Although there was lots to be positive about after Tuesday’s performance against the European champions, as we left the ground, many of us could see that an unfortunate series events were about to unfold.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s incredible 1-4 over Leipzig in Germany, following on from Leipzig’s 4-0 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, was always going to result in the reaction it did. Leipzig sacked manager Domenico Tedesco yesterday morning and appointed Marco Rose in his place. It is inconceivable that Leipzig will not experience a Dead Cat Bounce, at the very least.
Rose, as Borussia Dortmund manager, was in charge of one of several fancied teams knocked out of Europe by Newco last season. They finished second in the Bundesliga but he was sacked in May. It was at Salzburg where Rose made his name. In his two seasons there he won the league, never lost a home game and reached the semi-final and quarter-final stages of the Europa League. Salzburg also beat Celtic home and away in 2018 under his control.
We always suspected Real were beyond our reach, but we now know that Shakhtar was not a ‘gimmie’ and have already picked up three points on the road. Leipzig will remain a weak second seed, but not as weak as they were on Tuesday.
A year ago, Celtic offloaded Shakhtar’s new signing and two-goal hero on Tuesday, Marian Shved. We almost certainly did not see the best of Shved, but I suspect that Shakhtar fans have seen an unsustainably high level of output from him. Their stats against Leipzig suggest it was a freak result: five attempts, four of them on target, all of which went in the net, from 32% possession.
As it stands, the group is wide open, but Celtic have ground to make up, either by matching Shakhtar’s away win in Germany, or beating the Ukrainian’s in Warsaw on Wednesday. It is a difficult task, but why else do we want to be in the Champions League?
Giovanni van Bronkhorst suggested it was “Too much to ask” for Newco to compete with Ajax and Liverpool in the Champions League. I wonder if that phrase was part of the £60/basic seat ticket campaign.
“What Celtic fans want to know [Gio], is where is all the Seville money?”, to coin a phrase that started a blog a long time ago.
We’ll pick up on that topic later.
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Hi HH
Yesss
Good afternoon all from the Victoria Bar.
“Giovanni van Bronkhorst suggested it was “Too much to ask” for Newco to compete with Ajax and Liverpool in the Champions League. ”
——————–
You’d never catch anyone from Celtic coming out with something like that……
https://twitter.com/thedavidcurrie/status/1567569449850478592?s=20&t=A44-fxC-x8xyGlGe7YRszQ
Fat Sally last night. Hahahaha 😆
GaryGillespie, Burnley,
I thought Stein’s last final was 1977 Scottish Cup so apologies for saying Munro wasn’t at the club.
I have no recollection of us being in a final in 78; must not have been on the telly.
Knocked myself down a rung on my Celticness!!!!
Shved’s first goal was a disastrous GKing disaster of John McLaughlin ‘what’s the goalie daein’ proportion.
They will have their tails up, a big emotional support in Poland and lots of self-belief. They also have a terrific young left winger who JJ will need to be wary of.
We play like we did first half against RM and take our chances, we’ll be in with a good chance. Liepzig will have the pressure of 2 games, 2 defeats (both heavily would be nice) before meeting us.
Next week is shaping up to be pivotal.
HH
The Shaktar game is our cup final already.
Lose it and we will struggle, a win or draw leaves us with a life line.
I saw us competing with Liepzig for second before a ball was kicked, so I see Shaktar’s result against them as a positive. A win on Wednesday and we’ll be big favourites for that second spot.
Celtic v Dundee
League cup final 67
The bear
Pingback: Dead Cats, No Gimmies, Why Else Are We Here? - Celtic News
SD vs RBL — that is their problem.
If RBL pull together then the away leg will be well within their reach.
Us vs SD / RBL — that is our problem and nothing has changed.
We should be able to be more than competitive with them.
Was always going to be 4 hard games — still is.
Livi will help us get over Tuesday’s disappointment.
