The players would have had a light training session at Lennoxtown today as muscles continue to refill after Wednesday night’s exertions. Expectations of Celtic in the Champions League are not high, and were exceptionally low when this group was drawn, but even so, these games have a huge financial, physical and even emotional impact on every area of the club.
One argument suggests the last thing we need is a cup semi-final four days after a Champions League outing. An alternative thought is that this is the perfect game for Celtic right now. Memories linger of sitting stressfully at Fir Park days after Celtic beat the reigning European Champions, Milan, as (subsequently liquidated) Grenta held onto a lead until the 87th minute.
While playing (subsequently liquidated) Rangers away 64 hours after winning a Uefa Cup semi-final 1200 miles from home in 2003 proved to be the perfect game to instil steel into the legs.
With what passes as a fully fit squad, Brendan has choices to make for Sunday. Did Patrick Roberts do enough off the bench against Borussia to justify a start? Perhaps. He’s a player who owes us one at Hamden too.
Callum McGregor will also fancy his chances ahead of Nir Bitton, who didn’t have a great Scottish Cup semi-final against the same opponents in April.
It would be a huge surprise if Moussa Dembele didn’t start as the lone forward, despite Leigh Griffiths itching to get on alongside him. Brendan will not change formation for this game, while Moussa will fancy his chances against a defence he punished to ruthlessly last month.
For me, our two most important players on Sunday will be Scott Sinclair and Tom Rogic. They are the epitome of the modern footballer, strong, skilful, intelligent and difficult to defend against. If we can get them on the ball often enough we’ll score a lot of goals.
Pretty much every Celtic fan I know expects Mark Warburton to have learned a lesson from his Celtic Park whipping and for him to deploy a more defensively-minded team this time. My Newco pals don’t expect this to happen. Warburton hasn’t varied his game-plan since arriving at the club and is apparently reluctant to start experimenting now.
He took his team to Hampden to face Celtic against similarly long odds last season. Within minutes we knew we were in a game, and despite the clear chasm between the teams, it was Newco who faced Hibs in the Scottish Cup final.
A repeat of the 5-1 win at Celtic Park is possible, but you’ve seen enough football to know that nothing can be taken for granted on Sunday. Remember that Newco came close to levelling that 5-1 game at 2-2 early in the second half, and the latter part of their collapse came after going down to 10 men.
I’m off later to meet those from the Tyneside No. 1 and friends, who have walked (yes, WALKED), from Merthyr Tydfil and will reach Doherty’s Bar in Hamilton this afternoon. They’ve pretty much walked a marathon a day for 13 days and will make the final journey to Celtic Park tomorrow.
This herculean effort has been made to mark the memory of Jonathan Thomas, who aged 30 lost his biggest fight one year ago tomorrow.
We’re lucky as Celtic fans that we get to meet and read about people who do these things in our name. It’ll take you 2 minutes to let them know how inspiring they are here.
It’s also worth marking the events in Aberfan, the village a few miles from Merthyr Tydfil which was visited by unimaginable tragedy 50 years ago today.
John Humphrys: What we owe the people of Aberfan 50 years after tragedy struck the village, and why it shows authority must be challenged. pic.twitter.com/OdjyaAGTsQ
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) October 21, 2016
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As someone posted earlier, about a screen being erected on the Celtic Way.then they said it would be better if they done up up the main stand, said it was a Shit Hole, couldn’t agree more, allotment catering stall, I have seen a bigger Dookit so instead of having a. go at other clubs,let’s get our house in order.
Team selection today won’t have any shocks, IMO.
BR certainly won’t deviate from 4-2-3-1. Anyone asking for, or expecting, 2 up front are guilty of wishful thinking.
Good thing about BR is that he doesn’t play players out of position, just to give them a start. So it will be Dembele OR Griffiths that starts.
One criticism I’d have of Ronnie D (and I’m NOT a RD basher) is that he often played his best eleven players, not necessarily in their most productive positions. So you’d often see a striker (like Leigh) and a centre mid (like Armstrong) as your wide players.
Thankfully, BR resists the urge to play his best 11 individuals – instead, picking his best TEAM.
And to those who suggest Erik or Efe in a holding midfield role – PLEASE STOP!
You’re as well telling me what 6 numbers will win the Lotto next week – IT AINT GONNA HAPPEN!
I expect to see same starting XI as Wed, and would expect them to be good enough to win the game.
3 changes that wouldn’t shock me..
JS might start at CH, to rest KT or ES.
PR may get nod ahead of JF.
Bitton may get dropped (CMcG/SA)
HH
Just to clarify, when I said earlier that some Germans were ‘walking funny’ down London Road after the game, I didn’t mean THAT kind of walking funny!
“Yes,well, forgive and forget, Major. . God knows how, the bastards”.
