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.
573 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- ...
- 16
- »
nothing will be decided on the next game
BUT
Be great to put a marker down
And they do struggle to play infornt of their own “fans” lol
I have been saying for weeks,as the window draws to a close,there would be teams willing to pay the asking price for Eddy.He is a bargain at anything under 20 million.
Still a good deal for us,as their could be a wee bidding war.Now go and get my boy.
What a strike force that would give us.Lovric,Kyoto,the Greek boy,Abada,Jamesy.
A Celtic supporter “alleged” describing a Celtic victory over Rangers as “daylight robbery”.
Where to start?
If you want the Beebs latest tfod arse licking check out Jamie Carragher piece
We should be lucky we have Slippy G up here
GO TELL THE SPARTIM
…………and if you disagree with that he spits in your face.
Scumbag.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F34zwWJ4bP4
This is what not communicating with the bitch gets me…..her mother birthday treat meal organised for Sunday..(83)..what time i growl..
1 o clock she barks !!!!….ffs….just hope its lucky not seeing second half !!……
Moussa scores for Lyon today. Currently leading 1-0 away at Nantes.
Could the boss throw a :Ange curveball: push big Tony up one and play Juranovic at right back. Would give us some more strength up front. Just my opinion. HH ☘
Looking strong and powerful,Moussa.Not playing tonight,but I thought the guy said Debater is now playing for them.They are also signing Shaqiri.
Eddie linked with four clubs in one day. The end is near I fear. Let’s hope our contingency plans are better than the one we had for Tierney.
Nawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
Keep Eddy and bolster with a good reinforcement.
Please!
TURKEYBHOY
INIQUITOUSIV on 27TH AUGUST 2021 9:22 PM
Moussa scores for Lyon today. Currently leading 1-0 away at Nantes.
————————————-
Spot on Philbhoy – 2 reprobates in a pod
GO TELL THE SPARTIM
Indeed!
15 still to put in their Superbru predictions for tomorrow afternoon
sftb
Job done!
Thanks for the reminder
Raij**s -0 – 15 Celtic
Rai88urs miss 15 penalties and Celtic finish with 10 men.
Ghuys, I know a few are Projects but if Georgios the Greek is confirmed that is eleven in and a first team squad of 37.
There is still talk about another 2 or 3 to come in, something has to give, to both to Balance the Books & to reduce first team squad.
We need to be realistic, Eddie won’t extend his contract, he will walk for free in 8 months, if there is anything remotely close to 20 Million on Offer the Club has to take it.
ST STIVS, thanks for the pictures of the Real Betis stadium. In the third picture you can see my hotel room that overlooked the stadium (well, I can IMAGINE one of them must have been my room).
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 27TH AUGUST 2021 9:04 PM
A Celtic supporter “alleged” describing a Celtic victory over Rangers as “daylight robbery”.
Where to start?
Stood out for me too. Shameful choice of words IF a supposedly genuine Tim!
Just a thought..emdae heard anything from the top bhoy down under
M.M???? love reading his early morn thoughts{our time}..
And the updates of the young team…Hope he’s well…
Iknow Melbourne had a rough timeof it….
H.H
hi !! if we go to another lockdown hopefully it’s decided soon as furlough ends end of sept! see the nat what’sapp group was busy this morning! seen the lionsbore on as well , kid on celtic post, then nat propaganda . keep safe them masks in scotland are definitely keeping us safe ,, Hail hail!
Lots of talk about eduard now being sold, if he is willing to go, then I thank him for the great service, but rather he did not play on sunday, no point risking injury and a large transfer fee to play in the 4th league game of the season, important but will not determining outcome of the league. The transfer money brought in could however help add a few quality players that over the course of the season bring the title to celtic park.
Lots of shite talk about Georgis Giakoumakis’s goal scoring history or lack of. A simple transfer market search shows he has played about 10600 odd minutes of football or equal to 118 games. In that time he has scored over 50 goals and has about 20 assists. Perhaps what he really needed and got in holland was game time.
HH
Aberdeen sign Bates as cover for long term absentee Considine. Also sign Matty Longstaff from Newcastle on loan. The latter will certainly beef up their midfield. An all action player, he impressed me the few times I saw him play.
@Stepbhoy…Aye that’s whit they said aboot Ajetski ..
