I read the CQN Magazine article this morning on our December fixtures; eight games, seven in the league, with only one midweek off. It has the look of a month which will go a long way to deciding the outcome of the title.
The awkward looking fixtures come at the start of the month. Away to St Johnstone, home to Hibs and away to Kilmarnock. We have played each of these teams before this season and have yet to win, drawing home to St Johnstone and at Hibs, while losing a League Cup tie at Kilmarnock.
Four of the remaining five games after that are at Celtic Park. On paper, they are against more resourceful opponents, but there is less jeopardy in these games. The Feyenoord game has only pride, coefficient points and cash on the line, while we recorded three goal wins earlier in the season over the next three opponents: Hearts, Livingston and Dundee.
The game against Newco at the end of the month is already attracting attention, but honestly, if we do what we need to do between now and then, that game will take care of itself. It holds no fears whatsoever.
St Johnstone on Sunday, however? That’s a bigger game that the one we played in Rome on Tuesday. Win this game and see the confidence build.
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About time BR tried a different CH to Scales.Something just not right.Cant score from set piece,have difficulty defending set piece.Not picking on Scales,but we have 2 actual CHs who never really got a chance.Maybe could find some chemistry there.Surely worth a try.CCV just off it a bit as well.Again,maybe the chemistry.Looked comfortable in the games with Navrocki.
TURKEYBHOY on 1ST DECEMBER 2023 3:04 PM
You don’t agree with me , move on son.
I can express any view I like, if you don’t like it you know what you can do.
“chained to an agenda” – Like your good self then?
Paul 67,
When a December league game against ST Johnstone ( who sit one point off bottom ) is a bigger game than a Champions league game in Rome then our ambition is kaput.
We dwarf St Johnstone in ever possible football analogy
Subsequent our pricing next season for CL games should reflect priority. I’m sure many fans will look carefully at the pricing.
HH.
The aggressive ads can make this site a nightmare to navigate.
Why is it so user unfriendly ?
GREENPINATA on 1ST DECEMBER 2023 3:39 PM
Totally agree.
Eye has been off the ball re Europe for years. Stay one step ahead of Sevco, move on.
Losing Postecoglou then Jota from the front 3, Mooy from the midfield 3 and Starfelt from the back 4 always meant this was going to be a transitional season. Add the long term injuries to Hatate, Abada and now Maeda and, our performance level was always going to fall a bit.
I honestly think some of our support are pretty unrealistic about our position in the pecking order of European Football. I do think we have signed too many project players, especially with another campaign in the CL being guaranteed it was obvious we needed like for like experience wise.
As a veteran supporter I’ve seen the good times and the bad times since the 1950’s, Winning domestically is our bread and butter, Europe is the icing on the cake. I’ll never tire of winning Leagues and cups domestically and I would love to win any kind of European Trophy. Let’s face it EPL clubs like Liverpool, Brighton Aston Villa and West Ham will celebrate big time if they win the Europa League or Europa Conference League this season.
Let’s hope BR can get the team playing more attractive football domestically from here on in.
TURKEYBHOY on 1ST DECEMBER 2023 3:15 PM
It was his header from a corner that lead to the penalty. I’d like to see Nawrocki given a run with CCV to see if he’ll improve us defensively in the CL but in Scotland the balance Scales gives us at left CH is important and I think he adds more to the team offensively.
Difficult one for Brendan
Scales sits top of Jobos poty scores 🤷♀️
“A long way to deciding the outcome of the title ” Why is the outcome even in doubt? The outcome should have been decided in the summer. £72m in the bank and our net spend was nothing. We have gone backwards from last season. Do not hold your breath for a spending spree in January.
By the way, Peter lawwell is now our chairman.
Tiresome now to get logged on.
HH
established players in, injuries back – santa list sorted
As for the new Champions League format next season.
If we win the league and get there, we will play 8 games against:
– 2 teams from Pot 1
– 2 teams from pot 2
– 2 teams from Pot 3
– 2 teams from Pot 4
We will have 4 at home and 4 away. Not 100% sure how these are decided.
Teams that finish 1st-8th go straight into the Round of 16. Real Madrid, Bayern, Man City, Inter etc etc will fill these places.
Teams that finish 9th-24th go in to the Round of 16. This is where we hope to be after the 8 group games.
Based on my limited knowledge of this competition through Football Manager (yes, the game), we will require between 9-11 points just to make the play-off round. Still a very tough ask. Especially with how difficult we’ve found it to pick up wins in this competition.
8 teams in the round of 16 will be seeded and drawn randomly against the other 8 that will be unseeded. I’m not yet clear if being seeded is based on your finishing place in the group (9th-16th being seeded and 17th-24th being not seeded) or, if it is based on coefficients. I am leaning towards group placings though.
However, we will do well to finish higher than 20th, which is usually about 12+ points.
Just making the Play-off Round will be a huge achievement for us. There is also no safety net of dropping into the EL. Teams that finish 25th-32nd are out of Europe!
Let’s win the league and get there first though. The rest will take care of itself.
MELVIN UDALL on 1ST DECEMBER 2023 4:27 PM
Thanks for that. 4 games against pot 3 and 4 teams will make it a much more enjoyable competition for us. I wasn’t get much enjoyment out of being mismatched for the majority of the games, there’s only so many times you can go into with the expectation of getting beat.
Finishing second in the league does still give us the chance – we’d play in one game but we’d probably not be seeded and play teams from good leagues
I’d forgotten about Mooy.
So since last January we have lost GG, JJ, Jota, Mooy and Carl.
