Playing three at the back creates a specific role for the wingback. Wilfried Nancy had Alistair Johnston on the right when the pair were at Montreal. Johnston’s pace, endurance and ability to cross from the byline is perfect for this formation.
Alistair’s return is months away, so the manager will need to come up with an alternative to reinvigorate our right side which has been poor all season. We don’t have a perfect facsimile. Anthony Ralston can hit the line and cross, Colby Donovan has energy, but we have only seen a small sample size.
Yang is the best crosser at the club (oh yes he is), but he is not a wingback. Similarly, there is nothing I can see in Daizen Meada that suggests he is a better option through the middle than Johnny Kenny. Daizen, though, has the energy and pace to play wingback, he is an obvious choice to move wide.
As we discussed yesterday, playing Daizen in front of Kieran Tierney, with Auston Trusty in the middle and Liam Scales left, is a better deployment of resources than Sunday’s lineup.
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I am sure I read the other day that Nancy had kept Strachan jnr and Woods on so there was some continuity. I wonder what changed in less than a week?
Woods was on the bench on Sunday, when will Celtic wil announce it or say thanks? World Class dont you know.
Turkeyheid…
Yes, all men make mistakes but wise men learn from them.
Have you learned anything since Barkas?
Nothing about Stevie Woods on the club website … what gives ?
HH
Lets be honest here.Burnley,you can look away.We have a team who have been decimated by injuries,long term ones,to 3 of our top players.Add in the complete transfer fek up by the Board,who contrived to sell Kuhn,and Idah without replacements in the summer,and no replacement for Kyogo,sold in January.Sickening Maeda,our only other goalscorer, over his transfer, not been right since.50 odd goals taken out of the team.Refuse BR the two wingers he wanted to replace Jota and Kuhn,then at the last gasp,sign two left wingers.No right winger
We were a shambles.MON came in and did a very good job,new manager bounce,but the last two games,that had gone.A 95 the minute goal,our first shot on target against Saints,and a dreadful display against Dundee, was the probable Swan song for Martin.
This Board have destroyed the team,no one else.What the new Manager has walked into,a disgrace.If he pulls it off,it will be a miracle.We need a real miracle in January from this Board,we are out on our feet.
JSP wasn’t included in the sqaud remember so cannot play.
message from Police Scotland read: The A74(M) is currently closed at Junction 11 southbound and Junction 13 northbound near to Abington due to a number of overturned vehicles.
‘A diversion is in place
Maestro- ta,need to get a better balance all over the park…
aw well DM it is then
Greg Taylor played the inverted left back supporting the midfield and Alastair Johnson played an attacking right back last year, leaving CCV and Scales often isolated as a back 2 when Celtic were attacking.
Queen of the South v Dunfermline called off at 7.48…..surely if there’s a ‘named’ storm call every game off
Really need to stop showing VAR handball incidents in slow motion,the game is played in real time
What Mursheen said @ 2:37 pm
fed up listening to these so called EXPERTS on various radio stations. They are utterly clueless and just look for soundbites – every one of the them predicted a Celtic win v hearts.
Apparently we lost bcoz we changed formation – GTF!!
Was the opening goal due to formation – NO IT WASN’T. It was a freak goal. A total miscue, players expecting flag to go up and brag swung a boot. All defenders were in the box and positioned correctly. Midfielders and defenders outnumbered them. It was a freak goal. Only criticism is have is the players not playing to the whistle (see our captain) .
The second goal was poor defensing – Again NOTHING to do with formation. Go and win your headers.
Scotland is bigoted – they are begging for Nancy to fail. They are using media sources to draw doubt and drive negativity.
We rolled all over hearts – 70% possession and had we taken our chances would have blown them away. REMEMBER – no CCV, NO Johnstone, No Sarrachi, No Jota, and strikers injured or on way back.
DONT FORGET – its not just then injuries. It’s the resulting heavier demands on a team playing 2 games a week and involved in international games. This has an impact on freshness and sharpness. Hearts have not had to contend with this.
No wonder Scottish football doesnt progress – if this is the level of critiquing, analysis, understanding of the game.
BTW just looked at maeda chance again – he should score of course – but his second touch took the ball towards Nygren – I wonder if he thought he was going to hit it . Nygren should have stayed out his way. Watch the look Maeda gives Nygren right after.
Anyway – hoe this makes winning all the sweeter – starting with CUP FINAL. Roma is about avoiding injuries
Is this what happened to the Tims:
“THE DIMMING!” lol
They used this to destroy Vietnam 50 years ago.
Weather Control.
BUT.
The Vietnamese “Workers Party” rose up and kicked the Yankee/Lobby scumbags out of the Vietnamese super amazing country!
https://x.com/nogps1/status/1998404411907870768#m
PS, The Green Party are payed to keep schdumb about this mass murder from the skies!
