I was annoyed at Dundee United, who were poor in the first half – not even setup defensively as well as teams near the bottom of the table, but then flipped into an effective pressing side late in the game. They are third in the table on merit and could have caused Celtic more trouble, had they gone for it earlier in the game.
So much of the football we watch is ‘Defence v Attack’, so all in the stadium were alarmed when it was announced that Nicolas Kuhn had dropped out of the lineup before kick-off. Nicolas is our most effective opener of tight defences, and the late change seemed to impact Celtic’s flow. Early in the game the ball most often went left, to Taylor and Maeda; Johnston and Yang were less involved.
23 minutes in, however, Johnston found Yang (unconventionally) to create the opening goal. United manager Jim Goodwin was correctly annoyed at his defence, who had chances to clear, but were not as sharp as Daizen Maeda.
Luis Palma made a late cameo appearance, flavoured with a delightful outside of the foot pass to create the opening for the second goal. The pass was followed by a perfect example of ‘less is more’. Another cameo – Paulo Bernardo – dummied the ball before it rolled into the path of Reo Hatate to score.
That defeat at the start of the month seems a long time ago now.
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Good night all.
Should we start a Go Fund Me to keep big Phil?
Just saw the “controversial incident”.
I think we are letting bias cloud our judgement.
A penalty to Dundee? Never.
All the defender did was bump the guy, stand on him, and pull his neck.
I think Robinson might be next in line when Baldemorte goes.
Tannadice their next away game.
He scores well on the staunchometer and knows how to organise a team on a low budget.
Aitken was VAR.
The offside check was a farce.
If the attacker’s shoulder is indeed ahead of the defender’s trailing heel? .. then it is so by a whisker.
Lines drawn suggest he was 2 feet offside.
Pathetic.
The kind of thing a useless thick nut hun would be capable of.
Card must be marked surely.
LEFTCLICKTIC on 9TH JANUARY 2025 10:19 PM
Melvin udall
Just Google
The bears den, then click on bear pit
—————
No danger! I’ll end up on some government right-wing nutter watchlist.
😳🤷🏼♂️😂😂😂
Igamane didn’t want to walk up to the fans at full time.
Waited for Cerny to come wae him.
Hilarious.
Correction. Not Cerny but Pepperami
The new quintessential True British Comedy-experience
From the peepil who brought you
Carry on Warbs/Pedro/Geraldo/Gio and the brains behind Geraldo
We bring you
Carry on Clement
A comedy caper for the generations
Celtic and Rangers fans old and new (sic) will love this.
New mini series…
Not coming soon enough
All previous episodes available on all your favourite Rangers (old and new) outlets….
What’s it called?
Bwahahahahahaha! 😂😂😂 Big Phil’s at it again…
Our reporter Al Lamont asks Rangers manager Philippe Clement: “Three away wins in 11 games is not the form of a team who will challenge for the title, is it?”.
Clement replies: “No, clearly not. We didn’t do well enough and we need to change that very fast.
“There are different stories in different games. Against Hibs we scored three goals in an away game. If we did that today we’d have won.
And if your auntie had baws etc etc
😂😂😂
Honestly, I had a feeling Tony Doc’s lads would add to their pain load ;))
With big Mongsewer Clemmong (h/t Melvin) on a fat contract, TRFC is snookered with the stick-or-twist option on the table.
On another matter: From Jimmy Carter to thon knave Trump – if there was ever an indication as to the wellbeing of a nation, that tells a huge story.
Some of this is a bit harsh.
The first thing that a coach has to instil on the players, is consistency.
To be fair, I think he’s beginning to achieve that,,,,
Weeron.
