The margin between great success and disastrous failure at this level can be paper thin. Celtic failed to make the most of a 28th minute corner kick and within 30 seconds, Cluj opened the scoring. Lewis Morgan missed a challenge in the 70 yards from goal and the inch-perfect through ball got beyond Boli Bolingoli for Mario Rondon to score.
We have seen many Celtic teams wilt after losing a goal away in Europe, but James Forrest made sure the same would not happen on this occasion.
Within nine minutes of the opener, Forrest played a give-and-go with the impressive Hatem Abd Elhamed, collected the return pass and shot, the ball clipping the inside of the post on its way into the net. This passage of play turned the tie in Celtic’s direction.
While there is a high expectation Celtic will progress to the playoff round, our chances are no more than they were when we secured the same result away to Maribor in 2014. There is work to do on Tuesday. In particular, the nature of the Cluj goal is of concern.
Apart from one dreadfully defended corner, Celtic restricted Cluj to few genuine chances, but they were able to punish us on the break. This will be the basis of their game plan next week. Soak up as much pressure as possible and overload on our flanks when we are forward. It does teams no harm to have a simple game plan. We will need to be at our best.
More on Kieran Tierney later. There will be chat like: “This is how football works and has done so for decades. It’s why many players come to Celtic. They come and go, our job is to understand how the sport works and to be good at it….”
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COYBIG
Wooft
3
Best of luck to the young fella !
On the subject of Celtic Legends
Will James Forrest be considered more of a Celtic ‘Legend’ than Kieran Tierney should he go?
Meets more of the criteria…
B-)
James Gang when an Ajax player leaves the money is invested in the team
They have a policy of bringing through youth and mixing them with a small spattering of quality bought with the earning
We sell and don’t invest and keep the money for AGM balance sheet. We then bring through youths who play along side some cheap projects
Big difference in two business models
Ajax tend to have a former top player as CEO who understands football and puts team 1st
We have Peter Lawwell. Big big difference
I was not realy impressed by Cluj.I thought they were no better than Sarajevo.We did not play at our best or we would have won.One glorious pass was their whole contribution.I really dont have any fears for the return.Julien in for the Motherwell game,and the return will get him up to pace.Hamadi looks excellent on the right.I thought Lenny made a mistake not playing Biton in the middle last night.He calms everything down,and keeps possession.The window closes today for England.I am sure Lenny will get whatever he wants.
Well there will be one or two on here hit hard with the KT news, thats the problem when you are in denial and refuse to join the dots.
The Arsenal move was on the cards and the player wanted it.
Celtic fans on here were pilloried for saying so but now it is happening at least Celtic should be prepared…
Good luck to the player, he deserves to maximise his earnings in a short career and test himself in a top league.
He’ll be back anyway, just a matter of when IMO.
More worried about Bolingoli defensively, looks more comfortable further up the left hand side.
HH
Here we go.The PL haters on already.I am off.Sick listening to the same old shit.3 weeks to go in the window,and their panties are wringing.
Ajax have not spent anything like the money they have received.
Another false equivalent.
Agree with all that Paul67. They’re a decent, well-drilled side, experienced enough to know how to follow instructions and do it for the full 90 minutes. I’d be surprised if they didn’t move their star 3m man to the right side and attack down our left – defensively Morgan and Boli don’t look disciplined enough.
I thought we looked more mature and able to deal with the onslaught that always follows a home goal in these fixtures. So much about playing these games is down to confidence and we didn’t panic and at no point did it look like the wheels were going to come off.
We’ve got enough quality to score important away goals and we’re doing it at key times in games at the moment.
I like Neil Lennon’s Celtic in these games, we seem to play to our strengths while acknowledging the challenges we’re facing
The right back looks like he’s been an excellent buy, let’s not fall into that trap of trying to fix every problem that arises during a transfer window with quick fixes.
We have spent spent about 33% of the money we have received. A shambles of a transfer window when we had a great opportunity
Ps Ajax have spent 58 million Euros in this transfer window
@dkmsean Losing the Stuart Armstrong, Brendan Rodgers, KT, and Sinclair songs in such a short time will be hard to overcome.
Why can’t we be more like Sevco and refuse the mega buck offers for our top talent ? Not only that but apparently they’ve beaten us to the signing of Brandon Barker who impressed mightily last season in his 12 appearances for Preston as they finished 14th in the championship.
SYDNEYTIM on 8TH AUGUST 2019 10:06 AM
James Gang when an Ajax player leaves the money is invested in the team
Here we go again. Show your workings, please.
Here are Ajax’s cash balances in € from the last 6 years. I’m guessing they might be even higher in this years accounts
43m – 2013
60m – 2014
80m – 2015
70m – 2016
65m – 2017
12m – 2018
Always surprised Lennox isn’t listed with the legends.
T
P.s .
Ajax have made £163.58 million
According to transfer market uk …wonder what % that is. ?
SYDNEYTIM on 8TH AUGUST 2019 10:18 AM
We have spent spent about 33% of the money we have received. A shambles of a transfer window when we had a great opportunity
Ps Ajax have spent 58 million Euros in this transfer window
====
Ajax have brought in £163.59m, spent £51.93m (31.7% of what has come in).
