Football’s hard, Armstrong, McNeill v Greig

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Last week I suggested we were better with yesterday’s game over and done with, but I have to admit to thoroughly enjoying the occasion.  It may not have been the derby of Old, but it had traces of familiarity from my youth, when managers Billy McNeill and John Greig faced each other.

I watched the game back on television last night.  What an absolute pair of trumpets Warburton and Weir are!  Weir was sent to the stand for demanding Mikael Lustig receive a second yellow card, despite not receiving his first.  Warburton then explained this to the media, indignant that Lustig wasn’t dismissed for two yellows, still totally oblivious to the fact he hadn’t been booked.

Football’s hard.  Referees make mistakes.  But keeping track of who has been booked is remarkably simple.  It was Nir Bitton, not Mikael, who was booked early in the game.  Nir and Mikael have a similar, slight, build, but there’s 7cm between them, with different skin and hair pantones.

What does this tell us?  That the Newco management didn’t know their opponents well enough to tell them apart, never mind how they would play.  Remarkable, considering how often we’ve been on television this season.

Two weeks ago a Dundee United fan asked me what we’d done to Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven.  Armstrong, he explained, was never going to make it as a wide player, he was effective for United through the middle.

I think we suffered for the loss of Tom Rogic, as Stuart edged himself into the occasion, but it may be Ronny Deila deployed him incorrectly.

Moments to cherish from the game: Moussa Dembele’s first touch to control Lustig’s cross at the fourth, and his reverse pass for Scott Sinclair at the third.  You’ve not seen control and awareness like that from a Celtic striker in over a decade.

We’ll touch on the longer-term issues of yesterday at a later date, after we’ve got Barcelona out of our system.

The one thing we all wanted from yesterday was to come through the game without further injuries.  Both Scott Brown and Tom Rogic, two of our central midfield three, retired early.  I’m not going to tell you we’ll take anything from Barcelona on Tuesday, but having Brown, Rogic and Bitton in the team will allow us to at least face the game in decent condition.

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  1. Warbo has a worse League record than Deila, and that’s with 36 matches played at Championship level.

     

     

    Problems.

     

     

    At least Ronny had dignity and class mind you unlike the Tragic Hat. The guy is miles out of his depth, one of the most overrated Manager’s in history. Rodgers will wipe the floor with him.

  2. Re our new keeper, I heard jermaine jenas on the radio this week talking about formations and he said if you’re playing with a back three it’s a necessity that all 3 defenders are comfortable with he ball and the keepers distribution has to be good as well. Guardiola said the same thing after bravo’s nightmare yesterday in the Manchester derby – if you want to play his way then the keeper must be part of the outfield “patterns”, keep possession effectively. He basically said bravo’s offensive qualities balanced out his defensive weaknesses

     

     

    It seems to be part of the new paradigm, I don’t agree with it, I had thought that the new obsession with possession might have started to go out of fashion after the euros but it doesn’t look like it.

  3. Saint Stivs says SACK THE BOARD on

    Ignoring the diddy cups sections – looking at league and cup only, here is a sequence of results that would get many managers sacked. The SMSM love in with goon faced russ abott look a likely baffles me. also noted they actually manage to lose 5 and draw 6 in the 2nd teir league

     

     

    same for the pundits, how can they possibly suggest that a team that loses that amount of goals is a league contender. also now their forwards are up against real professional defences, they cant score.

     

     

    hahahahahha, hahahahhaha, hahahahahah

     

     

    2nd rangers.

     

     

    11 March 2016 Championship Rangers 3–1 Greenock Morton

     

    18 March 2016 Championship Falkirk 3–2 Rangers

     

    26 March 2016 Championship Rangers 4–3 Queen of the South

     

    2 April 2016 Championship Raith Rovers 3–3 Rangers

     

    5 April 2016 Championship Rangers 1–0 Dumbarton

     

    Semi Final Rangers 2−2 (a.e.t.) Celtic

     

    20 April 2016 Championship Hibernian 3–2 Rangers

     

    23 April 2016 Championship Rangers 1–1 Alloa Athletic

     

    26 April 2016 Championship Livingston 1–0 Rangers

     

    1 May 2016Championship St Mirren 2–2 Rangers

     

    21 May 2016 Final Rangers 2−3 Hibernian

     

    1 Rangers 1−1 Hamilton Academical

     

    13 August 20162 Dundee 1−2 Rangers

     

    20 August 20163 Rangers 2−1 Motherwell

     

    26 August 20164 Kilmarnock 1−1 Rangers

     

    10 September 20165 Celtic 5−1 Rangers

     

     

    wait till another top team beat them, hahahahahhahahah

  4. Saint Stivs says SACK THE BOARD on

    5 wins, 6 draws, 5 defeats in the last 16 league and scottish cup matches.

