Celtic played their best football in months last night. Why? Well, the shape of the team was different. Scott Brown was no longer in the anchor role, leaving that in the capable hands of Eboue Kouassi (20 last month). Eboue joined this time last year, but has spent most of the intervening period getting to grips with life at Celtic, as well as overcoming illness. He did just fine and went some way to justifying the significant fee Celtic paid.
Olivier Ntcham, no stranger to a robust challenge, played the advanced role of the middle three, while Brown had the freedom to forage wherever need was greatest. It worked.
You will also notice a nascent partnership emerging between Moussa Dembele and Odsonne Edouard. Both thrived. We were even treated to the sight of Moussa collecting a clearance from Dorus de Vries before releaseing Odsonne inside the Celtic half. The big striker stretched his legs to speed away from the Hearts defence before scoring the opening goal. This worked too.
Brendan may have considered the effects of both wing partnerships being broken up. Kieran Tierney was without Scott Sinclair and James Forrest didn’t have Mikael Lustig, but both flourished.
Moments after coming on, Charly Musonda created a chance with a delicious back-heel. Moussa should have converted what would have been a fitting herald for the new loan signing.
My big takeaway from this game? Teams have had 18 months to figure out how to combat Celtic’s play. We have stuttered, in part, because teams knew what to expect and prepared accordingly. Teams need a second system as much as they need a second strip. We now have ours.
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Paul John Dykes and Kevin Graham are joined by Frank McGarvey at The Penalty Spot in Glasgow.
Frank discusses his time at Liverpool, signing for Celtic, his admiration for Jock Stein, his partnership with Charlie Nicholas, the 1985 Scottish Cup final, why this was his final appearance in the hoops, and Love Street 1986.
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Saint Sivs
Me no likey that mob!
HH jamesgang
Any CQNers by any chance booked a week-end stay at the Marine Hotel in Troon?
The Celtic party will be staying there on Friday night before the Kilmarnock game.
The perfect opperchancity to bend Brendan’s ear and tell him where he is going wrong?!
…and to tell him what team to pick!
;-)
HH!!
Another wasted transfer window for me.
The alternative market . open only twice a year.
Hanndsome hun club movements.
Do you have one ? Do you want one ?
Not an enquiry.
No not one.
I’ve just had an e-mail from Moray Council (planning) that my new next door neighbour has been granted planning permission for an erection. If I’d known it was going to be that complicated I would have stayed in Glasgow :-)
Noticed young Charly was wearing a short sleeved top a la Broony/Kieran (no gloves).
I was wrapped up like Nanook of the North, but still chittering.
TougherthanhelooksCSC.
Tallybhoy
Marine Hotel in Troon is often offerings deals on Groupon.Maybe the Celts made a bulk purchase.
Fred C Dobbs
He Musonda realised how cold it was when he opted for the short sleeved top
He knew o expect a warm reception
SOUKOUS on 31ST JANUARY 2018 11:55 PM
Tallybhoy
Marine Hotel in Troon is often offerings deals on Groupon.Maybe the Celts made a bulk purchase.
———————————————————————————————————————————————-
Possibly!
Daughter has a weekend job there, and it was her who told me.
I’ve asked her to try and get some souvenirs!
HH!!
So did we sign Bain and Hendry or not? Paucity of info on BBC. This brinkmanship is ridiculous.
WHAT IS THE STARS/GO TELL THE SPARTIM,
Skating on thin ice there :-)
Torvil&Dean CSC
Heard a rumour that Metro Bank are doing walking away….
Jack Hendry done deal
Announcements made on Scott Allan and Simon Murray. Why nothing on Bain and Hendry?
Hendry deal announced on various press sites – ok, including the Daily Record…
And on SSN now, Bain and Hendry
Celtic’s double deadline day signings from Dundee
By: Paul Cuddihy on 01 Feb, 2018 00:21
CELTIC have made a double transfer deadline day swoop, signing defender Jack Hendry on a four-and-a-half-year contract, and goalkeeper Scott Bain on a loan deal until the end of the season, both players joining from Dundee.
Jack began his career with Partick Thistle before he moved to Wigan Athletic in September 2015. During his time in England he also had loan spells with Shrewsbury Town and MK Dons before returning north last July when he signed for Dundee.
And his performances for the Dens Park side have impressed many observers, with Celtic winning the race to sign him on transfer deadline day.
This season, Jack has made 30 appearances for Dundee, scoring two goals, and he drew praise from Hoops manager, Brendan Rodgers, following Celtic’s 1-0 win over Dundee at Celtic Park back in October.
Now, Jack has committed his future to the Scottish Champions and is looking forward to meeting up with his new team-mates this week and starting to train with them.
