Players would be forgiven for wandering around Lennoxtown confused as to why they are being given extra training, as this is only the second midweek in nine they do not have a game.
Rest and recovery is needed more than at any time I remember for a Celtic team. Not just the burden of injuries afflicting the squad, but the intensity of games is without precedent. Four on the road in succession, all tight and combative, with an extra-time thrown in. It is impossible for muscles to fully restock glycogen levels within four days. Repeated depletion leads to complex problems – and eventually injury.
Every professional player is carrying some type of knock. They are kicked and barged each game; bruising is common. The players we saw on their knees at Aberdeen were almost certainly the least-injured in the squad, not exactly fit.
Mental fatigue is another hurdle and one which will be front at centre of Martin O’Neill’s mind on Saturday. After a big event, people crash. Remember beating European Champions AC Milan, then equalising in the 87th minute against Gretna four days later? I am delighted that series of games is behind us, but I give us no more than a 50% chance of winning on Saturday.
We have all heard the stat from Sunday: Newco had 24 attempts on goal and Celtic had one. It’s just, I don’t know anyone who remembers that Celtic attempt (Daizen Maeda’s disallowed goal doesn’t count). I even set AI onto the challenge, which reviewed “minute-by-minute TV commentary summaries” from Sky, ESPN from MSN’s syndicated feed, as well as live texts from Celtic and The Guardian. There was no logged shot event. If you have an idea what the phantom shot was, let me know. Winning the tie without having a single shot would somehow be more satisfying.
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Think I’ll call it Wednesday!
HH
Having a full week of …bliss
HH
So the one shot was a header.
Says all you need to know about English and the other stenographers.
They can’t even get that right.
“Glycogen levels, the phantom shot”
Well, wonder where this epiphany came from!?
This time last season we had the exact same issues…
Yet our Manager who had asked for reinforcements in the January window was blamed by the Board groupies…
Must win games
No excuses
Wasting money on Auston, Adam and Arne was the mantra then…
Those groupies and their heros are responsible for this shambles of a season…
Hail Hail
Does anyone on here know why sections of the Celtic support felt the need to throw tennis balls and nectarines onto the field of play several weeks ago?
Was it a Fair Trade demo?
Off topic
Contrary position re going for the Motherwell manager , any other season we’d be 20 points ahead of the Steelmen and despite their attractive football, folks would think we’d lost the plot coming in for this guy.
We’ve already screwed up ( more heads will roll) in picking Wilfried from a league without any pressure (feels like a season long bunch of friendlies).
How will the new guys tactical approach work with a side that is predominantly on the front foot and in Europe adapting to sides with far greater athleticism…
I’m not sure Wells 3 at the back approach will work for us , which requires an awful lot of running to create space and angles to receive a ball into midfield. Sounds familiar.
Just think that when you step up a level , his style of play may not translate easily or seamlessly to the tic.
Onlysayingcfc
Pages
The only spheres of influence they have?
Amidst all the talk of “Old Firm violence” the scandalous VAR decision to disallow a legitimate Celtic goal has been forgotten. Celtic must demand evidence for the alleged offside.
And now it’s Beaton again for our next game! The SFA is at it.
Alan Morrison’s stats pack (Celtic By Numbers) has a long series of zeros against all of Celtic attacking metrics.
There was no shot recorded.
Zero Shots
Zero xG
Zero Chances Created
Zero Successful Crosses
For all the world, Celtic’s attacking stats at the end of 120 minutes plus added time were identical to those before kick off.
I doubt MON or the players will lose any sleep over it, being a one off cup tie that we won, but he’d jolly well better figure out a pattern of play, a system, that these players can use to good effect. And darned soon at that.
Kieran Tierney has been our most effective attacking player in terms of chances made and assists provided. He’s injured. Absent him, what’s left?
There is a rational limit to the number of coin tosses you can call correctly before the law of averages takes over.
