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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HOT SMOKED on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 9:54 AM
There would be no point in us learning Spanish then going to live in Italy !
=================
Apart from the fact that language learning is highly beneficial for your mind, broadens your horizons, offsets nasty diseases of the brain and not to mention the fact that if you learn Spanish you can pick up Italian a whole lot quicker, giving you a choice of languages to speak to all those South Americans in Italy too ;)
You do realise that the mindset that English is the ‘main’ language of the world is a contributing factor in the UK losing a lot of potential trade. Speaking other languages will become even more important after Brexit.
HH
Oops ! I meant MM not N2
Good Morning from a “Tube” in Turkey.Do I like gubbing the Huns?Do I ever.Its what I have lived for since I started following Celtic.Best days of my life,and still are.Dont give a monkeys about what form they take,the horribles who follow them are the same,and their misery gives me unbridled joy.
The Celterellas of this world can go and kiss my suntanned posterior.Weirdos with an agenda,best ignored.You wont miss anything by ignoring them anyway.Same guff every post.No seeming joy in following Celtic.
Very happy to say they could not be further away from my idea of what following Celtic means.
If I may contribute to the reliance on the bigot pound being part of Celtic’s business plan.
1. There should be no reliance on any one source of income be it CL, EL, as far as is possible. The risks should be spread and contingencies in place. Just a matter of good business practice.
2. The current economic case is that the biggest risk to accessing the largest potential income stream – CL cash- is the source of the bigot pound -TRFC. So why encourage that risk?
3. Finally in 2012 it wasn’t just Celtic who stood to lose the bigots pound income, other clubs did too and for some the loss would not have been what they could cope with. Most clubs are now run on a better financial footing but I was told in 2010 there was a fear that some SPL clubs would go under.
So Celtic, apart from being outvoted by fellow clubs in 2012, , would have seen a danger to themselves if more than RFC disappeared from the scene. Who would be left for Celtic to play at an acceptable level of quality?
That is the interdependent nature of football.
It’s not us v them it’s just us (apart from RFC who think they are separate by dint of being superior.)
As long as TRFC are allowed to operate to a business model that no prudent club will now adopt they continue to represent a risk to those other clubs, but for some unknown reason that risk is tolerated by them.
If they want a fairer playing field they should be demanding a club licensing regime tailored to the state of our domestic game but that idea, though promised, has not materialised.
It is one that Celtic should be pursuing once the deficiencies of the current system are recognised in the SFA Investigation into the licensing system in 2011 that failed to do what it said on the tin, quite the opposite in fact.
HOT SMOKED
“would speak only their own language ”
I know Brits who have been here for years and years who struggle to say Please /Thank you in Italian . Inability ? Refusal ? Arrogance ? -who knows …Imagine living somewhere where you can’t speak or understand the language . Best bit is when such people have to do something bureaucratic and come asking S of T to do it for them . At that point ,S of T takes pleasure in directing some fluent Anglo Saxon in their direction .
Gary Caldwell
Has applied for the Scotland Job
Trad 88
” Apart from the fact that language learning is highly beneficial for your mind, broadens your horizons, offsets nasty diseases of the brain and not to mention the fact that if you learn Spanish you can pick up Italian a whole lot quicker, giving you a choice of languages to speak to all those South Americans in Italy too ;)”
a) There are many other intellectual pursuits that offer those benefits as well .Indeed, I would argue that many are even more beneficial..
b) Spanish/Italian was a poor choice. Perhaps Spanish/Latvian would have made my point more clearly ;
c) Do you disagree that English is the `main` language of the world?
JJ
Just up, real late night there, just found out that the more or less hun is still with them, absolutely staggered that they could knock back 8 million, wow
Welcome to paradise Jack and Scott
SoT
I agree with that and have come across similar situations many a time.On holiday, I always do my best with my limited French and Spanish.
