Dinamo Zagreb dropped points for the second time in 10 league games this season on Saturday when they drew a blank against bottom of the table Slaven Koprivnica. Slaven took only one point from five league games in August, and lost heavily to Zagreb on the opening day of the season, but have tightened up at the back in recent weeks. Parking the bus on Saturday was enough to curtail the Croatian champions.
That blank score line was a rarity for Dinamo, who had scored in all but one of this season’s 18 previous outings. After losing their first leg at home to Zagreb, Aalborg shut up shop in the Champions League qualifier in Croatia and overturned the first leg deficit.
So what can we expect on Thursday? We’ve kept only one clean sheet in the last 10 outings, and that was to lower league Hearts, who missed a penalty and struck the crossbar. Looking at Celtic’s defensive record, Dinamo will fancy their chances of getting a goal. Like most teams away from home in Europe, they will plan to defend first and foremost, and take their chances on the break.
Having collected a vital point away to the top seed on match day one, the group opens up for Celtic if they can beat Zagreb this week, but how should they go about achieving this? If St Mirren, Motherwell, Dundee and Inverness can score against Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb will do so, unless Celtic protect their back line considerably better than they have so far this season. Celtic are likely to need to score two or more to win the game. Without Goals Guidetti, this sounds like a big challenge.
Going on form, it’s in Celtic interests to ensure this is a tight game, deny Dinamo space to break into, and use their own speed to attack when opportunity arises. We’ll need to hold the ball, and that means Kris Commons will have to play, no matter how fit he is, but I would be tempted to give him a deeper role than usual. Johansen and Brown have critical roles to play in protecting the defence but they will need Commons available to bring calm to proceedings.
I see The Telegraph have taken a punt on Craig Whyte, et al’s, Worthington Group being in sufficient funds to mount their threatened legal challenge to Sevco Scotland Ltd, now known as Rangers International PLC, for acquiring the legal entitlement of Sevco 5088 Ltd. Sevco 5088 had irrefutable entitlement to the assets of liquidated Rangers FC but this entitlement was assumed by Sevco Scotland, then owned and controlled by Charles Green.
Green and Craig Whyte both claimed to control Sevco 5088 when the company’s entitlement was assumed by the other company. So what does all this mean? There’s nothing in The Telegraph story that we didn’t know two years ago. Even if a journo had first-hand information from a prime source, you’d have to wonder what value you could invest in what any of these characters say.
Until Our Hero spins the roulette wheel at the Ibrox Casino, everyone’s chasing shadows on this one.
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Shaktar done me for a treble lost 2 goals in last two minutes .
Croppyboy…and in an Independant Scotland ..guess what …you would have the chance to vote them (and the tories) OUT…..now, well now its up to England….outs outa your hands….its what you voted for….
Hamilton Tim
You say that the GB did not openly campaign for a Yes, just some of their members. My understanding is that “they” met at the London Road Celtic Club and worked from there. It was reported on here as such anyway – so it must be true :o). Maybe that is wrong, but frankly a Scotland flag in section 111, really? How many times in the past has there been the slightest interest by the GB in celebrating the club’s Scottishness?
Is this latest prank just one of their members again, but not them? How do we know that? If there are hangers on who tarnish not only the name of Celtic but also if you are right, the name of the GB, then it needs sorting out. Denying you are responsible for something while enjoying the spectacle and tacitly supporting it merely makes them an accessory – not blameless.
The GB hide in plain sight and rogue elements/no members hide in plain sight within that section. The GB exploit the affection that Celtic fans have for their colourful impact during games, by insisting that they can do pretty much what they want. That is just my perception.
The GB have several previous for sticking two fingers up to Uefa, the club and other Celtic fans. It has cost the club and therefore the fans. Tipping point is whether the cost – benefit analysis will continue in their favour.
As far as Red Cards for Thatcher etc, the two situations are not comparable in the way that you seem to wish them to be.
This is a GB issue, not a Yes or No issue.
As it happens, I was no fan of Thatcher. But what about those who were not so anti-Thatcher, such that they felt uncomfortable with such a demonstration at a Celtic game.
Does that make them less of a Celtic fan?
Do we really celebrate the death of people who we oppose in life, as some did on here when she died? To paraphrase someone else..
We become the things we hate when we let that hate consume us.
As a woman she overcame prejudice and second class status to become an MP, to lead her party and to become the first woman PM. By any measurement that marks her down as someone worth noting, but to do that in the Tories before trendy young wummin were the thing, makes it almost like a work of fiction.