Cunning plan from 3 huns in back of cab last night/this morn…….
them’s should play the same as Borussia Monchengladbach :O(
No nervous tension
No gippy tummy
No erse making buttons …who the fek are we playing today?HH
Anyone looking for Ross County tickets for Wed keep a eye on the blog tomorrow, will confirm if tickets available and how many will be available in Dingwall. H H Hebcelt
Call me Gerry
Good summary of where we are
“We don’t have the dynamic to play behind two up front”
Brendan
I hope Kolo Toure makes it and Nir Bitton or MacGregor is………apples and pairs.
Good chance for Paddy Roberts to atone.
The Vogue Ruggy Main St is open for business:))
VP , you said you left me one in the tap?
Sorry mhate…tell them i’m good for it :O)
Big G64’s corkage charge is a bit fierce…..:))
Embdae know Celtic’s win percentage at Hampden from about 1970 to present day in semi finals and finals? I think i have had more bad days than good at that midden.
Who will help me celebrate each goal we score at Hampden today by donating £3/goal towards the charity sleepout fund.
We have a real problem with Homelessness in Scotland and The Celtic Charity Foundation have specifically targeted the plight of the homeless as something they want to help with in any way they can.
So come on, for less than the price of a pint per goal come on and join the cause and join in the fun!
Hail Hail
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/jamesmcginley2
Does anyone know if the game will be shown in the Wimbledon CSC this afternoon?
BSR @ 11.00
Yep – Brendan himself pretty much closed the discussion (of 2 up front) – at least until the next transfer window.
Re Toure, I’d like to see him rebound from Wed. His experience is priceless. Just wary that Wed will still be at the back of his mind.
In his after match interview, Kolo inferred that his earlier error may have contributed to his later error.
For same reason, I think I’d start JF before PR. Will PR still have his sitter still preying on his mind today?
Given a 1 on 1 with keeper today, would PR “blink”?
Plus, apart from a couple of mazy dribbles on wed – Im not sure PR has shown enough to displace JF just yet.
Bitton? An enigma!
He certainly contributed in our 5-1 win – excellent ball thro for Dembele’s 2nd.
And his pass for Sinclair on Wed, was our best chance all game.
But I DO worry about having him in the side when nitty gritty 50/50 tackles may be needed.
Problem we have, is that alternatives are thin on the ground.
CMcG covers more ground in an attacking aense, but is often posted missing when we get hit on the counter attack.
SA is more a number 10, and to those who keep telling us how good Henderson would be – BR rarely finds room on the bench for him, and in Brendan I trust.
On that note, I’m confident BR will pick a team that should win today, hopefully with goals to spare.
HH
BRTH, I would but I would fear bankruptcy:-)
A clarified repost from last night.
AULDHEID on 22ND OCTOBER 2016 10:21 PM
A wee bit Res12 Housekeeping.
Back in March we needed a mandate that enabled our lawyer to supply names to the SFA who were using the excuse/reason that they would not deal with anonymous persons.
Some of those mandate forms were scanned and e mailed others were posted to a Glasgow address.
The mandate did not ask for e mail addresses as the mandate forms were intended for the SFA but we have e mail address’s for those who scanned and e mailed but not those who posted the signed forms.
It would be helpful to have as many e mail addresses as we can gather for ease of communication purposes so if you posted the mandate can you e mail
auldheid046@gmail.com
with your name and first line of your address in the body of the e mail so that the e mails can be matched to the mandates that we do not have an e mail address for.
If you have e mailed Auldheid on Res12 before as some have you do not need to do anything.
Put me down for £3 per goal.
Off to catch a flight, will catch answers regarding Wimbledon CSC when I land.
Jozo for Kolo is the only change from Wednesday.
SMSM talk of Sevco ‘revenge’ and ‘redemption’ is farcical and desperate.
Even a normal or narrow defeat would be revenge in a Sevco world and last months humping, but they cannot no matter how hard they try make them anything other than newly promoted, financially dysfunctional and fake.
There are no EBT’s at the new club and that was what made them competitive with Celtic ,as a very new club they are less than ordinary and no amount of newspaper column can bridge the gap to the Champions League level where we operate.
What they’ve ‘bought’ they won’t pay / can’t pay so its down to the ‘bear bones’ against a Celtic side bristling with the best in the country. BR hasn’t even been to Hampden never mind been hoodoo’ed like RD or NL who both managed under performance in the ‘national’ stadium, so the ball is firmly in his court, and he holds all the aces
Call Me Gerry
It was Rogic who delivered the pass for Sinclair not Bitton
Paul67 et al
‘ “Rangers” ‘host’ Celtic at Hampden…….
Radio 5 news @ 11.00am and now 11.30 news.
Does the BBC know something we don’t?
DOC
Yes they are.
Good Man Doc!!!
