Competition for wide slots at all-time high

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Watching Celtic at Livingston yesterday you would be inclined to wonder what all the fuss was about.  The early goal helped.  It allowed Celtic to settle into a patient game and gave Livingston the onus to come out and play football at some stage of the match.  This fact did not appear to occur to them, however, as they persisted with what looked like a 6-3-1 formation throughout.

Again, Celtic showed a preference to go down the left.  Sead Haksabanovic has flourished in his partnership with Greg Taylor.  Had Jota been fit this last month or so, Sead would be less of a known asset.

It seems unlikely that Jota will be fit enough to start in Madrid, so Sead should keep his place.  It is just as unlikely that despite being one of our top current performers, Sead will keep Jota out of the team, no one will keep a fit Jota out.  Earlier in the season we saw Jota on the right for periods during a game, with Maeda on the left, I expect we will see Jota and Sead swap sides in this manner, if nothing else, it disrupts defensive patterns.

With James Forrest back on form and Liel Abada continually providing evidence that he is an exquisite predator, competition for the wide slots at Celtic is higher than I think I have ever known it.

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  1. bigrailroadblues on

    Good evening all from the Queens Park Cafe. Team for Wednesday; Joe, JJ, CCV, St Moritz, Greg, Reo, Matt, Aaron, Jota, Gio,Liel.

  2. CELTIC40ME. Thanks for the extra information. The Irish connection still strong and we are grateful for all it has contributed to our team.

  3. bournesouprecipe on

    BRB in the Queens Park Cafe

     

     

    North by NorthWest ( Mount Rushmore )

     

     

    Cary Grant

     

     

    Eva Marie Saint

     

     

    James Mason

     

     

    Martin Landau

     

     

    Alfred Hitchcock CSC

  4. CONNAIRE12 on 31ST OCTOBER 2022 7:47 PM

     

     

    Never a better time to remember that than today, with the petrol bomb attack on asylum seekers and a Home Secretary talking about invasions by immigrants.

  5. bournesouprecipe on

    CQN Mount Rushmore

     

     

    Mad Mitch

     

     

    KevJ

     

     

    Ernie Lynch

     

     

    Super Sammy ( mind him? )

  6. LETS ALL DO THE HUDDLE on 31ST OCTOBER 2022 4:48 PM

     

    Celtics Mount Rushmore

     

    Me (obviously)

     

    Natasha Meikle

     

    Maria McAneny

     

    The girl who was in front of me in the pie stall queue last week

     

    ………….

     

     

    Has any of these cuties ever mentioned the ticket trick that’s been deployed by Celtic PLC since 2016 whereby Sevco were priced at the same as Rangers ie: £49 per ticket?

     

     

    Celtic vs Rangers 2012 = £49 per ticket.

     

     

    Celtic vs Sevco or Sevco vs Celtic since 2016 tickets = £49?

     

     

    Now £52 👀👊🏻

     

     

    Celtic put Rangers prices onto Sevco tickets in and beyond 2016.

     

    Why?

     

     

    Celtic fans would’ve paid the moon and the stars for a ticket to see a Brendan Rodgers Celtic team vs the huns in 2016.

     

     

    THAT, THAT, THAT, THAT….was the cold and calculated PLC ticket trick!! 🎯 👀

     

     

    RIGHT THERE….so cold, so cunning, so that you wouldn’t see it!!

     

     

    So the kind and benevolent Celtic PLC just kept the ticket prices in 2016 to the same as a Rangers vs Celtic, Celtic vs Rangers vs Celtic ticket price was back in the ghood old days of 2012 ticket price = £49.

     

     

    But the trick that was played by the smoke and mirrors Celtic PLC was bold and VERY deliberate.

     

     

    Celtic PLC in 2016 valued Sevco the same as Rangers 1872.

     

     

    AND CRUCIALLY ….so too did unthinking, uncaring, “Take me FURST sire”….boak tasting mugging!!

     

     

    Not a word of protest was heard from a Celtic supporter base who spend the entire 96 minutes of every Celtic game, every weekend and midweek, singing about Irish rebels.

     

     

    Imagine that! 👀

     

     

    I wonder what the cuties might say about certain flamboyant “TIMS” on CQN, and, SENTINEL CELTS, blogs, covering up the details about this mugging of Celtic season ticket supporters being used as the ultimate mugs to enable Celtic PLC to email the Scottish Establishment with the words….

     

     

    “IT’S DONE – TIMDOM HAS FALLEN!”

     

     

    The cuties might be interested to know that a discerning Celt who was educated in Parkhead Jungle warfare, actually broke ranks, and engaged in some, whistle blowing, in an attempt to bring this story to the attention of unwitting Celts who were being in effect, mugged, by their own so called custodians or PLC, so this good minded and concerned Tim, called KevJungle, he tried, and continues to try, to wake Tims up as they’ve been in effect “Rodgered” since 2016 as the PLC pulled this shameful ticket trick as Celtic fans welcomed the new manager, Mr BRENDAN RODGERS, to Celtic, whether BR was used to create a circus, or if he too was a willing part of the circus, hasn’t at this stage been discerned.

