We saw a thoroughly professional performance from Celtic in Stockholm last night. AIK were always a team we should have beaten, but ‘should have’ does not always happen, as our previous encounter proved.
James Forrest, Mikey Johnston and Odsonne Edouard were on fire, while Christopher Jullien and Boli Bolingoli looked more comfortable than in previous outings.
Lazio finished eighth in Serie A last season, behind all the big names, but a decent ‘Best of the Rest’. Rennes are off to a flier, top after three wins from three games, including a win over PSG, but finished 10th in Ligue 1 last term. They will be better than anyone we have faced so far this season but this is why we want to be in European football.
Cluj are the team I wanted most of all. They are a strong pot 4 team but we were awful against them and need to put it right. This is a challenging Europa League group providing lots of opportunity to prove a point. Bring it on.
48 hours from now, we will be in action at Ibrox, where we were outplayed twice last season in games that ultimately cost nothing. Those experiences seem to have left some in our number with a bedwetting disposition ahead of Sunday. Steven Gerrard has added ten to his squad while Celtic, if you read some coverage, have done little transfer business of note. This is bollocks!
Gerrard starts from a losing position. His team have not won any major trophies. Celtic have been imperious on a level never previously known, three consecutive trebles!
Of Newco’s ten additions, two were for money (Helander, who they did not pay the reported £3m for, and Edmundson, sending £700k to the English fourth tier in return). Two are loans (Ojo and King), but the bulk are the Tried and Tested Free Transfers route to building a successful team (Hastie, Jones, Stewart, Davis, Aribo, Barker).
Bargain bucket- teams are easier to assemble than teams full of players who command transfer fees, but when the trophies are handed out, they are seldom on the receiving end.
By contrast, Celtic have so far spent £12m reassembling their disrupted defence (Jullien, Bolingoli, Elhamed), with Bauer on loan – and an option to buy him. There is also a quality left back on his way.
Fraser Forster is here on loan (he’s not cheap). We took advantage of the cross-country opportunity we exploited to sign Moussa Dembele, to capture Luca Connell for £350k, and I expect another first team addition (as well as the left back) before the window closes.
Celtic got everything wrong on one game this season but have all of the most productive, successful and valuable players in the country on the field at Ibrox on Sunday. We cannot take any game for granted, and I have seldom gone to Ibrox without concerns, but Celtic will blow Scottish football away again this season. I’m not buying the Newco threat.
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SFtBs @ l 11:30 AM,
Well…
I do not see the “interesting” conclusion that you have derived
If I may say so…
Classic SFtBs reframing the debate and respondinding to the reframed arguement.
I taught you well:)))
My question was anyone find that statement interesting, not my conclusions.
So is Paul’s statement interesting.
…mibees aye, mibees no.
What I requested was, if so, compare and contrast that statement with a previous statement he made.
To say it’s always been tuff to get a result against Sevco Rangers at Ibrox is a nonsense, until last years summer transfer debacle…
Goasl: Rangers 4 -12 Celtic
Points: Rangers 0 Celtic 12
Loved it when Dembele visited upon them, had certainly had no concerns.
But that wasn’t great for business, was it?
I’m all angst out after the last August.
The Old Firm is back… Good
Will they get their 55 or will we get our 9iar!!??
Better than WWE yeah!
Wee favour…
Tell your tag mate that we are responsible for our actions while drunk or sober.
Also I was the first one on CQN to use the TLA GoD, so no lessons needed;)
Hail Hail
Hearing the Taylor deal done, should be announced soon. Not sure the details but close to £2 million and I think they’ll get a Celtic player on loan. I think it’s Hendry but also talk of Euan Henderson on loan as well.
Until we meet again.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
@ SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 31ST AUGUST 2019 11:30 AM
“Both the dead club and the new Zombies play out of Ibrox and it has been hard to win there with both iterations of the club.”
We had it pretty good the first couple of years of Sevco being in the top division. Even Brendan’s defeat was on the back of a poor transfer window, a team full of injuries, a grueling schedule and a scandalous display by Beaton and we lost 1-0 and had a goal disallowed for offside (I wonder if it would have stood at the other end of the park).
