Sebastian Tounekti again caught the eye as Celtic cruised past Partick Thistle in yesterday’s League Cup quarterfinal, but the game was more notable for the creators of all four goals, rather than the names on the scoresheet. Bejamin Nygren’s deliveries led to headed goals from Yang and Liam Scales. Poor deliveries from the wing were a feature of Celtic’s play for much of last season. We can all agree than Benji is not a winger, but his crossing is a joy.
Kelechi Iheanacho put on a simple but very effective performance – was always available for the pass, controlled the ball and laid it off. This sounds easy but, just with the poor crossing we suffered last season, was a persistent problem for Celtic.
Thistle were thoroughly softened up before Michel-Ange Balikwisha setup Luke McCowan for the final goal. The Belgian snatched at a good chance to open his scoring account moments earlier. Four goals assisted by new signings is an unusual stat to record.
Our semi-final draw is a repeat of last year’s final, in which Celtic edged Newco on penalties after a 3-3 draw, with Motherwell facing St Mirren in the other semi. The semis take place during the Europa League campaign, when squads are stretched by two games a week. We will rely on some of the fringe players who stepped up yesterday.
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belch
think my bad manners have broke the blog
A real pity our world-class efforts to bring in Tounekti before the CL qualifiers were thwarted by a barrage of unforeseen obstacles hurled in front of us at such untimely moments. It truly is difficult to comprehend how one club can suffer so much bad luck.
LADTH
He who smelt it, dealt it.
Must be a post league cup game Monday – some decent performances yesterday and some uncharacteristic slip ups that would have been punished against better oppo. Mid-week will be a big step up.
Rodgers no history in developing or improving players lol …
Wow. Tell that to Matty O’Rielly or Nicolas Kuhn. Or Dembele or Eddie before them,
I mean honestly. It’s not that some of the people making these arguments are twats, it’s that they are such fundamentally dishonest twats, twisting everything to suit their narrow agenda.
we done what we had to do yesterday.
and thistle had kebab pies.
so a good day all in.
Hasta la victoria siempre!
James Forrest
There are times on here that I read something so preposterous that i genuinely can’t be bothered replying to – that comment on BR was one of them. Just ridiculous. It seems they’ve also missed the development of Murray & Donovan happening right under their noses as well.
Glass 2/3 full lol
Maybe full transparency on that situation would help us all.
Do YOU know anything around the transfer of the Tunisian re specific timelines of when he was allowed to go or who approved his signing and when ?
I certainly don’t. It seems only inference from a party with a vested interest in covering his dreadful recent record in winning meaningful games is what people are going on. Event that inference is ambiguous.
Loss of cup to Aberdeen
Loss of qualifier to Almaty
5 games without a win in normal time v our Glasgow rival
Lucky last minute win v an already eliminated terrible Young boys team.
Maybe that’s the real issue ?
I would love to know exactly who BR and his recruitment guy asked that we buy and when ?
If there is a host of Brugge or USG type options which we have not gone after then fair enough we should ask why we failed and learn.
If there are not then we know why we are in the position we are.
Simple really.
BURNLEY78 on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2025 12:34 PM
You’re not paying attention if you don’t know when they asked.
BR is on record as saying the recruitment team’s targets were forwarded to the executive prior to the end of last season.
Nicholson attempted to do 3 months work in a few days. He should be chased.
“We will rely on some of the fringe players who stepped up yesterday.”
Hmmm, perhaps if injuries dictate but I can’t see Brendan risking another humbling performance on a such a big stage against the Huns.
They blew it, they know they blew it, and now they know, we know they blew it.
A Timidus Maximus has overplayed his hand protest like the Jackie Husband stand yesterday, in a sold out game, is the way forward. Brendan Rodgers won, on and off the field, summer signings are unregistered EL players, loans from the Mark Lawwell era are spread from Motherwell to the MLS.
Hiding bad news, is now hiding good news with a set of accounts bristling with money ironic, that stashing too much took them out.
Can you get a beautiful dappled autumnal day in Maryhill? – hard working Premier TV cameras just about caught it, in a perfect away win for the team, and our manager
Commentators Rory Hamilton and Michael Stewart as well as everybody else nearly missed the opener. They were still talking about something else when Liam Scales headed in the second. Most of the commentary to be fair veared to off the field protest, which was impossible to have ignored, thanks to our magnificent away support,
Seb signed too late Tounekti proved again the star man this time with a fine finish and Colby Donovan racked up another good game, Iheanacho had a second assist of sorts, as Luke McCowan took his goal well.
