AEK Athens have played only four friendly fixtures since losing the Greek Cup Final on 12 May. They failed to score in three of those games, beating Galatasaray 3-2 at home in the more recent game. The fixtures have been spread out: with 6 days, 8 days and 10 days between them. There will be a gap of 8 days between the Galatasaray game and their visit to Celtic Park tomorrow, so there has been no intensity to their efforts.
AEK needed to prepare an entire squad, not just a starting 11, during these games. This is not appropriate preparation for one of the most important ties of the season. It feels like an inexplicable oversight, I would be livid if this was Celtic’s preparation for this tie. Such complacency deserves to be punished.
By contrast, Celtic have played five competitive games and five friendlies since our 12 May Cup Final. The fitness strategy contrast between our squad and AEK’s is stark. As a consequence, we have to make tomorrow’s game a multi-ball, unrelenting, occasion.
Even if the game is tight at 80 minutes, how we finish the match could have a significant bearing on who progresses. This is when you would expect AEK’s lack of fitness to be most telling. Players lose concentration and coordination when tired. This is when we should look to push the tie over the edge.
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@ CALL ME GERRY on 7TH AUGUST 2018 2:58 PM
It’s true that we cannot purchase first team players directly from England and for precisely that reason we should be scouting the European market. Players in the EPL have an EPL premium applied, the same does not apply throughout Europe.
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 7TH AUGUST 2018 3:00 PM
I agree 100%.
A bit like that Motherwell goalkeeper[sorry cant remember his name sadly] last season who they bought for buttons and paid him in peanuts..All of a sudden they wanted celtic to pay them an incredible transfer fee and declared they would not be held to ransom.
Of course Celtic basically told them to sod off and looked elsewhere shattering the former part time goalies dreams ..nice work Motherwell.
I see we are getting linked with Liverpool’s 21 year old Spanish midfielder/winger Pedro Chivirella. Apparently the boy has turned down a £2.4M move to Rosenborg and now getting linked with reuniting with Rodgers who gave him his Liverpool debut.
Jamesgang
I don’t think any young man should be held responsible for the sins of the (grand)father.
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Neither do I, but it would iilustrate a family trait in doing for themselves and not Celtic.
Brendan Rodgers: “It’s another step up. They’re the champions of their country. That always makes them a tough opponent because they have the winning mentality. When I assess them, they look like a #UCL team.”
They play a 4-4-2 system and are very, very fast on the counter attack. They have quick players at the top of the field. Over the course of the two games, it’ll be a real test for us.
When we’re at home we like to impose our game because we’re a decent side as well and we know we can give them problems. This will be a really good examination over two legs for us.
It’s a real good test for both teams. We’ve done all the work, all our preparation. We’ve analysed them closely and looked at all the details of their game. They’re very compact, very tight and difficult to play through.
The crowd will be very important for us. They really support us and they’ve shown real patience at this level over the past couple of seasons. If we can win the game and take that into the next game we’ll be very happy.
Olivier Ntcham is absolutely fine. He had some treatment and he trained yesterday as well so he’s fine.
Dedryck, not quite ready at this point but certainly come this weekend and into next week he’ll be available. He’ll have had two weeks of training and quality work. Leigh Griffiths, as you seen at the weekend, was bright when he came on so he’s available.
Horse’sMouthCSC
CMG @ 2.58
Na that dog don’t hunt.
We have to get into the CL group stages above all else.
Trying to game the EPL situation is a stratagem too far for our CEO.
Just who will we get?
High priced loans on a downer?
EPL dreamers who will always be looking south?
Great for an end of season sale — rummage through the left overs?
Realistic plan to get us into the CL group stages — not quite.
BIg Georges Fan Club
Congratulations to WGFC for his school results. All achieved alongside his mighty efforts to get him and you to Celtic’s away games!
