Europe in July, heavy legs and waning concentration

602

After losing the second leg against Salzburg in last season’s Champions League 3rd qualifying round, Qarabag eliminated Twente Enschede on away goals before having a good Europa League group stage.

Draws home and away to Saint Etienne, a home draw against Inter after a two goal defeat in the San Siro, and a win and a loss against Dnipro is enough form to suggest Celtic have a match on their hands.

On the positive side, Qarabag are also preseason, play on grass and Baku, their home city, is four hours ahead of Glasgow, so they will have a small jetlag adjustment to make for Wednesday’s game.  The final whistle will go after 1:30 in the morning Baku time.  Players find the latter part of any big game tiring, more so early in the season, so we have to push hard late in this game.  Qarabag will be vulnerable as concentration wanes and legs get heavy.

This tie feels very much like the Shakhter Karagandy play-off tie two years ago.  Shakhter arrived with a solid two goal lead, but an impassioned Celtic Park pushed us over the line.  A similar intensity will be required on and off the field on Wednesday.

What’s our chances?  Not sure, but we’ve a serious challenge on our hands.

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

602 Comments

  1. Mike in Totonto – You will need the HD feed to get a good picture on the big screen. I watch on a large 50″ screen via HDMI cable from my PC and it looks great. I think the HD feed is about $7 more per month,then you have to select the HD option from the streams available on the matchday page.

     

     

    Not sure about the commentator so far this season, although he may be a stand-in for pre-season. One gripe I have with the Celtic TV guys is that they change the presenters and commentators almost every year without letting us know what is going on. I still haven’t got over the loss of Jim Craig :)

     

     

    Otherwise, it really is a fantastic service that I would hate to live without.

  2. Thank you very much for good wishes the other day. I really appreciate all kind words I read. Life is better with them.

     

     

    Tonight I had few spare minutes and I’m after reading few articles.

     

     

    What I did not know, was how complex is Quarabakh (a place) problem. I did not know that Azerbijan and Armenia are still fighting. What I have learned this war brings the memory of Israel/Palestine, old Yugoslavia or Lebanon.

     

     

    I think the interview with Quarabakh man explains what is going on.

     

     

    Vice President of FC Quarabakh – Takhir Gezal

     

    “I did watch the games against Rudar with concerns and huge interest. After the first game I was sure we were able to go through. In the first game we have shown attacking style of the game, we did all our best to win that competition. Good summary of our game was wonderful goal from Reinaldo. The Brazilian has shown character of the fighter. We have seen again how valuable player he is for our team. Quarabakh as a team deserved to go through to the next round.

     

    Celtic Glasgow is well known all around the world. When we learn the history, we see how famous and great Celtic is. Each year they are the champions of Scotland.

     

    When it comes to our journey to Scotland, getting the visas seemed to be the biggest, complex problem. We would like to say our big thank you to the Consul of Great Britain for helping us to get visas very quickly. We thank him for making this proces very simple.

     

    I believe in my team. I trust we are going to fight proudly against Celtic. Quarabakh success is success of whole Azerbaijan. This competition against Celtic is fantastic and interesting challenge for all of us. Whatever final score I will always support my team.

     

    FC Quarabakh is like a flag team here in our country, and the same applies when it represents us on the international scene. The name of the club has special meanings for Azerbaijan. We will never forget about Quarabakh and the territory that is actually occupied by Armenia. We definitely have strong beliefs that our country will be freed from the occupied forces. Our government is ready for that in both economic and war and fight plans. More than one milion people had to leave their houses due to that war invasion. They believe one of the days they can come back to Quarabakh. Wins in the next round of the Champions League qualifications would mean for Agdam people a spark of hope. That would be a balm for their wounded souls in these dark days. “

  3. zbyszek

     

     

    22:05 on 27 July, 2015

     

     

    Great to see you posting, hope the recovery is well under way

     

     

    Hail Hail

  4. saltires en sevilla on

    bawsman

     

     

    21:20 on 27 July, 2015

     

    Help!!!!

     

    Anyone got a copy of the old style school fitba playground rules?

     

     

    —///—///—///

     

     

    Sorry -,know the one you mean

     

     

    Remember these?

     

     

    10-21er

     

    First Back Saves

     

    Next goal the winner

     

    Inside

     

    Ootside

     

    Man on

     

    Square it

     

    Time

     

    Awfurfeksake

  5. Charlie Kickham. I have complained to TO and have been advised that I will receive a call from them after Wednesdays game, likely Thursday, due to them being busy with tix sales. That is fair enough.

     

     

    MWD said AYE

  6. saltires en sevilla

     

    Substitutions

     

    “cock or a hen”

     

    or is that just an ML4 thing :))))

  7. ZBYSZEK

     

    Like all of the guys glad to see you are on the mend,

     

    Re Jo Hanson I am not too worried I think he keeps Armstrong out of his natural position and also Liam can play the in your face roll . Any body who like johansen gives 100% will have my full support but if he wants to go and the money is right then perhaps we could use funds on a striker. H H

  8. Celtic Football Club

     

    @celticfc

     

     

     

     

     

     

    11 mins ago

     

     

    Get tickets for Wednesday’s #UCL game v Qarabag in selected Celtic stores: Argyle St, Clydebank, Coatbridge, East Kilbride, Greenock.

