For the first 20 minutes of the second half, AZ Alkmaar lay siege to the Celtic defence, which stood firm. They only looked vulnerable when; in a carbon copy of the move Celtic scored with, Poku stretched but was unable to make a good enough contact to put the ball on target.
Free kicks and corners came and went without fuss, the defensive line was straight and each player in at the back controlled and distributed the ball safely. Considering most of us believe the defence is the area of the team most in need of supplements, we are already in an elevated position compared to last season.
Yet again Anthony Ralston made a significant contribution, this time, sending Liel Abada clear to cross for our Irrepressible Icon, Kyogo Furuhashi, to do his thing. Greg Taylor was injured but struggled-on until 24 minutes when he was replaced by Adam Montgomery. This felt ominous as until then, AZ were most dangerous through their right back, Sugawara, who flooded forward effectively. Adam more than took care of the Japanese full back in what was one of the most crucial personal encounters of the game. He is a player.
Both central defenders almost had a flawless game. Almost. Stephen Welsh was caught in two minds; he did not head a long ball and he did not let it run through, as a consequence, it skimmed his chest to spark a night of anxiety.
Carl Starfelt’s own goal was a classic of the genre. The Swede started the season on the left side but after clearly struggling there, Ange Postecoglou switched him to the right. Evidence mounts that his left peg is largely for standing on. Carl swung at a cross that was going nowhere with his ‘standing foot’. He missed, the ball struck his right heel and squirmed into the net. The early weeks of his Celtic career, featuring so much good play, has been peppered by errors.
I am delighted Joe Hart is at Celtic and remain surprised at the improvement in our form he has provided. Still in the peak years for a keeper, there is a reason he’s no longer in the Lucre League (I believe they prefer “EPL”). At the point Stephen Welsh was caught in two minds, Joe’s decision-making capacity deserted him. This was not a footwork error, he just did not correctly judge the pace of the ball in relation to the man who was about to drift past him and score. The Joe Hart Anthology has another entry. Our memories should also record that he made two crucial saves during the game.
Yesterday’s blog was entitled “Game management when the roof falls in”. It is as though we have seen Celtic in Europe before; against the best team we have faced since 2019, there was always the potential for things to drift south rapidly. Recent Celtic teams crashed and burned after being pushed to the precipice in European qualification.
To the home fans, this must have thought this looked on the cards during the opening period of the second half, when Celtic could not get out of their defensive third. Possession was repeatedly surrendered while passing out from the back. AZ were permitted to mount relentless surges forward, we needed to change the game plan.
Odsonne Edouard arrived on the hour for the majestic but seldom mobile Tom Rogic. From that moment, Celtic had the engine to cover the pitch and could retain possession. For all of the criticisms that go his way, if we lose Odsonne next week*, we will have one less game-changing option.
If you are second seed in a European group, as Celtic are, the most important opponent is who you face from the third pot, given the assumption that the top seed is unlikely to drop two places below their expected finish. In this respect, we got a very difficult draw.
Bayer Leverkusen, sixth last season in Bundesliga, 8 points behind fifth place Eintracht. Difficult, of course, but a team we should compete against.
Real Betis also finished sixth last season, one place in La Liga above last season’s Europa League winner, Villarreal. They will be favourites to win the group and are everything we did not want. We have a bit of history here, of course, they got their first strips from us and we will both always have Seville.
Delighted to get Ferencvaros, they are a decent side but we owe them one. Bring it on.
*We’ll pick this up at the time, but I’ve been preaching asset management here for 17 years, so you know where I’m going on this subject.
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Their defence in the league is worse than ours with 3 against, we have best defence in league with 2 against.
Dont listen to the pish about our defence being dodgy, theirs is worse.
Go get them Celtic
D :)
Hey Ange don’t make it bad.
Take a good team and make them better.
Remember to let them into your heart,
Then you can start to make them better.
Hey Ange, don’t be afraid.
You were made to go out and make them better
The minute you let them under your skin,
Then you begin to make them better.
And anytime you feel the pain, hey Ange, refrain,
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders.
For well you know that it’s a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.
So let some go and bring some in, hey Ange, begin,
You’re waiting for some to perform better.
And don’t you know that it’s just you, hey Ange, you’ll do,
The movement you need is on your shoulder.
Hey Ange, don’t make it bad.
Take a good team and make them better.
Remember to let them under your skin,
Then you’ll begin to make them
Better better better better better better, oh.
Na na na nananana, nannana, hey Ange.
David 66
” we have best defence in league with 2 against.”
No,David, that cannot be true ! After all, we are continually being told in the MSSM ( and on here often enough as well) that our defence is rubbish.
Iam more worried about the officials than I am about our defence.
The irony of no Celtic supporters, or the tragedy of this fixture still billed as Rangers versus Celtic?