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 7TH AUGUST 2018 3:00 PM
yeh at one time there was a multiple of wages etc,but it has just gone stupid.I mean Waghorn ex of new club goin for £6 to £8 million when he couldnt be bought in a fire sale a year ago for £250,000 .Stupid debt piling onto future balance sheets all to be covered if they get into the hallowed prem.
I hope Mc Ginn comes to Celtic too,as you say he has the power.
Hope your well :-)
Hail Hail
Holy God I only ran into Basel to get ma hauns photographed and Brendan is leaving by the time I get back:))
CQN We’re Doomed Express , mair wives than a row of fishmongers:))
Is this week 4 of The Hands Can See and MadMitch doing the tag team “you’re wrong/your argument doesn’t hold water/you’re wrong/I can’t understand your point/you’re wrong/that doesn’t make any sense” routine?
Or am I wrong?
Hands @ 3.04
I agree that we should be scouring the market outwith England.
We’ve tried it with Comper (sp?) and failed. We also had success with Ntcham – though he took time to become a 1st choice regular.
Rodgers seems to like signing guys he’s personally watched (Dembele, Sinclair).
If Rodgers has identified players and passed names onto our board, I reckon most are from down south (might explain the delay).
Mind also, that the club has a duty to avoid overloading the squad with quantity of players, and as such will be trying fervently to offload players to create a wage gap (ie sell 2/3 of the deadwood & replace with 1 quality 1st teamer). This is what we’d all like to see happen. We can’t just keep signing players and not sell others. Remember we have Christie, Allan, etc back on the wage bill now.
Not always that easy to get players off the wage bill.
DP @ 3.20
Second time lucky — your wrong.
Our esteemed CEO has many talents but he is not a guy to do a growth agenda.
He is not some sort of single being deity figure.
He needs a new challenge.
DAVIDOPOULOS
Seems a lot longer:))
I’m guessing there are more teams interested in Boyata, and we are trying to create a market.A stand alone bid of £9m (if true) we would take it IMO.We cannot afford to let a player run down his last year, when that type of money is on the table.
McGinn knows the script. If he goes to Villa and passes up the chance to be here for the 10, the Celtic minded stuff can be knocked on the head. No player with any genuine Celtic blood in them would choose Villa over Celtic. So in summary, if goes there, then it tells it’s own story about him. There are plenty more good players out there so we just move on.
MadMitch on 7th August 2018 3:24 pm
DP @ 3.20
Second time lucky — your wrong.
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I knew it, it’s week 5 isn’t it?
Look, I’m not saying I fundamentally disagree with the points you are raising, all I’m saying is that if I had the technical know-how to construct and automaton, I wouldn’t design one that just posted the same dismissive, I-know-better-than-everyone, anhedonic posts over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over (sorry, my automaton got stuck) again.
*an automaton
This wee machine is rubbish…
TBB
So Paul 67 says they’re complacent and Brendan says ‘They’re very compact, very tight and difficult to play through.’
what’s a bhoy to think
http://celticbynumberscom.ipage.com/pretty-in-pink/
Celtic endured a torrid night in Trondheim! Meanwhile, in the material world, the reality was more prosaic.
If a player has a 12m plus valuation knocked back, how much would he look for when trying to re-sign him?
Give Hibs £1m plus Scott Allan for McGinn, then loan McGinn back for the year. Simple. If that’s not good enough then ok because neither is McGinn, atm.
I huvnae goat a couch in front of my seat in the South Stand rear, so I’m going for our regulation,(this year), three goals a game V AEK Athens with tie winning 3-0 victory to the Celtic.
Eurochamps67
EC67
this is what you need
https://www.crummy.com/writing/misc/DoctorVirtual/
I think our CEO is working on a growth agenda. The turnover is deemed important as is the stadium and training facilities. Museum Hotel etc a big part of this
Now, the Board may claim that they want to improve the supporters matchday experience but I bet there is more to it. I believe that Celtic wish to leave Sevco well behind and that if European Football is re-grouped then Celtic will be at the party. The new Lights and pitch are proof of that.