Speaking exclusively to the official Celtic website, Jack Hendry said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have signed for Celtic. Joining the Scottish champions is a brilliant move for me. I know, from playing against Celtic this season, the quality of players that are at the club and I can’t wait to start training with my new team-mates.
“I also know that working with Brendan Rodgers and the rest of the coaching staff here will improve me as a player and I’m looking forward to working hard every day to repay the faith they’ve shown in signing me.
“I’ve already experienced playing at Celtic Park as an opposition player, but I can’t wait to run out wearing the Celtic jersey and play in front of the Celtic supporters.”
Scott Bain began his career with Aberdeen, during which time he spent a season on loan at Elgin City, before joining Alloa Athletic in June 2011.
After three years there, he joined Dundee, and during his time at Dens Park, he was also twice called up to the Scotland squad by former national team manager, Gordon Strachan. He had joined Hibernian on loan at the start of January, but he has now made the switch to Paradise.
Scott told the official Celtic website: “This is biggest club in Scotland and one of the biggest clubs in the world, so I just can’t believe that I’m here.
“I phoned my dad earlier today just to say that I was leaving Easter Road and on the road to Glasgow, and he was buzzing and delighted for me. I can’t believe I was on the bench for Hibs against Celtic last weekend and then, just a few days later, I’m signing for Celtic.
“It’s not something that, when I went on loan to Hibs, I thought was ever going to happen, so the past few days have been great, and to get it over the line and be here is absolutely amazing.”
And Scott Bain sounds pretty damn happy to be here!
I am refusing to believe that we have signed Bain & Hendry.
I don’t believe that there is such a player as Comperr
And I don’t know who the guy was that was pretending to be Charly Musonda at the Hearts game.
We have not signed anyone. We were told, by reliable posters, for the past 2 weeks that Celtic would sign no-one during this window and they would just pretend to be signing players but there would be last minute pretendy flaws that prevented finalised deals. And that’s just what happened with Trevor Carson, Daniel Sturridge and all the other big signings like Alfredo Moorelos where we could not even compete with fictional Chinese teams like FC Kashing My Shek or Dangdie Laffin. This is worse than the Willo window.
We have lost important players like Sviatchenko and Ciftci and The Board are playing us for fools. I’ll no be back- empty the stadium!
We need to be wary that cute managers like Graeme Murty have got Brendan sussed.
I know it’s not a popular message with the sleekit elite on this site but, listen up…..
Shhh! The Rangers are coming………………………….
………………………… apart.
So we got an 18 month loan deal from Chelsea a loan deal from Dundee for a keeper a £1m deal for Hendry and a £1m for a german nag. Zenit must be keeching themselves.
Come on admit it ye happyclapper green hun chumps this is an OF vision. Nothing else.
I hope young Hendry proves a lot of doubters wrong
I like signing the best Scottish youngsters.
They know what the games about up here.
Hendry and Morgan have experienced the shit refs and physicality of the Scottish game.
And training with a higher calibre of coaches and players will improve any youngster.
Sources from China have revealed that Leigh Griffiths’ dream move to Guangzhou Evergrande*, Guangzhou R&F*, Beijing Renhe* (* delete as appropriate) have been scuppered by the Chinese Govenment.
A government spokesperson said “It is all very well that these clubs wish to have a top rate goal scorer like The Griffalo but they need to realise that we have a population explosion in China and we can’t afford to have someone who “scores“ as prolifically as Leigh living in China.“
A spokesman for Guangzhou Evergrande*, Guangzhou R&F*, Beijing Renhe* (* delete as appropriate) has said “Naturally we would prefer to have The Griffmeister but for the sake of population control I think it is best we go for that wee Jaffa Morelos.“
I have been too ill to post this week, but CELTARELLA @ 1:02am has inspired me?
Did you see the first half last night poster?
Are we building a team for the present and the future?
Do you think we are stronger coming out of this window?
I hope you are way off on your Zenit prediction, and should we win, I will hope you can raise our opinion of you when you apologise.
Pogmathonyahun aka Laird of the Smiles on 1st February 2018 1:09 am
Sounds like pandamonium
GG on 1st February 2018 1:15 am
if we beat Zenit apologize for what?
Continually implying that we are not good enough to beat them.
GG on 1st February 2018 1:33 am
Its symbolic. I would like Celtic to go further in Europe than Zenit. The point I am trying to make is that Celtic PLC are not investing in any kind of European run. Their business plan is bigot buck and most of you love it. You know the Govan club that most Green huns on here claim are dead but their continued existence is the main modus operandi of Celtic PLC.
Mags, there was nothing in our price range that would have significantly raised our odds against Zenit.