MonTaeCSC
the Bada Bing @ 10:30 am
“GM78-11th March 2026 9:43 am
EK BHOY – one of them was on yesterday blaming Hargreaves for his mate supposedly being hit by a bottle thrown by a hun!!
Where did I blame Hargreaves ya halfwit? He is responsible for the safety of every Celtic supporter,who attends games home and away.His role gets involved in security,access/egress of fans,yes I have been involved in planning meetings. Has he questioned the huns re Sunday? We won’t know because of the continued omerta policy ,BTW the guy hit with the bottle isn’t ‘an entitled cokehead ‘ ,you will come across them among your own prawn sandwich brigade.
Well said…
Hooch salesmen, financial traders, IT professionals etc – lecturing Celtica on life achievements:)))
Total jokers…
Yet you with true life experience and clear knowledge of the issues involve, including life safety, know nuffin’ have achieved nuffin’
It would be funny if it wasn’t such a sad indictment of the West of Scotland’s psuedo middle class…
Hail Hail
Tesco aisle managers, punching down and sucking up, hard.
The upcoming fixture we are starting to come into the better weather , traditionally a good time for us , where we can get the ball down on the deck.
Not particularly worried about Saturdays game , we’ll have enough to get past them by a couple of goals , pretty sure big Tam will start either side of Daizen and and Yang with Seb being deployed as the secret weapon in the 2nd half.
Well closed off the wings last game , clear as day space up the middle which is where we will win the game , Tam , Benji and Reo causing the damage.
HH
Maybe the ‘Collective’ steering commitee could pass a resolution instructing their members, to forget about tennis balls and tangerines, and instead order them to throw bottles of Lucozade onto the pitch instead…..
Give the Bhoys a bit of a booster when their energy levels start to drop…
YouSaidGlucozadeCSC
Back to the real challenge now. That challenge being getting this Celtic side to score goals.
If we drop points for the second home game in succession then we won’t be winning the league.
Zero shots against the Huns is quite funny. It’ll definitely wind them up.
A repeat of the failure to present a coherent attacking threat won’t seem as funny on Saturday though.
CELTIC MAC on 11TH MARCH 2026 11:46 AM
Timmy7@8.45
EKBhoy@9.00
Unfortunately but not unsurprisingly the ‘Collective’ have allowed their own agenda re the Celtic Board and Mark Hargreaves in particular to affect their judgement, and indeed their statement. Talking about doing the SFA/PoliceScotland/RangersFC/SMSM job for them! Maybe better to stick to throwing tangerines and tennis ball on to the pitch……
—————
So what’s your solution? Sit on your hands, doing and saying nothing in the face of incompetence?
Have you seen any of the minutes of the meetings they have held with board members? Did you see that the board didn’t even respond to being given a preview of the last ones?
Have you heard anything from the board about the terrible policing and the violent reaction from the losers on Sunday?
You’re happier whinging about people who care about the direction of travel of the club than you are with the incompetents responsible for that direction of travel
TBB – you make a good point. My initial feeling after Sunday was elation tempered with relief.
Our form is the elephant in the room. Currently it’s simply not good enough to win a league so something has to change.
I’m not clever enough to know what it is (formation, personnel or both) but we have to do something.
Home matches are fraught affairs this season.
Talking of new managers…..
Wonder if our glorious leaders have identified someone / anyone to be our new manager…
Maybe they are doing the usual and leaving it till the last week of the summer break to appoint a rookie manager from the Chinese Z league that’s won has won 2 titles in the last 5 years….
CHAIRBHOY on 11TH MARCH 2026 12:19 PM
the Bada Bing @ 10:30 am
“GM78-11th March 2026 9:43 am
EK BHOY – one of them was on yesterday blaming Hargreaves for his mate supposedly being hit by a bottle thrown by a hun!!
…..
Your Cut and paste has gone a bit wonky at some point this morning. Not guilty.
Anyway on your point , sounds like Home Counties drivel , sticking people into boxes sowing division , etc , you know the drill
Go out for a walk , take the dog, leave your investment portfolio until later this afternoon.