Cmon the Wilf.
HH
oot.
KINGLUBO on 9th December 2025 3:56 pm
I think Calmac aside, Hatate is our best player by far.
Tin hat on
==========
Not for me, King Lubo.
In terms of pure skills, yes Reo has a lovely creative touch but he is inconsistency personified.
For me and according to a lot of data, big Liam Scales has less finesse than most of our squad but he is dependably best at what he’s asked to do. Yes, he gives us the odd aberration but he’s one of my fave players at the mo’.
Now with my motorbike helmet on, I’d say they’d both fetch the same amount of transfer fee were they to ever leave the club; around 5 mill each. Way too low for either but the market would decide the price. HH
PS; love all the Dixie reminiscences esp the Marley tales.
message from Police Scotland read: The A74(M) is currently closed at Junction 11 southbound and Junction 13 northbound near to Abington due to a number of overturned vehicles.
‘A diversion is in place
—
could be a nightmare for the thousands of stranraer fans having to travel back from EK after their game 😁
though how the fk is that game on in those conditions?
The Ayr to stranraer road was closed due to a fallen tree a few hours back….
During Celtic’s centenary year I attended a celebration dinner in the Normandy Hotel in Renfrew. Special guests included Bishop Winning and a handful of present day and retired players, one of whom was Dixie Deans.
During a break in proceedings, I was engaged in conversation with Bishop Winning in the foyer. We talked about my time as an altar boy when he was a curate at St Luke’s in Motherwell in the early 60s. He enquired after my parents and what I was doing in life etc and I introduced him to my wife.
As we parted company, a couple of young Celtic supporters approached me and said, “Can we have a picture taken with you?”
Before I knew what was happening I was standing in front of about 8 of them as a lady photographed us. My wife and the Bishop looked on with curious amusement.
Pictures taken, I was greeted with a handshake and a “Thanks Dixie.”
Later that night the Bishop introduced me to the real Dixie and we all had a good laugh.
Back at the Motherwell 9-in-a-row CSC I was thereafter known as Dixie.
Happy days.
Gutsy win for Liverpool.
Big Virgil still a class act
Stevie Woods has NOT left Celtic. That’s this week’s fake news. What will it be next week? Whatever it is, the usual gullibles will buy it and Celtic FC will get it in the neck once again.
We are all #StevieWoods
tom Mclaughlin
Great story but you forgot to tell us the follow up
The time when you were living in Australia………
And Bob Marley mistook Dixie Deans for you…..
DoppelgangersCSC
UCL Results tonight…
Bayern Munich 3 – 1 Sportin Lisbon
Atalanta 2 – 1 Chelsea
We went to Bergamo and Munich last season, we were at that level.
What this Board has done to our “Club” is a disgrace.
Hail Hail
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=893678051628689&surface_type=vod&referral_source=vod_deeplink_unit
Again,some of the reporting on our manager,by the Media needs looked into.The Record today giving carte Blanche to some second rate ex Hearts player,to publicly ridicule him for his colour of TRAINERS.Also having a go at the tactics board.
When our Board can ban Celtic Media from its press conferences in a fit of pique,why can’t they do the same to this mob.
Obviously we all know the reason.Pet Poodles who do their leaking for them get free rein to print what they like.
Chairbhoy,
Worse than a ddisgrace.Catastrophic Catastrophic.
So bad I named it twice.
Larkin1907 @ 10:30 pm,
Brilliant – what a phenomenal team that was…
Hail Hail
I remember the time going to the Cup Final,I got stopped and dragged into the Celtic dressing room.Seems that Dixie had slept in after a tryst up in Edinburgh,and because I was his double,would I take his place.Dont let Hibs know.” Ah well,let’s have a go”
Imagine my surprise when I scored a Hat Trick.Oh how we laughed,when Dixie arrived 300 minutes after the game ended,and we informed him of our jolly jape on Hibs..
Turkeybhoy @ 10:35 pm,
Yes, that’s more like it…
Incremental improvements in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 got us there…
We just needed to go again, we had everything in place to do it.
Now we are on a huge rescue mission to not end up like 2020/21…
Much easier to tear down than build up.
Hail Hail
This CL format is brilliant.
Again,Kairat beaten by 1 goal.Plucky wee mob.
CHAIRBHOY
In retrospect we underperformed in Europe tho were cheated on a few occasions but aye…
Billy Kenny Bobby Jimmy
Funny to see even back then that kicks to Celtic goalkeepers heads were treated in a different way
Turkeybhoy on 9th December 2025 10:47 pm
Good one.
Pissing down again on Thursday for the game.
😥😥😥😥😥😥😥
Not here of course.
aye