There was an unusual reaction at full time last night. Some attempted to boo, but the applause from the majority in the crowd soon drowned them out. Not all defeats are the same, this one came after one of our best performances of the season, against an undoubtedly better team.
It was important to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League. Bereft of domestic competition, Celtic need to test their abilities against top teams, they need to be stretched, forced to defend for long periods, parts of the game which simply never happen in Scotland.
It’s also important to see tangible signs of improvement. Those four weeks of summer, which saw defeats twice to Legia, to Maribor and Inverness, were signs of a team in crisis. They cost us Champions League football, and revenue, but finishing our Europa League group in second place behind Salzburg is the top end of where we expected to be three months ago.
I’m not happy with this morning’s line that we qualified thanks to the result in Romania; we qualified because we collected eight points from our opening four games, including a highly respectable draw in Salzburg. Win, lose or draw last night, the qualification work had been done. We can now start planning for the second half of the season.
Those three months since the summer crisis passed with only one defeat, an ultimately costless, if embarrassing, reversal at home to Hamilton. We can afford a similar episode on the next three months, but not this Sunday. The visit to Tynecastle is our most important game in the next two months, considerably more so than last night’s.
Commons and Forrest return to full fitness will be closer, while it would be good to see Denayer and Lustig available again.
It was kind of Rangers International to publish their accounts as a pick-me-up for us when we got home last night. More tomorrow, if we have time.
Shocked and stunned at the news Roy Keane has chucked it at Aston Villa. No way did I ever see his appointment as assistant to Paul Lambert looking like a pointless distraction so quickly. Next time we appoint a manager, cut the lines to Barbados and keep Martin’s mobile engaged!
Pre-orders are being accepted for the 2015 CQN Annual, which will be posted week commencing 8 December. Get your orders in now…
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GM/TTT
Ya roasters :-)
Sandman
Not through fitness – for they ran around us like velociraptors picking off Brontosaurus
——–
That is hilariously and terrifyingly accurate!
Question.
Could even Jock Stein have forged winners from Brontosauri?
(Not the old Brontosaurus/Brontosauri debate I hear people groan! Alisdair McLean will keep us right!
If the answer’s ‘no’ which I suspect it is shouldn’t we dig in for the long haul till we can develop and/or sign some velociraptors of our own?
;-)
HH jamesgang
saint stivs
16:24 on 28 November, 2014
Like last year against Morton, if we where that good last year why did we only win the league ???
The champions league was a embarrassment last year, how did that happen ????
According to shortie our gringo hero’s car was attacked by angry huns outside court.
This is building up nicely just in time for crimbo.
south of tunis …. thanks. dont know much about cricket (although I am told that I will be watching some in Australia this xmas), so dont know where I would have picked up the term then!
and your name always reminds me of one of my favourite tracks (south of love) from one of my favourite bands from back in the 80’s (friends again) which happens to have included at least one good bhoy … james grant…
so, let me get the friday night music session started ….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrbRFoxGh6w
Sandman/Jamesgang
I’m frequently watching opposition teams who look fitter than us.
HT
:-))
Couldny resist ma Bhoy.
OK time to head off for the wee fella’s training. So, as the infamous KevJ would say…
Aff oot!
See you all later tonight.
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Barca..,
When did I say break the bank ?
My argument is spend a little more on fewer players of better quality, there are plenty of such players all across Europe who would still see Celtic as a big draw. Like many, you take my argument to an extreme I did not offer as the idea. Since MoN we have been told we need to reduce costs however GS squad was as expensive as MON’s simply because they decided to have this scattergun approach and increased the squad, I dong think the squad numbers have reduced dramatically since then just that we have less quality squad members thus cheaper.
I maintain a squad of 25 players with a bit better quality would be a big improvement on what we are watching.
HT
Feckin velociraptors mhate.
Wee smug bassas with their wee stubby arms, sharp elbows and FloJo nails.
And they run funny too.
Hate them, so I do!
HH jamesgang
Sandman.
That was an excellent summation
very well put.
Like I said.
We are getting crappier with an idealist manager.
Marrakesh
Why their angst towards Craig Whyte…….nothing happened to them, and they are the same club?
Morton.
One off cup game.
Champions league we couldn’t compete.
This season we are worser against Europe second teir
Going backwards cfc
Why do Celtic fans refer to them as Salzburg with a T?
Good evening friends
jamesgang
17:50 on 28 November, 2014
HT
Feckin velociraptors mhate.
Wee smug bassas with their wee stubby arms, sharp elbows and FloJo nails.
And they run funny too.
Hate them, so I do!
HH jamesgang
———-
I take it velociraptors are the huns of the Paleontology world?! :-)
saint stivs
17:52 on 28 November, 2014
Going backward !!!
