Reo Hatate endured a torrid start to the month but what a return to form he enjoyed last night. In earlier seasons, Reo’s energy levels dipped late in games, but against Young Boys he covered every blade of grass. After Daizen Maeda’s dismissal, it was Reo who marshalled the left wing, throwing himself at the ball to squeeze the life out of the Swiss attack.
Space and time on the ball is a premium at this level, but players with elite ability can manufacture both. Reo’s first touch, combined with intelligent use of his body, allowed him to repeatedly settle Celtic into possession.
He did this deliciously with five minutes remaining, before carving open the Young Boys defence with a pass into the path of Adam Idah for the goal. The goal itself was a lucky break, but you often make your luck. Reo made ours last night, without his skill, the Young Boys defence would have not have been stressed.
You will wait 20 years before seeing another hattrick of disallowed goals (I have a vague memory of Tommy Johnson being incorrectly penalised like this against Kilmarnock). Kyogo’s three goals were all correctly disallowed, but seemed an indication that the opener would soon come.
Greg Taylor’s cardio capacity almost came to the rescue, when he hit the byline inside the box and crossed, while being dragged to the ground by the neck. Arne Engels’ attempt from the penalty spot was poor. If you stagger your run as Arne did, you are in trouble if the keeper is not already on his way down. The resultant shot had no momentum from the run-up, allowing the keeper time to read it.
Keller in the Young Boys goal had an outstanding game, although there was a ‘saveable’ element to each of his seven shots stopped. His final act of heroism, getting a foot out to stop Adam Idah, became a short pass to the onrushing defender Benito, who could do nothing but bundle the ball into his own net. The cheers at Celtic Park were loud, matched only by the sound of television channels being changed in unison across large parts of the country.
Unlike the first, the second half lacked chances (we will come onto this in a moment). Maeda came close early in the period, while Kasper Schmeichel made a tremendous double save to stop Young Boys taking the lead.
The late goal should have seen Celtic close the game out comfortably. Instead, Maeda’s temperament led him to retaliate. The red card which followed will cost us one of our truly Champions League-class players in Birmingham next week.
Young Boys halted Celtic’s relentless first half procession at the start of the second period when they figured out they needed to deny Callum McGregor space. Callum was imperious in the first half. The key to Celtic’s play is finding angles to make simple forward passed into. Callum was able to make and (more importantly) receive these passes, which repeatedly triggered an attack.
Modern football increasingly resembles a chess board. Everyone who can receive a pass is covered, to progress the ball, you need motion and an understanding of how to create an angle where the recipient can move into to receive a pass.
Celtic did this terribly at Ibrox this month and were vastly better last night. Remember also how often Taylor and Johnston passed the ball along the line into empty space, knowing it would be met by a Celtic jersey. Our success as a football team is all about how we move the ball forward. I don’t think we are the finished article, but you can see what the coaches have been working on since 3 January.
Young Boys remain rooted to the bottom of the table and are ninth in the Swiss league but still managed to give us a proper game last night. This demonstrates the gap between most of our domestic opponents and even the Swiss league. It is difficult to live week-to-week in one environment and then step up to a vastly higher level.
We will have at least 10 Champions League games this season and five against Newco; each match a genuine test. Other games are of little developmental value.
An interesting aside: five clubs are currently on 12 points, each of them a past winner: Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus, Celtic.
Congratulations to Celtic on progressing to the next stage.
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Of the many things I enjoyed last night was the long diagonal balls… Hatate hit some cracking passes last night. I’m not saying that we should just do that but it was brilliant to see.. At times last night it was men against young boys
!!Bada Bing!! on 23rd January 2025 1:32 pm
Embdae know Ryanair policy on a cancelled flight due to bad weather
“Suck it up mate” (with chortling in the background). Remember the cancelled flights because of the Icelandic volcano, Bada. Flight out to Spain was cancelled and Ryan Air were FORCED to payback my costs. But I got no compen for the return flight because it actually flew – my argument that I couldn’t get out in the first place to get the return flight elicited the response above, “suck it up” plus chortles. Been years since I used them.
borgo67 on 23rd January 2025 2:03 pm
SFA have had a bid rejected for the stand side linesman
Borgo, I found that very funny!!
Ave Ave
Afternoon all !!
Quick word for Trusty.
After going for the same ball as CCV in the first minute, the big guy hardly put a foot wrong. Athletic, aggressive when needed and excellent positioning all night. Seems like he has a good attitude and a keen learner. Very good v Kilmarnock I thought also.
