If expectations were low this time yesterday, news that Cameron Carter-Vickers did not travel to Italy grounded them today. It would take an extraordinary turnaround in away form in the Champions League for Celtic to leave Bergamo with even a point tonight.
Atalanta will attack with as much pace as Borussia Dortmund and, if given freedom of the park, will look every bit as ‘clinical’ as the German side.
I am not happy with Brendan’s ‘We’ll play the way we always play’ policy (and note, this is not a ‘Brendan thing’, I felt the same way when Ange said the same). Since Brendan Mark 1, we have seen record defeats in Europe, which do player development and club reputation no favours.
By many measures, Brendan is a better manager than Gordon Strachan or Neil Lennon, but Gordon and Neil were able to beat elite teams in the Champions League and progress from the group stage. My expectations are of another heavy defeat, with the hope that it brings us closer to matching tactics to opponents.
111 Comments- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- »
Game day Wednesday.
On this day in 1965 107,000 watched us beat thems with two goals from John Hughes.
HH!
Another upbeat leader Paul67.
Speaking of grounded, the Aipple never falls far from the podium
Job interviewer: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Me: I would say my biggest weakness is listening.
Morning The Battered Bunnet!
Appreciate the company.
We’re far too open. We’ll get spanked 5-0 is my prediction. We’re a great team but not at the elite ECL level. Even getting humped tonight I think we’ve got a chance of sneaking through. Also, I’m still glowing from hearing about Marley Watkins’ goal whilst at the Belfast peace wall on Sunday and nothing can touch that.
G’day AIPPLE.
P67 your article doesnae chime with the Huddle Breakdown’s ‘Murican analytics guy JamesJuco/JucoJames (still havent figured out the right way to say it).
He’s studied Atalanta deeply and says they’re good but closer to a Bodo Glimt and nowhere near a Dortmund.
I’m sticking with his analytics-driven opinion (isn’t that what you tell us is the only way to go Paulo?) and hope – pray – for a 2-2.
KTF
Morning QUADROPHENIAN
I like your outlook.
On a strict line through Bayer Leverkusen, we should be more wary of Atalanta than we were of Dortmund tonight; of course some might say that we were not wary at all, but quite buoyant, prior to our chastisement on October 1.
Our conquerors that night languished in fifth place in the 23/24 Bundesliga season, some twenty seven points adrift of Leverkusen. Atalanta brushed the German club aside, almost contemptuously 3-0 in the Europa Cup Final in Dublin on 22 May.
So will the team be more wary tonight? Brendan seems defiant, even bullish, and ‘is not for turning’ it seems. However he does believe expectation levels are disproportionate at this level saying, “I think that if you get any sort of common sense and logic, you would see that”
Our expectation levels were misplaced as we approached the Dortmund tie, maybe understandably after the Slovan result and a ‘swashbuckling’ display in Perth. This time I sense a more cautious tentative mood – given the comparison above it should be.
Let’s prepare for the worst but hope for the best. HH
European football has advanced since Neil and Gordon held the reins , officiating is much stricter and the option of digging in no longer an option.
Having said that , we must get an upgraded back 4 to compete in Europe.
Tonight , there is always hope ( that thing that kills you) but realistically we’re staring at a 3-0 defeat , hopefully the guys can put in a good shift and spring a surprise ( crikey that hope thing again)
HH
EKBHOY
Correct, the game from then to now is very different. Hard to compare managers from different eras.
Quad- thanks for earlier reply,Brendan when at Leicester, must have had a more cautious approach when playing, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea away,and he took them to a European semi final, he must have varied formations during that run,so why not try it with us? Your stats showed that he can adapt
I intend to say a wee prayer to Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the little Donkey later today.
HH.
Back to work today, taking the Firestick in so I can dip in and out.
!!Bada Bing!! on 23rd October 2024 12:31 pm
Quad- thanks for earlier reply,Brendan when at Leicester, must have had a more cautious approach when playing, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea away,and he took them to a European semi final, he must have varied formations during that run,so why not try it with us? Your stats showed that he can adapt
———–
Seems he can BB, else he wouldn’t have made such a decent fist of it for a decent time with the Foxes.
Read a great saying somewhere today that you can’t make the same mistake twice, for if you repeat the first mistake by then it’s a choice ! I’m still summoning faith we can sneak a positive result against a Bodo Glimt-esque mob.
It seems a hammering is more than fully “priced in” to sentiment for this evening so we should all be happy if we avoid a hammering.
Please avoid a hammering, Celtic 🙏
Paul67
That’s the spirit 😆
Did CCV leave his Passport in the Hoose ?
LOL.
HH.
I’m all hope and little expectation.
Maybe we can pull off a shock – I HOPE so.
Only a CHUMP would place a Bet on the Correct Score of Atalanta v Celtic match tonight….so here goes…
ATALANTA- 3 V CELTIC – 3.
The above correct score bet is available with BET365 at odds of 40/1.
The same Correct Score Bet is only 28/1 with Ladbrokes.
LOL
HH.
To be fair….Paul67 isn’t far wrong with today’s comments. Ange was awful in Europe. Sometimes, in the course of a game, you need to weather the storm. Ange just donned the speedos and dived right in. Brendan should be a bit wiser.
We’ll see.
This is an 8 game situation.