Her policies when in office are a different matter and I am certain we’d largely be in agreement on that.
Malone Bhoy
Really. That is your take on all of this? Wow.
HH
Mighty Tim, Hoopy Birthday. Hope it’s been a good one.
BT, all the best for tomorrow.
Luckily I have to drive to Aberdeen again tomorrow, so I will miss any “spouting”:-)
BT all the best for tomorrow
Mighty Tim
Happy birthday
HH
IF DD Turns up a Celtic Park if he looks around it he will see inside and outside.the stadium is needing a good lick of paint.i dont think it has had one since it was redevelopd. a absalote disgrace.but him being a bit of a miser.cant see him putting his hands in his pocket.HAUGHEY AND HEALY TO BUY DESMONDS SHARE.THE MAN BEEN A DISASTER FOR CELTIC FOOTBALL CLUB.
SFTB….just my take on the numbers …almost half of the population vote for Independence…but not one ex Celtic player comes out for Independence….highly unlikely in the extreme….not one…out of hundreds…maybe they just wernt asked….
Gordy
Labour probably deserve what is coming to them because for far too long they have taken their core support for granted and have done very little for them
However voting SNP wouldn’t materially help the very people who will change away from Labour
In a UK context the next election will be a choice between Cameron and Milliband – not a great choice perhaps but that’s what we have.
All along I have been of the view that I have more in common with ordinary people in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, London than with some tartan Tories in Scotland!
Blair has become toxic over his foreign policy but remember that until Iraq he was getting huge ratings in the polls
Things like the minimum wage and lifting kids out of poverty should not be overlooked
That suggests to me that Labour is still the best vehicle for ordinary people
The challenge for Labour is to find a new younger generation of men and women who are connected to their communities and not the current political interns and wannabes that dominate it. IMHO
HH
ohits- dearie me, after taking Man C to draw, Chelsea, Forest drew at Wigan ffs
Well , if St Mirren cannot beat Aberdeen and Maribor can only draw with Schalke in Germany, Celtic really must be as dreadful as so many on here have been claiming. I bow to their superior knowledge of football.
Incidentally, I didn`t find man City`s style of play that much different from ours. Lots of passing and probing but without really finding a way through. Maybe it is not as easy to make telling runs as, again, some seem to think. When the pesky opposition are playing well, it is very difficult to break them down.
JJ
I would love it, as I’ve said before, if Celtic Park was full of Saltires a every home game. Can’t see it, especially if the GB are going to use it as some kind of political statement.
Well done that wee team we beat in their ain midden of a pitch on Saturday.
By the bye, did anyone see that pathetic team, Maribor’s result? We really must be awful.
setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox but saying no to CQN racists
21:41 on
30 September, 2014
were you based in glasgow.
RWE
21:49 on
30 September, 2014
hhhhhmmm
officer
How near to the throne would Mr Brown get if he was in the land of the blind?
and I dinae mean the toilet …..braw
rwe- thanks for earlier reply.HH
Bgx. 19-24
You for real ??
You were in here a few days ago calling people ” so called Tims” for voting NO
then you end the above post as you did …zero credibility …
JJ/Parkheadcumsalford
Did you think we played well on Saturday against St Mirren?
Never mind their result tonight and forget Maribor.
Do you think we played well on Saturday?
Bgx
45% is no where near almost half in a two horse race ….
Ray Donovan time.
Maribor result tonight is immaterial, a poor team who we should have beaten over 2 legs.
Croppyboy ..typical labour thoughts…”when it comes down to it its LabourVTories…”…no its not ..Labour are finished in Scotland….people like me will make sure of it..and people like you….well …youre just gonna have to live with it…
HT
CFC seem to get better because St Mirren and Maribor get decent results …
I suppose it’s the same as Sevco being better than us because ICT beat us then Sevco beat them
Whatever the relevance it’s lost on me
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29424250
Some obscene behaivour in the NFL.
BGX ,were you based in Glasgow??????
Hamiltontim,Why forget Maribor? People on here seem to find it much easier to criticise Celtic than to praise them. And we so readily look for a scapegoat. Look at WGS. He wasn’t Celtic minded enough for far too many. Give our manager the time and give the players some backing (I almost wrote support). I have watched many more Celtic performances, including in very recent times, much worse than Saturday, as I’m sure you have too.
