After the defeat at Ibrox on 29 December, we anticipated changes, but the most significant decision Brendan Rodgers made was the most unexpected. Celtic’s man of the match that day was goalkeeper, Craig Gordon, without whom the score would have been significantly worse than the 1-0 defeat. Remarkably, he was dropped and has not played since.
The reason for this has nothing to do with Craig’s ability between the sticks, it gets to the reason we lost control of the game: how quickly and accurately we move the ball. Despite a man of the match performance, Craig was dropped because Brendan realised our game plan can be easily dismantled if we are pedestrian in possession.
While Scott Bain is better with the ball at his feet than Craig, and Craig’s liability in this area is limited, central midfield was significantly more culpable for what went wrong at Ibrox.
Since then Callum McGregor has been restored to his normal midfield berth, Scott Brown has retained his place and Olivier Ntcham has been absent through injury, so the manager has had no major selection choices to make in this area. Olivier is now fit and in with a chance of making his first appearance of the year in Sunday’s Scottish Cup tie, while just as we were at Ibrox, we are short at left back, where McGregor moved to fill in.
Brendan has some big decisions to make this week. A central mid of Brown and Ntcham is not right for the football we play. In taking the least expected decision, to drop Gordon for Bain, I hope we saw a sign that Brendan values the velocity with which we circulate the ball.
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I like the six nations, usually very enthralling stuff.
Ireland have punched well above their weight in recent times..but perhaps our bubble has burst now.
Red wine time.
Nice bottle of Fleurie staring at me
David 66 @9:05
Is this the fitba camp advertised on the fishul website. My 6 year old grandson was ripping my ear about it, but too far to travel and school holidays are different down here.
After Wednesday he’s now thinking of being a referee to try to balance things up. He’ll be shocked when he wakes up in the morning and I tell him the FtSFA have for once in their life done the right thing. Hopefully it will be enough to put him off the refereeing kick as he’s brandishing red and yellow cards like confetti. I got a red for having a second glass of wine before taking him to bed.
I do worry, though, that the cheating might be escalated to a new level and that we will be deducted points for our disco lights being too green and the volume too loud.
Lets NOT be fooled by today’s decisions
The cheating is so blatant, that FtSFA thad to react and show some sort of sense
DESPITE winning all three games against St Johnstone so far this season, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said he and his side will prepare for Sunday’s Scottish Cup fifth-round tie in the same way they would any other game.
Two of those four games against the Saints have occurred within the past two weeks, with the Scottish champions having overcome the Perthshire side 2-0 on both occasions. The manager doesn’t expect much in the way of surprises this weekend, but looks forward to another hard-fought match against Tommy Wright’s men.
“We’ve played St Johnstone four times this season, but we’ve always tried to train the players that every game is different,” said Brendan Rodgers. “You have to respect every game, and we work very hard on excellency. That’s not easy.
“When you’re winning games and playing well, sustaining that isn’t easy, but the beauty of these players is that they’re focused. We can always improve, we can always play better. Our objective is to get through after the weekend.
“The players have been absolutely brilliant in their learning too, and training is important. The mid-season break has allowed us to press the reset button. There’re no time-outs in football games, and Dubai let us reinforce our principles.
“We’ve started this part of the season well, and we always hope to improve. It’s our job to score goals and hopefully the supporters have something to cheer about.”
With the Hoops’ last 32 UEFA Europa League clash with Valencia on the horizon, the manager described every game at Celtic as a big one, and praised St Johnstone’s enduring togetherness and tight line-management.
As before, Brendan Rodgers stressed the importance of patience during Sunday’s game, and looks forward to the return of some of his injured stars in the coming days and weeks.
The manager added: “Kieran Tierney has been back in with the team, which is great news. He’ll need to find football fitness, but it’s great to get him back out on the pitch. Emilio took a bad knock in Wednesday’s game, so we’ll need to see how he is for the weekend. If he doesn’t make that, he should be fit for Valencia. James Forrest is back into training too, so we’ll see how he is for the weekend.”
@joedonnelly CFC
Thoughts with WITS
@ this very Sad Time – Nae Cheltenham, Nae Racing in the UK – Me and Jamesie watched Indian Racing early doors in Belfast before the Great Pub opened.
JJ…sorry dude ;-))
FTSFA
H.H.
JJ: The old ones are the best?
I’m fine. First holiday of the year next Friday.
Perfect angle footage definitely shows Madden getting a clear view of McGregor’s attempted leg breaker on Ferguson.
Proof positive of incompetence, cheating or both . Madden took a big risk and lost . He should be refereeing nowhere.
EMERALDBEE\O/ STILL PROUD TO BE AN INTERNET BAMPOT on 8TH FEBRUARY 2019 9:21 PM
Any news on the investigation in to the crowd problems in Janefield Street that we experienced at the last Sevco home game? We’re now on countdown to a potentially crucial game and we (I) haven’t heard shit from Celtic about this, and issue that affects my ingress to the stadium!
File it under ‘bin’ mate,same as the statement asking for ‘transparency’on Beaton’s match report …..ssssshhhh,Peter’s on UEFA Committees…..don’t be rocking any boats now…
#cowards
dd playing in proam at pebble beach.
Did I say incompetence or cheating? My mistake , scrub the incompetence bit.
Don’t any of you get carried away . Today’s decision was just to get the sfa out the heat of the kitchen for a wee while , same applies to Dallas junior , his demotion is to get the heat off him for a wee while . The cheating will return at a later date .
hi bhoys, just been watching a documentary about murders of black people in the deep south, 3 murders in particular, emmet till, George stinney and james byrd jr, the first 2 were 14 year old boys executed on the hearsay of some white women who later confessed to telling lies, and the third well it is so horrific I wont tell you on here because I know a lot of younger people lurk, suffice to say it was white supremacists, just google emmet till and you will find a link to the murders.hh.
