Do anything nice last night? The consequences of what took place at Celtic Park are profound, but there will be plenty of time to discuss them later. For now, let’s concentrate on the small matter of how this result was achieved.
The record books will show 5-0, but there was more to this game than the thumping it turned into. For the first 30 minutes, Astana pressed Celtic high, unsettling our natural game, while forcing the occasional error. We didn’t have the luxury of time and space normally afforded us in domestic football.
This was a worrying period, although there were promising glimpses. Scott Sinclair latched into a loose ball seven yards from goal 3 minutes into the game, but could not find the target. Moments later James Forrest pitched a perfect cross for Leigh Griffiths. Celtic Park stood ready to celebrate, but again, the target was missed.
Those moments aside, the early flow of a game was not going to plan, but Celtic continued to pass the ball with precision, switching play , looking for space. Tom Rogic’s trademark surging run provided the breakthrough. His cross-cum-shot would have gone narrowly wide, but for the intervention of a disorientated defender, who turned the ball into his net.
This goal encapsulated the real chasm between the teams. Astana were good in possession and looked fitter in the opening period, but Celtic had no real weaknesses. A poorly marked corner one minute after the opening goal was the only genuine chance the visitors had all evening. Whereas Celtic probed for, and found, many vulnerabilities in their opponents.
Forrest foraged on the right, Sinclair was scintillating on the left. Ntcham’s neat passing swung the pendulum Celtic’s way, as Griffiths grew into the game through the middle, while Brown bossed proceedings in the no. 6 role.
Olivier Ntcham is still finding his feet in Glasgow, but he will be difficult to dislodge as Scott Brown’s central-mid partner. He’s a different player than Victor Wanyama, but Victor wasn’t as effective, this early, in his Celtic career.
Remember, Olivier has played very little senior football, only 37 games before his summer transfer. Practically everything he does right now is new. Wait until he realises he’s good enough to own the pitch.
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471 Comments- Pages:
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Yorkbhoy
Major mistake by UEFA IMO, who gave in to pressure by the clubs ( Bayern Munich etc ) to consolidate their earnings.
Delighted SA has signed, looked unlikely at times as it seemed to be taking ages to get the deal done.
HH
THEORIGINALSADIESBHOY on 18TH AUGUST 2017 10:01 AM
Weet weet weet
Thanks for that link to Big Mikael’s photo. Brilliant. I love the ghuy and thought he was brilliant against Astana. Top player.
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Heading for legendary status.
Bobby Hogg
Starry Plough
Yep so many external factors inhibiting us when we already have one hand tied behind our back.
Davidopolous
Good suggestion, if clubs there would agree to play us knowing they’d be helping us prepare for a potential tie against their own champions, but worth looking into.
The goalie shoorly?
2 year deal for SA, safeguards the clubs position but I dont see all the parties involved in the negotiations being up for it again next year
HH
PHILBHOY on 18TH AUGUST 2017 10:14 AM
TURKEYBHOY
That rings a bell!
I also thought Celtic would benefit under the new system as previous WINNERS.
C’MON THE CELTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep Phil,that was what I read at the time.Dont know where the 4th qualifier has come from.
SA agrees to a 1 year extension , does not look like a long term commitment to me.
Trad- SA deal looks like a compromise to me.
Moravcik67 on twitter
-No, our ’67 big Cup win doesn’t mean we get bonus points as part of our coefficient for seeding. UEFA changed their mind on this.
-It will, however, be added to our coefficient when used to distribute CL revenue between the clubs. Every little helps.
-Yes, the number of places in next seasons Champions route will drop from 5 to 4, and yes we will face 4 qualifying rounds, not 3.
RON67
It suits SA and gives us a better chance to get a decent fee for him.
No way were the PLC going to flog him for buttons.
HH
LennyBhoy – Happy Birthday D, have a great day.
HH
Armstrong’s one year extension shows no commitment to Celtic, get him sold!
!!Bada Bing!! on 18th August 2017 10:31 am
Trad- SA deal looks like a compromise to me.
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Absolutely. Oh well, as long as we know he won’t leave on a Bosman and has this off his shoulders for the season to come we can forget about it for now, in the full knowledge that he also faces a fight for a place in the team.
HH
OK,whats the right story with Stuart.CQN saying he has signed a 2 year extension.BBC,saying its 1 year.
In my simple head,he had 1 year left.If he has signed for a further 2,thats 3 years.No?.
Somone please tell us all which.Cant be that hard.
Anyway,whatever,if he continues to impress again,his value will soar.No losers .
Happy Birthday LENNYBHOY.
Well done Stuart Armstrong…you know it makes sense.
As for Snodgrass at Celtic ?
Not for me, although some players have proved me wrong in the past.
OLD TIM…Hope yer well auld yin.
HH
If we have to play a 4th qualifier next year,who would our possible opponents be.Auchnileck Talbot,FFS.
From Celtic’s website:
CELTIC are delighted to announced that Stuart Armstrong has signed a new-two year contract that will see him remain at the club until at least the summer of 2019.
The midfielder joined the Hoops back in February 2015 and scored on his debut, netting in a 3-0 victory over Partick Thistle at Firhill along with fellow debutant Gary Mackay-Steven.
The 25-year-old Scottish internationalist has made 112 appearances for the club to date, scoring 25 goals, the most recent coming in the 5-0 League Cup win over Kilmarnock earlier this month, and he was an integral part of the treble-winning Invincibles squad last season under Brendan Rodgers, scoring 17 goals in the campaign. Stuart has now won three league titles, one Scottish Cup and one League Cup with Celtic.