HT
My point, as nearly always this season, is that we are not playing that badly. In most games, we have been good, poor and average during different parts of the game. A microcosm of our season. I am asking people to try to take a balanced look at our performances. I know that that is not easy because of the emotion involved in supporting our team but it doesn`t help when some only see the negative aspects of our performances.
JJ
Bgx
Apologies I have a poor turn of phrase but the point I was trying to make was that in an independent Scotland the centre right would have an inbuilt and unshakable majority
The left would be consigned to a continual minority
Despite the likes of P. Kane wittering on about neo-liberalism and the rest – the SNP – which would be the governing party in almost certain perpetuity – are full of people like WeeEck
( didn’t mind Thatcher’s economic policy so much!) – what’s his take on austerity?- not much difference from Tories and New Labour there!
As I said it looks as though this time round the plan was to break up Labour not the UK
Perhaps when he makes his third return – the goal might be independence itself!
Though since 1 in 5 SNP voters voted no – perhaps it will take even longer!
However the Edinburgh gravy train will keep rolling along- has they admitted how much they have spent traipsing about the world in 5 star hotels!
HH
Pfayr…YES i did say that…i was wrong…anger…i was wrong….corrected…
!!Bada Bing!!
21:56 on 30 September, 2014
Saw it – you won’t be disappointed
CK
Did you get your bet up ??
“CFC seem to get better because St Mirren and Maribor get decent results …”
or
Perhaps those two teams are not as bad as some thought. If that is the case, then it does make a difference in any assessment of Celtic. The better the opposition, the more difficult it is to play impressive football.
JJ
BGX
“just my take on the numbers …almost half of the population vote for Independence…but not one ex Celtic player comes out for Independence….highly unlikely in the extreme….not one…out of hundreds…maybe they just wernt asked….”
As you say that is one of the options to be considered. Another is that they were happy to vote Yes but did not want to influence a campaign. Or that they wanted to but did not know how to go about it. Or that they proclaimed the virtues of a Yes vote but nobody reported it. Or that some did come out publicly but you and I did not read about it. Or the Yes campaign preferred to use actors and pop people but did not fancy sports guys.
Those are just a small proportion of the possible explanations I could entertain before I ever got round to thinking that they were waned off. I asked the questions that would tell you how fanciful the notion was. If you can see that you were aware of Billy and Bertie’s voting intention but neither you nor I are aware of how Jim Craig, John Fallon, Tommy Gemmell, John Clark, Bobby Lennox, Stevie Chalmers, John Hughes or Charlie Gallagher voted or didn’t, then we cannot leap to any conclusions about it.
Ask the Yes campaign organisers. They will tell you what approaches they made and what responses they received. I just did 5 seconds research there and found a website that claims that Steve Archibald, John Lambie, Eddie Black (Glasgow City FC), and Eddie Wolecki (Scotland womens team) all backed Yes. So did Cameron Sharp and Connie Ramsey from athletics and judo.
Maybe the numbers aren’t as reliable or maybe something got lost in translation.
Bgx
You really need to get out more sunshine
If we get a Tory government and more SNP MPs – just how will that help the poorest sections of even Scottish society?
So they are going to have to feel the pain so that you and the other self deluded nationalists can try to win people over by making things worse for them because you know best!
Good luck with that then!
You being a rich bookie – always a great service that for the poor!
No doubt you will be alright Jock!
Are you going to be living overseas when the rest of us will have to “live with it”!
Or are you Sir Sean Connery and I claim my £5!
HH
quality:
– craig gordan
– guidetti
– brown
– kc
– vvd
– Charles
form /injury/ played in the right position
– izzie
– effe
– lustig
– Mathews
– stokes
don’t knows –
McGregor
scepovic
tonev
mubarak
trying to think what the year ahead has in store – suppose you could shift Charlie down
any ideas /glaring omissions ?
Favourite Uncle
“were you based in glasgow.”
Yes, and I still am.
What is the interest in that fact?
Croppybhoy…lets get this right…i have never voted anything other than Labour in my life..im 58…ive never voted SNP..but this Labour party is so close to the Tories its hard to tell the differance…I havnt ran and joined SNP..i wanted an Independant Scotland because IMO it was the only chance in my life time to build a proper socialist Labour party….that chance is now GONE….so its time to bury Labour in my country…..rip it up and start again…..
BGX.my father was a bookie. ANDERSTON.
Incidentally, my very good friend,the bookmaker, has Celtic at 11/10 and Zagreb at 13/5. Mr Hill might be wrong but it in his interest not to be. He obviously, and unemotionally, does not consider Celtic to be rubbish.
JJ