They will also probably sell Van De Beek to Real Madrid for big bucks soon.
HH
SYDNEYTIM on 8TH AUGUST 2019 10:18 AM
We have spent spent about 33% of the money we have received. A shambles of a transfer window when we had a great opportunity
Ps Ajax have spent 58 million Euros in this transfer window
____
Well they have sold over 170 million.
So 58 fits nicely in with 33%
170 plus million in euros that is
Ajax spent circa 50M
from Reality.com
But lets pick a figure and slant it as we see fit.
Comparing us to Ajax…Jeez
if its reported in the sun or the daily record must it always be true……..don’t mention these rags on the blog…….as they print a load of shit.
Why cant Gutman play for us?
Anyone got any real answers?
BHOYLO83 on 8TH AUGUST 2019 10:35 AM
Why cant Gutman play for us?
Anyone got any real answers?
___
Not enough international caps to get a work permit.
Bit silly signing him really.
Love KT . I am not sure whether the transfer was more driven by the Club or the player, but I suspect the Club.
Obviously Kieran had to be a willing participant, but regardless if he is gone he’s gone and our focus should be on maximizing the incoming transfer funds to strengthen our squad.
Not spending is unthinkable, I can’t see us going on a 25 million shopping spree but anything less than 15 million would be a huge letdown,
I must hasten to add that it’s not about spending money for spending sake, it’s about bringing in the right players for the right positions. We already have the position of Boli & Elhamed. Boli’s purchase was generally well received whikst Elhamed’s was mocked.
Right now Elhamed looks like a great buy whilst Boli looks suspect.
Personally I have not given up on Boli, think he could be effective in the SPFL where we dominate possession and our main needs are to attack & break down teams, also could be utilised in a more forward attacking role,
Anyhow the Boli conundrum can wait, I am pretty certain that Lenny has a shopping list, problem will be sellers will know we are flush after KT deal & will be harder to deal with, we can’t be pushovers but if we need to go the extra mile to get the ghuys we want, then we just need to do it.
Next 3 weeks are huge both on & off the field.
Scotland international John McGinn has signed a new-five year contract at Aston Villa.
The midfielder had been linked with a move to Manchester United this summer.
“I have loved every minute of my time at Aston Villa and I am delighted to commit myself to the club for the long term,” said McGinn.
Think people were a bit harsh on Boli last night.
Was a big ask for him and Morgan to come in and play a good team like Cluj. They haven’t had a run of games individually never mind together.
They adversely affected each other. Morgan seemed to struggle with their physicality in particular. Leaving Boli exposed.
Unlike some experts on CQN I’m not giving up on him.
I do think we need to send one of the left-wingers out on loan. Especially if we are signing that Corbyn fella
Ajax blend their youth with experience
They sell very very big and buy very big and their team tends not to suffer
We sell very big and buy cheap and our team suffers
No where can people defend Peter Lawwell in this transfer window
A chance for our club to invest in some good quality
Instead it will be Kept for AGM balance sheets
While Ajax can proudly show off their position in Europe and Balance sheet
We can show off our Balance sheet and top earnings CEO’s. :(
Timaloy
Thanks, aye bit of a weird one alright
ADI Dassler. I never compared us to Ajax
Someone else did
Our business model is totally opposite to Ajax
Much of the transfer talk has been about signing defenders – I reckon we have to buy another striker for definite.
If OE gets injured we are snookered.
HH. 🍀
While we are still simmering over the loss of Keiran Teirney , this would be a very bad time to let McGregor or Ajer go . In fact , it would be a bad time to let Ntcham go.
Flamingtorchesandpitchforks csc
16 Roads
But we have Bayo (joke?)
DENIABHOY on 8TH AUGUST 2019 10:06 AM
And now onto CQN’s performance . . . .
Anyone else having a problem of pages not loading or loading with only 1-2 comments on it during games? Last night page 3, 4 & 5 had one comment each during the game when I was clicking to go through the pages. This has happened a few times recently. Then, after the game, when I go back to look the pages are all there.
DENIABHOY, had the same trouble (over a few days actually) then I logged in (as for Comments) and haven’t had a problem since.
As the Tierney saga has been going on all summer i would be amazed if Celtic haven’t got players lined up
With the EPL window closing today, now is when we will make our move
SYDNEYTIM on 8TH AUGUST 2019 10:45 AM
ADI Dassler. I never compared us to Ajax
Our business model is totally opposite to Ajax
Explain how please
Barker a decent player when playing for Hibs,On to the Motherwell game on Saturday,Neil Lennon,should rest a few players,Give players like Shava,Bayo,Koussaa,and Arazani,is he fit or still injured,at least 70 mins,
I was yelling at Bolingoli last night. He lost easy possession so often I was ragin’.
He was dangerous going forward, and nearly set up Eddie. He CANNOT be the 1st pick left back, unless he very quickly learns when to stay back. He was left exposed for their goal; my view at the time was that it was a great pass and finish. Our whole midfield was too far forward when they broke.
He needs to show that he can defend, if only to reassure us. We don’t want Ooohs and Aaahs every time he gets the ball.