It was far from pretty but it was always going to be effective. Celtic matched whatever Rosenborg could offer in Trondheim last night to make their way to the Champions League third qualifying round.
This was not an occasion that will last long in the memory, Celtic only got their passing game together fleetingly – and not at all in the first half, but Rosenborg looked as though they could play all night and not reduce Celtic’s advantage.
What was clear from the start is that Celtic were short of options in possession. The linking play we are used to seeing from Callum McGregor, Olivier Ntcham and Scott Brown just didn’t happen. As a consequence, Scott Sinclair and James Forrest were offered little action, while Odsonne Eduard had a largely frustrating evening.
A significant part of Celtic’s play is underpinned by the central defenders pushing ahead of their central-mid team-mates. This seldom happened last night, almost certainly on team orders. Consequently, our shape was unfamiliar in possession, but better that, than leaving space to be exploited at the back.
Brendan Rodgers will be happy with the return he got from the players, but will look to stop so many crosses getting into the box, if he deploys a similar strategy again.
Next up, the seventh consecutive Flag Day!
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Feliz Cumpleanos JamesGang
HH
Thanks again for all the kind wishes.
HH
KINGLuBO
I have quit a fair few times, this time for real, always found that the third day was the hardest for me, get past that and it’s a home run, well it was for me.
I used patches for the first week, NOT the 24 hour ones, the 16 hour ones I found the best, the 24 h ones gave me horendous dreams.
I’m afraid that willpower is the most important thing and trust me it’s no easy, if deep down you know you need to stop, you will.
Best of
HH
KTF
What TTT said. We didn’t hold the ball at all well. It occurred to me that we were actually practicing that style of play for when we might need it later in the competition. It did look like we need some real world experience.
Paul67 et al
Good result, a result in the main due to hard work and effort, right to the last minute. Did I read recently somewhere that these games no longer count towards any kind of coefficient? If true, a disgrace while fourth place teams play a host of glorified friendlies in the USA, in a tournament outwith UEFA and FIFA.
Gamewise, well at times we seemed to have only two midfielders, (a problem also shared by O’Neil, Strachan and Lennon) making it doubly hard throughout the match. Thing is, would Rosenborg fancy their chances against AEK, I think they would, so why not us, two away games without losing a goal, gotta take something positive from that.
Turkeybhoy on 2nd August 2018 1:51 pm
Madmitch,
If Boyatta signs,then personally I would be delighted to have a back 3 of,
Boyatta Ajer Simunovic
———
I always think if you are playing a back three you are better having a natural full-back on one of the sides. So either Lustig on the right or Tierney on the left.
Even if Tierney is played mostly as a wing-back we are still short of naturally left sided defenders.
And there’s always times we will need to go with a back four.
If we could get someone who could play left CB/left of a three and do a job at LB that would be ideal.
£25:00 for AEK ticket
£49:00 for Sevco ticket
And still, the happy clapping seals just can’t get enough.
If that isn’t a nod to the dark money hun clientele that the coast is clear to start awe their jiggery poakery again, as the 2018 batch of Celtic supporter’s don’t mind as long as Celtic are winning, which is hunlike on its own, well what is?
Shameless Soulless Old Firm Hussies since 1994.
Maybe there is such a thing as, the other side of the coin.
Laters.
@ TURKEYBHOY on 2ND AUGUST 2018 1:57 PM
“Boyatta Ajer Simunovic.We could never afford better.”
Unsure as to how we could never afford better. We were able to afford better with Sinclair, Dembele, Ntcham and Edouard.
Also, Simunovic is injury prone to the extent that you cannot rely on him playing 10 games in a row (plus, he is unable to play on plastic pitches), so it is doubtful that he will be viable as a long term option.
Hoopy birthday Jamesgang HH ???☘️???
KINGLuBO
There is a book by a guy called Alan Carr in which he convinces people to stop smoking.
I know four people who read the book and stopped smoking when they finished it.
Give it a try man. Hope ye get aff the fags man.
All the best Rich HH
Jamesgang – Happy Birthday big fella, have a great day!!
HH
The old adage that most games are won or lost in midfield still applies for me.
Far too often we are overly reliant on our captain in this regard?
Yet again last night our midfield was second best to a team that would struggle in the CL.
McGregor has Coe on in leaps and bounds but away from home in Europe he is far too easily brushed aside.
Last night Ntcham was poor as well in regard to holding the ball.
Like most I sincerely hope that we make the group stages because of the finance and profile it provides. However should we play the way we did last night, then we will get another trouncing should we come up against a top flight opponent.
