Bayern elite up next

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Bayern Munich sit six points clear at the top of the Bundesliga having lost only one game from 19 this season (at Mainz).  As a guide, they sit 22 points head of Borussia Dortmund.

They are in the Champions League playoffs because of a bizarre result in Rotterdam.  They had 80% possession against Feyenoord and missed all of their 30 shots on goal.  Feyenoord scored with each of their three attempts.

The German side are smarting after they failed to win 12 domestic titles in a row last term.  They are one of the strongest clubs in world football and will inevitably progress beyond Celtic.

None of that matters.  Celtic still have lots to gain and learn from this tie.  There will hopefully be challenges later this year in the Champions League against teams of this calibre, let’s arrive at them with a honed plan.  We play Bayern free from the stress of expectation.  Let’s enjoy the occasion.

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  1. lets all do the huddle on

    We play Bayern free from the stress of expectation.

     

     

     

    oh i dont know about that Paul.

     

     

    i find it very stressful at a game fearing a doing!

  2. Paul,

     

    only eleven men against eleven men, do not write us off, so many others have and ended up with egg on their faces.

     

    We hadn’t a chance in 67 I was told at the time.

     

     

     

    KINGLuBo

  3. Hopefully a sanction, other than the usual Club fine, whilst terrible for the well behaved fans, will focus the minds of the clowns that think flares and pyros are OK to be brought to and used at a football match despite being told not to for as long as I remember. Having been in Birmingham it is clear we have our fair share of idiots, usually coked or boozed up and with no regard for the consequences of their actions, either to themselves or the Club.

  4. Kelvinbhoy

     

     

    They don’t care about the consequences but how and why do they still get tickets?

     

     

    Utter w%&$ers!

  5. The Battered Bunnet on

    I had just scribbled a bit of a rant about cover at left back and centre forward but managed to delete it as I posted, then I hit the refresh button instead of Undo.

     

     

    Honestly!

     

     

    DorkCSC

     

     

    Anyway, we’re going into the crux of the season without substantial cover at two key positions, unless the weekend is a busy one at the New Players door. Anyone holding their breath?

  6. CELTIC40ME @ 12:01 PM,

     

     

    “Because the opta figures are predicted outcomes.

     

     

    The numbers I used are the actual results for all the competition

     

     

    It can’t be – we came 21st, not 25th

     

     

    If we came 25th we would not have qualified to meet Bayern.

     

     

    SimplesCSC

     

     

    Hail Hail

  7. glendalystonsils on

    TBB

     

     

    I thought we had moved on from the folly of our previous brinkmanship . I guess I’ll find out in under 3 days time .

  8. Raith Rovers on Saturday 8th…..three days later Bayern both Celtic Park.Would it be wrong to suggest we approach the Raith game with the Tuesday fixture in mind by resting regulars and allow others to face RR.

  9. I never see you offer an opinion on our supporters and their behaviour, Paul. Why is that?

     

     

    I’ve lived in England for a long time and we’ve become toxic as a club and support. I’m in my fifties but we used to be asked to travel down for testimonials and friendlies, but now our name is not held in good esteem at all.

     

     

    And can you blame them? Everywhere we go we seek a face off and to make our statements. How insecure.

     

     

    Our support has been Catholic since it’s inception. Despite changing demographics and societal change it remains a huge part of the identity of most supporters (not all I appreciate) but we’ve not used it to be anti protestant – in the main. We also don’t sing many pro Catholic songs.

     

     

    But we do sing political songs all the time.

     

     

    We’ve had to endure over a century of anti Catholic hatred and this is rarely commented on which is as unacceptable as it is selective. But, we can only influence what we do.

     

     

    We know many within the support are pro irish republican, some are pro Palestinian and some are simply left wing. Or all three.

     

     

    Chanting about a dead Monarch on front of her grandson is vile. It lacks any decency at all. If you disagree with the UK monarchy fine (I would remove all constitutional involvement) but why do we need to be so intolerant and aggressive in our views.

     

     

    Our away support are full of cocaine and alcohol induced fans although I know many who touch neither. They are however expected to endure a lawless support who behave with no consideration for their fellow fans never mind others.

     

     

    We always believe we were better than rangers, the antithesis of them but many of our fansnhave become what they hated. They’ve no class and no self control.