Tough game against stuffy opposition who will put in their all.
If we don’t turn up then it will be a long 90 minutes.
There should be no shortage of desire / attitude.
Plenty in the squad who will want to start.
SH / OA / AM / AR / CS / DM / KF / DT — enough to keep the tempo up.
https://news.stv.tv/sport/young-celtic-fan-nine-taken-to-hospital-after-being-struck-by-flare-during-real-madrid-clash?utm_source=app
Shaktars form in their domestic league has been very poor,I think they have scored,3 goals in3 games,against poor opposition.Tuesday was a fluke result against a mediocre team.This our banker for an away win.I most certainly will be investing.
Marco Rose.Just a name.No one clamouring for him after his sacking by Dortmund.His time at Salzburg,backed by an influx of cash.
Don’t know their opponents at the weekend,but will try to watch,see how high this Cat bounces.
Yes, the Seville money!? And the rest as the say is history!?
For those who don’t know, we bought Stephen Pearson with that;)
Now…
In the interests of fullness re my views on CalMac, I posted this on SC, Chairbhoy @ 7:16 am, this morning – it also gives those who haven’t seen it yet a chance to read the POTY comments, here in italics, my views on CalMac et al are at the end.
For clarity I voted for Callum…
Jobo Baldie @ 10:02 pm,
*SENTINEL CELTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2022-23*
RESULTS FROM GAME #8 – CELTIC 0 REAL MADRID 3
What a first 55 minutes! But then came the other 35. However, as posted at half time last night by IniquitousIV “We might not win this, but at least we look as if we belong”.
My own take-away memory from last night was at around the 88th minute when we started singing the praises of Ange Postecoglu, over and over again. It seemed like the whole stadium was emphasising that, despite the defeat, we were totally behind Ange’s way of thinking and approaching games. A complete endorsement and acknowledgement of a fine manager.
I also confess that, as ole Kate Bush once sang, I made a deal with God late in the first half when, I think, Vinicius Jr was bearing in on goal. “Save it, Joe, and you get one of my 3 votes” I quickly prayed. And he did. Joe Hart also looked to be the one most angry and animated at the goals we lost which was good to see. So, after only conceding 2 all season, we lose 3 goals in one half of football and I give our goalie a vote! But a promise is a promise….
So, that’s now 8 games played, 7 games won, 1 game lost. 29 goals scored and only 5 conceded.
And so to the voting. Thanks to the 72 who sent in their opinions. 2 players dominated the voting leaving a very interesting range of opinions for that difficult 3rd choice. The total votes cast for each player (with my own choices asterisked) are as follows –
Hart*: 4
Juranovic: 22
Carter-Vickers: 11
Jenz: 9
Taylor: 8
McGregor*: 65
Hatate*: 47
O’Riley: 18
Abada: 2
Giakoumakis: 26
Jota: 2
Maeda: 0
Kyogo: 0
Turnbull: 0
Mooy: 1
Haksabanovic: 1
So, the top 5 players receiving POINTS for the game against Real Madrid are –
McGregor – 5 pts
Hatate – 4 pts
Giakoumakis – 3 pts
Juranovic – 2 pts
O’Riley – 1 pt
And the overall standings after 8 games played are –
20 points – Jota
11 points – Hatate and McGregor
10 points – Taylor
9 points – Abada and Jenz
8 points – Juranovic and O’Riley
7 points – Carter-Vickers
5 points – Kyogo and Ralston
4 points – Giakoumakis, Mooy and Welsh
3 points – Maeda
2 points – Turnbull
1 point – Hart
*PLEASE NOTE*
So, Mr and Mrs Baldie are going abroad on holiday from Sunday 11 September for 10 nights. But never fear, the competition will still continue as normal. But for the 3 games that’ll take place whilst I’m away (Livingston, Shakhtar Donetsk and St Mirren) my reminders to vote might be sparse or even non-existent. Perhaps more significantly, the results will almost certainly be delayed beyond the usual 10.15pm – possibly even until the following morning. I suppose this might depend on my Rioja and/or Cerveza intake and my ability to make sense of my ever growing control spreadsheet! Can’t be helped I’m afraid, and hopefully voting numbers stay high whilst I’m away! On the plus side, my results posts might well be just that – the total votes without my usual rambling introduction.