Recently in Spain,I heard a very slovenly spoken English woman said to the Receptionist , ” D` ya, towk Engerlish? ”
I suggested the Receptionist should have replied, ” Yes. Do you ? ”
JJ
I believe the counterfeit tickets were hard to spot
“Let this Hun in” printed on orange paper
Can’t blame the turnstile staff
Things you learn .
Napoli squad wages total is the 6th highest in Italy . Napoli’s Manager is the 6th highest paid in Serie A .
Top of Serie A , in the Europa League -all with a relatively small squad . Easily the best team to watch in Serie A — very good players / beautiful football etc . They won’t go for both — Serie A is their target.
A good article on E Tims on tackling the SFA.
http://etims.net/?p=12446
If fair football governance is seen as a legitimate objective.
Apparently the meet and greet taxi driver at Beijing airport has been told he’s not required. Not the only one greeting.
They broke the mould when this pair departed. Contains some egg chasing references :-)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cOU3gDncP4k
HOT SMOKED on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 10:14 AM
a) There are, but you don’t go around speaking in computer programming code to order a coffee, do you?
b) Its the example you gave. Latvia is obviously a much smaller country with a population of 2m. Clearly the chances of finding someone else speak it and especially in a business conext are greatly reduced. But learn any language and you are more experienced to tackle the next.
c) ‘Main’ language of the world is a very ambiguous term. Its acknowledged in the UK that how poor we are at languages costs us billions per year in trade. In the next few years there’ll be more people in the USA speaking Spanish as a first language than there are in Spain! There are 1.2 billion people in China. Arabic. The idea that English is the ‘main’ language has some merit because its often the default language for business but clearly not always. This doesnt refer to lost business! Plus its too often an excuse for lazy Brits to not learn and shout things in English at European waiters. So its a fluid situation and mindsets will have to change rapidly in the UK.
So its very important, and very beneficial. No one is saying you should go learn Icelandic!
HH
HOT SMOKED
It’s an interesting phenomenon — I know a hospital medic who tells the tale of a 4 am encounter with a Canadian couple ( Here for 11 years ! ) — She was screaming in pain — she couldn’t say where / she couldn’t speak a word of Italian , she had to point/ she couldn’t understand a word that Dr Man said / she had a life threatening kidney infection .
Trad 88
Hvað er athugavert við að tala íslensku?
Hail! Hail!
Hot Smoked
Enginn talar það!
HH
If Elvis had been brought up in Eindhoven, the world would speak Dutch.
Dearie me! Hunmedia is at it’s most delusional this morning. This from a thread that reckons the gap is minimal:
Gaffbear
boomshanka
Gaffbear
Club Legend
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Posted 2 hours ago
Money doesn’t always mean success .. look at our spending at times and we lost .
Its how you spend it and with the off exception that mob have bought nothing . Ntcham is dross . All defenders are pish . Eduard is bog average .. Sinclair looks like a 1 season wonder .. dembele and Gordon are their best and cheapest ..
We’re behind them financially but as first 11’s go I don’ see much difference I’d even say we have the edge in areas .
Tav before lustig
Goss before Lego
Dorrans before Armstrong
Morellos before sinclair
Candeias before Forest
If we grow in confidence and get a good run going. Beat them next month I feel.anything is possible this season
A faire few of them still reckon they are in with a good shout of winning the league!
KTF
Hot SMOKED –
Interesting addition to the Dr Man’s story is that he regularly sees Albanians / Romanians / Poles / Ukrainians / Norwegians , Dutch, Moldovans, Serbs / Croats / Moroccans etc etc and all can speak functional Italian –. They have seen the point / they have made the effort . Canadians / Americans / Brits — if he’s lucky !!!!
SoT and Trad 88
It is an interesting topic but I would rather have face to face conversation ( not in Icelandic) over a drink if the opportunity ever arises.
I would like to make it clear that I am NOT defending Brits aboad who don`t even attempt the very basics of friendly communication. That is particularly true of those living abroad.
One little problem I have.
Apparently, being Scottish, my Spanish accent is pretty good. The problem?