The display under Neil was insipid but the league was already won.
Still, you have to ask why has the situation turned from a fixture we went into with lots of confidence to one we would now be happy to take a draw from?
Either Sevco have improved or we have regressed, or maybe a combination of both? As we are richer than we have ever been and, by all accounts, they are another financial basket case, you have to ask: how the hell did this happen?
@ LENNYBHOY on 31ST AUGUST 2019 1:26 PM
Good updates as usual!
Shame it’s not Melling. But I guess that finishes business for the window.
Still, I guess we had to wait to nearly the last day of the window to sign Taylor as he would want to see if we were in the champions league or europa league before he signed…
More fantastic planning by the teflon don.
My Mobile phone has lost all my contacts :(((
So if anyone has my number and wants to stay in touch can you send me a quick text with your name on it.
I hate Glasgow derby games and just want it over with any kind of result for us.
Justdoit CelticCSC
Thanks Lennybhoy – A ‘proper’ left back.
That’ll do me. Bed the following in asap…
Forster
Bauer Ajer Julien Taylor
—–
And remember, that’s a brand new backline beyond the big Nordic Lovegod. Bit of patience fhellas for the inevitable curve they’ll go through..
—–
One last push for a DM?
Well Done Celtic.
The Europa League prices are excellent Value for Money.👍
Full houses guaranteed.👍👍
an dun
They should tell UEFA
https://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/club=50086/profile/history/index.html
QF
You can please some of the folk some of the time.
But you can`t please some of the folk any of the time.
Fifth columnist CSC
BRING ON THE RANGERS.
My friends in Celtic,
I mentioned this the other day, but make no apology for another shout out.
Mega mega congratulations to the Bhoys and Ghirls from Tyneside CSC no1 who are just finishing their walk from Tyneside to Paradise.
They are walking to support mental health issues and the Celtic Foundation.
As it’s all over Twitter and Facebook I reckon CQN’ers should also be in the loop.
HH to all concerned.
Europa tickets cheaper than I expected.
Looking forward to the Cluj rematch. I was hoping we would get them in the draw.
Fully expect six points.
QF
QF – When Derry qualified for Europe they were awarded zero co-efficient points and were denied the old club’s record. That’s the reality regardless of a website that probably hasn’t been updated in many years. Same with The Rangers.
LEFTCLICKTIC on 31ST AUGUST 2019 1:29 PM
Sent you a message…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
In fact my tickets to all three games is £23 cheaper than my wife’s ticket to see Pink!!
QF
PL bonus goin to suffer wi those prices.
Thanks Lennybhoy. Boys got potential.
HH
GREENPINATA @ 1:41 PM,
Saw it, was too busy to comment.
Very well done all involved in the walk…
…Excellent achievement.
I’m assuming the Hun Skelper General took the Coach;)))
Hail Hail
LENNYBHOY
Thanks and take care!
C’MON THE CELTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With Bauer and Taylor in, our defense options look a lot stronger. Tomorrow is too soon for them but they will be crucial over the season.
Is big Pete keeping the VW deal back until after tomorrow as a pick-me-up in case we lose . . . Only 13 million, he’s a steal. Get it done please 🙏
an dun
It would not have been zero as you always get a bit of the country coefficient. UEFA’s thinking seems to be you can have a break in history and be the same club, but the break in accounts loses things such as coefficient points.
The website is bang up to date if you check it.
It’s a rotten system but it is what it is!!
QF
As long as we are top of the table come Sunday night I will be happy…
Taylor not in Kilmarnock team / bench v St Johnstone
Denia, If Ajer doesn’t make it I reckon Bauer will be thrown in at the deep end tomorrow,
Can Pink play left back?
!!BADA BING!! on 31ST AUGUST 2019 2:12 PM
Can Pink play left back?
—–
Nope but tomorrow she can get the party started.
Mon the Hoops.