So, we move back to League duty with a Saturday 3pm home game against Livingston and perhaps it’ll be a chance to put a decent early gap between ourselves and 2nd place Aberdeen – well, you never know! Also, my feeling right now is that we might have a different range of players to consider for allocating our 3 votes, with Ange having one eye on Shakhtar. Hear from you all from around 4.50pm onwards….
Hail Hail!
Great stuff again Jobo, and great to read your first hand account you ghuys in the stadium did us proud again.
Like you I voted for Big Joe, maybe not his greatest game but he was that big match player we knew him to be, his experience and genuine upset at not getting anything from the game shows Ange has got an able lieutenant on the field, mirroring his level of ambition.
Matt, again got my vote as a young man whose qualities shined through, he really didn’t look outclassed in that company and who could have lived with Modric’s genius, he’s a smart lhad and will learn from the best.
CalMac did an awesome Captain’s job at the top level and certainly others deserved a vote, especially Reo but glad to see our Callum take POTM
All in all a really exciting game to watch, really getting tested at the highest level and being proud of the efforts of the Club, phenomenal.
Yet not only did we find the players who seem pretty close to oven ready, we seen a few stress fractures appear that haven’t been evident in domestic competition.
I’ll make a prediction, we will be better than that in the Santiago Bernabei.
In Ange and the bhoys we trust…
Hail Hail
So,Calmac on borrowed time,according to our resident Stand Constructor.
Who would have thunk it.Does Ange know ?.
CB @12.41
Seville money = SP?
Are you sure — I have heard another story.
MO’N trying his hand at player trading.
DD had BQ bury the once plentiful biscuit tin.
A Kirky LB was involved.
Looks like the queen is on borrowed time , looking at press releases
Good afternoon Weefrathetim.
Hope you are well.
Half Man / Half poultry @ 12.44
You are in luck — at a loose end after a very tough gig / tough but I made it tougher.
Not good.
Promised myself a bit of self indulgence — another look at the options regarding a Main Stand rebuild.
Scoping / fag packet analysis — see what is out there / what is possible.
I would be happy to share my numbers with you.
67,525 will be involved.
Our friends in Govan are currently finishing off a big new lounge — Euro football in the New Year was what they wanted. It would have helped them fill it.
Oh dear.
.
Nothing personal against the Queen of England but I really can’t be arsed with the flag waving tripe coming our way when she passes.
MADMITCH @ 12:50 PM,
Looks like your right, MO’N bought SP with his personal cash…
So what did happen to the Seville Money!?
Hail Hail
JB @ 10.02
I have seen more credible voting at Eurovision.
Senior members of the Royal Family on way to Balmoral…….
CB @ 1.01
SP in = Kirky LB — aka SC — out.
Seville money — £2mill positive cash flow — reduced our borrowings.
Then came the JMcF debacle — it was a sore one.
Life in the slow lane indeed.
If she pops her clogs before the weekend all games will be off.
Jobo Baldie,
These figures cannot be right.Calmac has been poor all season.
Dontcha know.
Harumph !!!!!!!!.
What happened to the Kenny Dalglish money?
Queenie — not good.
Especially if yer ma’s in the hospital …
She should have retired 10 years ago — the BoJo / Shifty Liz charade was a joke.
Calum mom for me on Tuesday night.
It really is interesting to see who some people vote for.
You wonder if they actually seen the game.
Can a man on the night shift get a day off?
Big Wavy
Re:-
“Two of our MF are rushing back — guess who is missing?