Not been on in a few years but on old Friday night song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtGZGBvb7ic
ALMORE on 8TH FEBRUARY 2019 9:36 PM
Tricky. Ma and da from Dublin and Donegal respectively. Me, born and brought up in Drumchapel.
Been wrestling with the diaspora thing all my life.
But always end up supporting Ireland.
Cheers for responses.
Éire go brách.
Almore at 9.36pm ..
I had a mate who played local club rugby, so my first trip to Dublin was to the old Lansdown Road mid 80’s and Scotland actually won .. God knows how many were on the big terrace that day, but it was really packed .. Always remember that Saturday night ending up in a place called Sands, which I think was in Portmarnock .. Suffice to say the whole weekend was a absolutely blast .. I enjoyed Dublin that much I went back regularly, and a few years later I actually got married in Dublin .. But that’s another story and not for here .. I also did the old Cardiff Arms Park and the old Parc de France as well .. My rugby mate came on a few Celtic European away trips as well .. Thank god there was no camera phones or social media back then !!
jimtim on 8th February 2019 10:09 pm
Don’t any of you get carried away . Today’s decision was just to get the sfa out the heat of the kitchen for a wee while , same applies to Dallas junior , his demotion is to get the heat off him for a wee while . The cheating will return at a later date .
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
The Old Firm dossier was extensive.
Just Because Celtic are Taking over- it disnae mean the Dossier isnae getting even mair extensive.
I respected the sheer Drive and determination of Gerrard to be the best he could be as a player.
Oh Dear – He is turning into a Hun. So very sad.
Come on Celtic – Lets do this.
BIG PACKY 1
Was that what “Mississippi Burning” the movie was about, loosely? por cierto.
This is a great weekend night. I see Sports Direct won their case in the high court against the monkeys due to them rearranging their kit deal with Hummel. Legal fees at 400k at the moment and the judge is considering what fine to impose on the vermin.
Sorry for the Language
They are getting away with Murder but Still………
We shall see.
Emmet Till whistled at a white woman shop keeper allegedly.
Enough for the good old boys to beat him to death later that night
He was 14
The largesse of the huns cheating has hit the buffers,for a very short space of time. They will cadge a win at Killie, where the ref will be terrified to give them yellow cards never mind a red.Dallas and Beaton should be unemployable in any of games involving the huns and Celtic, they called out Collum, for his religion, he is ,believe it or not,the top ref in the country, and hasn’t had a game with thems since St Mirren in September .The Cheating Beast will be back soon.
Pir cierto
Missisipi burning movie related to a different case
Classic movies I’ve never seen…Taxi Driver
Classic movies I thought were shit…East Rider
randomthoughtsCSC
FTSFA
POR CIERTO on 8TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:17 PM
BIG PACKY 1
Was that what “Mississippi Burning” the movie was about, loosely? por cierto.
===============================================================
No.
That was about a specific incident related to the murder of three civil rights workers , two white , one African American in 1964.
It’s called
Is that no an old case ???
I know mash is going against them again re what you mention but it’s not even been to court as yet, I could be wrong mind you.
*Easy…predictive text now off…all spelling mistakes are mine own
Derek McInnes – Another Bro went right in????
– and his pre match comments – Inspirational – Truly Inspirational.
So very sad
Credit to the Aiberdeen players for doing their best.
Wed night, a penalty when clear offside should have been applied
Ref has a clear view of a lifetime banned goalkeeper violent play ignored
At Celtic park the ref sees a yellow card, which has no way been upgraded to a red
At weekend
4 penailties awarded to a team, 3 of which appear to have been very very dubious
The following day the referee misses 3 clear penalties due to Celtic
The same ref who saw 2 dubious penalties against Celtic 5 weeks ago
Correction, 1 dubious penalty ( exact same as he had ignored for Celtic (KT)) the other was a clear Dive
5 weeks ago, the referee witnesses at least 4 occasions of violent conduct by a player, having witnessed all 4 issues, as he managed to mention this in his match report
The one FtSFA refuse to show Celtic
Being exposed to a much wider audience is forcing FtSFA to act, and try to show impartiality
Wait on them trying to ban cameras, too much now being seen in their own wee secret world
FtSFA
POR CIERTO on 8TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:17 PM
BIG PACKY 1
Was that what “Mississippi Burning” the movie was about, loosely? por cierto.
Was Liam Neeson in that?…?
CELTIC1MEMBER1VOTE on 8TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:15 PM
I’ve never been to a rugby international but Ireland v Scotland at Landsdowne Road or Murrayfield would be top of my bucket list.
Sands Hotel had a night club called Tomangos. The night club still exists afaik but not so sure about the hotel.
Copper Face Jacks is the go to night club these days but I heard recently that it is to close.
As mentioned earlier
Time for FtSPFL to approach the Professional Game Of Referees to referee FtSPFL games
Leave FtSFA refereeing fraternity to referee all games below that level, and try to work towards getting into the professional in-biased and declared supporter of club organisation
You ain’t fooling me FtSFA
Bada…that’s naughty…he had a thought crime for a week 40 years ago…and don’t give me any bollox about what if…
TET
Read it today on the BBC business page . Hopefully I’ve not blundered and not noticed if it was a rehashed story.
HH ICTM
POR CIERTO, not sure but still horrific.hh.
Lhads,
Interesting decisions today re. suspensions. I wonder how much Steve Clarke had influenced this. I just hope Celtic fans and Celtic FC take the opportunity to support him and Kilmarnock when decisions start going against them. Opportunity for Celtic FC to comment on ref decisions going against Killie starting tomorrow.
KTH
CATHACH