A proposed swap deal with Blackburn with Shane Duffy coming to Glasgow and James Forrest heading south makes sense for Celtic. Late last season we were talking about how Erik Sviatchenko was our only solid central defender, with Jozo Simunovic injured and yet to establish himself.
Duffy made his Euro 16 debut in the 1-0 win over Italy, before being red carded for a professional foul against France. I’m not expecting a van Dijk, but his performances in both games was of the standard Celtic only have with Erik.
James Forrest grabbed the space vacated by Aiden McGeady’s move to CSKA Moscow and made the most of the opportunity but injury has inhibited him in recent years. He’s also suffered from being part of what looked like a World Record attempt of squeezing wingers into a 23-man squad. We need fewer wingers and at least one more central defender.
Brendan Rodgers comments that Kris Commons is nowhere near ready for the first team is not encouraging. I’d have him limp to the bench for the forthcoming qualifiers. Even unfit, he’s capable of linking play like no one else in the squad.
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I believe KC will go into management when he hangs his boots up,, and will be good at it.
I think we all agree that Griffiths should not be playing wide. However his reaction is to do as the manager tells him and get on with it. He respects the manager. Any manager.
moe=more doh!
HEBCELT on 18TH JULY 2016 2:56 PM
When the ST sales started, JP Taylor the supporters liaison office said the max we could sell was 52k. If you go to the site to try and buy one now there are 9 available in total.
Now this number has gone up and down over time, but I’d happily state we’ve sold approx 50k with a reasonable degree of certainty.
Barney67 management or coaching i agree hopefully successfully H H Hebcelt
If you get a bonus every year at what point does Should that be considered your salary?
Weeminger sounds feasible Thanks H H Hebcelt
Cultsbhoy should never be considered part of your salary. If he fulfils the criteria for his bonus then thats it. Question who wrote the contract terms. H H Hebcelt
Commons, eats shoots and leaves.
Bad Grammar CSC
THEMAESTRO72 on 18TH JULY 2016 1:32 PM
THEMAESTRO72 on 18TH JULY 2016 1:32 PM
I’ve not seen enough of Shane Duffy to have an opinion
No problems Maestro,you will be joining around 95% of CQNers who have not seen enough of him either.Does not stop a few right enough who want him signed right away.Then again,he is Irish.Thats enough for some of them.
HEBCELT
CULTSBHOY
Good answer to a good question.
Why is his bonus more than required under his contract?
And why are his pals allowed to set the parameters for the contract in the first place?
If I set them,he would owe US money. And he does.
“Even unfit, he’s capable of linking play like no one else in the squad.”
——–
Hmmmm – not sure I’d agree with that, Paul. Would definitely have McGregor in ahead of him and probably Rogic.
Think we have seen the best of Commons.
Duffy for Forrest would be a good deal for us. Really don’t see James becoming the player we hoped he would. A move would be good for both parties.
Totally agree with BR re consolidating around a small squad. My own view:
Keep:
Gordon, Bailly, Lustig, Tierney, Boyata, Erik, Janko, O’Connell, Armstrong, Commons, McKay-Steven, Henderson, Roberts, Ajer, McGregor, Christie, Rogic, Allan, Griffiths, Dembele, Nesbitt
Get rid:
Efe (obviously), Izzy (great servant, done), Mulgrew (great servant, done), Simunovic (sick note), Broon (overrated, done), Johansen (inconsistent, cash in), Bitton (pedestrian, arrogant, cash in), Forrest (squandered talent, cash in), Ciftci (tryer, slow, workmanlike)
We need:
A centre half (Duffy or Denayer?), a right back, holding midfield player (Joe Allen), another forward
That would give us a squad of 25 players, which could be trimmed back if we got decent offers for any of our remaining midfielders (I wouldn’t die in a ditch to keep Rogic or McKay-Steven). It’s a squad that would be bang average Europa League, probably eliminated at the group stage. Nowhere near strong enough for the ECL and I don’t think we have much chance of qualifying for that. It will win the Scottish league, but probably not that far ahead of Sevco, if they remain trading for the full season.
ROBERTTRESSELL on 18TH JULY 2016 1:46 PM
Superb,sensible,and on the button post.
Wont catch on.
I am aware that Kris Commons is recovering from last seasons injury. But Why is he nowhere ready for the first team ?. Is attitude still a problem ?
If Kris has not acted professionally over the close season then he doesn’t deserve a first team place. In fact his Celtic future must be in doubt . In my opinion BR being so blunt in the public domain must be taken as a rebuke to the player and possibly hasten his departure.
I liked a fit Kris Commons as a player, but I was disappointed last season, mainly with his attitude to our management team. But Paul 67 must surely having a giraffe when he wants to have an unfit KC limping to the bench.