  10. glendalystonsils on 31st January 2025 12:28 pm

     

    TBB

     

    I thought we had moved on from the folly of our previous brinkmanship . I guess I’ll find out in under 3 days time .

     

     

    Glen, I would also guess that IF we do get some deals done we will pay more than we would have done if doing the job timeously. Brinkmanship has its place, but in our circumstances it is likely to cost us a premium, as the selling club(s) know our situation?

     

     

    Ave Ave

  11. I don’t see any game involving Celtic as being a free hit – we all seen and read the reactions to Ibrox and Dens Park, running away with the league did little to soothe some fans.

     

     

    Munich are a genuine contender to win this competition and represent a huge challenge. But make no mistake about it, should Bayern tank us, there’ll be plenty of blow back.

     

     

    Despite the despairing gulf between us, give me Munich in the CL over Thursday night football every single time.

  12. Tangbhoy – excellent post.

     

     

    My group have no chance of qualifying for away Euro tickets (because of the criteria) and it appears if you are a cokehead, pyro nut or more full of alcohol than an average whisky cask, you still get your away ticket.

     

     

    Drastic action is need by the PLC on away ticket allocation (not easy I know)

     

     

    Question ? No me neither…….

  13. Mooloolaba Bhoy on

    With all the comments about the lack of transfer activity. The board are asleep at the wheel etc. etc. I have not seen any mention of the fellow brought in( Paul Tilsley sp?) to identify and fast track, with BR’s approval, the players he has targeted. Is he still in the hoose??

  14. glendalystonsils on

    EMERALDBEE \O/ A DOUBLE NINER!! on 31ST JANUARY 2025 12:38 PM

     

     

    Exactly . Adam Idah being a case in point . That’s not to say he won’t prove to be worth the money , but for a player who was getting zero game time in a championship side , Norwich had us over a barrel.

  15. CHAIRBHOY on 31ST JANUARY 2025 12:27 PM

     

     

    It is simple

     

     

    My point was about our performance weighted by the opposition we faced. That different teams were lucky and unlucky with their fixtures is indisputable.

     

     

    Leipzig’s fixtures turned out to be the most difficult – their opposition averaged 14.375 points. Stuttgarts were the easiest, their opposition averaged 8.125. You can rank each team by how well or badly their opposition performed. Celtics opposition performed third worst, so we had the third easiest fixtures. You could go deeper and include each team’s opposition’s opposition but thats probably a level too far. And in Celtic case it wouldn’t make much difference at all, the weighted opposition’s points would be about the same.

     

     

    If you take the opposition into consideration for each team in the competition we performed 25th best.

  16. But, of course, whats important is making the best of your luck, which we did.

     

     

    WGS was often described as a lucky manager. I always thought that was disrespectful and ignored whats obvious, luck will generally even itself out over time, and whats important is taking advantage of luck when it comes along.

     

     

    We were certainly due some In the CL

  17. Turkeybhoy on 31st January 2025 4:06 am

     

     

    AT,

     

     

    You seem to have an unhealthy obsession with me.

     

     

    Please stop referencing me in your posts to others,with those hilarious name calls,you alone seem to find funny,as people might actually think I know you.Stick to your sparring partner,Ordinary Joe.

     

     

    In a braincells fight,evenly matched.

     

    =================

     

    Whiturrthehunsdaenbhoy

     

     

    Na, no unhealthy obsession with you,your a walkover,its your content rangers news-follow follow-rangers media,in general ‘whiturrthihunzdaen! Its you who has the freaky obsession of their sites…try a day at a time without.

     

    Try posting about Celtic! Its why Celtic folk come on here to avoid what out arse licking media are fawning over their favourite team about,whats your excuse whiturr?

     

    Ordinary joe in his internet educated way is an odious multimonikered racist,banned here many times,OJ his latest venture.his slander of Celtic culture is similar to your constant posting about whiturrthihunsdaen!!

     

    I am suprised you can comment on braincells,you and kevj are 2 amoebic peas in a pod

     

    You try posting bout Celtic and there will be no need to reference your hunfilled pash .

