Central-mid quandary for Celtic

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We know what to expect from Aberdeen tonight.  They will flood (pardon the pun) central midfield, defend deeply and, let’s be clear, they will score any time we allow them the kind of space they exploited at Celtic Park this month.

Question is, what will Celtic do about it?  If Stefan Johansen’s ankle knock keeps him out the central-mid triangle of Johansen, Brown and Biton will be disrupted, and surely Neil Lennon will not revert to a central two after the Scottish Cup lesson.  The picture is further complicated by the injury to Emilio Izaguirre, which forced Charlie Mulgrew back at the weekend.  Mulgrew would be a suitable direct replacement for Johansen.

In 10 years doing this stuff I’ve probably used no more than a few dozen words to praise emerging young talent; it’s been a rough decade in that respect.  Without wanting to go overboard in any way, Darnell Fisher has looked more than comfortable at right back in the absence of Mikael Lustig and Adam Matthews.  Darnell’s problem going forward will be that he has two excellent international players ahead of him in the pecking order, but for tonight, I would be tempted to bring Matthews to left back (if he can do it against Barcelona….) and restore Fisher to the right back slot.  This would allow Charlie to sit alongside Scott Brown and Nir Biton in central-mid.

Well done to Frank McAvennie, who is jumping out of an aeroplane 15,000 feet in the air.  You can play your part in this exercise by supporting the Quarriers run, Chavey Down residential home, in Newton Mearns, which helps young people up to the age of 16.

The need is for sensory equipment, toys and wheelchair-appropriate play areas.  To contribute, go to Frank’s JustGiving page, or text FMSD 89 followed by £1, 2, 3, 5, 10 to 70070.

If you would like to read the new CQN Magazine, GO HERE to read properly, and for FREE, the graphic below is just a taster.
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  1. Top of the morning to you all from a dreich Fife where it is wet and windy.

     

     

     

    Last night’s game was spoiled by a referee who was hell bent on spoiling our party.

     

     

    Anyway, I would like to invite you all to my blog to see if you can help me answer a question about The Specualtive Society of Edinburgh, you know the top club for the movers and shakers of Scotland with members such as LNS and Minty’s chum, Sir Angus Grossart, the guy who can have telepathic communications with Minty when they are in different continents!

     

     

    So, The Speculative Society of Edinburgh “The Spec” are they:

     

     

    Harmless oddball students or sinister, quasi-masonic networkers?

     

    http://www.tomminogue.com/index.php/Society/2014/02/26/the-speculative-society-of-edinburgh

     

     

    P.S. Still a wee bit under construction/editing in progress.

  2. I'm Neil Lennon (tamrabam) on

    Tin hat oan again

     

    Ive seen plenty of folks stay on the park for VVDs tackle and Ive also seen plenty walk

     

    Regarding the Hand ball incident, pretty much same as above

     

     

    We got beat so its no the end of the world, but it does sound like sour grapes when we blame the ref for every defeat

     

     

    The best thing to do is to get more quality players, so that when a decision goes against us (and they will) we are able to get back in the game

     

     

    We cant rely on Kris commons week in and week out, most teams nowadays know that if the stop KC then they stop celtic

  3. Lovely day -way down south.

     

     

    Penalty -yes -red card -yes .

     

     

    Clear handball –stitch on penalty..

     

     

    If you want to see bent refereeing I highly recommend last weekend s Torino derby –

     

     

    ” All that money , all those class players and yet they still have the insecure need to employ the Referee “.

     

     

    ” Juve s strength is their 12th man . I am talking about the Refs not their support ”

     

     

    Riccardo Meggiorini—-Torino player.

  4. kitalba said

     

    Gold Coast Tom:

     

    Are you an expert on remotely stopping cars?

     

     

    Not specifically. But I know enough to know that if a vehicle is travelling at 100mph and it suddenly loses power, eg out of petrol, it will not suddenly go from 100 to zero in a second and over 5 yards. It will gradually slow safely to a halt over a range of time and distance.

     

     

    I thought it was only wee lassies and idiots that thought a car on the fast lane of the motorway that loses power would come to an instant stop, thereby causing carnage for all the vehicles travelling behind.