Much tougher challenges start in midweek Kairat Thistle is one thing, Red Star in Belgrade even Jinky didn’t fancy it, after he had destroyed them almost single handedly in Parkhead.
MOM Seb Tounekti
An interesting if chaotic viewpoint from an agent on football scouts. I reckon he makes some good points though it is mainly aimed at the big leagues:
The fuming agent of former Celtic target David Strelec reckons snobby scouts have overlooked one of the best strikers in Europe.
Michael Cierny – in a blistering address on social media – reckons those tasked by clubs to identify talent “don’t see s***” when it comes to separating data from decisive opinions.
Strelec signed for early Championship title pacesetters Middlesbrough in the summer in a deal which could rise to £9million, months after Celtic had a £7m-plus bid turfed out in January amid their hunt to find a replacement for Kyogo.
Cierny’s scattergun was aimed in many directions but he believes his 24-year-old is a victim of snobbery surrounding Slovakian football, as he cited stats which show Strelec ranks alongside Europe’s best but his free-scoring exploits for Bratislava only led him to the second tier of English football.
Celtic moved on from their pursuit of Strelec in the summer before his move to The Riverside but Cierny reckons the beautiful game is crippled by an ugly element from who is choosing the players for clubs to spend big money on.
Posting on LinkedIn, the leading agent said: “My experience with international scouts is this. Two things: First of all – Most of them think they are the BEST. They see themselves as these football gurus, equipped with Statsbomb and Transfer Room and Wyscout.
“In my 20 years in football I met hundreds of them and if there is one thing in common they have, it’s that they all think they are the best. Second thing: most of them are completely BLIND. They don’t see s***. Zero. Nada. None of the stats can help them.
“They wouldn’t see Messi had he been running in front of them.
“Or maybe they would – only if he wore that famous Argentina jersey in a World Cup Final (my grandmother can see that). But Messi in Rosario? On the street? In an average game? On an unnamed field? Very few of them could do that (Nordsjaelland, Brighton, Benfica.. well you know them all).
“How Many? I would say 10 per cent. Why? Because 50 percent of scouts don’t see anything. They are completely useless and it’s a waste of time to speak to them. 30 percent do see something. But they are not sure what it is. It’s like that girl that smiles at you on a Friday night and suddenly you feel that she may like you. But then you turn around and go back to your beer. Only 20 percent of scouts do see something, but only half of them really fight for a player. Rest of them just fill out their report. Which makes it 10 percent.
“Here comes David Strelec into the picture. One of the best young strikers in Europe. If you filter him with other strikers in Europe ages 18-25 on Wyscout, he is right behind Julian Alvarez and Alexander Isak. Yep. Number three. If you put the big boys there, he is number 16. Right behind Harry Kane, Lewandovski, Gyokeres or some guy named Ronaldo.
“So what’s his problem? Why don’t you see him running in that famous Ajax shirt? Well he is from Slovakia. Not a good platform. Simple as that. Scouts just don’t trust Slovak league (don’t have the courage and quality for real scouting.) If he played for Sparta Prague who just sold an average centre back Vitik to Bologna for around 12 m or Slavia Prague who sold a left back Diouf to West Ham for 22m, he would cost 20 already. But 6-7m from Slovakia? Nah. Give me a break man.
“Why? Because it’s a better platform. Scouts simply trust the Czech league more. Compare David to some strikers in Germany: Cvancara (Czech)-average and gone, Tiago Tomas-overrated but from Portugal. Burke? Well he can run and fight from Scotland. Tietz? Who dat? Oh. From Germany. Junior Adamu (Austria). Average, but from Salzburg academy. All average.
“Here comes the climax: 10 years later the scouts tell you they always liked the player. Like with Milan Skriniar and dozens of others. It took us years to get Milan out of Zilina, despite every single scout on the planet watching him. His shoulders are strange. Lack of pace. The way he turns is way too slow. Not for the top level…
“And now? “Oh I always liked him.
“They liked Lobotka, they liked Hancko and they liked David. I will wait.”
