Abada’s potential

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Don’t take this to heart too soon, but Liel Abada has the potential to eclipse anyone else currently in the Celtic squad.  The natural instinct he has demonstrated inside the box since he arrived as a teenager two years ago, is gold dust.

The Great Swede was 26 when he came to Glasgow, having spent most of his days on the wing.  At Leil’s age, he was also waif-like and was far from capable of being the focus of an elite attack.  Wim Jansen knew what was hidden from others and together they rewrote history.

I could not be more delighted our Israeli Star is secured until 2027.

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284 Comments

  1. Nope, it’s wide open.

     

     

    Haksa gone and has taken his AirPods and bleach with him.

     

     

    His stylist said she is “Stoked for him.”

  2. The Blogger Formerly Known As GM on

    Feeling tired now.

     

     

    Off to wet the bed.

     

     

    Hoping one or two of these “young players with potential” can step up.

  3. Aipple…. HUnlucky…..lol…

     

    I’m lookin out my back door at a nearly full moon…

     

    So …..I’m a moohowler…circa 2004…….Sorry Paul..

     

     

     

     

     

    H.H

  4. PeterLatchfordsBelly on

    From 2 days ago….

     

     

    This is the game, let the enormity of what Celtic are attempting to achieve over the next two days sit with you for a few moments and you might begin to enjoy the unfolding drama. It sure beats wearing adult nappies (I’m led to believe).

     

     

    Since which time we’ve brought in a ring rust CB on a 4 month emergency loan, a young prospect from Benfica on loan and a winger from Greece, the latter two we’ve known about for a week. Hardly earth shattering business. Definitely feeling very much s’what’s the big deal P67 was unferring´? Turns out there wasn’t one.

     

     

    Be surprised if Rodgers stays a year.

  5. Bhoy From The Boyne on

    Well that was an underwhelming week…..booked & awaiting medical rooms across Europe and all that.

  6. Thank God I’m not the only self-confessed bedwetter and adult nappy wearer on here tonight to scorn that grotesque editorial which was an insult to everyone who can read the writing on the wall.

     

     

    Others are like the Forever Trumpers. You will deny reality even after it has smacked you in the face. Some of the vitriol poured on guys expressing concern over the last week has been appalling to read. Some folk on here, including the host, should be mortified.

     

     

    But tomorrow the spin starts.

     

     

    Nobody can pull the wool over the eyes of the manager though. He knows what this is, and has made it about as clear as he can without precipitating the full-scale crisis.

     

     

    They got my season ticket money, but since they can’t be bothered to even make an effort for the Champions League that’s all they’re going to get from me except what most of you would expect; some hard questions about why four key positions in this team haven’t been strengthened.

     

     

    I guess our “world class” head of scouting was just unlucky. Dog ate his homework or something. Or … and this is just a thought … maybe the only “world class” thing about him is his salary. It helps to have Daddy on the board, and the chairman at that!

     

     

    Welcome to Club Desmond, Lawwell & Sons. I guess there are some people who don’t have a problem with that. And that’s fine. But your contempt for those of us who do is hunnic behaviour.

  7. This was a treble winning squad that needed a few tweaks to strengthen the areas that last seasons CL highlighted, I don’t think anyone envisioned a window of this nature when Brendan was appointed

  8. James Forrest

     

     

    Go get a life rather than commentating on stuff you have no clue about.

     

     

    I hate to think what folks like you would have been like on a blog in 1965.

     

     

    Entitled arrogant some might even say 90s hunlike would be very polite.

     

     

    For me it’s godly who have never actually had any real responsibility or accountability who are the empty vessels making most noise.

     

     

    Tomb Tabards as the legend goes.

     

     

    .

  9. Bhoy From The Boyne on

    Play Scales at LB on Sunday ahead on Taylor if GT isn’t going to play the inverted fullback role.

     

     

    Scales gives us more height at LB and he has previous good form for Aberdeen against the Zombies.

     

     

    Zombies will otherwise target GT all game, particularly with diagonals.

  10. Celtic’s generation plus of success must be so painful for those who hate anyone in positions of authority in life. Folk who have to step up and do it rather than talk shite on a blog all day about what was wrong.

  11. I think there’s a hell of a lot of projecting going on as far as what people think Brendan wanted from the window

     

     

    This is what he said today:

     

     

    “There’s obviously areas we’ve wanted to improve and we’ve been able to do that”

     

     

    But we’ll ignore that in the mad rush to condemn those responsible for not giving us what was obviously needed.

     

     

    Maybe Brendan was happy with a left back who’ve ltd last season was played 37 games, lost 1 and drew 3. Maybe he can’t see the “obvious” decline in Joe Hart

     

    Maybe he doesn’t think Calmac’s legs have gone

     

     

    At no point did were we linked with first choice left backs, keepers or dms. Maybe he meant what he said when he first came in.