HH
EKBhoy on 11th March 2026 12:15 pm
Anytime I’ve watched Motherwell they’ve played with a back four, O’Donnell, McGinn, Welsh and Longelo. I’m not sure about their manager for us either.
Graffiti on the wall, ooh aah…… Samaras ?
Along came the much desired ‘old firm clash’ reigniting old passions and the Celtic land grab called Broomloan with 7,500 hoping to party. Wonderful fixture they said, “ the way it should be “ with a proper Celtic end, commentary pulsating Premier TV surround sound suddenly the Pope, the IRA, and Fenians were back in our living rooms, loud and clear mentioned, but not in a nice way.
Superb spectacle totally ruined, up stepped The Giraffalo to slot home the winner, a ragamuffin but resolute Celtic shell, held together by the old person’s, old friend. Football went pear shaped, Sevco got gubbed.
Scott Brown attacked on the pitch
Celtic staff attacked
Broken bottles thrown at players
Shards of glass
Matt O’Riley hit by object
Arne Engels hit by coin
Repeat after me attacks on Celtic staff and players
abused.
Celtic PLC want the moneyball, and are quite happy to be competitive, down and dirty with Sevco. Of course we should always have as many Celtic supporters seeing Celtic as
we can, – but at what cost?
This fixture died as long ago 2012 – do not resuscitate.
Hail Hail
It’s Motherwell we’re playing, ffs. Not Madrid.
Get them pumped.
TBB 12:18pm.
Had we been a little less entrenched we could have won the match in normal time…
https://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/UCL/2013/2009541_TS.pdf
Just get through the next game.
Looking forward to it.
Ekbhoy earlier – with you on the Motherwell manager.
Open minded, but not automatically convinced he is the answer.
CELT55 on 11TH MARCH 2026 12:37 PM
EKBhoy on 11th March 2026 12:15 pm
Anytime I’ve watched Motherwell they’ve played with a back four, O’Donnell, McGinn, Welsh and Longelo. I’m not sure about their manager for us either
…..
Mmmm. I’ve not watched them a lot , so point taken
HH
Happy St. Aengus Day!
Petition:
One Celtic. Back our Board, Manager, Players and Charity.
https://c.org/kC24nkswRn
Ave Ave
On our form ?
With others on here.
I’m still waiting for us to click.
Maybe, just maybe, injuries clearing up and more coaching time will help us click.
It’ll be fraught.
Bring it on.
A Celtic pal remarked earlier that Julian Araujo is the closest character to a Broony replacement we’ve seen.
More, we’ve missed that kind of spiky competitiveness; and the Huns hate him (like Broony) for it.
Julian plays well, winds ’em up gallusly yet never lets his in-yer-faceness result in overt or silly bookings.
A real personality who we’d do well to entice North.
If he’d consider signing for us, I’d snap him up and deal with the inevitable Ali Johnston marketing campaign.
TBB, that said, we were a bit less defensive in Paris, with 7 shots at goal and 41% possession across the full match. Alas, that didn’t yield as positive an outcome as Sunday, though we were somewhat euphoric for about 8 minutes!
https://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/UCL/2018/2021662_TS.pdf
TIMMY7 on 11TH MARCH 2026 12:33 PM
CELTIC MAC on 11TH MARCH 2026 11:46 AM
Timmy7@8.45
EKBhoy@9.00
Unfortunately but not unsurprisingly the ‘Collective’ have allowed their own agenda re the Celtic Board and Mark Hargreaves in particular to affect their judgement, and indeed their statement. Talking about doing the SFA/PoliceScotland/RangersFC/SMSM job for them! Maybe better to stick to throwing tangerines and tennis ball on to the pitch……
—————
So what’s your solution? Sit on your hands, doing and saying nothing in the face of incompetence?
…..
Agreed there has been a lot of incompetence and complacency, read the minute’s but seems to me by personalising the whole thing , the Collective are coming across as unserious fannies.
Solution not sure off to the Pictures , chat later.