Stinkbomb in the corridor time already…
Bournesouprecipe
summer signings are unregistered EL players,
——
This is it. The early business was described as Club signings by Rodgers. It certainly wasn’t his recruitment team that went out and got Yamada and Inamura.
Who at Celtic is signing players and bringing in the likes of JSP when the current manager clearly didn’t want them ?
Does the person making these Shved like signings have any football experience at all ?
Have they spent any time in their lives on a training pitch?
Ineacho(sp) has looked more like a striker in about an hour,than Idah showed in 18 months IMO
Red Star and Pafos both look a standard above the Kazakhs ( based on 5 minutes highlights !) , suspect this will be a struggle on Wednesday.
Lack of legs in midfield is one of our real problem with our current first choices ….. this will become more of an issue as the season wears on ….
HH
Hammarby’s sporting director, Mikael Hjelmberg, initially stated the club had no intention of selling Tounekti, rejecting multiple bids and asserting their ambition was to keep him throughout the summer window.
The transfer saga was complicated by Hammarby’s desire to retain Tounekti during a crucial phase of their season, with the club reportedly demanding a fee of £6.25 million at one point.
Tounekti admitted he had to convince Hammarby to sanction the move, expressing respect for the club’s position while also stating his own desire to join Celtic.
Ultimately, Celtic’s final offer was deemed “so lucrative” that Hammarby decided it was in their best interest to accept, balancing financial gain against sporting loss.
Tounekti has since stated he does not view Celtic as a stepping stone and intends to stay with the club for many years, emphasizing his commitment to the team.
I take it the word “twat” is not in the offensive category that should not be used against fellow Celtic supporters? Or is it all de[pendent upon who is making the comment?
CROFTCELT
Indeed. Only a twit would twat.
We play Falkirk at home on the Wednesday before the semi, whereas the huns are away to Hibs. Not too bad.
It’s “SEVCO”….not “NEWCO”. There are 100s of so called “Newcos” every year in the UK…….but there is only one SEVCO. Get it sorted P67.
AN DÚN on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2025 1:03 PM Bournesouprecipe summer signings are unregistered EL players, ——————————- This is it. The early business was described as Club signings by Rodgers. It certainly wasn’t his recruitment team that went out and got Yamada and Inamura. Who at Celtic is signing players and bringing in the likes of JSP when the current manager clearly didn’t want them ? Does the person making these Shved like signings have any football experience at all ? Have they spent any time in their lives on a training pitch?
————————————
Shved like signings, indeed.
This was the bit we know where Brendan Rodgers went AWOL .
The bit we still don’t know – who is the (ahem) DOF? A budget caps spending at £1.3M a player, and blocks the rest till a deadline day fiasco. It was in ‘the media’ as well as historic, – that was what they were going to do, and they did it.
Who finds Simpson Pusey spare at Man City, then Dane Murray gets a new contract and registration for the EL ahead of him? An SOS to South America because the ‘ club signing ‘ left back wasn’t good enough, and so on, and so forth, and a hundred other questions.
We are about to see the battle strewn evidence of internecine, if we win the League Cup and stay top, both sides will claim victory. The minority article led disciples of one man and his Blog are sharpening their devices, sticking pins in their Brendan dolls whilst purring at the cash reserve, he was denied.
Most normal regular supporters know that change is required from the top, whether you can read a balance sheet or not is irrelevant, it merely hangs club hierarchy higher. They’ve even got the balls of Iheanacho taking a penalty, to tell supporters next year won’t be so good, as we are fresh out of Matt O’Rileys and Nicolas Kuhns.
It’s a farce with 5% added.
Aff oot school run CSC
Meanwhile ex Celtic loanee Oliver Burke (a player who could do everything apart from put the ball in the net) has just became the first Scottish player to score a hat trick in the Bundesliga, scoring three for Union Berlin in a win against Eintracht.
Who said Brendan couldnae spot a player….?
Not me
England 0 Eire 2 1949
https://x.com/IrelandFootball/status/1969763545412968761?t=yGofAj0Ve9LZL7uDi0QxoQ&s=19
HH
The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle’s wreck
Shone round him o’er the dead.
Rufus T Firefly.
Who would win a fight between Seb and Jota ??
Pains me to say it, but Raskin is a player.
