It’s been a long time since we’ve had a home game; 4th August, against Aberdeen. Since then we’ve played five games on the road, three of which involved international travel, with two games in the Highlands.
Statistical analysis shows that form suffers when teams are forced to pile-up away fixtures. Training schedules are interrupted as travel eats into time which would otherwise be spent fine-tuning fitness or working on defensive/forward strategy. Instead Celtic have improved enormously from their Flag Day at the beginning of the month, despite, or perhaps, because, Neil Lennon has indulged in extensive use of a squad rotation policy.
No one at Celtic will be complacent ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League play-off, the ghost of Ross County in 2010 and Inverness in 2011 will see to that. One ‘Big Dan Moment’ is all it takes to turn a comfortable lead into a tight tie with a player deficit, but I suspect Neil Lennon will be more concerned with putting the brakes on his players, rather than motivating them. A calm and organised performance is required.
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Hopefully Victor will introduce some calm in defense. I think Celtic’s defending was pretty hair-raising at times against Helsingborgs and it would be nice if the team could drop the panic at the back. However, still confident of a home win.
bjmac
I know a guy who put a fiver on Celtic win 6-2 that glorious day. <:o)))
!!Bada Bing!!
Willo Flood coming back? :0)
Dbbia,
Condolences with the dbbia family
Did you all notice how Colum failed to protect our players on Saturday?
We need to go for the jugular on Wednesday…..they’re weak in defence …..getting euxcited already ….!!!!
DBBIA
YNWA.
I will be pleasantly surprised if Big Victor is still a Celtic player at the end of the week. A £6-7Mn profit after just one season will be too good to turn down.
dontbrattbakkinanger
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Condolences, dbbia.
I shall keep a beady eye on the scrofulous hillbillys for you.
Take care.
HH!
Jude2005. Yes.
Losing kayal and ledley makes sure of victor in cm, where he should always play. A positive among injury problems.
asonofdan
12:44 on 27 August, 2012
A (rabid) bhun doesn’t change it’s spots, I’m afraid ….. And neither do those who have no intention of doing anything about …… sad / silly bhuns…
DBBIA
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/?p=10203&cpage=15#comment-1541916
My thoughts and prayers with you and your family as well as your mammy.
Recently lost an uncle whom both my brother and I took care of up until 2007 when he was admitted to nursing home due dimentia.
Take care buddy.
MWD
I would hope we would be looking for nearer £15m for Vic……NEXT SEASON
DBBIA Condolences
Bhoys if u like I will ask John Rankin ttonight if JR will be wearing the hoops this weekend?
DBBIA
. “A mothers love is a blessing, no matter where you go ”
Thoughts and condolences
Re Lance Armstrong
Simply the best doped cyclist in a Peleton full of them
Any that remained clean could not win regularly enough to be retained by teams
I think David Brailsford and team GB are clean ….for now However no-one has asked him to build a team to win one of the 3 major road races
The tour, the teams and the press are all complicit … The cycling public all get it…the sponsors probably need the veneer of cleanliness but really don’t give a rat’s erchie tbh :@)
Just a few eejits looking to create a storm over not much…tossers that they are lol
Just let them get on with it and we can enjoy full contact racing :)
Legaliseitcsc
Re. Arsenal’s interest in Victor. Celtic should deal him a new contract now with a sell on clause of £12m next summer. Tell him to go prove how good he is in CL and wait for his EPL top 6 club move in a year.
The oonly thing is that Russell is a bit too similar to Anthony Stokes.
I would also like to see a reduction in the number of illustrated men in the team.
I would settle for a swap deal with Stokes going in the other direction.
Bet u that doesn’t get universal approval.
Speaking of John Rankin, did anyone catch Kenny Shiels on Shortbread before the Helsingborgs game saying both Rankin and Paul McGowan were better players than Ki Sung Yeung?
An embarrassed silence from Murdo McLeod.
Paul67
How can you say that about BIg Dan???!!!!
He was my favourite player!!
Honest.
I heard a wispa
Armstrong has chucked it in cos Mouldy67 is back in training.
goldstar10
I disagree!
Wee murdo is not capable of being embarrassed!!!
Just listen to what he say’s about the Celtic.
BTW what age is Bjmac?
Early 20’s?
(I know he’s lurking!)
Evening times
MONDAY 27 AUGUST 2012 TEXT SIZE Neil Lennon has defensive pairing in his sights
Ronnie Cully
Senior Sports Writer
JAPANESE central defender Maya Yoshida and Nigerian centre-back Efe Ambrose have moved to the top of Celtic’s shopping list.
Neil Lennon
Hoops boss Neil Lennon admits he and his scouts have identified the men they want to sign, and are expected to make their moves as soon as they know they have qualified for the group stage of the Champions League.
That can be guaranteed on Wednesday if Celtic finish the job they started last week in the first leg of the play-off in Helsingborg.
Lennon also wants to recruit at least one more striker, and his network of scouts have been working hard to come up with options.
But Yoshida – currently looking for a way out of Dutch club VVV-Venlo – and Ambrose, who plays for FC Ashod in Israel – could be offered the chance to add the extra quality Lennon wants at the back.
