Last season, Braga finished ‘best of the rest’ in Portugal. A late collapse allowed Porto to overtake them to finish third, but they finished nine points ahead of the chasing pack. Their Europa League campaign was not as successful. Despite wins over Lazio (who topped the Europa table) and Hoffenheim, they finished 25th, missing out on the playoff round on a goal difference one worse than 24th placed Fenerbahce.
Current form is poor. Braga are seventh in Portugal, having lost at home to Nacional (now 11th) on Sunday, meaning they have taken just two points from the last 12 available in the league, without having played any of the top sides.
They have given their best performances this season in Europe, eliminating Levski Sofia, Cluj and Lincoln Red Imps (cough) from Europe League qualification, before a 1-0 win in the opening League game against Feyenoord – arguably the result of Match Day 1. Feyenoord are top in the Netherlands, with six wins and a draw from seven games.
We can infer from that result that Braga are no mugs and will present a greater challenge than we get from Scottish Premiership sides. The team and manager are under pressure, but you know how that works. It becomes easier to play away from domestic pressures, when expectations are lower. The players might feel a bit of relief flying out of Portugal and into someone else’s dramas.
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HH
Come on bhoys and ghirls..
3
What drama is that?
Real Madrid playing away tonight against Kairat. Will be interesting to see how the game goes. To see how a team stuffed with World Class quality plays on that pitch.
Could/should have beaten Red Star, having only turned up for the second half . At home to Braga , the 3 points are very much there for us if we turn on a 90 minute performance .
As the advert says , don’t turn a drama into a crisis .
The drama would be greatly reduced were those paid handsomely, to simply engage with their customer base.
I really don’t get what’s so difficult or controversial
Still, let’s not mention the war
Quiet fans can continue to criticise other fans for being quiet but not those paid to communicate
Well done on podium Vale bhoy.
:-)
HH
I was confident we would beat Hibs and I am confident we will win on Thursday :-)
I am hoping for a good performance Thursday night at home against a mediocre team. It is all down to us. If we move the ball quickly and are prepared to take shots at goal, we will win well. Tipsy tappy slow sideways, shot shy will result in another 0-0.
Brendan said during close season that he would work on flexibility but no sign of any change. We should at least vary from short passes playing out from the keeper to going long on a quick breakaway before the defence repacks. Maeda is lightning quick and Tounetki is speedy, even Forrest is still pacy. It should be one of our strengths.
Team for me
Schmicheal
Ralston, CCV, Scales, Tierney
Nygren, McGregor, Engels
Forrest, Ihneacho, Tounetki
Nakamura 9/2 – 2.15 Cork
Daizen 10/1- 2.30 Ayr
Dearie me, where’s the horsey guys…..
Well,be interesting on Thusday,all sitting silent,wearing their new,extortionately priced Henrik Retro Tops.
Anyone who ever thought,staying silent,coming in late,would have any effect on the Board,should have got their answer today.Whilst the fans were holding meetings to protest in whatever way,the Board were holding meetings to discuss the launch of a new range of sportswear,featuring Henrik.😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀,to wrest even more hard earned coin from the fans.
Are they on drugs?Do they burn spoons in the Boardroom?.So far removed from reality its unreal.
If anyone thought their protests could have any effect,there is your answer.
Nakamura 9/2 – 2.15 Cork
Daizen 10/1- 2.30 Ayr
Dearie me, where’s the horsey guys…..
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i was sitting watching it in the boozer and seen the two of them, but i didnt fancy either of them.
ragin!
on the plus side the huns in the pub were also ragin 😃
Turkeybhoy
I guess you will be comfortably sitting on your throne with your protest-remote control waved the odd time at your telly.
Fair point on the Henryk mercchandise,hopefully over time a communication channel will open to bang heads.
Footballwithoutfansisnothingcsc
An Tearmann
Cheers.
Kairat v Real Madrid
Wonder how the Spaniards will do against the mighty Kairat?
An Tearmann on [30th September 2025 4:24 pm]
“Footballwithoutfansisnothing”csc
………
Football with 60,000 empty heads who don’t know how to sack a board is worse! Much worse!
Or don’t have the balls to sack the board.
Or are wee feartie prisoners to their wee Tory/Capitalist/OldFirm/RubberStamped/Plastic/Rented/Seat inside the Thatcher trap/trick/hoax/psyop/reverse/psychology were terraces are unsafe, but covid vaxxeens are safe and effective.
Safe and effective?
Depends on what the agenda is.
Ciu bono[told ye bono was an Irish imposter just like kneecap eye they ur] wakey wakey!
The NEW Irish fell for U2, Kneecap, and RTE/Fintan O’Fool telling the Wolfetones that they were too WHITE and not DIVERSE enough for the NEW Ireland were the Wolfies music will be viewed as sectarian/racist/terrorist/dinosaur/claptrap.
The NEW Ireland were MILLIONS danced in the streets because they were allowed to kill unborn Children….is an Ireland that has not only Fallen….but disappeared up its own bahooky!