  12. James Forrest,

     

     

    Ive been around these parts long enough to remember your meltdown when we failed to sign Steven Fletcher in the January window, and how it was definitely the board’s failure to do so that us the league that year.

     

    You didn’t have so much to say when we signed Robbie Keane the following January and still failed to win the league.

     

    Maybe, just maybe, others know a bit more about this stuff than you do. Maybe the vagaries of the transfer market for a huge club in a relative footballing backwater aren’t quite so easy to navigate as you’d like everyone to believe?

     

    And maybe it’s just happenstance that every post I see of yours on this blog is a negative one? Despite all the success that’s followed.

     

     

    Maybe.

     

     

    But still, despite all the maybes, I’d never describe your behaviour as “hunnic”

     

     

    So, maybe give it a rest, yeah?

     

     

    #HappyclapperCSC

  13. It’s like people have lost their minds this window. Not the greatest couple of months to be a Celtic supporter, crazy really when you think we won a treble in May, git a previous incredibly successful manager in and had the luxury of a summer without cl qualifiers

     

     

    I’m not sure it gets much better but it’s been full of argument, and constant complaining about not getting what we want

  14. Brendan has spoken for a whole now about needing quality. When he’s asked today at a press conference about our new signings and he uses words like young, potential, development and refuses to say the word quality, then he’s making a point.

     

     

    Our gaffer is not a stupid man. He chose his words today.

     

     

    The window has been a shocker and we will need every ounce of BR’s talent to make up for it.

  15. Wow ..check all the lurker ..sherkers .. callin out the in moment posters..

     

    Feck off …what? you too proud to visit us everyday….

     

    Thanks for your input ..now gently take your wisdom and Do one….

  16. HEADTHEBALL on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2023 8:07 PM

     

    Soro is such sweet parting.

     

     

    ———

     

     

    Nice one HTB ;))

     

     

    ——–

     

     

    JF: remember when you absolutely insisted that Postecoglou bloke should be nowhere near our club ;))

     

    How did that pronouncement age ?

     

    This was a productive window not a perfect one. HH

  17. Henrik…. lol everything but spag ball !!! cause the wee one hates it.

     

    Chicken nuggets ….P5 …wiv sauce….

     

     

    .

  18. As Quadrophenian said, it’s been a productive window, far from perfect, but not the disaster some would have you believe…

     

     

    Advanced warning, apologies for the lengthy ramblings as i commit my unwanted opinions to the blog…

     

     

    Out the door: Jota, Starfelt, Mooy, Hazard, Barkas, Soro, Haksabanovic, Corr, Goldie, Letsosa, Wylie, Lawal, McPherson, Montgomery, Urhoghide, Summers, Shaw, Clarke, Otoo, maybe one or two more I’ve missed

     

     

    Of those nineteen, one for £25M that we could not refuse, one who retired and one more who followed his GF to Iberia…all three regretted leavers but none could realistically be persuaded to stay.

     

     

    Of the other sixteen, only Haksabanovic and Ben Summers troubled the first team last season, with 8 starts & 18 subs from Sead and just 2 subs from Ben.

     

    Of that 16, six young guys out on loan, the remaining ten, loaned, sold or released.

     

     

    A lot of deadwood gone, but not all…i would hope to move on Mikey Johnston, McCarthy, Scales, Bain, Turnbull, Siegrist, Ralston, Oh and Iwata in January, but realise we may need to retain certain home-trained Scots for Euro squad-filling purposes…

     

     

    As for contract extensions, McGregor, Kyogo, Maeda & Abada all on new 4 or 5 year deals, possibly Hatate to follow when he realises his agent hasn’t succeeded in working his ticket…I would guess that only one of those will see out their whole new contract, but at least we mitigated the risk of them running down their current deals and leaving on the cheap.

     

     

    Ten new faces signed since 1st July, Nawrockl, Lagerbielke, Holm, Palma, Tilio, Iwata, Kwon and Yang all perms, two loans in Phillips and Bernardo.

     

    Of these, very early days but i would expect Nawrocki, Lagerbielke, Palma, Phillips & Bernardo to all feature fairly regularly either starting or subs, Holm & Yang to feature but less regularly and the other three to join the list of deadwood…

     

     

    So to summarise my rambling musings on our squad, three out that we regret, only Starfelt definitely covered, but hopeful for Bernardo, Holm and Palma to step up to fill the Mooy & Jota gaps.

     

     

    A lot of deadwood out, but work still to be done to shift at least four or five more in January.

     

     

    And a lot more work needed to meet Brendans requirements…2 new GK, a LB to replace Taylor, a RB to support Johnston, a CM to allow McGregor to move forward (possibly Holm could do this) and two CF to replace Oh and support Kyogo.