     

     

    I don’t believe you’re a wee lassie kit.

     

     

    Have a nice evening.

  5. Gold Coast Tom

     

     

    I am. I’m not out there in the fast lane when some wee power hungry peanut behind a hedge is playing with his remote.

  6. beebawbabbity-Thomson rapidly booking 2 Celts after a red card is pre-meditated,an old move.Robson and Flood kicked all night,Considine’s assault was worst in the game.HH

  7. Big Nan

     

     

    My addled ole bonce rememembers an Italian tv documentary re P2.The Speculative Society of Edinburgh got a wee mention re some people being a member of both.

  8. James Forrest came on in the second half to immediate effect. His direct running at the Dons defence caused havoc . He was playing right across the forward line and he scored the goal . I was then waiting for more of the same but………..it seemed he hardly touched the ball for the rest of the second half. He seemed to retreat to the wing and faded out of the game.

  9. South Of Tunis

     

     

    09:46 on 26 February, 2014

     

     

    Big Nan

     

     

    My addled ole bonce rememembers an Italian tv documentary re P2.The Speculative Society of Edinburgh got a wee mention re some people being a member of both.

     

    ……………………………..

     

    Interesting try and remember.

     

     

    The man who set the Bush family up (George W’s gd) was a Spec member, accountant type who did the cuckoo in the nest thing by buying shares in a company stripping it then busting it and buying it back of the receiver.

     

     

    What about Mostardo? Do you use fruit mostardo? Brilliant stuff I think have been eating it in Paesano Panatellas for years and didn’t know.

  10. Joe Filippis Haircut on

    The Morning after the night before well Aberdeen have shown us twice recently that the team needs to be worked on before the CL qualifyers.In my opinion Aberdeen are a pretty ordinary team full of hard workers and have shown us we can be beaten by ordinary teams we need to improve big time.I said last night Lennie got it wrong after Virgil was sent off and he should have moved Matthews to midfield and brought on Fisher at full back and withdrawn one of his strikers also why bring on Sammi he is not our future but Pukki who scored on Saturday is left kicking his heels on the bench.So once again poor decisions from our manager. H.H.

  11. Red card for VvG – Yes.

     

    Penalty for Celtic – Yes.

     

     

    Credit to Derek McInnes – The improvement he has brought to Aberdeen in the last 12 months – in terms of improvement in standard of player on a meagre budget, tactics and organisation – is v. impressive.

  12. Big Nan –

     

     

    Will try .

     

     

    Mostarda ———-yes .

     

     

    Wonderful with cheese..

     

     

    There are several versions —Cremona/ Mantova / Vicentina/Siciliana.etc

     

     

    Big in Sicily and typically served with bollito ( boiled meat ) but I am not a big fan of boiled meat.

     

     

    Mrs S of T comes from Padova and makes Mostarda with quince and tiny sour green apples

  13. Read a suggestion that Aberdeen were happy to sit on their lead. Piffle, did you not see Robson exhorting his team-mates to try and get up the park during the second half ?

  14. CQteN Dream Team.

     

    What a tremendous response to Paul article today teams flooding in.

     

    Keep the coming, details below.

     

    “CQteN Dream Team” Less than 3 weeks to go!

     

     

    Now is your chance to select and influence the CQteN dream from the last decade,

     

     

    Email us on doccqten@gmail.com

     

     

    Rules are very simple:

     

     

    Select 11 players from the list below, forming either a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 formation

     

     

    So you will need:

     

     

    1 goalkeeper

     

    2 full backs

     

    2 centre backs

     

    3 or 4 midfielders

     

    2 or 3 forwards

     

     

    and of course….

     

     

    1 manager.

     

     

    Each player on the list below has made at least 10 starting appearances from July 2004 to date during the CQteN decade.

     

     

    So no Henrik, Lubo,or Mjalby then!

     

     

    When you are selecting the players, you should ideally base your selection on their performances during the CQteN decade, but then again that is your choice.

     

     

    Send your selection to us by email to doccqten@gmail.com with your CQN blog name (if you do not have one, then you need to get thinking as well)

     

     

    Anybody can enter: bloggers, lurkers, friends and family, but you can only enter ONCE.