Hail, Hail.
Ps : I thought the dot counters reckoned more that 47K Season tickets sold.
Only a handful of tickets available for Red Imps Wed.
Will this be a world record for a CL qualifier?
Not unless all the ST holders come back from holidays early, and turn up at Parkers.
Greenpinata
That’s how I read Brendan’s comments about KC too. I think the manager has seen enough.
bournesouprecipe on 18th July 2016 3:17 pm
Only a handful of tickets available for Red Imps Wed.
Will this be a world record for a CL qualifier?
Not unless all the ST holders come back from holidays early, and turn up at Parkers.
———————————————————————————————-
No dots shall be available come Wednesday evening, but not all dots will be occupied.
Dots!
I can’t ever recall a time when pointillism was this popular amongst the Celtic support. I’m just glad we’re over Picasso’s Blue Period…
Commons! pah spin us another one.
Celtic knew the manager was a busted flush. Why else would they award a 30 plus year old the manager didn’t want?
Samaras / Kenny Miller etc asset managed by Lawwell why not Commons? On the basis of 20 min voice overs for the history snap shot at the end of the tour?
I don’t blame Commons and I don’t blame Deila. Both were not good enough for Celtic. Commons lacks dimension and Deila had low expectations and a poor game plan.
Surely Celtic are bigger than an argument between those two and that mess should have been sorted well before last seasons qualifying process?
Is Duffy a champions league player? Not any more than Caldwell or McManus. A good manager gets the best from his players. Forrest isn’t good enough and a swap would be great as it fingers and toes crossed leaves money aside for a few other badly needed players.
McManus and Caldwell had Nakamura. I just can’t see a Naka or Maloney in this squad. Of course it doesn’t need to be a wee number 10 or a winger that is your star player it could be a central midfielder. A number 10 could come from the current litter if we sign a few more experienced proven players to release their talents.
John James latest is worth a Google.
He’s not impressed with what he saw at fir park, he’s watching puma take z huge hit because of dodgy Dave and the replacement roofing at iborcs was £9 million in 2012. 4 years on £9 mill ain’t gonna cut it.
HEBCELT: Celtic have never commented on how many they have sold or what the demand was. They never do comment. Reality is they are still advertising books for sale.
On Saturday the ‘seats of shame’ were uncovered. In my CSC we have 10 ‘new’ season ticket holders. In my logic if that increase is across the board then thats around 10,000 more season tickets sold and coupled with the seats of shame no longer being covered my guesstimation may be not far of the mark.
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY on 18TH JULY 2016 3:15 PM
Wrote
Get rid of Simunovic,sick note.
This is what I was going om about last night.Keep saying the same thing,it becomes gospel.Ridiculous accusation,and shameful.
The boy has had two injuries with us.First,he had an ank;e knock,kept him out for a couple of weeks.RD,in a not surprising panic,brought him back for a Euro game too early,he was targeted,as we all saw at the time,first tackle,the guy stamped on his dodgy ankle.Damage done.Next injury,the boy gets a broken bone in his knee.He is that much of a “Sicknote”he plays on with it for 6 weeks.
Somebody please explain the term”Sick note”relating to Simunovic,or shut the f—up.Thanks.
Paul67
Aiden McGeady moved to Spartak Moscow :-) Neither Aiden nor Spartak fans would like CSKA mistake.
on the basis that Ronaldo would only play in European matches, and not Scottish league games.
Branchini said: “The offer from Rangers was incredible. They told us he didn’t have to play on a Saturday in the Scottish League.
“They were desperate to win the Champions League and were going to allow him to play in the European matches only.
————
That would be really attractive to the best player in the world – playing six games a season.
Deluded doesn’t even come close!
‘Ronaldo nearly signed for Gers’
Does that mean they should have died sooner?
Paul67
Play Kris Commons when he is fit and motivated – we get a stand out performance, especially against part-time, highly motivated, hairy ersed lads.
Play Kris Commons to “limp” and partially motivated- we get him handed his dinner, especially against part-time, highly motivated, hairy ersed lads.
And
We get our just desserts
Reading lots of, in my opinion, nonsense re KC and his influence in the demise of RD.
RD was absolutely nowhere near good enough with or without KC’s influence.
Hail Hail
Roccobhoy
Davido
Could be worser with Ronny and the ole fifty shades of grey period?
Interesting game on Saturday.
The number of filled seats in the Lisbon Lions Upper indicates season ticket sales in the order of 48,000, which is very encouraging given the haemorrhage of season ticket holders over the past 8 years.
Talk of more than 50,000 is optimistic in my view.
