Formation and why we will be ready for Sunday

704

Patrick Roberts is back and fit, and has previous good form against Newco, but Brendan has relied heavily on James Forrest this season, so may be disposed to prefer the latter for Sunday.  I am usually clear on which of the two I prefer against any opposition (James for teams who press us, leaving space for him to exploit, Patrick for teams who defend deep), but I am pulled two ways this time.

If pushed, I would go with James, leaving Patrick as a option when legs are tired.

We don’t usually have chats about which goalkeeper to play, but Scott Bain and Craig Gordon will both be hoping to start.  Craig is fit, so If Scott gets the nod, it may indicate that the ongoing first choice keeper slot is up for grabs.

I expect we will see the return of a more recognisable back four, with Michael Lustig returning in place of Jack Hendry.  How Brendan deploys Dedryck Boyata will be crucial.  The opening goal we lost at Ibrox last month came from a ploy Newco have used repeatedly against us since the 2016 Scottish Cup semi-final.

Their players will often stand off Celtic but press Dedryck whenever he is in possession.  Dedryck needs options available or he should go Route One.

Tom Rogic travelled a lot of miles and played a lot of football in March, so I am sure he was rested at Hamilton to ensure he would be in prime shape for Sunday.  Brown and Ntcham will sit behind him and Dembele will lead the line.

This leaves one place to be filled by Sinclair, Armstrong or McGregor.  My preference would be to favour the middle of the park.  Control passing in the central area and we will win comfortably.  We failed to dominate there in each of our three draws against Newco (2-2, 1-1, 0-0).  McGregor would get the nod for this task, where I would ask him to play a conserved, always-available, role.

The manager has had a week at Lennoxtown with his team – a rare luxury for Celtic.  So chill, we will be ready.

Win Two Scottish Cup semi-final tickets for the Celtic end on Sunday

Celtic sponsor, Intelligent Car Leasing, have very kindly donated two tickets which you can win, and help the Celtic FC Foundation.  All you need to do is answer this simple question:

Which ground can Celtic win the league at on 21 April?

The competition has only been live for a day, closing 13:00 today Friday 13th, so if you don’t have a ticket, you have very little time to do something about it……

To enter, make a £5 minimum donation to the Foundation at this MyDonate link.  Then send your confirmation email to celticquicknews@gmail.com WITH THE ANSWER IN THE SUBJECT LINE.  If you are not on your email this afternoon, include your phone number.

Tickets will be available for collection at Celtic Park on Sunday lunchtime.

Two tickets, Celtic end, Sunday…………  Good luck and thanks to Intelligent Car Leasing and all who enter!

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

704 Comments

  1. Big changes expected in the processing of criminal offences in the UK.

     

     

    Allegedly now means you definitely done it!

  2. Beautiful morning here in West Lothian.

     

     

    Might get the barby cleaned up for early use.

  3. A page 15 treble podium means a quiet Saturday morning.

     

     

    Hope you all have a good day!

  4. Philbhoy good morning, I think we have to get a bit of sun and heat Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week, so cleaning the old barbie might be a good shout.

     

     

    D. :)

  5. Joe Filippis Haircut on

    If I am counting correctly and we win tomorrow that will be ten games in a row that the tribute act will not have beaten us. So come on you hoops and give us ten in a row I know it will not be easy but if Brendan gets the team selection right and we play a pressing high tempo game I dont think The Rangers can live with us however, if we play at a walking pace and continuely pass the ball backwords we will struggle so come on you abahoys in green. H.H.

  6. Canamalar it looks like OCD obsession on

    ACGR,

     

    If you get them to use the right materials, yer teeth might even survive

  7. A Ceiler Gonof Rust on

    I hope ma size 22 looks like Nancy Wilson when she gets the benefit of a gym and a good healthy diet. Hubba ding.

     

     

    And auld James page aint looking too bad either.

     

     

    A wee song for St Stivs, mr winklepickers and ma favourite + 1

     

     

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u-PjvRyr0I

     

     

    And that wee chunt HT anaw………:_)

  8. Hunderbirds are Gone on

    Trump trying to act statesman like in his address. Would be funny if it wasn’t so ‘kin depressing.

  9. Hunderbirds are Gone on

    The only war, I will be getting involved in over the coming weeks and months will be the war on hypocrisy.

  10. glendalystonsils on

    DAVID17 on 14TH APRIL 2018 10:29 AM

     

     

    Whit! Nae ‘balance of probability’ clause at the FA?

  11. A Ceiler Gonof Rust on

    Canmalar, that’s comforting to know, maybe being in the blast radius of the Condor base will give my dearly departed from my vaporised earthy shell a wee extra sparkle.

     

     

    If yer gonnay go, go wi a pearly white smile before yer lips ur metltit………….:_)

     

     

     

    Smash they durty orange zombies Celtic, put them back under the floorboards.

  12. BAMBOO

     

     

    Sorry for the late reply. It doesn’t matter what i believe, something is going down i know that much. And i’ll say again i live in and around Ruski’s and i wouldn’t trust them as far as i could throw them.

     

     

    Off out into the “Russia’s Garden” to get the Water Melons planted.