     

     

    they wont make top 6.

     

     

    especially when they get points of for administration.

     

     

    hahahahhahahahahahahha

  5. With regards to our ‘keeper and who it should be,I reckon what Brendan wants is one who fits his preferred style of play.Going by what he’s said about De Vries,and starting him in our last two games,I assume he’s Brendan’s first choice.

     

    I’m also assuming Brendan knows what he’s doing.Whatever qualities Doris and Craig possess our manager looks like he believes De Vries is more suited to his vision of how he wants us to play.Both are good ‘keepers with many strengths,and both have their weaknesses,but Brendan seems to value De Vries’ attributes higher and to be of more benefit to the team’s performance.

     

    Having two top ‘keepers to choose from is a major boost,Hedman anyone??I’m just going to trust Brendan in his selections.

     

    ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

     

    Heard Warburton’s handing in his resignation.And as a nod to his surname he’s going to do it dressed as Meat LOAF.

     

    Whilst singing Hat Outta Hell. ;))

     

     

    ALGETMECOATcsc

  6. Thetimreaper

     

     

    Hope you had a great day on Thursday belated birthday wishes, delighted Brendan & the Bhoys made it a good weekend

  7. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    SAINT STIVS

     

     

    Oh dear,those figures don’t look good.

     

     

    I make it 21 points from 16 games. Our season,of course,is 38 league games.

     

     

    Their aim of 55 looks unlikely. If you get my drift.

  8. TIM REAPER and ST STIVS

     

    You’re being a pair of meanies about the pure brilliant magic man.

     

    His teams humping yesterday was only cause they were unlucky and the ref was a teacher at a kafflik skool.

     

    The pure magic man will pull a surprise out of the hat next time we meet.

     

    Warbs is better than the great McCoist so must be around the level of Ferguson or Stein.

     

    The Scottish press telt me that so it must be true.

  9. Just back from an afternoon soiree in ye old Vogue Bar tavern in Ruggy. The reb tunes were blaring loudly and proudly. You would have thought we had won a game of significance. My summation of yesterday was that it was less about winning a one side game of football and more a statement of intent for the future which is undoubtedly green and white. VFR Thanks very much for your post amigo. Hh

  10. CELTIC40ME on 11TH SEPTEMBER 2016 4:49 PM

     

    Thanks for that, hope it was the same guy, I was sure though they didn’t move him until about 25 minutes. If you hear anything else perhaps you could e-mail me lennybhoycfc@gmail.com. The incident happened in the Row in front of Thetimreaper.

     

    Keep the Faith!

     

    Hail Hail!

  11. Afteenoon

     

     

    Having being accused of ‘hurting’ earlier today by the esteemed Sandman I would point you all in the direction of an article on Grauniad website by Mr Ewan Murray. Were I sober enough to post the link but trust me. Mr Murray and indeed Mr Warburton. Now that’s what I call hurting.

     

     

    Slainte mhath

     

     

     

    Jim

  12. Wouldn’t be too harsh on Mark Warburton, he looked and sounded as if he was in shock, someone who has just realised he is completely out of his depth, which of course he is. Mark must stay.

  13. Please someone tell me them images of dolls with ropes attached to them are photoshopped or something, absolutely awful thing to do.

     

     

    Many families have found family members in such tragic circumstances .. Whoever did it needs a good slap.

  14. When we signed the pair from United, I wanted Armstrong but was sceptical about GMS based on his lightweight inconsistency with United. Both had good 6 months at the start but the form of Brown, Bitton, McGregor and Rogic meant he was being squeezed out of centre midfield consideration.

     

     

    Ronny Deila did not play him wide left because he thought that was his best position; he played him there because other options for that spot were failing- GMS was playing poorly there, James Forrest (who had Callum Paterson on toast when he played there) was struggling to be fit often enough and was being affected by the boo boys in our support (and he was one of many to be so affected in RD’s 2nd season), McGregor was never a winger either and suffered when played out of the centre. Until we signed Scott Sinclair- we had no-one to effectively play there. If Scott gets injured, it will probably be James Forrest who is asked to fill in (I would give Izzy the job there as his assist record is better than his crossing reputation suggests).

     

     

    Stuart Armstrong had a very good half hour yesterday butt Tom Rogic is the guy in possession of that no.10 position and will not be easily shifted. Stuart will have a better chance of tackling Nir’s position in the team because, though he played well yesterday, this season’s form from him overall has not been great.