SportTimes revealed last month that 24-year-old Yoshida is a player on Lennon’s radar. Now VVV-Venlo general manager Hans Soentjens has confirmed he is aware of Celtic’s interest and is waiting for an offer for the £2million-rated defender before the window closes this weekend.
He said: “Celtic have contacted us officially to make their serious interest known. We’re now waiting for their offer.”
However, Soentjens warned: “I know a number of clubs from the Premier League are very interested.”
Newcastle, Southampton, Stoke, Aston Villa and Everton are understood to be the English outfits.
VVV-Venlo chairman Hai Berden has given the green light to the sale of their player, and said: “For VVV and Maya this is the perfect moment for him to make the step to a bigger club.”
Lennon confirmed that Yoshida’s Olympics team-mate, Yuki Otsu – who plays for Borussia Munchengladbach – is a player Celtic like, but said there were no plans to try to recruit the attacking midfielder in this window.
Despite injuries to Beram Kayal and Joe Ledley and the sale of Ki Sung-Yueng to Swansea for £6m, the Hoops boss still feels he is well staffed in the midfield area.
Rosenborg’s Markus Henriksen remains the go-to player if the Hoops do decide to add a box-to-box midfielder.
Lennon would also like to add some firepower, and Wolfsburg’s Croatian hitman, Srdjan Lakic, is reported to be someone they could try to bring in on loan later this week.
But strengthening in central defence continues to be the priority, and Auxerre’s Wily Boly is another man reported to be on the list Lennon is considering, though the 21-year-old is also being tracked by Fiorentina, Lorient and Lille, which would push up his price.
Ambrose is a more viable option, and is bracketed at less than half the price of Yoshida. He is 23, and, like Yoshida, the Nigerian would require a work permit to play. This was what caused Manchester City’s interest to cool when they had him on trial in January.
However, Ambrose – whose contract runs out next year – has now become a regular in his national side and is included in the squad for next month’s African Cup of Nations qualifier against Liberia.
Nigeria are placed well within the top 75 in Fifa’s rankings, so he would be expected to meet the criteria for a work permit in Scotland.
Thoughts with you and your family DBBIA.
Lost my mum 4 years ago and whilst it still hurts you learn to cope. Like yours, my mum had suffered a lengthy illness (cancer diagnosed whilst she was on holiday in the US, Sept 2001).
I also gain a modicum of comfort that she’s no longer suffering, but try not to dwell too long on that; instead remembering the good times together.
YNWA
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Back on blog on bros laptop :)))
Paul……… my good lady going to clear cache on browser(then show me) so hopefully i will be sorted .
Thank you for everything.
My how i,ve missed this place.
HAIL HAIL
Tim Tanium
Russell is more versatile than Stokes, he can play off the wing like Sammi or Forrest, and works harder than Stokes. Stokes will score more goals and given his SPL scoring record alone should be kept. Hooper will leave either in January, or more likely next summer. IMO the argument that we don’t need Russell at the moment is valid but we will miss out if we don’t make our move now. For that reason we should sign him and give ourselves more attacking options. Moving Murphy & Bangura off the wage bill would more than pay Russell’s wages and with the CL money and Ki money we can more than afford the £2m transfer fee that we’d probably need to pay for him.
Anyone else see the BBC highlights show last night with the morose mullet as one of the ‘experts’…we Davidson was very obliging and said on at least three occasions that Celtic were ‘brilliant’ and ‘hope’ they win on Wednesday…the first comment from the bitter orange Mullet: “If it weren’t for the big goalkeeper then Celtic could have been in trouble…but…” The guy is a grade A tool.
wonkyradar
He’s a grade A PLUS tool.
What is your goalkeeper supposed to do during a game?
Sit in the bl**dy stand?
He is a deluded, hurtin’, oh so hurtin’ hun.
Why are we not in the Scottish Cup draw ?
were we knocked out all ready.
I demand to know.
Sorry, but who’s mullet…??
Philbhoy- early 20’s- is that not his handicap??
The hun in charge of motherwell.
In my opinion it is vital that we dont lose an early goal on Wednesday also we must throughout the game keep the ball dont give it away cheaply.We do not have to go gung ho looking for goals we are two goals in front to start with.I think it may well be a nervy evening with the crowd needed to create that special European night atmosphere.H.H.
One minute they’re saying we don’t have a good goalie, then we get one …….doooooooh ..!!!
DBBIA Thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. YNWA
BJMAC HOOPY birthday, May only good things come your way.
HAIL HAIL
Twinbhoy
Our best midfielder in defence? Not for me I’m afraid. i think he needs to be played in the holding spot, giving some cover to our back 4.
The fact that we are discussing this however (ie playing Vic at the back) shows what a shambles the preparations for Champions League football are. Neil clearly knows we need at least 1 quality defender, yet lawell has decreed we are unable to buy one until CL qualification is ensured. 2 words…. Biscuit…. Tin. If Helsingsborg had taken their chances last week, the blog would be hysterical by now, with some justification. This is not a slight on neil, or the guys who are in the team and playing well, but clearly a Club the size of ours should be better equipped.