I ask a very basic question and because it sounds as though I speak good Spanish, I receive a torrent of information, no doubt delivered in the local accent, in reply and I stand there clueless !
Hasta luego,
JJ
Intesting. When I post about football, nobody bothers to reply. But when I mentioned languages, well you will have seen the result yourselves.
Here is another language question. Does anyone know if our Belgians are French or Flemish speakers? Many in Flanders speak, Flemish, French and English with ease. However it is rare that those Belgians who live in the Wallonie are willing to speak Flemish.
Trad 88
I think you are correct.Certainly hasn`t helped me in my travels );))
TBB
Very good.
Offsky,
JJ
HOT SMOKED on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 10:54 AM
Thats a stage most language learners experience, I’d say. Andalucia is the region of Spain where its most difficult to understand the natives if you’re learning their lingo. Probably why most of us didnt get past unos cervezas por favor in 2003 ;)
HH
According to a fair number of people in Swindon,I’m bilingual,wi English as my second language. They still haven’t a clue what my first one is!
Mind,I got a B in Higher French,but I’d struggle to construct so much as a sentence nowadays.
Interesting and not Intesting.
a qué hora son celtas jugando hoy
Dos cervezas por favor.
Job done.
Below summaries the importance of languages(and ranks in order of importance):
https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/policy-insight-research/languages-future-2017
https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/languages_for_the_future_2017.pdf
HH
‘ As a world authority in English language teaching, it speaks volumes that the British Council is also championing the need to move beyond relying on English as a lingua franca’
Bobby, Ive lived in England a very long time. Sometimes people will say too me, ‘why have you still got a Scottish accent?’ I love the look on their face when I reply, ‘because I haven’t found a better one yet’
BARNEY67
Brilliant. I might use that with your permission-my replies usually start and end wi F.
Which,surprisingly,they seem to understand perfectly!
FRANKMARKER on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 10:13 AM
Gary Caldwell
Has applied for the Scotland Job
Have you?
Welcome to Celtic, Jack Hendry and Scott Bain. Don’t know anything about Hendry but my dad is very friendly with Scott Bain. Bainy is a jambo at heart but also one of the fittest in the game, who is into all the yoga stuff and is as agile as a cat. He is also very impressive with his distribution, both kicking and throwing, the only negative being lacking a few inches. A great fit for the way Celtic play and would love to see him earn a longer contract.
Bhoys & Ghirls,
With reference to BMCUW’s post @ 11.04 hrs.
I have always felt that there has been too much emphasis in this country about passing written exams in languages .
How many have passed language highers but cannot actually speak the language .
A long overdue educational reality check in languages is required.
Hail Hail and Auf Wiedersehen.
SOT
many thanks and please pass thanks on to all who chipped in
very kind and look ideal shops for a couple of cats sneaking over to see Pearl Jam
cheers
One of my favourite sport/language stories involves one of my favourite tennis player, the usually nice Stefan Edberg.
He was playing in a tournament in his native a Sweden, but was having a particularly bad day. Glowing increasingly frustrated, Edberg began muttering in Swedish. as he became more frustrated, his utterances became louder.
After a few minutes, the English speaking umpire gave a Edberg a warning for uttering an audible obscenity. Bemused, Edberg approached the umpire and said, “you don’t speak Swedish, so you couldn’t have known what I said. How can you give me a warning?” To this the umpire replied, “it is true that I dint speak Swedish. But the lines lady who was seated beside you obviously does. And every time you use that expression, she goes very red in the face. Don’t say it again.”
GREENPINATA on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 11:32 AM
For as long as I can remember there has been a speaking component of the test too – also Highers won’t produce fluent speakers(I’m not sure why people expect this!) but are intended to get you to a certain level. If you neglect it afterwards clearly your ability will not improve, it will get worse.
You can pass Higher Chemistry but you’re not going to walk into a job as a lab manager.
But yes the educational methods need reviewed/updated at every level.
HH