RH / MO’R = in the picture
CMcG our DM / pivot is nowhere to be seen.
That is why we lost that goal.”
——————————————————-
You’re losing at the pig wrestling to a more experienced contrarian.
You are trying to use rational evidence; he is trying to find a single incident that supports his preconceived views.
In this incident, he is suffering from GIGO- garbage in= garbage out.
He starts from the premise that Calmac is a DM or pivot in Ange’s system and therefore should be available for the defensive duties when they arise.
Ange himself has stated too many times for there to be any dubiety that he does not need or want a DM. I may be mistaken but, outside of laughing at an episode of the TV series “Friends”, I don’t think he has uttered the word “pivot” either.
Now, at Real’s first goal, only 4 Celts were in a position to effect play, once Modric started the move. Both Jenz and CCV went out to engage the rampaging Valverde. Juranovic , as the less advanced FB of our two, went in to cover Central defence where he had two Real players to mark. Matt O’Riley, was at the time of Modric’s pass our deepest midfielder tried hard to get back to help Josip but he was fractionally late in getting back and Josip was caught out trying to mark 2 danger men.
Yes, Hatate is in the picture but he is 20 yards behind the play and was in no position to do anything. He is in the picture because he was the 2nd deepest lying midfielder at the time of Modric’s pass.
So, where was Callum when all this was happening?
Well Callum was our most advanced midfielder and was the guy who tried to stop Modric making that killer pass. If he had been successful, the move breaks at source. Much the same as if Neil Lennon had stopped Kaka in overtime by bringing him down on the half way line (Why was our DM so far forward?😀) in extra time against AC Milan in 2007
There is no team playing in World football where the DM, if the team has one, never gets ahead of the other 2 or 3 midfielders that his team has. The much vaunted Wanyama type DM scored goals for us, Jorginho does for Chelsea, Viera did for Arsenal. Even N’golo Kante has scored 11 times for Chelsea.
But, worse than this, we don’t play a DM so the argument is moot. We do have a midfield structure. Matt O’ Riley does most of the high pressing, but depending on the fluidity of the game, and where you have been taken to on the pitch by the flow of the action, Hatate will do the job that Matt is supposed to and, on other occasions, Calmac will be pressing and engaging high up the park.
Such was the case on Tuesday, when it was Callum pressing Modric, not Matt and not Reo.
We have 3 midfielders. They are neither disorganised nor area bound robots.
Such midfield exponents do not exist outside the algorithms of a Computerised version of football or in the fevered imagination of someone with little experience of seeing a midfield operate, outwit the visual blinkers put on him by the dimensions of a TV screen.
Wherever you watch football from you get a partial view. I used to be in the upper Jock Stein and you get a superb view of the patterns of play but you cannot always discern which player is which. I am now in the lower stand and get a superb close up of the players but not as good a look at the pattern of play. When I watch on TV, I get something similar- very good close ups but no big picture. You never see a complete pitch on a TV screen.
Anybody watching from any vantage position has to accept its limitations.
But if you want to assert that Calmac was lazy or tactically indisciplined in not getting back, you first have to discern where he was and what he was doing and take that into account.
I know this was not your view but there is absolutely no point in addressing it to the Contrarian.
You are just inviting abuse from a confidently under informed perspective
BBC website (via the Sun) bigging up Angela for the Brighton job should Potter accept Chelsea’s offer.
BSR @ 1.11
KD money — FM got some of it.
The board kept the rest and waited for BMcN to arrive.
Then he spent some of it on MMcL / DP / DS?
Typo Should be Ange
Well,it seems the Queen won’t see the break up of the UK after all.
Think the ruling by the Courts yesterday,and the horror of having Liz Truss elected,has made a Yes vote very likely.
Re . Elizabeth of Saxe Coburg Gotha:
Sceptre and Crown must tumble down
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
Brighton can forget Ange …….give them Gio’s number instead .