I’ll probably get banned now for saying that, if so Hail Hail to all on planet Celtic
kingLUBO
Sevco 5088
bbc gossip site this morning ‘Celtic and Rangers fans’ protests are “tedious, ugly and classless”. (Scottish Sun)’, aye and they are still fueling it.
Brendan is a under 23s coach wearing an Epl managers suit, pulling a bluff on the most easily fooled, most educated, collection of Celtic supporters in our history.
Developing players used to be associated with 7 or 8 years service, Dalglish, exceptional service to Celtic.
But todays players are [developed] like puppies are developed in a puppy farm, for soon as possible sales.
Even 29 year old Kyogo was sold as we had a winnable CL play off vs Bayern Munich, looming, who had a rookie manager as well.
But we played vs BM like we did as though we were playing Ross County, a day oot approach, that has to be unacceptable, rank bad management by Rodgers.
But we had zero acknowledgement from Rodgers that we were fkn naive ballerinas vs Bayern!
And vs Aston Villa!
And vs B.Dortmund!
And Brugge!
What are players supposed to learn from a manager who clearly learns nothing?
Why is that?
He, Rodgers, tightened things up vs Atalanta, after our 7-1 Dortmund drubbing, then reverted back to ballerinas mode after that.
Oliver Burke joined Union Berlin on a free transfer from Werder Bremen this season. Seems like he’s been around for aeons but still only 28.
Anyway, for us to do anything in Europe, WE MUST PLAY EVERY EUROPEAN GAME, like MON did, 3-5-2, with 2 defensive midfielders, two pacy wide players being supplied with fast, high balls over the top, to utilise the wide players pace, which should enable them to get to the byline and supply our 2 strikers, and any breaking midfielders running into the box, with shoot on site being the policy, IN EVERY GAME, European, and Domestic, like a real Celtic team, whom other teams would take seriously.
A real, serious club would have by hook or crook got past BM.
As ROY KEANE said on ITV’s CL Highlights coverage during Brendan’s 1st spell at Celtic were we were repeatedly gubbed, 5-0, 6-0, 7-0. etc, etc, RK said:
“THAT ISN’T CELTIC OUT ON THAT PITCH.
CELTIC DON’T PLAY LIKE THAT.
LAME. AIMLESS. CAN’T WIN A TACKLE.
THE PREOCCUPATION WITH THIS, ‘THE CELTIC WAY’ OR, KEEPING POSSESSION AND DOING NOTHING WITH IT, NOT EVEN A SHOT AT GOALS. FROM A GLASGOW CELTIC TEAM????
THERE IS NOTHING CELTIC ABOUT THAT TEAM.
THE CELTIC WAY, IS TO FIND A WAY TO WIN.
IF NOT A WIN, THEN NOT TO LOSE, BUT TO BE THRASHED LIKE THIS, WITH A SO-CALLED TOP CLASS MANAGER AT THE HELM AS WELL TOO, IS SIMPLY NOT ACCEPTABLE.
THE FANS WOULD BE DEMANDING RONNY DEILA, NEIL LENNON, WHOEVER, TO BE SACKED FOR THIS.
BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE A MANAGER FROM THE EPL, THERE IS NO SUCH TALK. THIS IS NOT CELTIC.
SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG AT THIS CLUB.
AND FANS JUST ACCEPT BEING LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER????
UNACCEPTABLE!”
Can I play with madness as he stared in his crystal ball.
DUSHANBE BHILLY BHOY on 22nd September 2025 2:29 pm
“It’s “SEVCO”….not “NEWCO”. There are 100s of so called “Newcos” every year in the UK…….but there is only one SEVCO. Get it sorted P67.”
– – – – – – – –
Since 2012, I think every Celtic manager and probably every Celtic player has referred to the liquidated club as Rangers. This includes all the ex-players who do not have to obey any kind of inhouse PR instructions. I regularly hear 1000s of Celtic fans singing the lovely old ditty, “if you hate the fkn rangers clap your hands”.
Do other popular Celtic forums and podcasts continue to call them Sevco or is it just a CQN thing? A kind of badge of honour?
As far as I am aware they are called The Rangers Football Club, not Sevco (and not Newco).
We know what happened, we know they were liquidated, we know their history is a farce and so on and so forth, but seriously, do you not think if Ange, Brendan and Neil can refer to them as Rangers, we can too?
Tin hat on.