Sterner tests ahead perhaps, but he is an asset to us alright.
TJ
What a crazy night last night. But we won.
Red card:
If VAR had showed the entire event between Maeda and the thug, he may have come to a different conclusion. Well, probably not, given how he reffed the rest of the game….
Hatate:
Some in our CSC were wanting Reo off. He can be frustrating, for sure….but he has a unique skill set (which he uses occasionally). Good on Brendan for keeping him on.
Kyogo:
He is one of very few players that I would never sell. We have shed loads of money in the bank, so we don’t NEED to sell him. It is very unlikely that we’ll get one as good. Best Celtic striker since Larsson.
Weather:
Stay safe everybody.
Cheers,
Weeron
AN DÚN on 23RD JANUARY 2025 9:43 AM
It remains to be seen if Kyogo will play again for us but it looks increasingly likely that he’ll be away in the next few days.
A great signing, a shame he won’t get to that 100 goal marker but he’s leaving us with some iconic goals to look back on. Best of luck, Kyogo.
*I noticed a couple of days back after his 39th birthday he was thanking one and all for the good wishes etc, but it sounded a bit like Bernabei’s farewell speech which had me thinking mibbees just mibbees he’s for the joe the toff as he has been linked with other teams recently.
After an amazing couple of years under Ange its also been mentioned that he disnae really fit intae BB’s sides, now there will be lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth if he does leave especially NOT having the ideal replacement, but actually we do, the wee roadrunner who plays in his role for the national side where he cannae get a game, plus if we bring Jota back that’s the wing position filled.
10m for a 30 year old, as Steve Miller once said “take the money and run”
i really enjoyed last nights occasion, performance and I felt the outcome was never in doubt, that a goal would come, that tactically we played a very clever and resilient game.
Several individuals once again rising when needed and making a mockery of the Timternet experts. Hatate, McGreogr (written off aster ibrox) Engels, all playing spectacular passes at break kneck pace. As the game wore on, and the going got tougher, I too heard maltreatment of celtic individuals, AJ getting told just to f rights off. Engels getting a roasting when subbed by one worthy that he should never pull on the jersey again for that penalty miss, what is actually wrong with some people.
I personally thought we game managed and deserved the points , and the small matter of 2.1 million euros fpr the win.
Now my perpetual moans.
The crowd and traffic management at celtic park gets worse, These big occasions are shambolic. The new segregation gates and access to the Lisbon Lions south corner is diabolical/
Much worse though is exiting onto Springfield road, Gridlocked for over an hour after the match.
Meanwhile once again, Celtic had sold out bulletins for the match.
But officially only attended by 56,500. With near 600 seats for segregation wedge, another 400 or so unoccupied seats in the away sections. Those were the big gaps, and empies dotted about.
Why oh why do people buy tickets and dont turn up.
Anyways back to League action.
Now if it is to be Real or Bayern in the playoff round,
Magic lats night , well done Brendan a lesser manger might have taken Hetate off , but the gaffer new the wee guy had that quality to get that kind of pass in ….
Celebrated with an extra Bacardi in a get it right up ye tae brendan haters ..
💚🤍💛
Not long after the KO and again on reflection, this morning, I am delighted with the result, AND how it happened.
An own goal in the 85th minute against a team that rode their luck and profited from an eratic referee, while they stretched to rules of the game is fitting.
It had brave and gallant loss/draw written over it until that moment; it’s from moments like this that more positive changes can come. Still delighted for Idah and I hope it drives him on, with renewed confidence.
Why sell Kyogo for ten million when Adam Idah is supposed to have cost us nine million?
Kyogo is the better of the two by quite a distance for me. This should be reflected in the selling price.
how much did kyogo cost ?
“BORGO67 on 23RD JANUARY 2025 2:03 PM
SFA have had a bid rejected for the stand side linesman”
Nice one :-))
PS Maybe they decided they already have enough in that position.
He was our poster bhoy, a lot of kids will be gutted,when Kenny left,I thought the World had ended,best striker since Larsson, his initial runs when we got possession as good as I’ve seen at Celtic
GGH
I completely agree with you.
We should never be selling Kyogo. Proven big game player, still has 3-4 seasons at top level in him imo. Intelligent and technical enough to play deeper, wider if pace diminishes and still be quality for us.