Anyone else up for £3/goal for the sleepout?
We can put a ceiling on it at £21 if you like?
Also still raffling ACGR’s extra special Whisky for the same cause.
Donations here: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/jamesmcginley2
Bids Here: http://www.ebid.net/uk/for-sale/extra-special-11-yr-old-single-malt-whisky-you-can-t-buy-this-anywhere-else-151872805.htm
BRTH
I will donate £5 for every Celtic goal, deducting £1 for every Sevco penal….Sorry, goal.
Have bookmarked your link for later.
Enjoy the game, and may my contributionbe significant!
A wee shout out to Matt Stewart.
Just downloaded Mozilla Firefox on the PC and am running CQN in a private window.
No ads whatsoever and it runs like greased lightening. Same transformational effect as Brendan Rodgers showing up at Celtic Park.
DOC.
West London CSC are too in Brentford’s Horse Guardsmans Pub. If you go there say hello to my lhad.
Morning all. Just saw an advert for Sun betting offering 10/1 for a card to be shown in the game. Looks like free money to me – where’s the catch?
call me gerry
MacGregor was the surprise sub, after some minor success with Stuart Armstrong taking over from Tom Rogic.
BR then gave SA a full game against Motherwell, so he’s trialling all his fringe players and even Henderson got the Bitton shirt.
Agree re Kolo his head was still down when he misjudged the pace of the ball for the second error.
Jozo has looked comfortable but hasn’t been tested, so I hope Kolo is fit.
Although Patrick and Jamesie are vying for the same berth, they are polar opposites as widemen with differing skill sets. Jamesie needs space and pace, Patrick likes to slow the game down and beat his man.
I’d imagine we’ll see both of them today, and BR has even covered penalties.
Wonder if RD did?
BRTH. I will donate £5 for every goal we score more than the huns. Last time it amounted to £20.
Hoping for a similar amount today.
Marrakesh Express on 23rd October 2016 9:35 am
Anybody else heard the rumour about Brendan trying to bring Ki back to Parkhead?
=========================================================
Yup.
Heard it just after half nine this morning. Some geezer on CQN…
40/1 the Hun to miss their penalty today.
Doc, if you are Heathrow bound perhaps your best (quickest) bet would be to head to the West London CSC, based at the HorseGuards Pub on Ealing Road in Brentford.
You’ll be tight for time and this option might suit you better?
HH.
The Inane Rambler on 23rd October 2016 11:43 am
Ray Winstone
Cheers to both of you and thanks
i don’t know how i’ve managed to go 50 years on this earth without knowing this little fact. The pope was one of king billy’s allies at the time of the battle of the boyne. i take it most of the up to their knees mob don’t know that.
so the battle of the boyne was won by an immigrant supported by the pope against the ancient and indigenous crown.
put’s the orange walk into a new light.
:-)
Supersutton
Apologies, I stand corrected.
Our problem in centre mid is the lack of alternatives to Bitton. I’m sure BR will try to remedy in a transfer window before next season.
HH
Celtic Mac
I reckon “they” are referred to as hosting us today, as “they” are drawn as the home team and will occupy the home dressing room.
Just as bookie coupons have it as “them” v Celtic.
HH
DOC
Re Wimbledon,mailed you.
JMcCormack, BankieBhoy, thanks gents, all boarded and about ready to go. Wimbledon CSC is just around the corner from the hotel, so might miss first 10/20minutes but easier after, the Tube gets me there in 50minutes or so.
Pouring down here now, hope the sun shines on Hampden, always feel we do better at Hampden in the sun, can’t explain why, but I do feel a song coming on!
Spare a thought/prayer for Auld Doc too, broke his hip last night, having surgery about now, I spent the night at hospital with him, painful but he was sitting up chatting away and more concerned with today’s game than his condition. Hence I don’t feel the need to stay, work calls anyway, I talked to the surgeon who is confident all will be well, and the rest of my family are there of course, unless they are on the way to the game.
Rambling now so I’ll put the phone in flight mode:-)
Laters.
SleepdeprivedCSC
Bada Bing @11.24
Very rough trawl of memory banks and including Dryburgh and Glasgow Cups but not the 94/5 season ( when it was our home ground) I have wins ahead by 66 to 37 with a few draws in the early to mid 70s. It is 8 each though in this decade.
I think the problem with Hampden is that we have since the infamous RH Davidson final of 1970 been prone to the shock defeat – Thistle, Dundee, Motherwell, Ross County (twice), Kilmarnock, Hearts, St Mirren, ICT and both versions of Rangers have beaten us when we were overwhelming favourites. Conversely the only time we won when big underdogs was the Joe Miller final of 1989.
Logically of course all this means nothing in respect of today it just means I won’t be surprised if we contrive to muck it up.
Jimbo67