I’d say we’ve replaced JJ with a good like-for-like. Maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I’d prefer Carl to Scales. That’s not a criticism of Scales who is doing well much to my surprise.
As for Jota, GG and Mooy, the replacements don’t even come close, although Palma looks promising.
What’s disappointing is that we’ve signed no one who is notably better than what we had/have.
Some of us had a sense this was the case as the August transfer window drew to a close, but the evidence 3 months on suggests the so-called “bed wetters” were spot on.
Brendan’s Presser
Some of us had a sense this was the case as the August transfer window drew to a close, but the evidence 3 months on suggests the so-called “bed wetters” were spot on.
—-
Paul67 used the phrase panty-wetters to insult tbose with genuine concerns.
maybe he was too biusy trying to sign a good web developer to get his site to work properly and so didnt notice what was happening with the clubs signing policy
or maybe not.
WESTCRAIGS @ 4:19 PM
“A long way to deciding the outcome of the title ” Why is the outcome even in doubt?
—–
Respectfully, because it is a competition.
The outcome should be in doubt.
I’ll make a prediction based on absolutely nothing.
The outcome of this league title will still be in doubt until at least full time on match day 34 of 38.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE @ 4:55 PM,
Good stuff again from Brendan…
We really should have an incentive to get to the new UCL format with a much improved squad.
Hail Hail
Re: Champions League next year.
IF we get there (still to be determined) …
And assuming two decent transfer windows
What does progress look like?
I’ve posted a few times recently about a desire just to be competitive.
This next bit is pure conjecture.
If we’d had our current player pool all fit and ready for this season’s Champions League?
I reckon we’d have four or five points instead of one.
I think we could have beaten either 10 man Atletico or 11 man Lazio at home and drawn the other.
Plus a point maybe either at Feyenoord or Lazio.
IMHO, being competitive in an eight game campaign translates to between 7 and 9 points.
The Shipbank roll of honour;
David66, Big Jimmy, Leggy, An Tearman, BelmontBrian, 100 Trophys, Fred Colon, Ger57, Calton Tongues, Carpe Diem, BRRB. An absolute rabble.
Over 20 still to predict for tomorrow’s Superbru.
GREENPINATA on 1ST DECEMBER 2023 3:40 PM
The aggressive ads can make this site a nightmare to navigate
Why is it so user unfriendly?
_____
I was having the same problem, using Google Chrome. Try another browser. I’ve switched to duckduckgo for CQN and haven’t had a single issue, yet
AJ speaks very well.
Lazio’s goalador Immobile has certainly been around the block playing for quite a mix of football clubs and has shot the lights out with his goalscoring ability. He has been 7 years with Lazio, what a pity we due to finances cannot hold on to some of our best. Last season saw us lose Jouro, Jota, Gorgios , Karl Starfelt and we can add the manager for good measure. In addition we had Reo, Abada, Maeda, Palma out through injury and suspension.
Despite the above and some lousy luck our European games particularly at home were good contests except for Madrid away with ten men for most
of the game. With all the above defections we were left with a very thin bench made up of mostly projects with little or no experience of European football. Europe is now history for another season but I want to beat Feynoord for the sake of pride and finish with 4 points.
So the usual hunterlopers suggest we scroll on by wtf I have been doin that for eons as they are so predictable.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 1ST DECEMBER 2023 5:20 PM
Other teams will also have had their injury issues of course but the injuries at Centre Half put us at a huge disadvantage in our first couple of games both of which we’d be looking to get something from. CCV doesn’t give away the pen and get a red card against Feyenoord, a fully fit CCV does better for Lazio winning goal in Glasgow.
And we’ve had poor luck with the refereeing, although watching the games this week we’ve not been alone in that
I don’t think the decision in Paris was anything to go with bad luck btw. The tv director read my mind when he went straight up the PSG owner after they scored it
Straight to
Interesting watching the Cypriot islanders last night population of 1million odd take four points from Rangers, a massive club, well they are still ?
Yep, whilst I like nothing better than scudding the Huns, they should not be our benchmark.
Let the good times roll 👍
Man Utd spending since 2005/06
Ferguson £303.5M
Moyes £67.9M
Van Gaal £276.1M
Mourinho £400.8M
Solskjaer £441M
Ten Hag £410.9M
My concern after Brendans presser is that he’s well hacked off!
Brendan’s presser translated.
Needed 4 first team starters in addition to what was already here.
A number of project signings in the pipeline which I inherited on the basis that the peripheral players were going.
Instead what happened was we lost existing quality starters and didn’t shift the duds.
So not only did I not get the 4 additions, I’m actually behind on what I was expecting and am now having to play a team of projects.
A dispassionate observer might think epic fail for Lawwell Inc. but no, 25-62% pay rises all round!
Well earned. 🍾🍾🍾
https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/q2qAXAjGgXYty4MISpwxNQ684009
https://www.thecelticwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Fi4cG4VXkAASYvk1.jpg
Fullname: Simon Thomas Donnelly
aka: Simon Donnelly, Sid
Born: 1st December 1974
ZIGGYDOC1 on 1ST DECEMBER 2023 5:35 PM
Thanks I’ve akso got duck duck phone app on my phone, but until now I’ve never really had to use it on CQN.
I think I’ll need to start using it as I’ve never seen such aggressive adverts on any site.
Thanks again.
as i have always said
celtic are a plc
the only thing that matters to those running plcs is filling their own trough
everything else is window dressing
Must say, it’s Brendans DNA to play sideways, always was. Not for me.
KINGLuBO