HH
Danny Rohl meets his fairy godmother who grants him 12 wishes
*Name 7 players you would like to be injured for Celtic*-
CCV Johnstone Jota Engels Calmac Tierney Schmeichel
*How many managers would you like them to go through this season*-
Oh about 4 would be good. If one was a pensioner who has been out the game for years that would be good.
*How much would you like to spend in the January transfer window*-
Oh about 10-15m please
*And how much would you like them to spend*
Nothing. They can have some loan deals if they are lucky.
*anyone you would like them to take on loan*
Aye there’s a guy called Mvuka who is looking for a club. He is hilariously hopeless. He would be good.
*If you were to meet them in a Scottish cup match how many shots at goal woukd you like them to have* –
None
*What if it goes to extra time* –
Still none
*In the unlikely event it went to penalties what kind of keeper would you like*-
Someone who has saved 8 of their previous 9 penalties
*And what kind of keeper for your opponents*-
One who has only played 3 or 4 games this season.
*And who would take your first penalty*-
Oh the captain. Years of practice. Superb record. In fact I would bring him on just to take a penalty.
*There’s a toss if the coin to see who goes first. Do you want it.*
Yep defo
*There’s a toss of the coin to see which end. Do you want your fans end.*
Absolutely
Ok Young Danny, your 12 wishes have been granted. Don’t screw this up!
BTB – that’s the conundrum for me.
I’ve been waiting for a while for us to click and it hasn’t happened.
Do we remain patient and hope that it does or panic and change things?
If there’s zero chance of us clicking then we have to change things.
Ideally we want our best 11 on the pitch almost regardless of formation – can AJ can get fit and allow us to push Aguero up the pitch ahead of him? Can AOC get fitter and play alongside McGregor with Engels and Hatate? Can Ihenacho get fit and allow Maeda to move wide left? Do we go 4-4-2 and play Maeda and Nygren up top?
Unfortunately I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but I think we’ll need something from left-field to get this league and cup over the line.
HH
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czx4e6zzlkdo
Half a billion quid p1shed against a wall.
Who needs fundamental design principles when you’ve got ideology.
No Bobby Does It Petta on 11th March 2026 12:46 pm
It’s Motherwell we’re playing, ffs. Not Madrid.
Get them pumped
———-
Indeed.
HH.
Wouldn’t have thought it would be in Celtic’s best interests to make any statement on Sunday, until all the facts are laid bare, and any punishments dished out.
Bournesouprecipe ! 12:44 pm,
Spot on, as per…
….Wonderful fixture they said, “ the way it should be “ with a proper Celtic end, commentary pulsating Premier TV surround sound suddenly the Pope, the IRA, and Fenians were back in our living rooms, loud and clear mentioned, but not in a nice way.”
This time last year – Amazon Prime selected Bayern Munich v Celtic for it’s PPV UCL game…
The pre-match build up was supeb, Martin O’Neill going to Lennoxtown (for the first time?) To interview manager Brendan Rodgers, a nice, spirited, if tetchy build up…
Role on the day – Celtic legends like Neil Lennon, Scott Brown et al giving their views on the game…
Even co-comentator Alan Shearer effusive of Celtic’s performance, support and UCL challenge.
After the game an interview with BR with Scott and Lenny joining in on the banter…
Brilliant coverage of a great occasion, Celtic were, where they ought to be – t’was proud as a peacock.
Those at Lennoxtown who put in the hard yards to go the extra mile to put Celtic on the next level in Europe were rightly given great praise…
Of course, it had nothing to do with the Celtic hierarchy who were anything but pleased with Celtic FC’s team proving a point, a point as Ross would later make clear, they didn’t want proving.
“Celtic PLC want the moneyball, and are quite happy to be competitive, down and dirty with Sevco.”
They knew they didn’t have to do much to make that happen, holding back resources, putting the (agent fat) cat among the pigeons and the second law of thermodynamics takes effect…
TotalEntropyCSC
Hail Hail