     

     

    There has been too much ascribed to the BR effect on players. Good form and good results improve everyone’s mood. Our Euro failures last year, caused by the absence of Van Dijk and Denayer (and unavailability of Simunovic) meant we were in a low-ish and fractious mood between September and March, and the January loss to Ross County in the LC brought us very far down. We were no longer content to just win a league- we wanted and deserved added value to that. The final straw was the defeat to Sevco and the lack of fight in the team on that day. Ronny was heading for the exit door anyway but that result meant he was unfairly labelled a dud as he left.

     

     

    I am as delighted as anyone that we have started our domestic campaign so brilliantly. No manager since MON in 200 has had a better domestic start. However MON did not have a July start to his Euro campaign. Even so we just scraped through our 2nd Uefa tie against HJK by 3 goals to 2 before losing to Bordeaux in the next round.

     

     

    Delighted as I am, I see no BR revolution in our Euro level yet. Two away defeats in Gibralter and Israel and a fortunate draw in Kazakhstan does not indicate we are yet ready to trouble Barca, Man City or Gladbach. Any fair minded neutral predictor would be expecting a 3 or 4 point haul, at best, from that group.

     

     

    We will, however, get better than our July and August Euro form and, I still hope for an unexpected win somewhere which will boost our chances. One home win ad two home draws could go a long way to boosting our chances of 3rd or an unlikely second place but we will need to acclerate our improvement beyond the current level of evolution (not revolution) which Brendan has brought.

     

     

    It’s gonna be great fun finding out. But the volatile element of the support, which switches from extreme optimism to extreme pessimism on a game by game basis, will need to show a more measured appreciation of where we are in World Football at this time.

  15. G64

     

     

    No apologies needed with me, fellow Celtic eijits talking about Celtic is always good…. High 5 fae ML5 yes that is M L FIVE for any non Celtic fans, yesterday was the level 5 I quite like

  16. glendalystonsils on

    SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 11TH SEPTEMBER 2016 5:23 PM

     

     

    Both feet on the ground with that post. Excellent.

  17. Goalkeepers – on what I’ve seen so far they are almost identical in terms of capabilities – you cant tell the apart. Definitely have sympathy for Craig Gordon – getting replaced by someone who is no better than you are must hurt.

  18. Let’s enjoy the next 48 hours because we are probably in for a big reality check on Tuesday night. Celtic to win in the noucamp by just one goal. Hh

  19. Proudbhoy 5.23pm

     

     

    Not saw them and only read on here, am trying not too comment on something I have not saw but “if” true pretty disgusting not sure what goes through people’s minds at times, if anything sinister it’s even worse, concentrate on the good things and as you say no place for that shoite anywhere never mind the football

  20. 67HEAVEN (ages ago)

     

     

    I share your concerns regarding the vandalism at Celtic Park.

     

     

    However, Celtic will get the money for the damage privately and at the same time decimate the Sevco warchest. We used to regularly get paid for damaged seats when it was rANGERs.

     

     

    It was pointed out to me yesterday by TBB, Celtic are correct to make no fuss over because of the adverse publicity Celtic receive when for example a wee bhoy uses his felt tip pen in the toilets elsewhere?

     

     

    The BBC had to report the damage purely because of social media and it’s pressure group. They blatantly omitted to mention Sevco rANGERSs or even Chelsea fans, whereas had it been Celtic fans, the headlines would have been used to say how we ran amok.

     

     

    Sometimes saying nothing says more.

     

     

    HH

  21. I’m losing the run of myself, starting to believe we could take Barca. It’s watching all the re-runs of yesterday’s goals that’s softening my brain.

  22. glendalystonsils on

    Let’s hope Barca think they will face the same kind of Celtic side they faced and beat comfortably in the ICC.

     

     

    Optimistic CSC

  23. SFTB

     

    Realistic expectations for our European challenge.

     

    We still are not a complete team as a few areas need an upgradePersonnel and spacing still an issue at European level.

     

    Have been pleasantly surprised at how far along Brendans team building is.

     

    Cant agree on your assertion that the form of Bitton.Brown.McGregor and Rogic kept Armstrong from the central berth last season.

     

    Only Rogic from above list showed any measure of form last season.

     

    Armstrong’s omission was purely based on a coaches choice which i personally think was flawed.

  24. Why are u all putting warburton in the same class as Ronnie?

     

    FFS Ronnie won 2 titles have u all forgotten that ?

  25. BARNEY67 on 11TH SEPTEMBER 2016 5:51 PM

     

    Why are u all putting warburton in the same class as Ronnie?

     

     

    FFS Ronnie won 2 titles have u all forgotten that ?

     

     

    ——-

     

    3 trophies in total if you’re being fussy.

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