SMSM in a frenzy of ‘old firm’ diarrhea reporting on ravaged Rainjurz and shaky Celtic. This new club of Rainjurz administrator’s had ‘suffered enough’ at the hands of Celtic merrymaking supporters, and a backdrop of watching their nemisis score countless goals and rack up victory after victory. These Celtic supporters were denied the cross city away day, which effectively ended the new fixture almost as soon as it had begun.
They’ve now even withdrawn their 750 arrangement because they accused Celtic of not being able to guarantee the same numbers in the reverse fixture, another excuse not reason to deny Celtic supporters access to the cracked red brick facade built on someone else’s unpaid debt. A blessing for the spartans versus 50,000 potential super Sevco spreaders.
With the new variant running amok, football opponents are not allowed any information of whom the latest victims are, teams and supporters are kept out of the secret loop.
Another first for Celtic beckons .
Stay safe CSC
HOT SMOKED
Me too!
Clancy is the biggest coward on the circuit.
He is the danger.
Might be tempted to start with Eddy after his showing on Thursday, one last hurrah
Westwood area in EK,waking up to Japan flags on the bridges over the main road.
COME ON CELTIC!!
big squad of old Tims from Glasgow and some new ones from Greece, USA ,ITALY and good old Sunderland meeting up very soon im Marias Bar,Kefalos.Haha we’ve got everyone well buzzed up and tuned in for this.Be a great day.
LETS DO THIS MOB!!!
🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
Hot Smoked – I never trust the Ref in Scotland having been to many a sportsmans dinner with ex Refs speaking confirmed my beliefs and yes it was at golf clubs and yes my eyes were open to some members antics, before anyone asks.
D :)
Bada
Far East Kilbride
ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK then ATTACK again. Destroy them!!!!!!!
Ah that’s better
Drew how long you in Greece for?
D :)
David66,
Thursday night was massive.
I’m hoping our forward 6 give thems nightmares.
Come on you Bhoys in Green.
.
Just a guess, what do I know, but a sneaking suspicion we might see this today.
……………………….Hart
……….Starfelt…………………Welsh
Ralston….Juranovic…….. McGregor……..Taylor
Abada……………..Turnbull…………….Christie
…………………….Furuhashi.
Subs. Bain Montgomery Bitton Scales McCarthy Rogic Edouard
Whoever plays will be up for it
In Ange I trust
HH ☘️
Sorry we couldn’t make the Hoot yesterday – WeeBGFC was out with pals in Glasgow till the early hours and I was the nominated taxi (didn’t mind – always comforting to get the weans piucked up safe and sound).
4-1 to the good ghuys today.
Only real danger I can see is thems adopting the tactics of AZ – constant high ball in behind our inverted full-backs, where there is undoubtedly space. I doubt they have the same level of fitness or skill as AZ, but it isn’t a difficult tactic. We need a very high press on their backline to snuff that out.
HH
BGFC
Gallagher – Great line up.
D :)
WOW
What a team
Juranovic LB,Eddy starts
@CelticFC v “One in a row”
Hart, Ralston, Starfelt, Welsh, Juranovic, McGregor, Abada, Turnbull, Christie, Furuhashi, Edouard
Subs: Bain, Bitton, Soro, Montgomery, Rogic, Urhoghide, Ajeti
A team to score goals.
Young Celts…Don’t give greetinface Clancy the chance to flash the RED… be clever..
That’s my only worry today….. 11 Bhoys……will do them……
H.H
Didn’t know Juranovic could play LB. Starting Eddie was the way to go. We need Christie’s legs in midfield. That and the fact Eddie is in their heads – you only had to listen Goldson last October talking about how they were checking their phones to see if he was starting.
Juranovic starts at left back.
Seven goal in seven games Kyogo correctly given the star role in a very attacking Celtic side.
We’ll concede goals today with that team, so we better score a few. A non-bench as well. I guess Forrest and McCarthy are injured already, having hardly played. Murder.
Eddie v Balogen ( right back for them ) will be interesting if he plays left.
Kyogo v Balogen even more so as he has a red card in him for sure.
Balloongun obvious weak link at the back
I read the fantastic Hampden in the Sun by Woods and Burns last night. A repeat of that would suit me fine.
Go forth & make mincemeat of these robotic charlatans Celtic, may God & the force be with us HH☘️
Good to see ‘support’ for that team.
Come on the Celts
We’d a brilliant bench last year, and it never helped.
Fearless team selection sticking to scoring goals
live updates up
Not a step back Celtic, as Big Ange has said a couple of times, leave it all on the park, Celtic to win by at least 2 clear goals.
Good team Ange….
Let’s put them back in their box…
Their fragile support will also be a factor in our favour…
HH
Another week DAVID66.
Like the lline uo.Eddy first goal.
Hail Hail Brithers
Do them Celtic.
No mercy.
Ange Time.