….the same old quintessential British comedy experience
and long may it continue although for some it died a death a long time ago
Aitken is the one to watch,already got previous the length of your arm ,when it comes to his heroes
Aitken and the rest of the….they are LEGION 🍀
Melvin Udall on 9th January 2025
I know you like a punt,few months ago was in my wee neighbours,84,likes a wee bet,nothing to big,£1 here,£2 there,he thanked me tonight as a few months back i advised him to put £2 on a win,or £2 on a draw if huns are playing away,said he has built up a good pot,tonights draw at £5on 9/2 will cover his messages over weekend.Said he has been doing for months and is well up….if i only gambled lols.
HH
AN TEARMANN on 9TH JANUARY 2025 11:53 PM
Melvin Udall on 9th January 2025
I know you like a punt,few months ago was in my wee neighbours,84,likes a wee bet,nothing to big,£1 here,£2 there,he thanked me tonight as a few months back i advised him to put £2 on a win,or £2 on a draw if huns are playing away,said he has built up a good pot,tonights draw at £5on 9/2 will cover his messages over weekend.Said he has been doing for months and is well up….if i only gambled lols.
—————
Cracking story AT. 😂😂😂👍
I get carried away with it tbh and end up putting bigger bets on to make up for losses. So staying away from it atm.
It’s funny how they are seen for the bang average team the actually are when they’re not getting penalties every week.
Think back to how many dodgy penalties they got that either won them or drew them games these past few seasons.
We have a lot to thank Alan Morrison for. His highlighting the patterns of assistance was a game changer and I’m sure Celtic would have presented his findings to the SFA.
Someone on follow follow understands:
‘For me it’s simply we lost our winning culture in 2012 and have never got it back. A whole team of winners walked out the door. Winning is now just a nice bonus. We have turned into a run of the mill football club.’
His words, not mine.
Weeron
MelvinUdall
Future away ties
https://x.com/AgentScotland/status/1877474044682924091?s=19
‐‐————————-
WeeRon
They know
We know
They know we know
They know we know they know
It happened
14.06.2012.
Liquidation.
And cumulative losses since with new club were ‘accepted into’ our league(during olympic opening ceremony, in the hundreds of £millions.
I blame David.
HH
Tiken jah Fakoly
Plus Rien Ne M’étonne
Is a bold anthem of freedom
Do give it a listen CQN
https://youtu.be/UuelOOv_SwA?si=UHHl0KVQL7cjL29_
HH
DeniaBhoy on 9th January 2025 3:11 pm
Perhaps the transfer window and discussions between Brendan, DD and the Celtic Board have become a little more difficult these past few days?
Back in November and December, when CL games were taking place, the improved results had us thinking that we could do ok in the new format. Brendan stuck to his mantra of saying we needed a bit more quality and headed off to Dublin to meet DD before Christmas.
Since then the Aberdeen and r2ngers challenge has collapsed further. If we accept the league is in the bag and the squad does not need strengthening to retain it, what do you think the board will be saying? Do you splash the cash in January or tell Brendan that there really is no need to spend big at present?
Anyone coming in now cannot play in the current phase of the CL so cannot help us get to the next stage. And if we get to the next stage, the probability is we would be out after two games regardless.
As fans, of course we want better players in now. But the board do not have a great history of building from a position of strength. Instead they tend to react when they feel our domestic dominance has been threatened which is not going to be the case this season.
Brendan will argue that some quality signings in now will get the chance to bed in before the qualifiers come around next August. And we need to progress into the League phase for the business model to work. Will DD back him up?
Personally, I am inclined to think that having the league all but wrapped up by the 9th of January will mean the board are less likely to sanction any big moves this month. Even if we lose a star player.
It will be an interesting watch. And I am not slighting the Board, their job is to evaluate the potential risks, uncertainties, and potential rewards of each decision.
========================
Fair point and it goes back to a post of mine on 4th January about needing the SPFL to be viewed as a competitive league with reference UEFAs view on importance of competition in an interdependent industry like no other.
It was not so much that we lost to Rangers but the manner of the defeat that allows conspiracy thinking but now that the points gap raises the need to consider longer lasting effects on competitiveness It may well be a reason Celtic will not strengthen and a reason that might explain why Celtic never strengthened from a position of strength for years.