Football…..
A quick look at their victory against Feyenoord shows Braga with 45% even though they were at home. We know what to expect, hopefully we’ve got our passing boots on on Thursday and play with the higher tempo we’ve seen in the last few games.
We likely wont get many chances, so let’s take some
Kevracist
You do not even know which racist hillbilly’s you are posting of.
Go watch chief Grifter o’woke,squealing like a wean so he was,naebdi to listen too.
Thousands going thro it in US,its started here
The grifter was fair black affronted,he has a good 6county lawyer fighting his corner.i know him.
Kevracist football without fans is nothing,
Football without racists like you is goin great and left you behind,dimttims like you teach nowt.
Ah go on geez wan ih your jumpersforgoalpost flashbacks to when you attended over 20 yr ago
Talking of taking chances ;)
more xg magic
Our strikers xg to actual goals from chances
2021/22
Giakoumakis 1.51
Kyogo. 1.44
2022/23
Kyogo 1.62
Giakoumakis 1.20 (half a season)
2023/24
Kyogo 0.97
Idah 1.09 (half a season)
2024/25
Kyogo 0.9 (half a season)
Idah 0.96
Maeda (half a season as striker/half as winger) 1.15
So last season we got better at taking our chances after Kyogo left and Maeda took over from him.
Also noticeable is how much worse Kyogo’s strike rate was after his first two seasons – a half a goal worse.
Also, Giakoumakis was a great deputy, him and Kyogo were a deadly duo.
Also, if we got better last season after Kyogo left, and Maeda (our new first choice striker) was better at taking his chances than Kyogo had been for two years why did we still need a replacement for Kyogo?
And finally, we went a whole season (Jan to Jan) without a replacement for Giakoumakis, but we didn’t hear anywhere near as much noise about the need for a replacement as we did when Kyogo left
Why so? The ol’ communication at work again I reckon.
And finally why did we sell Adam Idah when he didnt want to go, but had done a perfectly decent job as a number 2 to Maeda?
We could have had a very effective striking first and second choice but chose to break it up for some reason.
self-created drama?
all adds to the show I guess
Still struggling to understand how we could not beat Almaty over 2 legs.
We will never have an easier opportunity in a play off match than that.
Unlike Madrid we players them at home also.
Finally, and no more xg after this, so far this season
Celtic have an xg to actual of -.59 which if it continues would be the worse of any team ever in the SPL.
Hearts have an xg to actual of .65 which no team other than Celtic and The Huns in their title season has ever got near.
It would be a minor miracle if Hearts continued those numbers, and they would have to, while we would have a record bustingly poor season to lose it. Even in the Covid season we were +0.07
Burnley78 on 30th September 2025 5:42 pm
Still struggling to understand how we could not beat Almaty over 2 legs.
We will never have an easier opportunity in a play off match than that.
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Yup more the folly b78 of not investing in the team.building from a winning position,no such thing occurred,you know we were flapping around way to late,last min deals snagging,permissions needed to up offers.jeez we have went amateur hour big time.
HH
3 – 1 us
Almaty joins a list of clubs we should have beaten in qualification for the CL under various managers, however, our teams on the nights were not good enough, so it’s on the players all of them, the recruiters because they brought them or didnt as we needed them and the coaches did not come up with the solutions to win the ties, I seem to remember Neil Lennon playing McGregor at left back against Ferencvaros at Celtic Park, why was this necessary, because we hadn’t any other option because we didn’t recruit the player we needed when we needed him. anything for another dig at BR when it’s a club behaviour and failing to buy players after we need them.
Until after we need them
Almaty 0 Real 1
Atalanta 0 Brugge 1
This is where I’m going. 🙄
https://youtu.be/aK1-gI8zO3U?si=aBCj4uTPGXEc2xO5
The GB leading any protest will fail as a lot of the fans don’t like what they do most of the time, as it’s only money that will make a difference, if at all
Kairat Almaty will take a long time to get over. Everyone associated with the club will still feel the pain.
We had better players in each position. A bigger and better squad, a better and more experienced management and coaching team, better training facilities, European familiarisation in abundance, etc etc.
Yet we went out with a whimper in such a consequential tie.
Not for the first time I recommend external motivational assistance in our European quests.
HH
I recommend signing properly scouted players for all the positions we need covered, it could make a huge difference to our chances of going through, the Almaty defence and midfield kept our midfield and attack at bay for 210 minutes, we weren’t better than them at all.
!!Bada Bing!! on 30th September 2025 6:46 pm
The GB leading any protest will fail as a lot of the fans don’t like what they do most of the time, as it’s only money that will make a difference, if at all
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i like almost everything the gb do.
they are not leading the collective, they are just part of it.
Well said Yanis.
https://x.com/yanisvaroufakis/status/1972832051066794034?t=lnZdJGXPmJy6E7TcHAxK0Q&s=19
HH