Going through more like, at the end of the season I predict we’ll have a treble in the bag and the last 16 at least in Europe.
Ronny will prove the haters wrong. HH
Sandman
“Celtic needs somebody who has practical experience of success and failure and knows how to apply method to reality.”
On the first criteria, Ronny’s record stands comparison with most of our managers when they came to CP. MON had won a LC, WGS had lost a Cup final, Jock Stein had won a SC and a Summer Cup competition, most of the rest had won nothing.
Your second criteria is just a judgement call. When Roger Scmidt arrived at RBS from a mid-table Bundesliga 2 team in 2012 he turned them into a prototype of the style we aspire to with a collection of players who had won four leagues in the previous decade but he added a double and a European presence to them. They had done nothing in Europe since being Uefa finalist and a CL group stage in 94/95. Now they have become a 2nd tier team in Europe; not a CL level team but a team like us who can win and draw a few against the bigger teams.
HT
This is a Hun dinosaur!
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/06/24/article-2347737-1A7C5F87000005DC-228_634x475.jpg
HH jamesgang
Your funny at least.
I predict a roast in aff the first big team we get in Europe.
I still think we will beat the jambs if Ronnie plays leigh and bbj.
Then again. How does he fit in Mcgregor
hun skelper
17:56 on 28 November, 2014
saint stivs
17:52 on 28 November, 2014
Going backward !!!
Going through more like, at the end of the season I predict we’ll have a treble in the bag and the last 16 at least in Europe.
Ronny will prove the haters wrong. HH
——–
Come on mate, really, Ronny ‘haters’?
Like any Celtic supporter I’m desperate for him and consequently us to succeed.
My posts this evening aren’t knee jerk in nature because of last night’s showing.
I’m just not buying into what he’s offering right now.
I don’t want us to be like RBS.
They ain’t that good.
Where did CW get that ‘moustache’ from.
If he bought it in a Mexican joke emporium, and paid more than 5 pesos for it he was done!
“No comment officer!”
HH!!
Craigy Whyte’s looking cool.
Saint Stivs
Humped us away from home, humped Dinamo Zagreb away from home. Easily finish top of the their EL group. Have a tremendous striker, a creative midfielder.
I’d take that kind of level.
Have we progressed since the early season shambles against Legia and Maribor?
Of course ??
2-0 down after 13 minutes.
What did you expect?
Celtic were 80-1 to win the Europa League before kick off with no less than 22 clubs ahead of them in the betting. Celtic qualified due to a result in Romania.
I thought we earned 8 points
What did ah tell ye yesterday…..
When Whyte’s lawyers show the Scottish judiciary what he has he will be fined (ha ha) and released on his own recognizance after major Res 12 like stalling all around.
Anything else will result in the jailing of Minty.
Margaret McGill
Celtic qualified because they have accumulated more points than Dinamo Zagreb and Astra, no?
hamiltontim
18:01 on 28 November, 2014
Would you sack him now ?
hun skelper
17:56 on 28 November, 2014
Not looking for a argument just asking a question.
Do you see improvement in the team under Ronny ?
Are you enjoying what we are watching on the park ?
The cry was surrender your passport.
Are Jeremy Irons, the Lanarkshire billionaire, and Craig Whyte, star of the early 80’s costume drama ‘Bighoose Revisted’ by any chance related?
Jeremy Irons
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-30242028
Craig Whyte
http://talk2sv.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Jeremy-Irons-5.jpg
So had we not earned 8 points and were in fact sitting on nil points we’d still be going through because of a result in Romania, mmm, I’ve got this league thing all mixed up, I’d better go back and just sit here thinking
Davidopoulos
18:08 on 28 November, 2014
If Zagreb had won in Romania Celtic would not have qualified yesterday
Margaret McGill
So Celtic accumulated more points than Dinamo Zagreb and Astra with one game to spare?
hun skelper
No but I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with some of his decisions.
lennon’s passion
18:09 on 28 November, 2014
I don’t think we’ve played decent football for a few years mate to be honest, I believe in giving the guy time to implement his changes, he’ll make mistakes like everybody else, let’s see in May if he’s any good HH
I thought Salzburg were superb last night, a real quality side and apart from the first 20 mins we went toe to toe with them.
I thought we played well.
Don’t agree Salzburg took the foot of the gas, I think we upped our game after a shocking start.
We should aspire to play like Salzburg and with a couple of quality additions we won’t be far away.
Always down after a defeat but we need to give RD a break.
I think he has balls of Steel and will lead us to glory if backed a wee bit.
We are improving , that team was far superior to Legia and Maribor , both of whom IMO we would beat if playing just now.
Sign up JG and get Denayer for another year.
Sign a couple of quality guys in Jan and watch us go.
Onwards and upwards Bhoys
Hail Hail