     

     

    The good guy in this movie, KevJungle, was smeared as a troll by pillars of the Church types of posters on CQN and the lesser known, but equally not playing the game, the blog called, Sentinel Celts, a sort of haven for posters who eventually got found out on the CQN blog.

     

     

    Cuties ghurrrls up for a bit of cage rattling and long over due outing of these ghoody 2 shoes types who orchestrated a sleekit clique, gang hut, snitches rool, modus operandi, to cover up the KevJungle whistlebowing attempts??

     

     

    Legal Eagle Cuties or lipstick and paint pretenders?

     

     

    What says you LETS ALL DO THE HUDDLE??

     

     

    laters…..

  7. Thought i would have a look.

     

    I am away, at least the multi monikers names are getting more creative.

     

     

    Lozen named after The Apache Joan of Arc oh ma sides hurting with laughter.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

     

     

    If this Lozen had been guiding Geronimo, instead of her name sake, none of us would have heard of him

     

     

    🕉☮🖖🕊💚💛

  8. walfrid – for giving us Celtic

     

    John Thomson – for giving his life for Celtic

     

    John Keane – for saving Celtic

     

    Jock Stein – for taking Celtic to the pinnacle.

     

    HH

  9. bournesouprecipe on

    On John Thomson bemoaning being called a “Fenian Bastard” by an opposition player (despite being a church going Scottish Protestant)

     

     

    Jimmy McGrory: “John, I get called that every game I play.”

     

     

    John Thomson: “I know. It’s all right for you. You are one!”

     

     

    @celtic wiki

  10. BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 31ST OCTOBER 2022 8:51 PM

     

    CQN Mount Rushmore

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Mad Mitch

     

     

     

     

     

     

    KevJ

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Ernie Lynch

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Super Sammy ( mind him? )

     

     

     

    Impossible.No ones ever seen any of them.

  11. *SENTINEL CELTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2022-23*

     

    RESULTS FROM GAME #19 – LIVINGSTON 0 CELTIC 3 (KYOGO, TAYLOR, JOTA)

     

     

    Good evening, friends.

     

    Just like our last visit to The Spaghettihad we managed to play or football despite the underfoot conditions and came away with a really comfortable win. Decent performances from all 16 players that took to the carpet and good to see Jota return with another goal to boot. And what can you say about our left back. Marking his 100th appearance in the hoops by scoring for the 2nd domestic game in a row Greg Taylor is Swiftly becoming a cult figure for our fans and is probably the best example we have of a player who has improved (and continues to do so) under Big Ange. And, by the way, Greg’s goal was pinpoint accuracy, going for the gap between 2 players, followed by the nutmeg on their keeper was precision in the extreme!

     

    Not sure how many of you would also have realised that an unbroken run came to an end yesterday. For the first 18 games of this season, just one player had appeared in all of them. But yesterday that ended when Ange decided NOT to call on the services of Daizen Maeda. For the record there are now 4 players who have appeared in 18 of our first 19 games – Maeda, Abada, O’Riley and Mooy.

     

    Celtic have now completed 19 competitive fixtures this season, winning 13, drawing 2 and losing 4. With 53 goals scored and 19 conceded.

     

    As for the voting, my thanks as always to the 78 who emailed me their choices. There have been 2 previous games this season where the man of the match achieved almost universal approval. When we beat Ross County in game 2, Jota was mentioned in 60 out of the 61 emails received (98.4%). And in the 9-0 demolition of Dundee Utd Kyogo got the nod from 84 out of 86 voters (97.7%). But following yesterday’s game we have a new record with the Man Of The Match (his 2nd MOTM award in a row) being proposed by 78 out of the 79 voters – an approval rating of 98.7%. And who was it? Well, the total votes cast for each CELTIC player (with my own choices – 3 Scots! – asterisked) are as follows –

     

    Hart: 0

     

    Ralston*: 18

     

    Carter-Vickers: 13

     

    Jenz: 13

     

    Taylor*: 78

     

    O’Riley: 7

     

    Hatate: 23

     

    Mooy: 45

     

    Forrest*: 2

     

    Kyogo: 26

     

    Haksabanovic: 7

     

     

    Abada: 0

     

    Turnbull: 0

     

    Jota: 5

     

    Giakoumakis: 0

     

    Abildgaard: 0

     

     

    And so, the top 5 players receiving POINTS for the game against Livingston are –

     

    Taylor – 5 pts

     

    Mooy – 4 pts

     

    Kyogo – 3 pts

     

    Hatate – 2 pts

     

    Ralston – 1 pt

     

     

    In terms of the overall standings, I found another minor arith error from the home game against Motherwell a few weeks ago. I had mistakenly given Taylor a point at the expense of Kyogo. I’ve corrected the points accordingly.