Cheers,
Weeron
If it was as simple as using the tactics of a manager from a previous era and achieving the same outcome, why did Strachan not just copy Stein’s tactics and win the trophy?
As for Lennon – didn’t he play the same way against Barcelona the following year and lose 6-1?
Aipple on 23rd October 2024 12:11 pm
Job interviewer: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Me: I would say my biggest weakness is listening.
——
😆😆
This deserves to be heard far and wide. An excellent summary of why R2angers find themselves where they are today and how they got here.
Bravo Alan Morrison 👏👏👏
https://youtu.be/WAzUqa053sA?si=V07k4T1SUV8pHJIJ
Such doom?
Brendan’s post match comment headline tonight …..
…. maybe
“We always play to win, but if you can’t win it’s important not to lose. So we’ll take the point and move on”.
Interviewer: what subject were you not very good at in school beginning with B
Me: Spelling.
Ah gwan grand,have a little fun
https://x.com/Hahahasevco1/status/1848875035597119528
HH
I am always hopeful when we play away in Europe. We always have a good support in the ground from fantastic fans travelling all over europe. However, I was in Dortmund and our over confidence was met with a brick wall. Reality bites hard..
Looking at tonights game I feel that in reality we will not win, but, I hope Brendan is more pragmatic and sets us up more defensively and going gung-ho against what seems a good team
Picking the team is like colours :-)))
https://youtu.be/palevTnLiec?si=u9NrCQEuJdLIEiwS
HH
Cheer up folk.
Just to compliment Aipple’s joke earlier…
A guy is in for a job interview, and the interviewer asks him “What would you consider to be your biggest weakness?”
The guy replies “Honesty. I’m honest with everyone; I don’t know how to be anything other than completely honest with every single person I meet.”
The interviewer says “I don’t really see how honesty could be considered a weakness? In fact, I think honesty is a great strength!”
To which the guy replies “I don’t really give a s**t what you think.”
MELVIN UDALL
Good stuff!
———————————
Back to Basics
Made me chuckle. We have been doing cheesy dad jokes at work recently.
My grandparents were named Pearl and Dean.
But we just called them Gran and Papa-papa-papa-papa-pa-pa-pa.
The old ones CSC
Some basic comparisons between 2006/07, 2023/24 and 2024/25 group stages.
in 2006/2007 out of 96 group games teams from leagues outside the top 5 got a draw or a win against a top 5 league team 23 times, so roughly 1 in 4
in 2023/2024 out of 96 group games teams from leagues outside the top got a draw or a win against a top 5 league team 21 times, so roughly 1 in 4
in 2024/25 out of 45 group games teams from leagues outside the top got a draw or a win against a top 5 league team times, so roughly 1 in 7
There doesn’t seem to have been any change between 2006/7 and last season, the last season with the same format. A basic assumption would be that the competitive gap between the top 5 leagues and the ones below hasn’t increased.
In terms of heavy defeats:
2006/7 there were 16 out of 96 games with a 3 goal winning margin
2023/24 there were 9 out of 96 games with a 3 goal winning margin
2024/25 there have been 15 out of 45 games with a 3 goal winning margin
So last season fewer than in 2006/7
aw well Paul, that’s it then , why should we bother turning up
Hello All,
Still excited for the game,whether its a pumping or not! Thought the game on Saturday was exciting apart from a strange and wide open way of defending during 10 minutes of the 2nd half. I watched the game without knowing the score as I was down in Florida for my wee ghirls, Well she’s 18:)), fitba game. I was my usual Wishy maddy self watching it on my computer and the emotions were in full view of my friend and his wife and kids in their home. When the game was over, my mate Brad, came over and gave me a hug and said sorry the Bhoys lost. I said what are you talking aboot, it was a draw. One of the my daughter’s coaches had told her that we lost and they managed to keep it from me, so they were pleasantly surprised that I was not in a total bad mood. Then my friend couldn’t understand why I woke them all up early on Sunday morning to the song , beautiful Sunday. Ahh, Rangers, the gift that keeps giving.
Cmon the hoops tonight, win, draw or pumping,we will all still wake up handsome tims, even those fae Wishy and Coatbrig:))))
Hail Hail
Sean
The Blogger Formerly Known As GM on 23rd October 2024 1:22 pm
This deserves to be heard far and wide. An excellent summary of why R2angers find themselves where they are today and how they got here.
Bravo Alan Morrison 👏👏👏
https://youtu.be/WAzUqa053sA?si=V07k4T1SUV8pHJIJ
___________________________________________________________________________________________
I couldn’t agree more what a forensic outline of what was Rangers Football Club 1972 and what is Rangers International Football Club 2012. It should be listened to far and wide but also played before each football show in the country as a lesson on what is so wrong with Scottish football. But then of course it will be denied and/or ignored.
Palestine
Way before kibbutz and todays Zionist genocide.
https://x.com/umyaznemo/status/1849022505081552899?s=08
HH
Finished early and off to my brother’s’ for my tea and the match.
If we struggle, we struggle – I would rather we are in the CL than not, and as big Jock one said “better struggling at the top than the bottom”.
With the exceptions of say Real, Man City and Munich, we are competing at the very top tonight, as we were at Dortmund – European winners & runners-up are never easy. HH
Who knows we might get a big surprise HH