Even if a higher quality player purchase could be covered to a reasonable extent by departures off the wage bill to address book balancing concerns , that purchase could turn the SPFL into a one horse league in winner terms although clubs below, based on R2ngers results away could result in a truly competitive SPFL sub league below Celtic..
Deniabhoy
Post of 4th Jan mentioned above.
Auldheid on 4th January 2025 10:14 pm
On Thursday’s game I think something WGS once said (although I might have Eric Morecombe wise have not necessarily put them in the right order) sums it up.
The team with players that run fastest, tackles hardest and jumps highest wins.
Surely there can be no debate that team on Thursday was R2ngers. The question is why?
Is it the system? Hardly totally so as man for man we were second in every department .
So what was it?
How about attitude that derives from pre match expectations in some cases of an easy win that leads to a common human trait i.e.. complacency. Anyone who ever played football at any competitive level knows that if they go 14 ahead then the physical effort put in to get you there drops off. Indeed it can turn into show boating.
I mentioned at a competitive level and suggest that was another contributing factor, the competition is to win the SPFL Title. With a 14 point lead is it not at all humanly possible (remember players are human) that some players and staff thought that the title race is already over and that influenced their attitude?.
At what might be entering conspiracy territory, football to be a sport relies on competition, coming out of the game 17 points in front with the potential of that being 20 tomorrow after they play Hibs away( although that is less possible given the lift Thursday’s result might give them, a lot depends on Hibs making themselves as difficult to beat as the St Mirren we play a couple of hours later, or Motherwell or even Dundee Utd at Ibrox .
With a 20 point lead who could think the SPFL as a competition was not over by mid Jan? That is bad for business, try selling the SPFL to any broadcaster as being a competitive tournament supported by a 5million population with players of lower standards than play elsewhere and getting a good price for it. Celtic do not depend on TV income to anything like the same degree as other clubs outside the richest top two. But other clubs are needed to have a competition to sell at all.
That brings in another factor which is the interdependent nature globally of the football industry. It is the reason UEFA have raised the amounts paid to clubs that fail to compete in any UEFA Competition in the form of Solidarity Payments which all competing clubs including Celtic agreed to.
This UEFA report is informative and might show the difference between BoardThink and FanThink.
https://europeanleagues.com/wp-content/uploads/REPORT-THE-FINANCIAL-LANDSCAPE-OF-EUROPEAN-FOOTBALL.pdf
Going back to Thursday after 20 minutes I could not identify one player from the bench that would bring on a different attitude, not one that I thought fulfilled WGS criteria, all good footballers but no “snarl” factor that say Neil Lennon had that would have altered attitudes.
A systemic change is not needed, easier to recruit players with the attitude Celtic need to have to compete in Scottish football and against Europe’s best.
KT is a good example of a player that meets WGS criteria. Don’t change the system or manager , just recruit players who can make it work better or is that a problem for whatever reason for some on The Board?
Good Morning From The Chilly Chilterns.
Good read back, just to respond to a couple of comments.
SAINT STIVS @ 2:47 PM
“Celtic squad registered for the 2024/25 Champions League in full:
Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel, Viljami Sinisalo, Scott Bain.
Defenders: Alistair Johnston, Greg Taylor, Liam Scales, Auston Trusty, Alex Valle, Maik Nawrocki, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh.
Midfielders: Reo Hatate, Luis Palma, Nicolas Kuhn, Yang Hyun-jun, Luke McCowan, Arne Engels, Paulo Bernardo, Callum McGregor, James Forrest, Adam Montgomery.
Forwards: Kyogo Furuhashi, Adam Idah, Daizen Maeda.
———–
we can buy more players but cant register for the two cl league games to go.
they can be swapped out with leavers such as stephen for the play off round, but home assosiation rules apply. so he would need replaced by a scot.