     

    So at least six more needed, not factoring in any more regretted leavers this season…

     

     

    Also expect Hart & Forrest to retire next May…so would snap up Schmeichel on a free (and Jota, if he gets released to accommodate Salah😉)

     

     

    Feel free to ignore, ridicule or comment…not as if theres anything interesting on the horizon this weekend…

  19. James Forrest , are you still hanging around with your petty comments ?

     

     

    Hunnic behaviour? Describes you to a tee !

     

     

    Do us all a favour…….

     

     

    HH

  20. We don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes of the transfer market – players and their agents playing one team off another hoping to force a better deal, wages issues, length of contract etc. When BR joined again and was quoted as saying he hoped to do something better in Europe this time round it immediately led to talk of a big transfer budget without anyone mentioning that a player on a high transfer fee also means a player on big wages. I think the deal we have for CB from Liverpool reserves is probably the best we can do. And remember some of our better players over the years were not high profile players: Henrik, VVD, Wanayama, even Sutton was not much desired down south. Who knows what our new lot can do eventually with good coaching. We’ve made progress in that we’re no longer making so-called marquee signings that are expected to set the house on fire and excite the fans who then turn out to be abysmal failures except in the dressing room: “A player with that kind of experience is invaluable in the dressing room, really helps the young players.” Aye right. If we rely on these kind of signings for influence in the dressing rook and not on the park you have to ask serious questions about your captain and coaches.

     

     

    I think we get a lot right and every team gets some things wrong, even top EPL teams.

     

     

    Big Joe will do for a while yet. GT is a weak link, especially in Europe and maybe even on Sunday. Our midfield still lacks dig and that is a concern as it will mean little protection for the back line and JH. I’d start LS at centre back and get ready to move him to left back if rangers target that side as I think they will. Then bring on our Liverpool centre back.

     

     

    They’ll press high and that will create a lot of nervous moments but the more we avoid an early goal and get our wingers flying then we might just take the lead and stay there.

  21. Good Morning Celts – Grand Day To Be A Tim

     

     

    What a summer window, as many predicted, normal service has been resumed, the Ange, Dominic McKay inspired sleek, efficient and by and large successful transfer window has gone

     

     

    A fleeting glimpse of what can happen when you get focused, able professionals on the job…

     

     

    First the good news, we managed to keep Abada, Hatate, O’Riley and other first team regulars looked upon with covetousness eyes

     

     

    Next the bad news, as I have long thought our recruitment “model” has proven unfit for purpose

     

     

    Areas of the first team we needed strengthened left well alone, other areas where we needed strengthened given below par prospects, areas where we are legion bolstered by players no better than what we have.

     

     

    It’s all very hit and miss, the only first team player we got in, fitting the Manager’s profile, was one BR knew of from his time at Leicester.

     

     

    Let me give you an example of why this “model”, is unfit for purpose.

     

     

    Did we need a forward?

     

     

    Yes or No

     

     

    It was stated we wanted a forward, so we must presume yes

     

     

    Has the model identified a suitable forward?

     

     

    Yes or No

     

     

    We put a bid in for a forward, so we must presume yes

     

     

    Did we sign this forward

     

     

    No

     

     

    Did we identify another forward and bid

     

     

    No

     

     

    Did we need a forward?

     

     

    Yes or No

     

     

    We didn’t sign one so we must presume no

     

     

    The Kvistgaarden bid is an enigma in a long line of enigmas when it comes to Celtic bids, after three bids and still being short, we stopped bidding

     

     

    Yet Brøndby wanted 6 mn for him, quite reasonable you’d think for a player who would be challenging the Celtic forward line, a Danish U21 International

     

     

    Our Danish U21 International is valued at over 10 mn

     

     

    Now, I’m glad we never bought Kvistgaarden as for me he was no better than what we had in a Kyogo, Meada, Abada type player and was unlike Oh, who brings something different to the front line

     

     

    Yet that doesn’t make the bid less bizarre

     

     

    The Board placemen are stating we lost interest in in the Dane because we preferred Palma

     

     

    Yet Palma is another winger, to add to Tilio and Yang who we bought this year and was supposedly a replacement for Jota

     

     

    Yet while all this was going on, we needed a GK, a LB and a DM – top quality, experienced players in each of these positions that the “model” failed to identify or secure

     

     

    It points to one thing, we left the proven Ange transfer approach behind last summer to go back to the moneyball approach

     

     

    This approach failed for two reasons, we ran it badly and it did not facilitate good squad management.

     

     

    Now better run and as a part of multiple approaches to signing players, this could well be a very good strategy

     

     

    Yet the last three windows suggest it is being ran as before

     

     

    A numbers game (three wingers and three central midfielders as prospects this year), with the price key and quality secondary.

     

     

    Replacing first team starters with prospects

     

     

    Deadwood already piling – Haksabanovic, Bernabei

     

     

    “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”.

     

     

    Hail Hail