     

    So after 19 games the overall standings are as follows –

     

    43 points – Hatate

     

    33 points – Taylor

     

    26 points – Jota

     

    24 points – Carter-Vickers

     

    22 points – Jenz

     

    19 points – McGregor

     

    14 points – Mooy

     

    13 points – Abada, Giakoumakis, Kyogo and O’Riley

     

    12 points – Juranovic

     

    9 points – Welsh

     

    8 points – Bernabei

     

    7 points – Haksabanovic

     

    6 points – Ralston

     

    5 points – Forrest

     

    3 points – Hart and Maeda

     

    2 points – Turnbull

     

    0 points – Abildgaard, McCarthy, Siegrist and Starfelt

     

     

    We now look forward, I’m sure, to a real good test in our next game when we visit the home of the reigning European Champions, Real Madrid. I don’t think there’s any question of Ange resting players but rather he might do all he can to reward his 16 best performers with a chance to take to the field in the Santiago Bernabeu. And it’s one final test in Europe with Ange no doubt adopting his usual style and going toe to toe with one of the best. Kick off is on Wednesday evening at 5.45pm.

     

    Hail Hail!!

  12. bournesouprecipe on

    CQN Mount Rushmores

     

     

    Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo

     

     

    The Battered Bunnet

     

     

    Jobo Baldie

     

     

    Dontbrattbakkinanger

  13. Great work Jobo. and they said Taylor was not Celtic quality.

     

    The ghuy has really turned his career around, Best of Luck to him.

  14. Evening all.

     

     

    Just logged on catching up with blog.

     

     

    PHILBHOY on 31ST OCTOBER 2022 3:04 PM

     

     

    I just had a puffed out chest moment. :)

     

     

    HH

  15. Jobo,

     

     

    Again thanks for your time and effort. I did not see the full game, hence I didn’t participate ( Got up from nightshift but fell asleep at HT )

     

     

    However I’m surprised that no points for Joe Hart. Anytime our goalkeeper has a clean sheet he gets my vote.

     

     

    Cheers and HH.

  16. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Late joining the party.

     

     

    Apple – brilliant idea.

     

     

    I’d go further and have separate clusters for managers, goalscorers, and non-scoring heroes.

     

     

    On the basis we already have statues of Billy, Jinky, Jock and our founder?

     

     

    McGrory, Lennox, Larsson, Quinn

     

     

    Managers – delivered or gave us back hope.

     

    Maley, Burns, O’Neill, ???

     

     

    Stalwarts and heroes

     

    John Thomson, Patsy Gallagher, Bobby Evans, Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish

     

     

    Oh – and a separate smaller “sierra” with the Lisbon Lions.

  17. Some nightshift change of subject :-

     

     

    Katie Taylor is magnificent and although she is getting recognition now I feel that she deserves more.. Her record is absolutely amazing and inspiring. ( Especially when you consider Ireland had a ban on female fights until 2001 )

     

     

    Consider this :- 18 Gold medals in amateur events. Undisputed undefeated professional world champion with seven consecutive defences of unified titles.

     

     

    Interesting when she stated at Wembley the other night that she wants to headline her next fight at Croke Park.

     

     

    She would be only the second boxer to top the bill at the old famous venue. The first, the only and the greatest is the incomparable Muhammad Ali.

     

     

    You deserve this Katie. To be up there with the greatest is indeed legendary.

     

    Two greats together.

     

     

    However, please retire after your next fight.

     

     

    veniebas vidisti vicisti.

  18. Good morning all from a rather mild Garngad

     

     

    Got a text from Big Jimmy last night he still cannot post and has emailed text the MOD to the point where is fed up. Said he is giving up. Sad.

     

     

     

    Maybe the MOD is busy with his 5 or 6 emails. jeezo.

     

     

    D :)

  19. I see CQN reporting that neither Kyogo nor Hatate have made the Japan World Cup squad.

     

    From an extremely selfish point of view I am happy.

     

    Both can have some rest time and relax on the tour down under and maybe stop off on the way to visit family at home.

     

    It will also prevent heightened interest from other clubs with tv money.

     

    Hopefully we can enjoy them for a wee while longer.

     

    ‘GG

  20. AIPPLE picked his four faces based on those who he has seen or experienced.

     

    On that criteria:

     

    Jock Stein

     

    Danny McGrain

     

    Henrik Larsson

     

    Billy McNeil

     

     

    In Celtic´s History:

     

    Walfrid

     

    Stein

     

    Jinky

     

    Billy

     

     

    Walfrid for the most obvious reason.

     

    Jock, Jinky and Billy for delivering the greatest football team the world had ever seen.

  21. From the Guardian this morning…

     

     

    Their supporters will have hoped the club would give bloody noses to their more esteemed rivals. Rangers have been far too passive, hindered by their defensive nature in Europe, trying to contain teams even though they have little chance of doing so. Instead of getting in opponents’ faces and trying to put them off their gameplan, they have left questions what might have been if they had utilised a more aggressive style.

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