Hope tae f*** that’s not the case
Stephbhoy
“Lots of shite talk about Georgis Giakoumakis’s goal scoring history or lack of. A simple transfer market search shows he has played about 10600 odd minutes of football or equal to 118 games. In that time he has scored over 50 goals and has about 20 assists. Perhaps what he really needed and got in holland was game time. ”
—————————————-
Nonsense!
All you got from me on CQN was an accurate account of his scoring record so far. THere was no attempt to diminish him or boost him. I gave my facts in response to a query as to why are we able to buy an Eeredivise Top Scorer for such a low fee.
I want him to do well and I reallyhope he is a success but, at the moment, he is a punt.
Just as Ajeti was a punt (and , so far, an unsuccessful one) and just as Kyogo was a punt (until he got here and proved a success)
We all hope that he will come good. Ange has lacked the strong target striker that he has had in all his previous teams. Eddy and Kyogo drift too much to fulfill that role and Ajeti just hasn’t been good enough. Our new Greek bhoy will get game time with us, especially now that it looks like Eddy is moving on.
Your “perhaps” conclusion that getting game time made him a success is a specious argument. He got game time with Venlo because he was successful and he did not get game time with many of his other clubs because he was not being successful.
I don’t expect to see him on Sunday but I’ll be welcoming him and cheering him on when he does appear.
Friday nights were enlighting when i first spouted nonsense on here
Great toons . Pablo the king…
As the years strolled by S.O.T stepped up big time..
Hope he is well .Not the same without the old team..
I like the look of the SPL table with the top six teams, albeit after only 2 matches, being historically those with the biggest fan bases and titles. It hasn’t been like that for some time.
Unless he wants to sit out his contract keeping Eddie is a £15m gamble that he’s somehow changed his attitude from last season.
15m will have a big impact on what we can spend on the team in the next couple of seasons.
He’s coming on from the bench at the moment, we are not, nor are we likely to be anytime soon, in a position where we can afford such an expensive luxury
Anyone who expresses anger at the LCF win over Sevco being described as ” daylight robbery” clearly weren’t at Hampden that day – or currently boast about holding a TV license.
Whether being at Hamdump or not, or holding a TV licence or not, ‘daylight robbery’ remains a curious choice of words for a Celtic supporter, in my opinion, when referencing a trophy win in trying circumstances.
On the other hand I have, on numerous occasions, witnessed Celtic being robbed, even in daylight, by professional arbiters who were clearly failing to do the job they were/are employed to do.
Billybhoy,
Haha! Tremendous 😂
I’ve been trying to figure out what the issue with that phrase is 🤷🏽♂️
We didn’t deserve to win it, but won it. Smashing! 🥳🥳🥳
They were robbed. We were laughing
fallacy about that final.
celtic won with the deceisive football moment.
theycant take it.
HH
g’day from WA
quite amazing the coverage ” the Glasgow Giant’ is getting in MSM downunder :O)
Fox news tinks KK is full of ‘Pish’ fair dinkum :O)
https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/ange-postecoglou-celtic-performance-adam-peacock-column-celtic-v-rangers-start-time-how-to-watch/news-story/f5feb32c8c066817fb1802df69b5401d
Even the Ing_gur_leesh I work with are – ‘Celtic’ ‘6-0’ eyeroll thing. lol. Business as usual. lol
Remember years ago a school mate of mine, A Noongar (Ancient People of southwest of western australia) asked me after watching “Braveheart”. ” hughie, do the Scots hate the English as well? ”
Hail Hail
metta
PS ‘pish’ is one off my favourite words. ironic that Fox news is pure ‘Pish’ maist of the time.
HH
WISHAW TIM on 27TH AUGUST 2021 10:31 PM
Any chance you can do us all a favour and post in understandable English??
Guys I dont know if the alleged new striker will be a hit or miss, dont know if he will be a bayo or a Larsson. Football is not an exact science but I hope he is the latter. In celtic cyber world lots of folk look at basic stats and form quick judgements about level of ability.
Stats are always interpreted to support the authors views. Same stats can be used to fit completely different agenda. Will judge all players performances in the hoops.
However, I will say that Ange needs all his forwards to work in tandom regards defending/ pressing from the front so it’s very hard for opposition teams to work through the press before coming up against the second and third blocks. workrate is apparemtly a big part of the alleged new striker game.
Every player he has brought in appears to have similar hysical traits i.e. pace, workrate and stamina. Dont think he will look at you twice if these basic traits are not already in your makeup.
HH