Once Partick Thistle equalised, it was clear Celtic had plenty of spare gears to move through. The game went to plan for the champions, even down to the manner in which the Thistle goal was lost. Both central defenders left themselves open to criticism, highlighting the glaring deficiency in the team right now. Whether the Belgian will play little or any part in the solution remains to be seen.
In five weeks, we face St Johnstone in the League Cup quarter final. Cup games away from home are never the easiest, but by then we will have had a chance to flex our muscles in the title race, wetting the appetite for a challenge in the cups.
Artificial pitches are disliked by footballers for various reasons, so I have sympathy for the Newco manager, who yesterday called for them to be kept from top flight games, as they are in England and formerly were in Scotland. They are cheap to maintain and provide an income for clubs, who hire them out, but the technology is still not up to the job.
How long before Motherwell, St Mirren, St Johnstone and others make the move?
What was it got Kenny Millar sacked by Livingston after two league games? Results, tactical competency? Or, judging by his mannerisms at Celtic Park two weeks ago, maybe a publicly overbearing attitude towards his players.
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Hail Hail
Irish podium….Eh!
quality wits, quality podium
a haon a dó a trí
Pleased for wee Gamboa. He was made up the fans chanted his name with his family there and after 2 years hard work, HH son, you deserved it.
Boom !
PAUL67
Oh,do tell re Miller.
Paul67
Your sieve needs you?
Doing 2 things (playing and managing) at the same time a bit challenging for Kenny Miller. In fact, doing either of them.
FASSREIFEN
Allegedly a certain POTUS was unable to walk and chew gum at the same time.
ZIGGYDOC1 on 20TH AUGUST 2018 12:10 PM
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 20TH AUGUST 2018 11:21 AM
Johann Cruyff meets son of Celtic Legend
———–
My favourite non-celtic player. Was that from 1971 when we played Ajax?
Kenny Miller team talk. Ye’s better do wit ah tell ye’s or Ah’ll git ma pal Chib McNed tae dae ye’s in.
Or words to that effect.
Yep, genius by Rodgers conceding that goal to highlight the central defence deficiencies that we otherwise would not have known about
B-)
Bobby MCUW
He got the boot (not the golden one). Did no pass his two months probation.
In terms of Boyata being selected and the feelings of the support towards him there is a factor being overlooked.
Surely the folk most wronged by Boyata are his team mates? If they as his peers are prepared to accept the wrong in the situation but for what they see as a greater good, rather than let a wrong continue to poison relationships, then have they not every right to forgive him?
That is the choice that defines who we choose to be. Forgivers or resenters.
Prepared to rise above the worst in our nature or sink in it?
That is the philosophical aspect.
In purely football terms and as a cynical professional footballer or manager I’d want to qualify for the EL with a settled defence rather than an unsettled one.
Not playing him through resentment and failing to qualify as a result, is a perfect example of drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.
ZIGGYDOC1
Yes – Barrowfield
The game went to plan for the champions, even down to the manner in which the Thistle goal was lost. Both central defenders left themselves open to criticism
talking about stating the obvious , i don’t think our central defensive pairing even talk to each other during a game , long gone are the days when we had a centre back who would snarl and shout at everyone to get organised around him , i think we could do with one or two urgently but who could also defend.
Dilligafbhoy at 12.09
That was the best bit of the game, the Celtic support at their best
STARRY PLOUGH on 20TH AUGUST 2018 9:53 AM
Bringing in someone like Sandler wether he’s a player or not is a sticking plaster, we need a centre half we can build our defence round, someone who’s here for some time
————
But there is the problem in a nutshell. If we bring in someone good they won’t be here for long.
BMCUW from waaaaay earlier.
Of course I believe in second chances. The fans will follow the management line, however will the players bare an underlying simmering resentment.?
As fans we can separate head from heart, but can his teammates?
HH.
Greenpinta
Can his tear mates? That is the $64m question.
See my previous.
I’ll not correct the typo. Freudiantext
Amazing the views of some on here.Talk about wearing blinkers.The simple reason why Boyata is getting anywhere near the team is the shocking lack of scouting by the Celtic management team.The Aberdeen boy.Thats it?.A position that has been needing strengthened since BR took over,two years ago,is now worse.The same problem is what lost him his job at LiverpoolGreat at finding and improving forward players.Serious deficiencies regarding defenders.Every Liverpool fan was going through what we are now.Where is the list of defenders submitted to PL.I am sure we would have been made aware of them.
Reyes,54 caps for Mexico at 25,free agent.Never mentioned,but we are linked with a boy from Aberdeen,at around 3-4 million.Thats the other thing,its BR and Congerton that are involved in finding these guys,not PL.There has never been a mention of us being interested in a CH.Not one.
I also fail to see the harm in taking in loan players,the likes of ones we could never afford.It seems OK for teams from,Spain,Italy,France,but not us.A reality check needed.We are what we are.A giant team in a threadbare league.Dear God,we could not get a better club to get them from than Man City,but for our fans,no.With our management teams success rate signing defenders,we should be grateful for small mercies.