Much as I admire what Brendan has brought to the club, there is no doubt that we just do not possess good enough defenders nor midfield players to play the way that the manager would like to in these games.
As a season ticket holder who will have paid say £70 for the qualifiers and perhaps about £120 for the group stages, I am beginning to think that deserve a little better.
Being a pot 4 team, I don’t expect us to qualify for the knockout stages of the CL, getting EL football after Christmas would be excellent, however we should not be getting horsed 5 or 6 off teams.
Last night we just had to avoid defeat. It was the perfect opportunity to try out Kouassi alongside Brown in a real competitive game. The fact that he wasn’t selected nor brought on when we were clearly struggling to control the midfield suggests that Brendan doesn’t rate him or is so locked in to his way of playing that it is always going to be him or Brown and that to me suggests that we are in for some scary moments in the weeks ahead!
HH
KingLubo,,where you based?
Last night Rosenberg’s Left Back, who scored their goal at CP, was excellent. We could do far worse than him. Great going forward and could play in a back four. Would also give Tierney some rest at times, he has played some amount of football over the last 3 years por cierto.
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL
When discussing on WHATAPP with group I got to games with
My wish list was a RB who can Play CH and/or a LB who can play CH
Only Schoolboy in chat said you have described what we
bought in January Hendry RB/CH and apparently
Comperre is LB/CH if he ever gets fit.
Tucobenedito,
Alan Carr, the author of the “Stop Smoking” book, died a few years ago…..from lung cancer.
BB- i don’t think Eddie was 100% fit last night
Conamara Bhoy on 2nd August 2018 3:11 pm
Tucobenedito,
Alan Carr, the author of the “Stop Smoking” book, died a few years ago…..from lung cancer
————————————-
Reminds me of :
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/22/obituaries/james-f-fixx-dies-jogging-author-on-running-was-52.html
JAMES GANG. happy birthday have a great day.
Great result,dont care how it was achieved.One shot,one header on target from Rosenborg,says it all.Great performances from Ajer,Hendry,and Gamboa,the reasons for this.Big Eddy nearly scored another amazing goal.Reading James Forrest today,my favourite blogger,he slaughters the hacks for their less than favourable reports,”Grind”being their favourite word used.He should have read some of the trumpets on here after the game.Make these hacks seem gushing in their praise.
Only minus for me was Brendans refusal to bring on Kouassi.To bring on Christie,for me,was a mistake.Broony was needing help,he got none .
As I said last night,his omission has me bewildered, why not polygraph him….. https://liedetectors-uk.com
JG- Hoopy Birthday
Hoopy Birthday Jamesgang!
have a good one.
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Happy Birthday Jamesgang. Top Bhoy.
HH
CROPPYBHOY
Our midfield was second best due to a poorly implemented system.
Not one seemed sure of their role.
During coverage on Celtic tv there was an aerial shot of field and there was no discernible shape to our team.
They had acres of space to exploit.
Thankfully they had no real creativity or skill.
KT looked unsure and hesitant all night which was no surprise as SS was MIA and left him wondering what to do.
There was an uncertainty in our players when opponents had possession the Clash song Should i go or should i stay had relevance .The uncertainty led to them doing neither and gave opponents confidence.
Not surprising our ability to retain the ball was so awful as none of our players seemed to know where teammates where,
Possession is only one part of the picture and until our coaches implement a better structure with spacing and patient movement we will always struggle against decent teams.
Thought we were pretty poor last night and although didn’t look to be in trouble that was more a result of Rosenburg not having a killer ball/finish than us defending well. A better team would have hammered us.
For me the midfield was at fault for the performance. As a group who dominated the previous week they seemed to be edgy and completely lose their touch in this game. N’tcham at this stage is either a key player or isn’t involved. McGregor who is normally a steady and reliable performer was missing and Brown didn’t have a great game. Sinclair has zero confidence. French Eddy had two good moments that could have resulted in a goal but didn’t hold the ball well enough to help the midfielders get involved.
Hoping it was just a blip but if we play like that against AEK we’re out.
JC2
I thought Compper was the answer with regards to the options he would have given us. Also would have given us the experience and leadership we lack in defence. Goodness knows what has happened. Haven’t completely given up on him, but need to see something soon.
Funnily enough Hendry has probably given us more than we would have expected. Maybe just the “swings and roundabouts” nature of football!
51 year ago in April I stood in the timekeepers office on a Wimpey site listening tae us on his tranny gaining a credible 0-0 draw over in Prague, we were now the first uk side tae play in the Big Cup Final, 4 days later we clinchéd our first double in 13 years.
