At the end of last month, looking ahead to the Miydjitlland tie, I predicted, “a Halloween movie awaits”. Home and away, Miydjitlland created few chances until late in normal time, when Celtic tired. They were unable to sustain periods of pressure and will surely not lay a glove on PSV Eindhoven in the next round. Still, we endure Halloween in July.
The young and inexperienced defenders performed well, this one was not on them. As did Scott Bain, whose confidence to drop the shoulder before playing a 30-yard forward pass, created our best chance of the game. He also made two fine saves, which makes me wonder what could have been had we never embarked on our Greek Odyssey.
Callum McGregor’s goal was sublime; he placed rather than blasted his shot, one of the few occasions we tested a keeper who never convinced. Anthony Ralston reminded us why we had such high hopes for him a few years back, while Stephen Welsh and Dane Murray outperformed expectations.
James Forrest should have put the tie beyond the Danes shortly after coming on but poked his shot wide. Within seconds, Miydjitlland were level.
Like Celtic, Miydjitlland were short of reinforcements, but started extra time with four substitutes on the field, including an 18-year-old debutant, Victor Lind. The teenager repeatedly mishit the ball whenever he got near it, but he and the other subs managed to provide what proved to be crucial energy. Celtic made only the one change, Forrest for Liel Abada, until after they went a goal down in the 94th minute. When energy sapped from ever-busy Ryan Christie and David Turnbull, the writing was on the wall.
Even though Celtic closed the game unable to pass out of their half, Ange Postecoglou stuck to his game plan. Teams on their way out of a cup invariably go Route One in the final minutes, not so this time.
I am sure none of us had Champions League expectations; we are not at PSV Eindhoven level, but Europa League group stage qualification is crucial for financial, competitive, coefficient and recruitment reasons. That would have been achieved with a win last night. Two qualification rounds now have to be negotiated, you have more fraught evenings ahead.
I remain hopeful the squad we have on 1 September will be significantly better that that available last night. Whether that will be sufficient to take the Champions League bounty available to this season’s Premiership winners is another story.
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DD
I’m positive he will.
But exactly what has changed at the club since Lennon and Lawwell left.
We need 5/ 6 ready made players for the team . We have signed 2 who haven’t played yet. As much as I like the look of Abada and Shaw I don’t think that they are ready.
To have to play Ralston and Murray the other night , as much as they both played well enough., was a disgraceful situation to be in.
HH
Right, no expectations this season.Watch the matches and shout for celtic.
Ange has my backing Garry
D :)
Saint Tams
Ange Postecoglou is being asked to negotiate Europe with his hands tied behind his back.
I agree that we need 5 or 6 first team ready players immediately. A couple of no nonsense hard as nails types too.
I disagree with you slightly. I was at the match last Tuesday, and thought Abada was our best player, till he was sacrificed for Bitton’s stupidity.
Shaw I like also. I think he is ready to start in place of Soro, who I don’t really rate.
ERNIE LYNCH on
Re Desmondo reply to a reporter on the pitch at Tannadice if I remember correctly….
ok I’ll bite …. from the above it obvious that DD is a Rangers fan or just being polite to the Hun by stating we’d like to beat them every week…
There is enough shit stirring going on without this rehashed bollocks
Away and gies us peace
LETS ALL DO THE HUDDLE on 30TH JULY 2021 10:13 AM
looks like last seasons pantywetters were right all along, and the wetting of panties entirely justified
===============================
Silly – made me chuckle :-))
DD – Ange will be backed by many fans.
There are always people with a different opinion, which is fair enough.
There are also those numptys who just enjoy being miserable and contrary and – as happened at the West Ham game – like to hear the sound of their own voice. So – some of the support for him will doubtless be fickle.
Me and WeeBGFC – we like what we see, we like what we hear from him, we like what we have read and researched.
Full backing for Ange from us.
HH
BGFC
DELANEYS DUNKY
Great to see you on Garry, think most fair minded fans will
agree about everything you say.
H.H Mick
JACKIEMAC on 30TH JULY 2021 10:24 AM
Right, no expectations this season.Watch the matches and shout for celtic.
👍
After last season I’m determined to enjoy watching the ‘tic more. That probably means less time on the internet
LADTH @ 10.10
Blogs are actually a bit of a battleground.
PL’s innovation back in 2003 was to get P67 onboard and turn CQN into his mouthpiece.
When I first came across CQN through NewsNow it’s tone suggested it was being sponsored by the CFC execs Young Turks to get a voice in a debate that was then the preserve of old men.
At the time my thoughts were PL or the bloke from the WEWW shopping family trying to get a hearing in the world of conflict that was BQ vs MON with DD holding the coats.
History now confirms that it was PL doing the moving and shaking.
And so it has continued as he has found acolytes in every CFC blog.