On Soccerex’s list of the top 100 rich clubs, they lie 11th, just behind Bayern and Chelsea, and ahead of Barca and Liverpool.
Celtic were not even ranked in the top 100, where Brighton were 90th, Sunderland 89th, Santos 98th and CSKA Moscow 100th.
Even on the more traditional ratings of the Deloitte list, Zenit were ranked 17th and Celtic scraped into the top 60.
I know we have tradition and a fanbase, but so have Ajax, Anderlecht, Slavia Prague, Legia and Ferencvaros and they won’t be troubling the big 5 league teams or the top 3 teams from Russia that make it into European competition. The financial gap has widened by huge factors in every year of this millenium. There is a glass ceiling even for the clubs that have come closer in recent years to breaking into the outskirts of Eliteville. The likes of Olympiakos, Shaktar, Benfica, Besiktas and Basel have done well to consolidate in the 2nd tier but they are slipping too and cannot compete with the Big 5 leagues and the oligarchic clubs.
Your over-optimism about where Celtic should be in Europe feeds your pessimism in dealing with where we are. It’s not a great rallying cry to say we are working hard and smart to be 2nd to 3rd tier yo-yo club in terms of European relevance but it is the truth. We have to wait for some bubbles to burst or a Trustbusting Act to break open Football’s closed shop. Until then, we are makeweights who get to bloody a nose or two along the way but won’t be in the latter stages of anything but domestic competitions.
Goodnight
Good morning (here), CELTARELLA I hope you are in fine fettle.
Now that the totally pointless transfer window has closed perhaps we can go back to discussing the finer things in life like the refreshing honesty of the SMSM and how our lives would be meaningless if it wasn’t for the integrity of the upstanding members of that fine bastion of honesty and fair play, the (FT)SFA.
Was the transfer window invented so that Jim White, who would otherwise be unemployable, could get a job. A knob end of the highest ordure?
CELTARELLA try and enjoy being a Celtic supporter ffs. goodnight.
SFTB/CELTARELLA,
Every so often a rank outsider, eg Leicester City, ICT, come along and win a competition. Unfortunately, that’s where we are now and the best we can hope for these days.
Would we prefer to be where we are now or for some oligarch to come along and obliterate the soul of our Club?
I’m sure some on here think that soul has already been obliterated but it would be nothing in comparison in selling it to some rich Satan.
I too dream of European success but at what cost? There’s more kudos from doing it with meagre resources than by buying it. That’s what makes Lisbon and The Lions so special!!
Ps, CELTARELLA, it’s also why you went to Lisbon last May! Am I wrong?
SFTB
So the glorious balance sheet of Celtic is a fallacy? a lie?
CL money, ST money, sales money, sell on money, transfer money, enough money to develop hotel and entertainment complexes but dont have enough money to deal with any of these:
Borussia Dortmund v Atalanta
Nice v Lokomotov
Moscow Copenhagen v Atletico Madrid
Spartak Moscow v Athletic Bilbao
AEK Athens v Dynamo Kyiv
Celtic v Zenit St Petersburg
Napoli v RB Leipzig
Red Star Belgrade v CSKA Moscow
Lyon v Villarreal
Real Sociedad v Salzburg
Partizan Belgrade v Viktoria Plzen
Steaua Bucharest v Lazio
Ludogorets v Milan
Astana v Sporting
Ostersund v Arsenal
Marseille v Braga
Pogmathonyahun aka Laird of the Smiles on 1st February 2018 2:27 am
we sold our souls for the OF
and Celtic legend is all about Europe.
CELTARELLA,
Do you celebrate when we beat sevco? I know I do. I celebrate every Celtic victory and mourn every defeat.
The vehicle that carried hunnism did in fact die, it was burnt like their bus. Unfortunately, the purveyors of hunnism have leased a new vehicle. There’s not much Celtic can do about that apart from trying to flatten the tyres. Also the lease company (FTSFA) are not particularly diligent when it comes to taking care of their fleet of vehicles.
Until we can find a new road, preferably a highway, to drive on we just need to accept that they travel down our road.
Old Firm is a state of mind. It does not exist in my mind (anymore)! It was exorcised from me in 2012 improving my mental state immensely.
Pogmathonyahun aka Laird of the Smiles on 1st February 2018 2:54 am
Celtic PLC have done their utmost to repair the Scottish road to hunnery
For more money.
Anyone who celebrates beating the vanguard of Scottish vitriolic hunnery doesnt get why we hated them in the first place.
Any Celtic supporter who has paid a penny either directly or indirectly to see the rebirth of this repugnant Scottish cancer is nothing but a total tube!