However, his change of agent, city and atalanta rumours, lead me to think he fancies a change. Shame. He has been absolutely iconic for us and without direspecting Rennes, deserves a much bigger stage.
St Stivs
£4.6m was the reported price
TJ
£10 million or another 3 seasons from Kyogo?
If we sell Kyogo and are only left with Idah and no replacement….we’re fekd
BIG NO NO FROM ME………The wee mhan is deadly!
I haven`t got a clue if the Kyogo stories have any truth in them. Even so,If he does go and we get Jota, I would be perfectly at ease with Maeda or Idah in Kyogo`s place.
Let me add that,like everyone else, I warm to Kyogo`s personality as well as his ability and would like him to stay.
It would have been a travesty if Young Boys had taken anything from the game last night . Even if we were put through the wringer with the way the game unfolded , on any other night we would have been 3 up at halftime .
It would be great to have Jota back (if true) but we surely wouldn’t sell Kyogo without having another striker lined up ?
St Stivs,
Agree, the transport situation and congestion was dire.
We arrived at the ground circa 19.40 hrs. The queues at the turnstiles were absolutely horrendous.
This only seems the case at European games.
Surely there must be something Celtic can do about this.
The game was absolutely riveting from start to finish and half time was full of discussion so I never even had a chance to test the Wi Fi.😀
We have discussed the transport situation and queues many times on here. There is definitely a problem that is obviously affecting so many match attending supporters.
And there was no pies in the Drover after the. game. Just not good enough.
However another great European night in fortress Parkhead.
HH.
PS : Where was that Darwin person. We were waiting opposite the Barras for his pick up. 😀
Celtic v Raith Rovers
Saturday, February 8 with a 5.30pm kick-off on Premier Sports.
Hunnerz of seats available….
Mathias Kvistgaarden – Wikipedia https://search.app/x2BdnHessQpuLGrA9
Kyogo looks gone bhoys, Rennes manager saying he could get minutes against Monaco at the weekend. Gutted but happy for him. He gets kicked up and down the park up here and the refs ignore him . Unique wee guy and we are so lucky to have him for the time we did. Hunskelper supreme. The best since KOK for me. Some great goals and funny moments. His face at a silent ibrox when he scored. Lol. Added to the lore of the club as a modern day great. HH Kyogo Furuhashi and thanks for everything.
Must have someone lined up, moving very quickly for us nor have things in place before agreeing to it.
HH
KLV
Good afternoon all from the New Road Inn.
Let the good times roll!!!!
Sayonara wee man…….if true.
Headlines you won’t read very often –
Kyogo nets three times in a 1-0 win for Celtic
Have rarely read as comprehensive and informed acount of a football game.
Celtic 1 Young Boys 0
Goal – Baumann (og)
1993
@CQN
“The new segregation gates and access to the Lisbon Lions south corner is diabolical”
Absolutely agree SS, if the away fans are locked in for 30 minutes then what exactly is the point. I would have thought the home crowd dispersal was hindered as a result!
I’d imagine, and I have no inside information on this, Kyogo wants the change, there is nothing to be done here, he can’t be kept against his will. Contracts nowadays are only about compensation fees involved, not how long a player must stay at a given Club. If, as reported, we get £10M that’s some bit of business. Hopefully there is a replacement, who knows?
https://x.com/andybho27665205/status/1882447977777893785?s=48&t=VGQ-dz7XnGoK0iCf5HYDYA
Kuhn’s mum and dad in Grace’s
I would think kyogo and his agent want a move .
i doubt we are forcing the wee mhan out.
Thanks for the memories.
I would be sad to see Kyogo go, if that is a football decision for him BR and the club then ok ,we must be agile in the market and put our own plans into operation, be stronger not weaker at the end of this window.
I would say it is only a good bit of business if we have a ready made replacement of comparable quality.
We need someone who can get goals against tight defences like kyogo can.
We are cash rich. Why take the gamble unless
Kyogo is determined to go?
Bada 3:51
Brilliant 👏
I am not pro or anti board but I would be surprised if they decided to sell Kyogo against the wishes of Kyogo and Brendan.
If he is away he goes with my best wishes
I do not think the potential Kyogo move is a new development.
From what I heard i was surprised ( but delighted ) he was not away last summer.
Subsequently, we should have a replacement lined up.
HH.
£12M for Kyogo (and Bernabei so far), ticket sales, and CL prize money brings in a conservative £40M for reaching the next knock out phase.
BackOfFagPacket CSC