Stuart Armstrong is wastin his time down there
Further to my earlier post, had a message from Catman about 15 minutes ago that Taylor is undergoing his medical.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
adi_dassler on 31st August 2019 2:26 pm
Stuart Armstrong is wastin his time down there
———-
Armstrong wouldn’t get into our starting 11
How on earth does Joe Cole get a job on the TV, thick as ****
Ole will be punted, Man U will just do the usual where they wait months before pulling the trigger
Didnt know Mohamed is cousin of AIK’s star man
Facts.com
Chairbhoy
“To say it’s always been tuff to get a result against Sevco Rangers at Ibrox is a nonsense, until last years summer transfer debacle…
Goasl: Rangers 4 -12 Celtic
Points: Rangers 0 Celtic 12
Loved it when Dembele visited upon them, had certainly had no concerns.
But that wasn’t great for business, was it?”
————————————————————-
It certainly was great for business with our fans. Who knows how long theirs would put up with it? But it was always going to change to become more competitive and, outside of our most paranoid thoughts, it is not an indicator that we have “allowed” them to become better.
The new club spent 4 years getting 3 promotions to make it into the SPFL. Even though they were packed with internationalists and players stolen from other clubs (they could not have afforded them if they had not dumped their debts) they were still not SPFL standard when they first arrived in the top division. We got to play with them for a bit and enjoyed the humpings . They came up in 2016/17 and have now had 3 seasons to become battle hardened to SPFL standards. They still have a 50k home crowd to fund better buys than our previous rivals (Aberdeen and Hearts) could manage with their lower income so it was inevitable that they would become relevant again.
They actually beat us on pens in a semi whilst still a Championship club and they won two of the fixtures last year. A GoD does not guarantee that you will win every game, it does not guarantee that you get to hunskelp every time.
So what precisely was your point? I answered your conclusion because, as I explained in my post, I found Paul67’s two statements quite understandable and quite factual. It is the conclusion that there is collusion to get Sevco competitive that I find interesting and controversial, and, I think, I am still allowed to respond to the things I find interesting as you are quite capable of dealing with what you find “interesting”.
Did you believe that Sevco have been irrevocably confined to an irrelevant position in Scottish football? I certainly did not. And if you did not believe that, why do you need to invent collusion as the means to have made them relevant?
Those of us who saw what Larsson & Brattback did in 1997/98 know that a so-called “weaker” team, one that has become accustomed to losing, can make the breakthrough and overtake a seemingly invincible squad. The 97/98 process can happen to us and it could have happened already but it hasn’t. We can waste our lives in fear of them doing this to us, and sharpening our pitchforks and oiling our lamps for the subsequent witch-hunt, or we can enjoy what we have been given by this generation of players and what they have yet to give.
That’s a choice every one of us faces.
You Scottish bhoys will know if Greg is a good buy or not.
SFTB @ 3.12 – thumbs up thingumyjig
I’ve never paid any attention to Greg Taylor, even when he’s been playing against us. I have no clue whether he’s any good or not.
Don’t normally bother posting team thoughts ahead of a game but for this one definitely feel strongly that big Fraser should get the nod ahead of Craig Gordon. Craig is a good back up but that’s it. Big FF can even save penalties! Has Craig Gordon – don’t get me wrong Craig has been good for us – but has he ever saved a penalty I wonder. Seen many a penalty go by him as he never gets anywhere near them.
RTB: https://twitter.com/Alan_Morrison67/status/1167450699237605378?s=20
AN DUN on 31ST AUGUST 2019 11:36 AM
I’d play Ntcham over Mikey as well
Ntchaim is, on occasion, a very good and very skilful player. But I think he lacks the ‘dig’ for a game like this.
Rtb
Think he saved one in Israel, it was very important
If we had held our nerve when up against Cluj at 0-0, 2-1 and 3-2 then we would have gone on to play Slavia, but we didn’t – and that was in front of our own fans. So thats my concern for tomorrow, the players might bottle it given the hostile atmosphere they are playing in. Lenny loves it yeah but he’s not playing.
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 31ST AUGUST 2019 3:12 PM
Good to see you back and on form.
Looking forward to further skirmishes.
Keep well.