NOTTHEBUS @ 4:40 PM
“Chairbhoy on 9th January 2025 1:25 pm
Not really criticising Celtic here.
I watched highlights of Spurs Liverpool after watching our game.
its like a different sport
Well very good points there, but this is a squad in transition and we know how the Celtic Board work.
Now you will see comments on here and elsewhere that refer to the “fact” we are spending a load more money on our squad.
It’s not the way I see it at all – the recruitment strategy has been modified certainly, we are rewarding our performing players with new bumper contracts, and we are looking for better quality players coming in.
Now this could be Kuhn and Engels who are excellent prospects.
Or in could be Trusty and McCowan who are bringing in experience.
To me once again value matters – not necessarily the price of these players.
Kuhn a third of the price of Engels but no less a player, both, managed correctly, can add a lot to the current group and down the line give a decent ROI.
POV: So not so different from the model of the last decade, just better implemented – also not obsessed by “wit are the Rangers deain'”, more what can the Celtic do…
Now, to make the point we should look at the players who have moved on since Ange left, we have high value players we’ve sold, as is the wont of the Board.
We of course have had the retirement of some experienced players, and senior players who were just not cutting it.
We have players that wanted more game time but due to develop, quality or competition, were not getting the opportunity.
They were either mutualled, loaned or sold.
That is thirty in and around the first team players out in eighteen months (listed below) fringe and development players who have moved on (not necessarily listed) would account for another twenty.
MF Aaron Mooy
FW Jota
GK Conor Hazard
DF Osaze Urhoghide
GK Vasilis Barkas
DF Carl Starfelt
DF Bosun Lawal
MF Ismaila Soro
FW Albian Ajeti
MF Yosuke Ideguchi
MF Kwon Hyeok-kyu
FW Marco Tilio
FW Mikey Johnston
MF David Turnbull
DF Alexandro Bernabei
FW Liel Abada
GK Joe Hart
FW Sead Hakšabanović
FW Rocco Vata
FW Oh Hyeon-gyu
GK Benjamin Siegrist
DF Bosun Lawal
MF Daniel Kelly
DF Yuki Kobayashi
MF Matt O’Riley
DF Gustaf Lagerbielke
FW Mikey Johnston
MF Tomoki Iwata
MF Liam Shaw
DF. Stephen Welsh
Possible January ’25 loan moves out…
FW Luis Palma
MF Odin Holm
As I said earlier, we have 17 outfield players BR&CO seem to trust, we have an experienced GK with his understudy.
Most of these players are well rewarded for their quality; yet with so many players moving on, some high value fees, some on good wages, we can afford to reward that quality.
Each window since Brendan Rodgers’ return, we have spent less money on signings, than be brought in on player sales.
There is not a wholesale change in our recruitment model, just a re-emphisis.
So to get back to the point:)
Our squad does lack depth and quality outside our current 19 “group” – a twenty four man squad, with the mix of quality, development and experience our current group has, would be ideal for me.
In order to get players in, the Board need to see players going out to manage the books.
January with two UCL games at the end of the month, and a UCL squad that can’t be changed, will be difficult to manage but we will be relying mainly on the same players that have got us here to pick up the couple of points we need to advance to the next phase of the UCL.
Meantime we need players in that can help us qualify for the UC League phase next season, &/or give a good account of ourselves in the last 16 play-offs this season – not expecting them in all at once, yet a few this month and some early doors in the summer will be perfect.
Hail Hail
Good morning all from a -8 Garngad
It’s a wee bit cold out there.
How bad are the huns even with Refs cheating for them, Dundee denied a good goal as the line was on his arm and we all know you cannot score with your arm, so goal should have stood, also that was a pen for me. Arm around him and stands on foot, they tell players at corner kicks no holding etc but ref and var let’s them away with that.
Maybe I am just biased as I despise everything that football club stands for.
