A game full of treasures for Celtic was bookended by two fabulous goals. Slovan Bratislava defended zonally at corner kicks. The theory behind this is that an attacker should not be able to get a touch in an area where they have a high probability of scoring. I even commented, “Why throw it into the middle, look how many defenders there are there?”
Goals from corners are as much about the flight and pace of the ball as the header. In this respect, Arne Engels is already showing he is a talent we have not seen for a decade. Liam Scales, on the other hand, has provided plenty of evidence that he is peerless in a Celtic jersey at attacking a ball in the air. This effective pairing got our business underway.
Watch again the way Liam moved to the ball. Getting a controlled header on a ball travelling at that pace is difficult, this is why we see so many fly over the bar. Liam created the space, followed the movement of the ball then moved his head to direct it between the posts. It was an excellent goal.
The most exquisite moment of the game came near the end. James Forrest collected the ball on the edge of the centre circle, carried it forward 10 yards, then slid a perfectly weighted pass into the empty Slovan box. That space was soon occupied by Adam Idah. The perfect pass was met with complete composure. Whereas Kyogo had been snatching at chances all night, Adam was ice cool as he completed the scoring. When James collected the ball, Adam told him to hold his position before rushing forward. This created the space for the goal; Tier 1 level awareness.
On the way home, I found myself worrying about how we are going to replace Arne Engels. The Belgian international gave that much of a statement performance I was already stressed about summer 2026. Few of his forward runs into the final third were picked out by teammates; this will change in time. Throughout the game his controlled influence reminded me of Paul Lambert, although Paul was never that mobile.
You will read elsewhere that Slovan were poor. They will certainly be the weakest opponent we will face in the Champions League this season, but they reached the competition on merit, more than any other Scottish club could do. Celtic’s relentlessness and the sheer weight of playing in front of that Celtic Park crowd ended whatever chance they had.
You can only beat the team in front of you, and in this competition, you and I have watched many disappointing performances against supposedly weaker opponents. We looked like a proper Champions League side last night.
A final word to Cameron Carter-Vickers. When you are 5-1 ahead in the final minutes with seven group games to play, collecting a needless booking is very poor decision making. We may pay for this mistake.
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Enjoyed having Joe Hart on UCL MotD last night.
You could tell how pumped he was.
Enjoy the pub wandering BRRB.
Happy Friday eve!
Ps Correct P67, Brendan is a first class gaffer.
What larks Paul67
– what larks
Great result!!
Yaaasss
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2024 11:52 AM
I’d love to have a beer with Brendan
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🍺👍
Well said Celtic fans
https://x.com/sahouraxo/status/1836538305724219402?s=19
HH
A tremendous night for everyone involved with and connected to Celtic.
Big Question from me is whether Brendan will stay on beyond next season. He signed a 3-year contract and said he would see it out as long as we wanted him. FIngers crossed that CL progress will be enough to keep him motivated and that he and the board stay in tune with each other.
On CCV, my real time thought was the same as Paul’s.
I felt that losing a goal (low probability), maybe be less consequential than the booking, eventually.
Otherwise a great performance and result bhoys!
Going in one nil at halftime could have made for a nervy start to the second. Losing a goal at 3 nil could also have made it a difficult last period.
Surely Brendan deserves some praise for that.
LIAMS HEADER was a VERY Brave Header for his Goal. Hes no afraid to ” Use the HEID” !
LOL
His Headed Goal last night will NOT be his last in Europe methinks ?
HH.
Looking at Maeda’s and Idah’s goals last night, how long would it have taken a Scottish VAR to give them or more importantly disallow them.
Really Paul67 – Not one mention of our manager in the article
Not sure you could write anything like that,without mentioning the manager…..
Disagree with your Paul Lambert comparison Paul
After seeing Arne play the first half on Saturday he reminded so much of a young George Connelly with his exceptional control and the way he carries himself
Paul67
Your lead articles are laughable
One name glaringly omitted
Can you guess who it is?
You can not talk of Celtic today without his name,his ambition,his noos anx know howrunning thro his team
You only harm your blog with such infantile omissions.Get your act together and reward the hard work that went into last nights victory.You would not write of our original 9iar team without mentioning Jock Stein,why do you consistently do so today with Brendan Rogers?
One Celtic everywhere except your wee attention seeking leader.
Anyways glad I rarely read them.
HH
The format is different, the theme was the same.
Celtic crushed tournament outsiders and earned more from last night’s game than Bratislava cost. Comparing leagues beforehand is very difficult, how big is the variance e.g. in levels between Celtic and Ross County? Having a party in the Champions League and earning millions at the same time, is directly down to Dermot Desmond.
Tier one Rodgers was plying his game before anyone had heard of Ange Postecoglu and the Celtic Irish connection played a master stroke, in reappointing ‘the Brodge‘ despite the jilted lovers in the Celtic legions. Professionalism, is Brendan’s pass time and he along with his staff, have improved just about every single player at the club, in a very short time, picking up a double as we passed go.
The men from the east (end) are revelling in his stewardship, the squad was discretely pruned with no detrimental effect, and Celtic moved with the market in replacing players in proportional spending see Engels and Idah. Daizen Maeda is tougher than Alf Tupper and Reo Hatate has been nursed back to the figure, that burst onto the Celtic scene. Nicolas Kuhn was just another January signing, now he’s revelling on the right, taking turns to hit the by line, with the vastly improved Alistair Johnston. James Forrest in the form of his life at 33, epitomises the required Celtic high bar.