     

     

    The closing date for entries is 3pm Sunday 9th March 2014

     

     

    The CQteN dream team will be announced at the CQteN night on Friday 14th March and will be published online soon after. There will be a couple of prizes for the closest teams selected to the winning team.

     

     

    Good luck and get selecting for a fantastic competition..

     

     

    HH

     

     

    CRC

     

     

    Goalkeepers

     

    Appearances Clean sheets

     

    Artur Boruc (G)

     

    220 82

     

    David Marshall (G)

     

    30 9

     

    Fraser Forster (G)

     

    177 88

     

    Lukasz Zaluska (G)

     

    40 20

     

    Mark Brown (G)

     

    14 6

     

    Rab Douglas (G)

     

    19 11

     

     

    Full Backs

     

    Appearances Goals

     

    Total Total

     

    Adam Matthews (D)

     

    82 4

     

    Andreas Hinkel (D)

     

    101 1

     

    Cha Du-Ri (D)

     

    35 2

     

    Charlie Mulgrew (D)

     

    144 25

     

    Daniel Fox (D)

     

    22 0

     

    Darnell Fisher (D)

     

    10 0

     

    Edson Braafheid (D)

     

    11 0

     

    Emilio Izaguirre (D)

     

    132 1

     

    Jackie McNamara (D)

     

    44 1

     

    Lee Naylor (D)

     

    134 3

     

    Mark Wilson (D)

     

    116 3

     

    Mikael Lustig (D)

     

    57 5

     

    Mo Camara (D)

     

    24 0

     

    Paul Caddis (D)

     

    10 0

     

    Paul Telfer (D)

     

    71 1

     

    Ulrik Laursen (D)

     

    15 0

     

     

    Centre Backs

     

    Appearances Goals

     

    Total Total

     

    Bobo Balde (D)

     

    93 4

     

    Daniel Majstorovic (D) 61 2

     

    Darren O’Dea (D)

     

    49 6

     

    Efe Ambrose (D)

     

    73 5

     

    Gary Caldwell (D)

     

    147 7

     

    Glenn Loovens (D)

     

    84 9

     

    John Kennedy (D)

     

    14 0

     

    Joos Valgaeren (D)

     

    25 0

     

    Josh Thompson (D)

     

    19 3

     

    Kelvin Wilson (D)

     

    72 0

     

    Stanislav Varga (D)

     

    57 7

     

    Stephen McManus (D)

     

    195 20

     

    Steven Pressley (D)

     

    24 2

     

    Thomas Rogne (D)

     

    54 3

     

    Virgil van Dijk (D)

     

    31 4

     

     

    Midfielders

     

     

    Appearances Goals

     

    Total Total

     

    Aiden McGeady (M)

     

    194 36

     

    Alan Thompson (M)

     

    56 13

     

    Baram Kayal (M)

     

    88 3

     

    Barry Robson (M)

     

    40 7

     

    Didier Agathe (M)

     

    22 0

     

    Evander Sno (M)

     

    20 1

     

    Efrain Juarez (M)

     

    10 2

     

    Jiri Jarosik (M)

     

    35 7

     

    Joe Ledley (M)

     

    136 30

     

    Juninho Paulista (M)

     

    14 1

     

    Kris Commons (M)

     

    106 55

     

    Landry N’Guemo (M)

     

    43 0

     

    Marc Crosas (M)

     

    40 1

     

    Massimo Donati (M)

     

    34 4

     

    Neil Lennon (M)

     

    130 1

     

    Niall McGinn (M)

     

    15 6

     

    Pat McCourt (M)

     

    19 10

     

    Paul Hartley (M)

     

    74 4

     

    Ross Wallace (M)

     

    18 3

     

    Roy Keane (M)

     

    12 1

     

    Scott Brown (M)

     

    246 26

     

    Shaun Maloney (M)

     

    97 31

     

    Shunsuke Nakamura (M)

     

    157 33

     

    Stephen Pearson (M)

     

    11 4

     

    Stiliyan Petrov (M)

     

    94 24

     

    Sung-Yong Ki (M)

     

    60 11

     

    Thomas Gravesen (M)