     

     

    redhotinbulgarskiCSC

  13. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    WWI caused by sabre-rattling.

     

     

    WWII caused by appeasement.

     

     

    Anything can start a war,but we are shamed if we sit on our hands and do nothing while someone uses chemical warfare against his own people or,as in Rwanda and “Yugoslavia”,against other ethnic minorities.

     

     

    I’m not in favour of waging war,but I’m not in favour of the above either. I won’t applaud today’s actions. Rather,I’ll condemn those who brought them about.

  14. The Paranoia Gap.

     

     

    I’ll be glad when this game is over after another week of stomach turning desperation of Sevco and their partners in SMSM pretending that they are the equivalence of dead Rainjurz. In with a hello hello and a shout BBC started advertising the Scottish Cup and their new coverage on Hogmanay, it’s a tournament that took on new importance when Rainjurz died and the new club from root and branch attempted parity via division four.

     

     

    Sevco meantime bombed, binned another saviour and their biggest investments of around £1M of last years season ticket money are already banished to Mexico Loan players and the wreck of the Pedro’s Mendez and Pedro Caixinha were glued together by the untested youth coach.

     

     

    By new year Celtic were of course clear in the main prize and with a cup already in the cabinet, we now face the full force of ramped up bigotry backed by the SFA and a new parcel of brogues, acting as the referee and his daisy chain of assistants.

     

     

    Celtic will need to be good? – Sevco play back to basics football with an emphasis on defending properly, we seem to do a fairly successful opposite with the locus on attacking and scoring. This game we have to avoid the silly mistakes from the start and play the footballers

     

     

    I heard a Sevc say yesterday 10 in a row could never be allowed to happen, who’s paranoid now.

     

     

    The rebels with the treble

     

     

    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Gordon;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

     

    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

     

    Lustig;;;;;;Ajer::::::;:Boyata;;;;;;::Tierney

     

    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

     

    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Brown:::::::::::Ntcham:::::::::::

     

    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Rogic;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

     

    Forrest;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;MCGregor;;;;;;

     

    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

     

    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Dembele:;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

  15. Starry Plough

     

    Libya came before Syria, it was all going to plan, but they didn’t bank on the Russians getting involved.

     

    That wee pesky bit of water that the Iranians control sure is causing a bother in the gulf.

     

    HH

  16. Hunderbirds are Gone on

    ACGR

     

     

    Just saw your.. eh.. “stump” comment..

     

    .. and then refresh… and wooosh, and it was gone. Mods on the ball.

     

     

    Anyway.. funny ?

  17. Canamalar it looks like OCD obsession on

    BMCUW,

     

    I never took you for a useful idiot but your last post you just condemned yourself to exactly that title.

     

     

    Today the due process was to begin investigating to find out the facts, get that, the facts. The only authority in the world that is respected to by all parties to provide the answers were preempted by the three countries who have a history of committing crimes against humanity. Who have constantly started wars breaking UN rules, and here we are again yet you appear to have learned nothing.

     

    Civilians were murded in their beds this morning by your champions without any evidence to back their claims and your cheerleading, a country that all three of the perpetrators invested millions into destabilising and backing organisations they have previously condemned as terrorists.

  18. Hunderbirds are Gone on

    Right, Mrs H away to her daughters hen do for the weekend, so I am away to the co-op for some cold Stella. Then have to decide whether to bask in the sun in the back garden, or watch today’s Semi-Final.

     

     

    I hate both teams equally (hate is a very strong word – Ed). On balance though, I think I prefer the Mothers to win today. That way, in spite of any potentially poor results from us, it still preserves the possibility of a soul crushing sequence of results for Sevco, resulting in their failure to qualify for European competition next season.

     

    ?⚽️

  19. I wouldn’t play Lustig tomorrow.

     

     

    Bain

     

     

    Hendry AJer Boyata Tierney

     

     

    Brown Ntcham

     

     

    Forrest McGregor Roberts

     

     

    Dembele

     

     

    We can then introduce Griffiths, Edouard and Rogic later in then game.

     

     

    However, I think Rodgers will play Lustig, Armstrong and Sinclair instead of Hendry, McGregor and Roberts.

     

     

     

    KTF

  20. Canamalar it looks like OCD obsession on

    The why would strikes be made before the OPCW arrive on site?

     

     

    If there were Chemical weapons factories (which the OPCW already say don’t exist) what do you think the result of bombing them would be ?

  21. Is it water that’s guiding sum….is it underground mineral wealth that’s grounding others…..

     

     

    FTSFA

     

     

    middleeastcarveupCSCS

     

     

    H.H.

  22. About to do my best to enjoy the first semi final. I hope Aberdeen win. That might be down to the fact that should we then win tomorrow, we’d be looking forward to a final against a team against which Brendan’s record stands as played 9, won 9, scored 22, conceded 3.

     

     

    Mon the Sheep!

  23. cathedral view on

    Not a very encouraging attendance at today’s big game from Hampden. Keep an eye on how many tickets either side request for the final.

     

     

    cv

  24. Canamalar it looks like OCD obsession on

    CV,

     

    Seriously, so what, I couldn’t give a monkeys about Celtic glory hunters not getting the chance to financially support the SFA