Every week, every game, counts at this stage of the season, when players are fighting for full fitness. Hibs’ remarkable comeback last night after going 0-2 down to Asteras Tripolis will have their Greek opponents wondering if three preseason friendlies was sufficient preparation for a game of that importance. Hibs have played five games in total.
AEK Athens, who lie in wait for Celtic or Rosenborg, have also played three games since losing the Greek Cup Final on 12 May. They play a fourth on Tuesday against Galatasaray, their final match before the Champions League third qualification round.
By contrast, Celtic have played five friendlies and are in their second qualification round. If they overcome Rosenborg, they will face AEK having played 10 games, including the league opener against Livingston. The difference between four and 10 games is significant. Four games is nowhere near enough to get a squad ready to perform at their best.
I know no one at Celtic Park or Lennoxtown likes having to come through four qualification rounds. It provides unnecessary hazard and denies the club access to lucrative friendly competitions, but there is nothing like a competitive focus to get players in shape.
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!!BADA BING!! on 27TH JULY 2018 1:38 PM
Huns bid for Laffatme
——-
Bid £130k up front and add ons up to £200k.
Lush.
Great 60 minutes on wednesday but will need to be at it for whole game next week. Hopefully we will have a few more bodies to pick from going forward.
And other scottish clubs did ok in europe too.
See the usual transfer rumours about players leaving. occupational hazard with celtic’s business plan, but that same plan is focused on developing players, getting good service and showcasing the club as a good pick for up and coming young players not a quick profit.
Cant see that plan changing anytime soon. Hopefully we have a few of those types lined up
HH
DAVID17 on 27TH JULY 2018 1:53 PM
!!BADA BING!! on 27TH JULY 2018 1:38 PM
Huns bid for Laffatme
——-
Bid £130k up front and add ons up to £200k.
Lush.
Or a swap deal with The Grass….
Gary67,
Would be surprised if that tactic got them 2nd, same as last year I would suggest 3rd
https://twitter.com/GFFN/status/1022766514770993153?s=08
Croatia had a decent run the the World Cup, so one would expect that they have some decent players and s decent league.
Beating the 4th placed Croatian team away is a good result. CQN would be crowing Had we done so.
BMCW…. timeless from Frankie
I’ve never seen the link between homophobia and oranges. I’m not saying that the Orange walk is gay
If I was trying to prove that I wasn’t gay, that’s not how
I’d personally go about it.
Who are you calling gay?
Fetch me my
majorette stick and my ribbon. I’m about to perform a routine that will
leave you looking rather foolish.
smiley things all round thing
Braw
BMCUW @ 1:37 PM,
Well of course, my sincere hope would be this team stays together… now another dollop of opTIMism – if we can keep these players together and qualify, sell the want aways and replace those guys with better. I truly believe we can do some damage in Europe.
The £50M…
Armstrong… £7M
Dembele
Tierney
Boyata
Jozo
Gamboa
Hope they all stay but the potential for a move is unfortunately there in each case. Having said that, if one of the Centre Halfs went and we could source better…
Then the unknowns, this is just supposition but it can and has happened… what if a bid come in for…
Sparky – he might fancy a change with potentially limited game time this season…
Callum MacGregor – A highly underrated player, what if a smart scout sees him and the EPL bid silly money…
Kris Ajer – What if a continental Giant likes the cut of this young man’s jib and bids silly money
You get my drift… It’s a difficult window to predict let’s hope we can keep the team together and add some experience in certain crucial areas – that’s my hope.
Hail Hail
I see the Hootsmon are telling Celtic they should not be signing Arzani for 2 years as its not the way forward.This would be the same mob that have gushed over Huns taking any kind of loanee anyone will be glad to offload on them.Wonderkids,no less.When we have a chance to take one of the worlds top kids,good enough to play at the WC,its a backwards step.
Dear God in heaven.
OK laughing,but Laffatme would be allowed to maim our defenders at will.
Can you imagine it.
NEUSTADT-BRAW on 27TH JULY 2018 12:47 PM
Braw
The Orange Order always claim that the bands are not part of the Order. They merely rent them for the day to assist swaggering to the TT Meenister’s speech on inclusiveness, religious freedom and equality…
HH
GARY67
It did indeed look like the return of the Wattenacio.
The signing of Lafferty should confirm this.
I actually thought Souness pioneered this first.
His midfield with thugs like Hurlock supported by guys like Hugh Dallas would hunt in packs and once they gained possession would give the balls to the full backs who would hump it up to Hateley and they would charge forward for knockdowns or resulting free kicks.
Lafferty was given plenty leeway last season against Celtic and was lucky(cough cough)to remain on the field due to lenient refs.
Souness and Watty had better players at their disposal but Stevie G’s limited bunch will be aided by plenty honest mistakes in the coming season.
Murphy in their first Euro game dived to con the ref for a penalty and last night twice attempted the same.
I expect him to be successful this season with the same ploy.Morelos consistently backed into defenders then launched himself forward in a manner Greg Lugannis would be proud of at the slightest contact.
Defending in numbers, compliant refs and outright cheating is their plan for this season.
Neustadt-Braw
There certainly are signs of repressed Gays. King Billy was rumoured to be gay, the organisation is for men only, They meet in secret and their main activity is dressing up and marching. They also profess their masculinity. They also claim to hate Gays. Look prepressed to me.
They should come out of the closet
Dumbhoy…..
aye you would think their top goat shaggers would have an understanding of “vicarious liability”…..
smiley feck them all thing
Braw
Bigbhoy
))))
Braw
Turkeybhoy on 27th July 2018 2:31 pm
OK laughing,but Laffatme would be allowed to maim our defenders at will.