Anyhow I have been laid up in bed with some chest infection bug since we came back from Tenerife on Saturday, a nightmare. Feeling a bit better today but got a doc appointment at 2.30pm.
Let’s get a win mañana and go 18 clear before they play on Sunday.
Put more pressure on them.
D. :)
Auldheid on 10th January 2025 2:57 am
Auldheid on 10th January 2025 2:57 am
——————————————————–
Heard you were under the weather recently – good to see you back, hopefully fighting-fit, and posting your always erudite and respectful views HH
But to fair to Sevco the difference in budgets between them and Dundee means they can’t compete, oh wait.
That mob’s follow followers are that thick if they beat St. Johnstone 5-0 on Sunday and it’s perfectly conceivable they could they will be world beaters again. Huns eh what are they like?
Good morning CQN.
Wrap up tight.
Last freezing cold day for a bit mercifully.
This made me laugh. Have a good day all.
https://x.com/Evershite/status/1877411319986446741
Auldheid – Interesting post. And I agree. A one horse race is bad for business. Maybe not initially when there is the novelty factor of strolling to title after title, but complacency and boredom will set in. Fans will skip games that become meaningless.
As you note, broadcasters will also lose interest. A genuine title race is is what drives viewing numbers up (as well as bums on seats at the stadium).
A couple of years ago, plenty of us on here suspected our strategy was to spend just enough to keep our noses in front of them. The risk/reward of opening up an unbridgeable gap did not make sense to our board.
Others countered that Europe was the only measure we should be judging ourselves against. But success there needs players who are being tested week in and out to prepare them properly for the step up in class to CL games. Then there is the fact we could spend 100 million on 4-5 players and not make any real improvement on that stage (just look at the teams around and below us).
As I said, from a business perspective, we need to be careful what we wish for.
David66 on 10th January 2025 6:43 am
………….
Get well soon Big Yin.
I watched all of the Dundee v Huns game and it was hilarious to see the Hun fans telling their manager and players to FECK AFF at the end.
Clement was on the Pitch TELLING his players to go to the Hun fans at the end of the game….It was SO OBVIOUS that several Hun players did NOT wish to go anywhere their ” Fans” after failing to win an away game yet again.
The only surprise was that the Hun Fans did NOT appear to throw any coins at their own players….As yet…maybe its only a matter of time ?
LOL.
HH Mate.
Burnley78 on 9th January 2025 7:24 pm
9 Dundee players out injured and now their best player Lyall Cameron not playing either.
Better watching the FA cup tonight I reckon.
………….
You got that one WRONG.
LOL.
Good morning all from Govanhill. Two tough games coming up. I would hope that hun cheat aitken is nowhere near us, a rank badyin.
BRRB…
YOU called it CORRECTLY….The Huns are VERMIN for so many reasons.
HH Mate.
An Tearmann on 10th January 2025 1:21 am
Tiken jah Fakoly
Plus Rien Ne M’étonneIs a bold anthem of freedom
Do give it a listen CQN
https://youtu.be/UuelOOv_SwA?si=UHHl0KVQL7cjL29_
HH
Powerful stuff Big D. Thanks
Ave Ave
https://images.gc.celticfc.com/fit-in/1400×1400/eee44fd0-ce6a-11ef-ae8a-a72a9cf3ea90.jpg
https://images.gc.celticfc.com/fit-in/1400×1400/ee588a90-ce6a-11ef-b19c-39a55260680f.jpg
https://images.gc.celticfc.com/fit-in/1400×1400/ee8b8170-ce6a-11ef-a8bb-5d8aafd8ef4e.jpg
https://images.gc.celticfc.com/fit-in/1400×1400/ee8f5200-ce6a-11ef-b9eb-fb8bfe0add36.jpg
https://images.gc.celticfc.com/fit-in/1400×1400/eede3550-ce6a-11ef-8945-4d0ff8af3ec7.jpg