Jock claimed he was embarrassed at playing a defensive game against Dukla especially with a 3-1 lead when away goals didnae count as double in the semis that year, the Big Mhan was a fox, he also said as we approached Lisbon, including on the day, that we were happy just tae be there.
2 year ago I sat in the house we had rented out on the Atlantic down in the Eastern Seaboard while the family were at the beach; we had a credible 3 goal lead going intae the 2nd leg although we had conceded 2 away goals.
We had struggled in the first two qualifying rounds against Red Imp and Astana but looked in good shape from this return leg, or so we thought, that same night Roma were hosting Sporting Lisbon and I spent most of the game jumping back and forth between our game and this one.
As we all know we prevailed with big Kolo and sub Eric the Viking shoring up the back line and went onto the group of death, so what we all want to watch the best teams and we did manage to draw against Man City and BMG, 2 of them away fae hame, its all the learning curve.
This season so far we have only conceded 1 goal in our 4 games scoring 9, that’ll do nicely for me and last night was a more than credible result against a team half way through their season and sitting nicely in 2nd place and also in the quarters of their national cup.
Jamesgang the braw Dunblane laddie…
have a very “special” birthday ….
Braw
I thought Hendry did ok last night, just ok. He won some headers in the box , although not really under challenge. He needs more development and can improve his decision making (a few dodgy passes around the 18yrd box could easily have been punished by better quality & wasn’t it his slack pass that gave away the goal at home)
Its frustrating at the moment – combination of injuries and lack of signings. McGinn will give us some strength & cover in the midfield (brown and ntcham injuries). I feel the are we are weakest is right back – Gamboa is not the answer and Lustig doesn’t have the legs for the season. This would be my #1 priority.
At center, I’d love to bring back Denaya for his pace and game reading. What a spine that would be Boyata, Denaya, Brown, Eduard & Dembele.
FAN-A-TIC @ 3:41 PM,
This has been a perennial problem, BR has had much more success than RD in this respect.
I compared RD’s attempts to get us playing 4-2-3-1 as equivalent to herding cats…
It’s a problem that hasn’t gone away. Too many of our players didn’t grow up with the system.
Hopefully that is changing but Scottish players technique, formations and tactical awareness is a generation behind.
We will see more and more players coming in who are comfortable with the way Celtic wish to play throughout its teams.
We just have to keep practising and bringing in the right type of players until we get there.
For a decade to only thing the SFA were concerned with was a strong Rangers.
They have a lost generation to answer for…
Hail Hail
FAN-A-TIC,
I thought possession and movement were one and same?
There was promise of movement at the end of last season in the Rangers games when Brown McGregor and Ntcham swapped in a cycle of who became the pivot.
If we are talking positional sense then Sinclair will have had 20 years of coaching on how not to leave 50 yards between you and your full back when you are away from home against decent opposition – then again maybe he thought the chances of McGregor losing the ball and it being then switched to his side of the Park was low?
If we are talking being masters of space, awareness and geometry then I agree coaching is needed.
The benchmark
https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2011/feb/11/xavi-barcelona-spain-interview
When is deadline for signing players for next round? Doubtful if anyone would get thrown in anyway….
CHAIRBHOY
i agree on the SFA front.
But the thing for me is our inability and lack of patience off the ball.
Just holding a solid formation would have made it easier last night.
James
Many happy returns big yin.
Hopefully see you Saturday.
Fly the Flag.
YNWA
Jamesgang, Exiled Tim, Tucobenedito and Mahe
Really do appreciate your advice and am stubborn enough to get on top of this fag lark. Even my Doc said I was mad to try cold turkey and on vaping so am limiting myself to 2 or 3 cigs a day to start then vaping when I feel the urge. I will beat this though but thanks all for encouragement. Trying to find a vape juice which does not make me cough is proving difficult, onward and upward.
Thanks
Mahe I am based near Worcester
KINGLuBO
Happy birthday Jamesgang – have a great day
Got a brother named James but his second name isn’t gang :))
MULLET AND CO 2
I thought possession and movement were one and same?
Not sure about that.
Movement is the key to making retaining possession easier.
It creates space and options for man on ball.
Our off the ball movement needs improving.
Bada
think its midnight tonight, well according to this link
https://celtsarehere.com/revealed-celtics-champions-league-transfer-deadline/
i see the usual “a good team would skelp us” appears, doubt we’d set up like that last night if we were playing a good team nor would we be so meek in posssession, are AEK a good team, only time will tell.