     

    23 6

     

    Victor Wanyama (M)

     

    80 13

     

    Zheng Zhi (M)

     

    11 1

     

     

    Forwards

     

    Appearances Goals

     

    Total Total

     

    Anthony Stokes (F)

     

    100 55

     

    Chris Sutton (F) 43 18

     

    Craig Beattie (F)

     

    18 14

     

    Craig Bellamy (F)

     

    15 9

     

    Derek Riordan (F)

     

    13 8

     

    Gary Hooper (F)

     

    127 82

     

    Georgios Samaras (F)

     

    162 70

     

    Henri Camara (F)

     

    16 8

     

    James Forrest (F)

     

    85 22

     

    Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (F)

     

    89 44

     

    John Hartson (F)

     

    83 50

     

    Kenny Miller (F)

     

    28 11

     

    Lassad Nouioui (F)

     

    10 3

     

    Maciej Zurawski (F)

     

    53 30

     

    Marc-Antoine Fortune (F)

     

    30 12

     

    Robbie Keane (F)

     

    17 16

     

    Scott McDonald (F)

     

    117 64

     

    Teemu Pukki (F)

     

    15 4

     

    Tony Watt (F)

     

    13 8

     

     

    Managers

     

     

    Neil Lennon

     

     

    Tony Mowbray

     

     

    Gordon Strachan

     

     

    Martin O’Neil

  15. Last nights result was disappointing. But I think in the bigger picture it might be a good thing. We can stop concentrating on unbeaten records and start building on the most important games of our season. Not away fixtures against second placed SPL teams in february. The most important games we play happen in July and August, CL qualifiers. Start playing with that in mind now Lenny.

     

    Also, last nights result is good for the SPL. I don’t care much for Aberdeen. But the SPL needs a strong Aberdeen and they are getting stronger. D. Utd are improving with young players and manager too. This is good for the SPL. If the huns make it back to this level a strong “new firm” will make things very difficult for them. They will struggle to match them never mind compete with us.

  16. Twitter

     

     

    FRONT PAGE of ‘The Sun – ‘Gers Judge A Celtic Fan’ Re HMRC case. Can’t remember them reporting who Nimmo Smith or other judges supported…

     

     

    Front page – Judge in HMRC appeal is a celtic fan. Back page screaming headline ‘Bitter Lennon’.

     

     

    seriously? Do they go as far to say who the board of SFA support?

     

     

    That is bad. A deliberate tactic by the bastards to influence the case.

     

     

    BUT … who can be surprised?

     

     

    Any Celtic fan who buys the daily rancid or sun should hang their head in shame.

  17. “The future is always more important than the present and we had forsaken this for a pointless record.”

     

     

    Quite obviously an opinion rather than an axiom but the present is last year`s future so at which point does the importance shift?

     

     

    I didn`t think I was bothered about the record but I found myself more affected than i thought I would be. More or less over it now and a missed short putt in an hour or so will have me completely over the defeat 0:-)

     

     

    Red card? Yes, I think so.

     

    Handball? Possibly.

     

    Was Neil correct to criticise the Ref? Definitely not. He is passionate but surely he is aware of how his words are interpreted in Scotland? Voice the criticisms after victories.

     

     

    Cheerio for now (away to miss that putt!)

     

     

    JJ

  18. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS .........FC not PLC on

    gold coast tom

     

     

    05:47 on 26 February, 2014

     

    BMCUW –

     

     

    My reading of it is that there is an EU proposal to give police the technology and the power to remotely stop vehicles that are involved in chases, which is surely better than continuing a high-speed pursuit through residential areas or busy motorways with the obvious danger to life and limb that goes with the territory.

     

     

    Would you consider it to be an infringement of human rights when the police set-up a road block to stop a criminal in a stolen vehicle or fleeing from the scene of a crime?

     

     

    I see no difference.

     

     

    As long as the technology is used to stop crime then I don’t have an issue with it.

     

     

    ~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~~

     

     

    Thanks for the reply,Tom. One problem I would envisage is if the vehicle is fitted with false number plates.

     

     

    Thus,an innocent and entirely unsuspecting motorist will see his vehicle coming to a swift halt.

