even a belligerent part in it, his sentence is quite disproportionately severe even among sentences which are all harsh,” she stated.

     

    Ms Dowling said the items on exhibition for Culture Night would be part of a bigger exhibition next year. “It has generated a lot of interest even among our own priests,” she added. “Parishes and priests have been contacting us saying they have further material.”

     

    Fri, Sep 18, 2015, 01:03

     

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    Fri, Sep 18, 2015, 01:03

     

     

     

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  7. The question about where might the nation be had Germany won WWII is fair enough and the implication is we might have as successful an economy as they do.

     

     

    However its worth pointing out that for many reasons they are where they are because they lost.

  8. Top of the morning to you all from a still, fair, but overcast Fife.

     

     

    Hope we can do the Dee today.

     

     

    100 years ago the Celts got a victory at Dens when Gallagher and Browning were the scorers against a Dundee side with Wee Troupie in attack that failed to register.

     

     

    Miners in Blairhall were on strike and Great Britain and France borrowed £100 million of the yankee bankers to keep the war going.

     

     

    All here: http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/1915-09-18%3A+Dundee+0-2+Celtic%2C+League

     

     

    H.H.

  9. Or is the question asked in that knowledge and wondering if, as losers, we’d have ultimately benefitted in the same way?

     

     

    I don’t think so but since my space is about to be invaded by two boys over excited at the prospect of going to CP I’ll leave that hanging.

  10. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    WEEMINGER

     

     

    Perhaps the U.S. point of view was that Germany and Japan lost,but need rebuilding. After that,they will do as they’re told.

     

     

    The UK won,and needs to be kept in line. Leave them to deal with a shattered country,a shattered economy,and a shattered population. That should keep them occupied.

  11. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    TONYDONNELLY

     

     

    That was some post,mate-seems it took more than two hours to read it!

  12. Good morning, been busy with not one but two black lab pups that the blonde one decided we needed.

     

     

    Now today I forsee a good Celtic victory, the result and fashion of the Ajax result should spur us on for the rest of the season.

     

     

    Ayrshire is Green and White

  13. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    MICKTT

     

     

    Two of them? Bloody hell…

     

     

    I suggest you get yourself sponsored when taking them for a walk!

  14. Good morning friends from a cloudy but dry and mild East Kilbride.

     

     

    Today is special. Because I get to see The Champions play.

  15. 50 shades of green on

    Morning tims.

     

     

    Am off to Holytown this morning for the wee weans football.

     

     

    Then its the Holy ground this afternoon for the big weans, to support the famous Glasgow Celtic .:-)

     

     

    ♡ Sundays like this ,Carlsberg are you watching, thats how to do Sundays.

  16. Note to oneself 1.

     

     

    Don’t read a Saturday night shift blog which starts off with anything what so ever to do with World Wars.

  17. Celtic, Celtic thats the team for me,

     

    Celtic, Celtic on to victory,

     

    They’re the finest team in Scotland, I’m sure you will agree,

     

    We’ll never give up till we’ve won the cup and the Scottish football league

     

     

    They come from bonnie Scotland, they come from county Cork,

     

    They come from dear old Donegal and even from New York,

     

    From every street in Glasgow they proudly make their way,

     

    To a place called dear old paradise and this is what they say.

     

     

    Celtic, Celtic thats the team for me,

     

    Celtic, Celtic on to victory,

     

    They’re the finest team in Scotland, I’m sure you will agree,

     

    We’ll never give up till we’ve won the cup and the scottish football league.

     

     

    There’s Fallon, Young and Gemmell who proudly wear the green,

     

    There’s Clark, McNeill and Kennedy the best there;s ever been,

     

    Jim Johnstone, Murdoch, Chalmers, John Divers and John Hughes,

     

    And sixty thousand Celtic fans who proudly shout the news.

     

     

    Celtic, Celtic thats the team for me,

     

    Celtic, Celtic on to victory,

     

    They’re the finest team in Scotland, I’m sure you will agree,

     

    We’ll never give up till we’ve won the cup and the Scottish football league.

     

     

    We’ll never give up till we’ve won the cup and the Scottish football league.

     

     

    We’ll never give up till we’ve won the cup and the Scottish football league.

     

     

    We’ll never give up till we’ve won the cup and the Scottish football league.

     

     

    Repeat to fade csc

  18. Note to oneself 2.

     

     

    Start an urgent in your face petition for charitable donations to get some poor unfortunate help.

     

     

    The campaign will help Tony learn how to cut and paste a story in readable size chunks.

  19. 50 shades of green on

    SAINT STIVS on 20TH SEPTEMBER 2015 9:29 AM

     

     

    Note to oneself 1.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Don’t read a Saturday night shift blog which starts off with anything what so ever to do with World Wars.

     

     

    *******************

     

     

    Ha, I started reading back and thought F that lifes to short.

     

     

    Glad I made the right decision for once.

  20. 50 shades of green on

    Remember all you lot going today .

     

     

    Nae farting :-).

     

     

    ************

     

     

    Its about time we hammered some mob, so Celtic is today the day.

     

     

    4 v 0 would be nice.

     

     

    H.H

  21. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    JOBO BALDIE

     

     

    Go to 28 seconds in,Henrik was still in his own half when The Evil Genius touched it off for him!

     

     

    HAPPY HOOOOOOPY BIRTHDAY,HENRIK.

  22. Jobo

     

     

    I think I might bet big Nadir Ciftci last goal today surely No.7 will notch on Henriks birthday, although I feel like a fraud as I am ditching wee Griffiths and going for Kris Commons hat-trick got a wee feeling the bhoys will put a show on today

  23. Macjay

     

     

    Enjoyed that, :-) to the echo of Waffen’s ( Whit are you playing that for at this time of the morning ?)

     

     

    Nobody is accredited to having written that ditty?, and I’ve always heard the Frank Haffey

     

    vocals story, but reckon it’s Celtic mythology turned to legend.

     

     

    Ole wiki has a guy called Derek Warfield as the singer

     

     

    Frank singing there’s ‘Fallon’ Young and Gemmell it’s funny but sad :-)

  24. BMCUW – great spot which I hadn’t fully appreciated until now. And just when I thought that goal couldn’t get any better!

     

     

    GERRYFAETHEBRIG – I’d love big Ciftci to get off the mark today too so I won’t jinx him by investing in that possibility ;-)

  25. Just walked along the beech in the hot sun with the stone roses on my headphones like yon fellow in the JD advert. Followed by a lovely cold beer. Yet my head and heart are elsewhere. C’mon the hoops.

  26. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 20TH SEPTEMBER 2015 9:52 AM

     

    Macjay

     

     

    It`s 7 pm ,mate.

     

     

    Waffen`s ..????

     

    Waffen S.S.,I`ve heard of.

     

     

    I was told the lead vocal on the “B” side was sung by Frank.

     

     

    Fallon …Yes,of course. Sad for Frank.

     

    He got a real hard time after Wembley.