Great letter from Rod Stewart:
https://talksport.com/football/413003/sir-rod-stewarts-classy-message-moose-celtic/
Paul 67…
More than likely he lost his job due to his social habit.
It’s not just central defence, Paul. The defensive line (whether a three or a four) doesn’t defend as a unit.
We need an experienced defender who can organise, communicate and lead.
What a difference when Gamboa started making runs ahead of the ball and making combination plays with Forrest.
When everything is slow and behind the ball it is so easy to defend against.
Its all BR’s fault
including the similar type windows even when he wasnt here
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL
Agree with that but I would also extend the problem to the midfield – we do not defend well enough there and there are many times where defenders are dealing with situations that should have been sorted in midfield.
We’re way too offensive and really need a defensive midfielder to help Broony.
Our shape was a shambles at various times on Saturday when Thistle were counter attacking.
Ziggydoc1
Good letter but I’d have ended it with “bar that Fud Durham”
GlassTwoThirds – on the money. Gamboa’s energy and forward passes can take the game to other teams. Also, Big Mjallby’s free again; get him in as defensive coach to our young uns or, even, play him!
TURKEYBHOY
Great Post. It really is beyond a joke now with our problems at centre of the defence. I also think there is an issue centre of midfield. Broony is carrying an injury and we can’t afford to rest him
Paul67 et al
Pretty sure it was Brendan who let Charlie Mulgrew go, still playing at a decent level, was prepared to let Simonovic go to Turin before that fell through, and let young O’Connell go down South before we could see much of him. He also signed Marvin (“Morton”) Comppner who if he was French we would be seeking him, everywhere. Apart from on the pitch that is. I posted last week that Peter Lawwell put more effort into selling Boyota than to signing McGinn after which Brendan threw his toys oot the pram. Boyota kept his side of the bargain, and was and is understandably upset at not being given the same opportunities as Wanyama, Van Dyck and Forster. Not to mention earning Celtic close to £10 mill. Ajer and Hendry do not have a whole lot of game time between them, but both are ahead Of Boyota in terms of footballing development. With Gamboa seeing some daylight, and the new floodlights too, Lustig and possibly Boyota available for Sudova we can hope we will defend well enough to get into the EL stage.
Ive said already, we could do worse than get the second Toure, who is a free agent, no?
KINGLuBO
Kinglubo
Couldn’t agree more re Toure, he may also help bring on his young countryman Kouassi too. hh
Re saturdays game, would we have gone through the gears if Gamboa wasn’t playing?
Or would we have drawn?
HUMBLE PIE
I was not in favour of selling Boyata – a new contract was the preferred choice for me
But after the AEK incident I was in agreement with Chris Sutton – hunt him out the club
I never wanted to see him play for Celtic again
I have now had a double dose of reality and the outcome is we need Boyata at this moment in time
Ideal situation now (no idea if possible) is get Boyata to sign a 3 year deal with an agreement to sell him this time next year and he gets a % of the transfer fee
But we need him big time
As I write this I am, unashamedly, gorging on mouthfuls of Humble Pie
67ECW
AULDHEID on 20TH AUGUST 2018 1:20 PM
Ziggydoc1
Good letter but I’d have ended it with “bar that Fud Durham”
__________________
Couldn’t agree more. He was stirring it last week and proclaiming our exit from the champions league was brilliant for Scottish football.
Why can’t some people just say what is the God’s honest truth. BR has a massive blind spot when it comes to signing the quality of defenders that a CL team requires.
We need two commanding CHs who have experience of playing at a higher level than the SPFL or the Championship. If he had signed one at end of season one and another at the end of season two we’d be going into the CL rather than the Europa Cup and would not be concerned by Newco. Morales will cause massive problems for JH and Ajer. He did it last season too but didn’t know where the goal was. Now he is scoring for fun.
The scouting team and PL are fair game for criticism but BR should have identified sorting out the defence as his top priority, not adding to the bloated midfield and wide positions at every opportunity.
67 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS on 20TH AUGUST 2018 1:44 PM
HUMBLE PIE
I was not in favour of selling Boyata – a new contract was the preferred choice for me
But after the AEK incident I was in agreement with Chris Sutton – hunt him out the club
I never wanted to see him play for Celtic again
I have now had a double dose of reality and the outcome is we need Boyata at this moment in time
Ideal situation now (no idea if possible) is get Boyata to sign a 3 year deal with an agreement to sell him this time next year and he gets a % of the transfer fee
———————————————-
I’d agree that if we don’t sell Boyata during this window then we should try to get him on a new contract (one year extension). That might be highly unlikely. The trouble is, his three decent games for Belgium created a scenario where a club was willing to spend £9M on him. That’s an amount that neither us, Boyata nor his agent could ever dream he’d be worth. I watched him closely in those three games and he spent far less time with the ball than he does with us. Subsequently he looked ok and never made a major error. He’ll never get near being ‘worth’ that amount again outside this window. Of course, if we do sell him now it’ll likely to be for less. If he’s in the team, he’ll get my support.