Good to see a fast, high tempo approach from the get-go. We were very effective attacking with the intial 4-3-3 shape, but we were getting opened up too easily at the back with only Broonie to cover for the defence.
Good also to see 3 defenders at all times, with one full back staying back when the other attacked. The days of playing both full backs on the offside line thankfully appear to have been consigned to insanity.
Armstrong looked very effective when playing narrow, but the switch to 4-2-2 largely neutralised him thereafter. He doesn’t have the pace or the skill to play wide.
On the other side, wee Roberts is immensely talented going forward. Defensively though, he’s hopeless. It can be worked on, but he’s a man down when the opposition have the ball just now.
McGregor might have a similar problem. Very tidy, very aggressive in intent when in possession, but there’s a lacking when we’re not in possession that needs to be addressed if he’s to flourish playing centrally, which is where he’s best suited.
Defensively, not a great day out. Sviatchenko’s head knock seemed to be a bigger blow to O’Connell who played the remaining 30 minutes of the first half intent on giving possession away. Looks to me as though Ajer was making his debut at centre half, in addition to making his debut. It takes perhaps 100 senior games to learn that position, and both youngsters have a lot to learn.
Biggest surprise of the day was the new Nadir Ciftci. He has more muscle and more speed than when we last saw him 6 months ago, and did more in his 2nd half shift than Dembele in the first.
Thought Janko looked like a pretty impressive athlete, although his positioning at the back was ‘suspect’, and his use of the ball ineffective on his left foot.
James Forrest looked like he had hoped he’d get he afternoon off.
Christie and Allan looked good at times, with Christie’s finish quite excellent after a lucky break on his dribble.
We played 2 completely different teams, first half to second. It was tempting to consider the starting 11 as the guys with the jersey, and the 2nd half team the Ronny Deila Curiosities XI.
Considering Bitton, Boyata, Simunovic, Commons and Johansen were all out, it rather highlights that Ronny was a collector of footballers rather than a coach, certainly in terms of outcomes.
Finally: I was intrigued to see Jobo Baldie’s new lateral moves from a distance. Who knew? It’s taken safe standing to reveal a Strictly finalist amongst us.
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Watch Keith Jackson and David McCarthy discuss the challenges facing Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers in Europe
I would think a better discussion would be on the challenges facing TGASL with Puma,32 RED,urgent roof repairs,no merchandise money,and a warehouse full of strips unsold,with a bill for them ready to be issued.
Maybe thats just me.They are after all,professional journalists.
WHAT ?????????
BSR
Picasso’s portrait of Suzanne Bloch encapsulates my reaction to that thought:
http://masp.art.br/masp2010/upload_pic/galerias/original/0142%20P.jpg
As someone who saw Shane Duffy play for Blackburn twice last season live, as well as several times on live TV games for them and Ireland, I would say he is definitely what we need, certainly domestically. A no nonesense centre half who is dominant in the air and clears his lines. Something we are lacking in. In the games I saw him he’s not like Erik or Jozo iand will stroll forward into the midfield and try make long forward passes.
My concern would be a lack of pace, which aligned to Erik’s lack of pace (and Jozo’s) could be a problem. He may not be good enough yet for Europe but until he plays in CL or EL we’ll never know. He’s an upgrade on Boyata, Ambrose and O’Connell but IMO, not as good as Erik. At Blackburn he also had the disadvantage of being partnered by Grant Hanley so playing with Erik and/or Jozo should make him a better player.
Klopp has warned Christian Benteke and Liverpool’s other outcasts: stay and you won’t play.
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY on 18TH JULY 2016 3:15 PM
Totally agree with BR re consolidating around a small squad. My own view:
Keep:
Gordon, Bailly, Lustig, Tierney, Boyata, Erik, Janko, O’Connell, Armstrong, Commons, McKay-Steven, Henderson, Roberts, Ajer, McGregor, Christie, Rogic, Allan, Griffiths, Dembele, Nesbitt
Get rid: IMHO Include in your get rid Lustig, Boyata, Janko, O’Connell
Davido
An early Samaras? :-)
BSR
This was early Samaras….
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/4f/d4/2e/4fd42e447da5f206954072f0e4d280e0.jpg
No great surprise to see a few with very short memories re Kris Commons,93 goals from midfield despite a few injuries,the best 300 grand we’ve spent since Lubo. Hope he gets back fit ASAP,we are a very young squad (look at Saturday),we need experienced guys to help out. IMO
Also shown here after missing that penalty at Ibrox:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sites/bfi.org.uk.films-tv-people/files/styles/gallery_full/public/bfi_stills/bfi-00n-cab.jpg?itok=za4N_vRz