     

     

    HH

  18. The point against Atalanta proved to be all important and was not lucky, it was all in the planning and hard work.

  19. CELTIC40ME @ 12:51 PM,

     

     

    This is absolute nonsense isn’t it!?

     

     

    Our opposition got 8.125 points

     

     

    Right!!

     

     

    Zargreb, must be kicking themselves about the dropped points at home to Celtic.

     

     

    Now, according to your great plan IF Zargreb had beaten us, our opposition average would have gone up

     

     

    Right!!

     

     

    Which means if we had lost in Zargreb we would would have performance better according to you.

     

     

    We were 21st geeza’ we qualified…

     

     

    Read it and keep…

     

     

    Hail Hail

  20. CELTIC40ME @ 12:59 PM,

     

     

    “Leipzig’s fixtures turned out to be the most difficult – their opposition averaged 14.375 points

     

     

    So if Leipzig had won and drawn a few more games, their opponents average would have went down.

     

     

    Which means they would not have had the most difficult fixtures and they may have qualified.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  21. CELTIC40ME @ 12:59 PM,

     

     

    You could have manipulated that data to make us look even worser…

     

     

    Yet the fact that us losing matches sends the opponents avg higher, which means we performed better the more points we draw

     

     

    Strongly suggests you methodology is wrong…

     

     

    We came 21st…

     

     

    Hail Hail

  22. Paul 67,

     

     

    “We play Bayern free from the stress of expectation. Let’s enjoy the occasion”

     

     

    Indeed.

     

    Now let Celtic reduce this stress further by fair pricing. Fair pricing for our young supporters.

     

     

    HH.

  23. vale bhoy on 31st January 2025 12:18 pm

     

    Kelvinbhoy,

     

    They don’t care about the consequences but how and why do they still get tickets?

     

     

    Utter w%&$ers!

     

    ————————————————————————

     

    Agreed, the Club and Police need to do more here. A ban is a real blunt instrument given the number who misbehave v those that do not, but it’s gone on for too long for UEFA to have any sympathy for us.

  24. CHAIRBHOY on 31ST JANUARY 2025 12:57 PM

     

     

    “Which means if we had lost in Zargreb we would would have performance better according to you.”

     

     

    It doesnt, you’re forgetting that we’d have lost a point.

  25. CHAIRBHOY on 31ST JANUARY 2025 1:13 PM

     

     

    “Yet the fact that us losing matches sends the opponents avg higher, which means we performed better the more points we draw”

     

     

    That really makes no sense. You’re imaging that our performance is based solely on the opposition we face, and ignoring the actual points we win.

     

     

    While our opposition average goes up, its by a much smaller amount than our actual points total goes down. Our weighted points total drops, so our performance is worse.

  26. CELTIC40ME @ 1:24 PM,

     

     

    Well you’ll have to explain your methodology.

     

     

    It looks to me that you were dividing the totals by 8, if it was the opposition, you would be dividing them by 7.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  27. the long wait is over on

    Not that it will – probably – make the slightest difference to UEFA ( and rightly so) but I’ve seen a bit online suggesting that the flare didn’t come from the GB or elsewhere on the “terracing” but from a corporate area.

     

     

    Anyone know anything definitive?

     

     

    I only mention it because it seems that its easy to blame the general populace of fans but actually, on this occasion at least, it didn’t involve them.

  28. CHAIRBHOY on 31ST JANUARY 2025 1:38 PM

     

     

    You’ll forgive me if I wont.

     

     

    The data is all there if you really want to prove I’m manipulating it to make us look worse.

  29. Kelvinbhoy

     

     

    The photo on the Celticnewsnow article is pretty good.

     

     

    People know who that guy is.

  30. THE LONG WAIT IS OVER on 31ST JANUARY 2025 1:47 PM

     

     

    Anyone know anything definitive?

     

     

     

    I was at the game, it didn’t come from a corporate area.

  31. the long wait is over on

    TANGBHOY on 31ST JANUARY 2025 12:34 PM

     

     

    I agree with the bulk of your post but for one , minor, point.

     

     

    The number of preseason friendlies, let alone testimonials , is a fraction of what it used to be.

     

     

    Most big clubs, including ourselves , now do pre-season tournaments , usually abroad , and , it seems to me, we still get a decent level of invitation of those.

     

     

    Hh

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