“ Whilst it is important to reflect on our success, we must look forward. There is no room for complacency. We cannot stand still and we are determined to improve. In support of our strategic objectives of dominating domestic football and competing in the Champions League, we have continued to invest across the Club ” – CEO
Good start, except for the growing Glasgow traffic chaos.
M.O.M Daizen Maeda
Jobo’s three Maeda Scales and Kuhn
We got £9 mill for Brendan last time out….
Wonder if we could top that this season…..?
I posted last week, we should try and get Brendan on a 5 year contract, to build up every department of the Club,- I was immediately put down by The Surrogate. A lot of big jobs will appear soon in EPL, Man Utd,Everton, and possibly even Spurs……..we have a top class manager, we should do our best to try and keep him.
What value our japanese trio have brought to Celtic,
None of them perfect, flaws and mistakes for all to see, but my goodness the workrate and game changing moment these 3 bring are priceless
On CCV, I think he got a knock early on,didn’t seem to be moving as well as usual.
notthebus- correct, 3 top players for about £9 million
That Craig Halkett (ugly jambo) will have to send his partner to the shops to get the messages if his understanding of economics is so bad. It won’t be “10 million,aye right” when talking about Engels. It will be 30 million in two years
justshatered
Looking at Maeda’s and Idah’s goals last night, how long would it have taken a Scottish VAR to give them or more importantly disallow them.
Why do you think Maeda’s and Idah’s goals should have been disallowed?
Outstanding! Credit to all.
Tougher tests ahead, obviously, but a great platform to build from. And with that performance our upcoming opponents will surely have some trepidation about facing us.
Just goes to show what can be done with a bit of ambition.
!!Bada Bing!!
I thought that too.
He was holding his leg before he was subbed.
Tom McLaughlin on 19th September 2024 12:55 pm
I thought Justshattered was criticizing the Scottish VAR people rather than questioning the validity of the goals.
ie They were definitely onside but by a small enough margin to be questioned by Scottish officials
If a top epl side come in for BR it will be because we’ve lit up the chammpions league, so that’s nothing to fear. The length of his contract will only serve to increase any compensation, it will not keep him here.
JUSTSHATERED on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2024 12:29 PM
Looking at Maeda’s and Idah’s goals last night, how long would it have taken a Scottish VAR to give them or more importantly disallow them.
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Spanish VAR was like a new signing.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE @ 12:34 PM,
Excellent post.
Bringing in top young players like Maestro Engels is great but this high tide is raising all the players
That is absolutely key if we are to get to the next level…
Well done all involved…
Hail Hail
JUSTSHATERED- Dallas would have had his crayons out,no doubt
HOT SMOKED
I realise that. I was merely making the point, rather clumsily maybe — why raise it?
Celtic comfortably and emphatically win their opening CL tie, a game competently controlled by a Dutch referee, but hey, let’s stlaughter Scottish referees.
🤔
It was indeed “a game full of treasures” – a fresh start as I hoped for yesterday. This new design CL format could be what we have been waiting for to rebuild our European credentials.
I look forward to an enjoyable and successful next nine months at home and in Europe.
Thereafter a seasoned settled squad ready to blow away whoever may stand in our way to qualification for next year’s CL play-off round.
The way ahead is clear and opTIMistic – let’s embrace it HH
The fans last night created a tremendous noise and built up the atmosphere. It was a significant factor in last night’s success. The disco lights and the PA helped.
This lifted our players which in turn lifted the support which then drove the players even higher. If we can repeat this performance we will create a fortress where other teams get rolled over.
Adding to the excellent evening we even managed to debut a new player. A Trusty addition to our squad
Wednesday, 1:45, Made sure that my 7th period class was covered
2:00pm computer hooked up to my big screen in class, lights out, Celtic fans drowning out the Champs League Anthem.
Scales Goal: Pandemonium created in my classroom by one ex Wishy Maddie
1 minute later, door opens and fellow teacher comes in to make sure I was alright ” Shut the door and sit down or get back to yer job,” was my reply.
Halftime, pacing up and down my room giving my imaginary teamtalk.
2nd half, screaming like a banshee in heat every time the Bhoys scored a goal. 3:10 school over, students try and enter my room to say hello, door firmly closed, lights out, but the heavenly glow of my big screen lighting up the darkness of my room. Faces on the window looking from the outside, faces tripping them wanting to come in and experience Paradise, but no, hell no. This was my night, not one to sit and explaining to the Mericans, but my afternoon to savor the sheer joy of watching Glasgow Celtic putting on the style.
I then went to practice from 4:30 to 7:30pm, rolled back the years, and the artificial hip, and busted hamstrings, to play like wee Jinky amongst 10-11 yr old Bhoys and 13 year old girls, megging people, chipping it over their heids, slotting the ball in the net, to the voices of parents saying is he really 52, and he is going to drop deid in a second:)))
Thank you Celtic, Thank you Brendan, Thank you amazing Celtic fans, for allowing me to be a small part of a beautiful night many miles away, but a heartbeat always there.
Hail Hail
Sean
Great performance from the whole team last night , and the support were tremendous as they always are . Watching at home last night as presently im not in the best of nick . One thing that irritated me was that Rory Hamilton , How many times did he go over our European record , it was well rehearsed he had done his homework or maybe he was handed what to say , surprisingly it took Neil a time to put him straight . I had to check the game wasn’t on BBC .
I forgot how good Scottish referees are……
Official stats posted by UEFA show that Engels and McGregor in particular have stood out.
Incredibly, the midfielders each ran 12.6km in the opening game – more than any other individual player has managed across the other nine games that have taken place.