     

     

    Trust me,that is dangerous. I once suffered a blown engine due to catastrophic oil failure in the outside lane of the M4. Not any fun at all.

     

     

    And that is not including possible abuse of power by an idiot with a uniform because we know that would never happen.

     

     

    KITALBA

     

     

    Thanks,bud. Usual heavy-handed nonsense from people with too much time on their hands,IMO.

  19. Morning ghuys & ghals… amazingly the world is still spinning and the sun came up as usual. It’s not the end of the world after all, just because Celtic lost a league game for the first time since April last year and conceded a league goal for the first time since November.

     

     

    All this talk, however, of having nothing to play for between now and May (because the SPL title is already in the bag) is nonsense.

     

     

    We already hold most of the SPL records that are worth holding (see link), but we have a chance of beating quite a few records if we can carry on as we were prior to last night’s little blip.

     

     

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Premier_League#Records_and_awards

     

     

    We have 11 games remaining this season.

     

     

    We won the 11 league games prior to last night, gaining 33 points, scoring 26 goals and conceding none.

     

     

    If we win the next 11 we will set a new record for the highest number of points achieved in an SPL season, beating (by 2 points) the record of 103 points set by Martin O’Neill’s Celtic team in 2001/2. If we concede fewer than 4 goals we will beat the previous best defensive record of 18 goals against, also in 2001/2.

     

     

    If we can get KC back into top form, and LG gets into the goal-scoring groove, we have an outside (but realistically unlikely) chance of netting the 43 goals required to beat the current scoring record of 105, set in 2003/4 by a team blessed with a strike-force of Hanrik Larsson (30 league goals) and Chris Sutton (19), ably backed up by John Hartson (8 goals) and with Shaun Maloney, Stiliyan Petrov and Alan Thompson all chipping in with a few goals towards that mammoth total.

     

     

    Winning our last 11 games this season will also beat the 2001/2 team’s record number of SPL wins (33) in a 38 game season, and ensure that we equal their record of just a solitary defeat in a full league season.

     

     

    With 19 clean sheets to date, we need another 7 clean sheets in our last 11 games to set a new record for an SPL season. And we can still achieve the notable distinction of scoring in every league game.

     

     

    Finally, it might be a bit fanciful, but it would be nice to have a game where absolutely everything clicks and we become the first team to score 10 goals in a game to beat our own record for the biggest win (9-0 v last night’s conquerors!), with KC, AS or LG beating the individual goals-in-a-game total by notching 6 of those 10 goals.

     

     

    So… there is still plenty still to play for, and if we can achieve all that lot whilst resting a few of our core players and involving more of those on the fringes, then better still.

     

     

    Champions 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14 (and counting…)

  20. BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS:

     

     

    You should see them playing with their tazers down here. Google ‘Australian police taser guns’

  21. South Of Tunis

     

     

    10:13 on 26 February, 2014

     

     

    Big Nan –

     

     

    Will try .

     

     

    Mostarda ———-yes .

     

     

    Wonderful with cheese..

     

     

    There are several versions —Cremona/ Mantova / Vicentina/Siciliana.etc

     

     

    Big in Sicily and typically served with bollito ( boiled meat ) but I am not a big fan of boiled meat.

     

     

    Mrs S of T comes from Padova and makes Mostarda with quince and tiny sour green apples

     

    ……………………………………..

     

    The one I have been eating with lunch at Valvona & Crola is made from pear, cherry, fig and apricot. Goes well with the spicy sausage, though the EU regulation on certain ingredients meant that the Italian ones were banned here and the replacements may be healthier but don’t have the zing that the old ones did.

  22. What did Adam Rooney cost the Dons.

     

     

    McInnes has done a great bit of business there.

     

     

    Aberdeen have shown than an ordinary side ,set up well and that compete with self belief,that also has a decent goalscorer,can beat us regularly.

     

     

    We are a fair bit away from being a side that will come through a CL group ,and indeed it is 50/50 if we will qualify for the CL.

     

     

    If we sell Forster or VVJ ,we further regress.

     

     

    Despite winning the title in a canter ,this is not a Celtic side of high quality.

     

     

    TT