  9. Dallas Dallas where the heck is Dallas on

    Zbyszek, good to see you posting.

     

     

    I hope your recovery is going well.

  10. BMCUWP

     

     

    I say “foul”…for those Playground Football Rules.

     

     

    No mention of a tennis ba’ under the choice of footballs. Shirley that would have been a Notable Example of such.

     

     

    Must have been a posh choice at his school.

  11. saltires en sevilla on

    leftclicktic

     

     

    22:23 on 27 July, 2015

     

    saltires en sevilla

     

    Substitutions

     

    “cock or a hen”

     

    or is that just an ML4 thing :)))

     

    —///–///—///–///

     

    :-)))

  12. Dallas Dallas where the heck is Dallas on

    Barca have tika taka , we had tic-tac to pick who was in your team at playground fitba.

  13. mike in toronto on

    mncelt … I thought I had the HD feed, but maybe I only have the premium one… I’ll check on that …. thanks.

     

     

    Funny … I liked Jim Craig, but wasn’t crazy on him as a commentator … while I think the commentating this year is better!

     

     

    Overall, I am very happy with the cetlic web product .it has improved tremendously over the years .. and, as has been pointed out, their tech support has always been top notch! Which is particularly important for a computer numpty like me!!

  14. Zbyszek

     

     

    Good to hear from again, hope you are recovering well. Interesting interview with the VP there, didn’t know too much vis a vis the relative history between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

     

    That said I want Celtic to go through!

  15. San Diego Bhoy

     

     

    Can you try on a desktop and /or smart phone and let me know if it works.

     

     

    We are aware of the iPad issue. Can you try closing other tabs and trying again on your iPad to see if that helps?

     

     

    Glad there’s not been any other replies to my earlier post!

     

     

    I just posted the first comment on the new CQN site! Never had one of those Podiums before! This one is a bit special.

     

     

    New site will be with you in the next few days…

  16. zbyszek

     

     

    I hope Takhir Gezal isn’t doing the team talk on Wednesday night.

     

    Can see that fella having players willing to go through a brick wall for him!

  17. One potato ,two potato ,three potato, FOUR

     

    five potato,six potato ,seven potato ,MORE ,

     

    right your oan ooooor team:))))))))))))

  18. MIT – If you have premium then you are good, but remember to select the HD feed from the various streams available. They connect you to the lower quality stream as a default – not sure why – but the difference is night and day.

  19. saltires en sevilla on

    Wednesday nite gonna be tough stuff

     

     

    That mob are nae mugs

     

     

    Keep the high baws low n separate the gither

  20. mike in toronto on

    mncelt … I just looked at that … I think you are right …. I think it normally plays as stream 4 or something .. but I will see if switching to the HD stream helps. the ipad i was running it through is pretty old now, so that may be the problem. May be time for a new one! Much appreciated. Cheers.

  21. Bhoys and ghirls , remember. Saturday is The Kano Foundation annual bucket

     

    collection. This is the only time we reach out to the support as a whole to help raise funds . To give an idea of the money required , we spend approx £9k on tickets (87 kids and 12 adults) as well as the cost of snacks, bags and scarves for the kids which is about the same again over the season. I know we have other fundraisers, our dance and golf day but this is the main one . If you can spare an hour on saturday from 11 am , please drop a note to bucketcollection2015@thekanofoundation.com . An hour if your time on saturday is as valuable as your donation or goodwill. Please consider it if you can.

     

     

    HH

     

     

    Sanna

  22. Dallas Dallas where the heck is Dallas on

    Saltires, it certainly was but up the Drum, you normally got your toe stood on, quite painfully, to see who got the first pick.

     

     

    Leftclicktic at 22.32, another classic from some of our younger years..

  23. bbc Scotland( joke) have Two main Targets , and it never relents, One is Celtic, the other is a politcal party , Shameful programme..But Jackie Bird…Well, Guilty your honour…

  24. If we can’t beat this team,on Wednesday ,5-0 then I am a Dutchman .

     

    Geode nacht.

  25. BIG-CUP-WINNERS on

    I’m hopeful about Wednesday, nothing more. reality is, Ronnie’s team, fails to inspire me.

     

     

    That’s a harsh truth, but the evidence is we are little better off than this time last season.

     

     

    Bedding in players; best player likely to be sold once our cl campaign ends; and no settled goalscorer.

     

     

    Griffiths, not my first pick, has done well. I like how he works for the team and he has started to score. He will have a fair justification for dismay if he doesn’t start on Wednesday.

     

     

    I’d anticipate Quarabag being fast and mobile. No place for Charlie, who floundered against similar style in Poland. Efe in the middle ?

     

     

    GMS is a must rather than Forrest, the Highlander, could just be our key to unlock them.

     

     

    Is Lustig fit? His two deputies, Fisher and Janko have done well this season.

  26. BIG cup winners..They Led with the Story that Celtic Park might not sell out..asked JC if it would Affect the Players…I mean Really , non story of all non storys..Just havin a dig…Pathetic..