Stuart said: “I am delighted to sign this new contract with Celtic. I have had a tremendous time at the Club so far and it has been a period in my footballing career which I have enjoyed immensely.
“It has been an honour to play for a Club of such stature. I have enjoyed a great relationship with our supporters and we have achieved a high level of success, something it has been great to be part of.
“I’m pleased that this new contract has been agreed and I am now looking forward very much to working with the manager, our staff and my team-mates to bring the club and our fans even more success.”
Happy Birthday LENNYBHOY. Hope the day out goes as well as a Hootenanny!
If the answer to the 538 games question is Bobby Hogg I can say I saw him playing!!
Methuselah CSC.
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 18TH AUGUST 2017 10:32 AM
yes agree 100%
HH
Best deal all round. SA gets to show everyone how good he is, and Celtic get an huge fee when he goes.
Seems like a good solution.
HH
RobinBhoy on 18th August 2017 10:41 am
From Celtic’s website:
CELTIC are delighted to announced that Stuart Armstrong has signed a new-two year contract that will see him remain at the club until at least the summer of 2019.
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In reality, the deal signed will see him remain until at best January 2019, probably summer 2018.
HH
OK,the official from Celtic,
CELTIC are delighted to announced that Stuart Armstrong has signed a new-two year contract that will see him remain at the club until at least the summer of 2019
So does that mean,the old contract has been binned,and a brand new 2 year on been accepted?.
I take it thats it?
SA current contract ends summer 2018 , new contract ends summer 2019
TRADITIONALIST88 on 18TH AUGUST 2017 10:45 AM
RobinBhoy on 18th August 2017 10:41 am
From Celtic’s website:
CELTIC are delighted to announced that Stuart Armstrong has signed a new-two year contract that will see him remain at the club until at least the summer of 2019.
==========
In reality, the deal signed will see him remain until at best January 2019, probably summer 2018.
Thats not what Celtic said,
CELTIC are delighted to announced that Stuart Armstrong has signed a new-two year contract that will see him remain at the club until at least the summer of 2019.
At LEAST until the summer of 2019.
Turkeybhoy on 18th August 2017 10:50 am
Celtic said that, but why are we negotiating with the player now?? Because we don’t want to lose him for nothing.
Same applies next year. The *reality* of the deal is that if he doesnt sign extension again next summer(2018), he’ll be sold (in 2018, despite the contract officially running until 2019) to protect our investment.
SA good for our pr to say 2 year deal when it is only a 1 year extension to his current contract with a pay rise.
This time next year, Stuart will be off to West Brom or similar. Ours not to reason why.
TURKEYBHOY
His contract is till 2019. It will only be AT LEAST 2019 if he signs another one.
Sadly,I doubt that will happen. He’ll be 27,an established international and seasoned CL campaigner. His stock will be at its peak.
We either sell him-which would be a sad loss-or he runs down his contract and REALLY maximises his income,or he runs it down and leaves for free.
Neither is my preference. I rate him highly,and would like him to stay further.
Its all about the transfer fee. The PLC wont be giving SA away for free, that is for certain. However, now there is a bit of pressure on SA to produce, as his future employers will be watching closely id imagine.
HH
Bobby Hogg.
Frankmarker quick off the mark.
Cosy corner boy
Yes.
Singing: Stuart Armstrong is here for ten, no wait, it’s only 9. Oh no, wait, it’s maybe only 8 actually. In fact he might leave after 7!!!
………in a row, 7 in a row.
It’s no’ very catchy, is it?
So good news about Armstrong. He’ll be off one day but clearly not been made a good enough offer. If he applies himself to make a move attractive to suitors down south then that’s fine. As for qualifying for CL next season, looks like we’ll be starting during the group stage of the World Cup finals. Bonkers.
BHOYJOEBELFAST
I reckoned it was likely to be the captain of The Empire Exhibition Cup. But I don’t think Willie Lyon played nearly that number of games.
Well done to FRANKMARKER and COSYCORNERBHOY-who can recall stuff like that from so many decades ago,but canny remember eff all about last week.
Only kidding,Dad.
Turkeybhoy @ !0:47
That`s how I read it.
” CELTIC are delighted to announced that Stuart Armstrong has signed a new-two year contract that will see him remain at the club until at least the summer of 2019.”
His old contract was until summer of 2018.
He `has signed a new-two year contract`until 2019.
Two years runs from 2017 – 2019
Ergo, old contact terminated and new contract for two years.
JJ
BMCUW – did you see my post about phage technology earlier in the week?
The Pot 3 / Pot 4 thing .
Finally got round to watching Napoli 2 – Nizza 0 .
. A typical curate’s egg from Napoli . The very good and the very average .
Missed umpteen chances and gifted Nizza 2 excellent chances which they failed to take .
One of Napoli’s goals came from a penalty which wasn’t a penalty — a clear foul (an assault ) but it was outside the box . Nizza player should have been red carded .
2 red cards for Nizza – 1 for a dreadful tackle and the other a second yellow for having a temper tantrum re the red card .
Napoli managed to be even more profligate v 9 men than they were against 11 .
Post match saw Maurizzio Sarri – ( the Manager ) – describing himself as dissonant – first competitive game of the season , a 2-0 victory against a good team , created a lot of chances but didn’t take them , some shambolic defending which went unpunished and way too much trying to score the perfect goal when Nizza were down to 9 men.. – ” they need to learn that football is a competitive sport not a beauty competition “.
Napoli 2 up but the tie is far from over !!
To me the Armstrong deal looks like a ” sign a short contract and you can go, we get a few quid more and both parties happy” ….Punt Him, imo.