Peter Lawwell is also involved in the ECA and that’s not just for a jolly.
I think Celtic have a 5 year and a 10 year plan for expansion and I wont be surprised if there are a number of Capital Projects being budgeted for.
BGFC: Congrats to your son. Excellent results. Well done you and the good wife also.
Seeing as it’s holiday time, here’s a little holiday fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymEkpfyD6Rs
some smart uni student will be working on a thesis
“taking your kids to celtic matches gains the best exam results”.
well done that bhoy.
THE BATTERED BUNNET
After reading that;
The ( ‘bombscare’ ‘liability’ ‘nervous wreck’ ‘waste of space’ ‘big coward) Brigade
are presently conspicuous by their absence and suffering from accidents in their
underwear arena.
BSR, I’d forgotten he was a coward. As I recall, he decided to come off in the first half of a game with nothing more than a torn hamstring. Shameful.
Funny thing about Boyata, and indicative of City’s (and other’s) hoarding of players – when he signed for us aged 24 he’d only started 32 senior matches. That’s just 3 matches per year since he first signed professional forms.
He’s now played more than 100 matches for Celtic. I’ve noted before that it takes around 100 matches to learn that to play that position at senior level.
Might simply be coincidence, of course.
THE HANDS CANT
Not neccessarily there is no guarantee if we spent £5M on a level one CB that it would ensure we qualified or even help us to qualify these types let you down like VVD v Malmo even and Jozo v Alashkert.
No guarantee what so ever, and at the risk of becoming more boring the plan was to qualify with what we had, then look around ( at the end of the English window)
Brendan’s words as you are fond of quoting him.
£12M for Boyata is peanuts but of course only by EPL standards and I’m confident we’ll get someone for much less that will hold up to scrutiny against Bombscare yada yada yada for a while anyway, and at least till his first ‘mistake’
thats ome congestion forecast due to the daft cycling thing. I am heading to celtic park now, just in time for tomorrow nights kick off.
I ask this often, how many Boyata mistakes have lost celtic matches ?
In the big euro defeats, its been collective hopelessness against world class attackers.
In domestic games , he sold a goal at ibrox, but we won the match anyway.
I mean seriously, what do people see thats so bad ?
Will we find anyone as good ? I dont think so.
For any others not quite familiar with Davidopolous` `anhedonic` usage, here is part of the definition:
” An anhedonic football fan is not excited when his team wins. ”
Cheerio for now,
JJ
wee BGFC..
A wfy
A wfy
A wfy
A wfy
A wfy
A wfy
A wfy
Braw…
smiley smiley braw loon thing
Braw
BSR @ 4.14
Regarding the now infamous “TK Maxx “ strategy — wait until it is out of season then have a quick rummage around the leftovers.
Where did it come from?
Who detailed it / set up the process and sold it to the board?
When was it announced — what did it replace?
To me it all looks like an erse covering squirrel to cover up our laziness and lack of desire.
Wee bgfc
Well done that young man
Running the country next or Celtic if you really stick in
We’re gonny need a bigger biscuit tin.
Usual wind in the willows becoming fart in a trance stuff for Celtic.
BSR and TBB,
Away with your positive nonsense!
Next you’ll be turning up the Gazebo laughing and joking and enjoying yourself, expecting the Champions to win, scoring 3 goals.
Call yourself CQN Celtic supporters?
Eurochamps67
WhatastellargazeboonsaturdaybtwCSC
Great read celticbynumbers
MADMITCH
BSR @ 2.43
Your’e consistent and admire it, but you don’t like the plan before you even know what it is.
‘responsibility of the shambles they regularly reduce us to’
That in between successive titles or just trebles or what?
‘responsibility of the shambles they regularly reduce us to’
I’ve repeated that till you, Davy Provan, or any board bashers read ( or re read ) and fully comprehend Celtic’s annual accounts.
Hail Hail
Paul67 CSC