======
Only if we let him. Need to toughen up at CB and find a settled pairing who are committed and can provide solidity, reliability and leadership. To me that means finding someone new to partner Ajer.
And anyway – despite all the conspiring, we stopped the 10 in 1998. Its going to take a lot more than Lafferty and a couple of dodgy decisions to stop us now.
HH
CHAIRBHOY
Don’t get me wrong,mate. We have much much more than £50m in our squad.
My poorly-made point was that were we to realise the price of some of these players,it would not reflect their cost to us. Yours,though,is correct. Their value to us is an additional £50m should we qualify.
I think this is a great example of having your cake and eating it. Keep those players together,happy and well-rewarded,pull in another £50m pa for a few years.
Sell them to realise that £50m,well…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goose_That_Laid_the_Golden_Eggs
Prepare for the recent media spin to increase as things become desperate across the river.
Struggling media outlets (DR, ET, Hootsman, Herald and STV) playing their final card, the joker – “come back Sevco readers and viewers all is well and the other team are waining”
Aided and abetted by the Level5 “machine” – one old ex-hack and a part time office temp.
Ever wonder what Traynor does all day?
Never a good news story about us. Never a bad one about Sevco.
Celtic have won back to back trebles, achieved back to back CL qualification, had the longest unbeaten run in British football ever and are the healthiest financially in our history.
There are three principle negatives ( one real, one imaginary, one up for debate).
1. We’ve had three hammerings in two years of European football.
2. We don’t sign 10 players between mid-June and mid-July which seems to upset some of us. (Strangely – the one team that operates this way don’t win anything).
3. Celtic are not pursuing reformed governance and full transparency in our game at all, or aggressively enough.
Our club has been playing football for 130 years.
With the exception of the period 1966-74 (and possibly single years of 1938, 1953 and 2003), these are the best of times.
A lot of work, intelligence and loyalty has brought us here. We owe it to ourselves to enjoy it.
Hail hail
Any news about jozo ban?
Stevie G it seems, has been studying the, Stevie C from Kilmarnock, formation, tactics, game plan, mentality etc.
In other words, put a product on the pitch, that Brendan can’t defeat.
It works for Stevie C.
Rainjurz transfer update
Still no bids since the last one for Daniel Cousin in 2012
Ramman Bhardwaj
BMCUW @ 2:51 PM,
Think I understood you and that we are pretty much in agreement.
This is only a personal observation but I think it’s interesting that the fholk on here that feel we should have been more active and have a few more players in so we are well on our way to completing this season’s squad…
…Are the same fholk who think PL would have no compunction about selling £50M of our best talent if we could bank the dosh;)
Hail Hail
GARY67 on 27TH JULY 2018 9:17 AM
http://www.hibs.net/showthread.php?332550-John-Mcginn
Seems like John McGinn was star man for Hibs last night. I th8nk they like him!
———
Those reviews are quite something.
Signing Kyle Lafferty to stop Celtic…
Ye gorra laff:))
Stevie G in charge at Sevco, obviously not eh:))
I doubt he woke up this morning and thought Kyle that’s the fella we need.
I’m guessing some sticky with more of an idea of skullduggery needed thought that one up…
Watching them last night use every trick in the DOB bag to get a result as they have ALWAYS done made me realise we have little or nothing to worry about this season. Aberdeen will be our main challengers and Lenny’s Hibs will not lie down either, second will be a major achievement for the huns..
Hey but better not CROW about it eh…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdvKE2WtH2o&frags=pl%2Cwn
Ntcham joined Manchester City when Pellegrini was the Manager. He is now West Ham Manager. Join the dots.
BACK TO BASICS @ 2.55
Carpe Diem CSC
For the 4th best team in Croatia, I thought that Osijek (sp) were poor, and their opponents last night were just about poor minus. It will be interesting to see how the return leg of that fixture turns out. HH
FAN-A-TIC
Superb:))
GARY67 on 27TH JULY 2018 10:12 AM
http://etims.net/?p=13211
———
Sticking the boot into Pedro because everything else they predicted hasn’t come to fruition. Does anyone seriously believe Brendan gave PL a bit of paper? And it was lost? And that PL behaves like that? Etims diary of fantasy.
MiT
@ 1:57
Quite agree. Sevco are what they are.Wishful thinking does not make them any worse nor any better than they really are. To talk of Sevco in the same manner as the MSSM talks of Celtic does not, in either case, alter reality but only one`s perception of it.
JJ
david17 on 27th July 2018 3:26 pm
They given up on the Jordan Rhodes rumour yet?!
HH
Its not simply putting together a team of loanees , Bosmans and cheapos to beat Celtic they really have to be able to beat their false perception of wee diddy teams that Rangers used to beat Hamilton, Hibs, Kilmarnock, Hearts, St Johnstone etc, etc .
They have to play these teams week in week out when they are not focussed on their nemesis, where they suspect a guaranteed humping at Parkhead and the Big Hoose .
Same for any new club without penance ( or pennants )
Lower East Kilbride CSC
Has Jozo been punished enough or is there more? Has anyone heard anything?
Is it not a problem thatthe Huns turned out in a strip,(cough),thatwas not a registered one last night.I was under the impression that strips had to be registered with the governing bodies before the season started.In fact,Iam certain of it.
Kyle Lafferty
Rumours that Daniel Arzani may be a permanent signing direct from Melbourne City.
Wouldn’t bother me if Sevco made Europa League, wafer thin squad, regular pumpings.