Who can ever forget the annual E-Tims Rumour mill cartoons — straight from CP “gossip”.
He has a voice on every stream — takes some doing.
You can either deliver change / growth or manage the message.
PL is only capable of managing the message.
So blogs are important — they do make a difference.
PL does not like being reminded that in the big scheme of things he is a second rate property bean counter with no history of achievement in any dynamic area of modern business.
DD does not like being reminded that he is into the gambling of arbitrage — no growth agenda or business acumen worthy of the name. Look for value where others will then make the difference.
They might be rich men but they don’t like being reminded of their many limitations.
As noted before DD’s big weakness is ridicule — we need more of it if we want to see change.
Generally I think that people who try to set the rules of engagement and who or what anyone can post really need to have some introspection, who are we to judge. People can make up their own minds on posts and posters, I certainly have and just scroll on by. There have always been posts close to the wind or distasteful the moderators can deal with them.
As an aside one of PL’s go to guys has broke rank, mind you he writes for the mail, it would’ve had more kudos if he’d written it if PL was still there……. Oh wait
Dom said we have plenty of talented people already in the club, I just wonder what they’ve been doing.
If rumours (I know ) are true then expect Hart, Batu and Lovric soon, witch is a start, priority for me after that is CB and a midfield “general” were to light weight in midfield
EKBHOY on 30TH JULY 2021 10:28 AM
Aye, right you are.
The one individual who controls the Club tells it as he sees it and we’ve just to forget all about it because it’s inconvenient.
‘Lets pretend he didn’t say it, lets pretend he was lying, lets pretend he was joking.’ He wasn’t. He said it, he meant it and we are where we are because that’s how he sees it.
Deal with it.
Which 😳
DD @ 10.27
Have to disagree regarding IS — bit of a rough diamond with some issues but he offers something we need.
He puts it about a bit and does all the hard work that CMcG cannot do.
We need him at the moment with a bit of cardio / polishing to fill in the gaps.
Not seen enough of LS to offer a full opinion.
He is not the world-beater earlier comments would have suggested.
He is not a starter for us — probably next season if he settles down a bit.
Looks all to much like a PL project.
I dont think a man who has amassed a 2 billion euro fortune will lose sleep over being “ridiculed” by blog participants.
if anything, saying the man lacks business acumen , is there to be ridiculed.
disclaimer – this is not in support of dermo, just pointing out it is a stupid thing to say.
in other news, i note that Roman Abramovich is a rubbish luxury yacht driver.
UNCLE JIMMY
Unfortunately I think the HUNTERLOPERS nom de plume and NEGATRONS
or such like, is a reaction to the constant bile directed at everything positive
posted about Celtic on this dear GREEN place.
I’m sure you can see the influx of certain posters, or is it poster ? once a good
mood permeates the blog, and the craic is flowing, then in comes the multi
monikered.
Surely you can see that.
As I, and many other positive fans have posted before, yes there’s criticism to
be offered, plenty of it , but Celtic aren’t a punchbag for disgruntled huns on
here.
H.H. Mick
Has anyone been lucky enough to get a ticket for any of the games yet ? So far I have not but my mate has been selected for 2 out of the 3 games. Seems an unfair system, are all games and all names in every ballot ? It looks like I have paid the best part of £500 for a raffle ticket !
My friends in Celtic,
The vast majority of us are totally behind AP.
However it is a huge gamble. AP at 55 years old does not have a European club track record.
We live in hope.
HH to all.
GARNGAD TO CROY on 30TH JULY 2021 10:50 AM
Has anyone been lucky enough to get a ticket for any of the games yet ?
——
Yes I was offered a ticket against West Ham. Unfortunately I was away at the time. The notification I was successful in the ballot was in my inbox, however the following e mail with the actual ticket went into spam.
Subsequently, by the time I saw it, it was too late to offer it to anyone else.
HH.
I have no idea if there are multi monikers on the site, so those who find it “abundantly clear” either have some good IT skills or a well developed internet sixth sense. If I knew I’d call them out so rather than cast vague aspersions about posters you’ve never met have the balls to call them out with your evidence. It may help with the debate if those “stirrers” can be ignored by everyone else.
Constant bitching from the sidelines does not help. Maybe the constant bitching is coming from the MM or maybe the MM are the ultra happy clappers, I have no idea, but if you do please let the rest of us know or leave it alone.
Just had a mooch about for season tickets for me and my boy.
Lots of single seats dotted all over the place, but very limited choice for two abreast.
Quite frustrating.
A message doing the rounds saying there was a mistake with the ballot for the Dundee game, new ballot today…
STx2 @ 10.42
Having / generating a large fortune does not mean you have a high level of business acumen it just means that you could have been lucky / focused / driven / unscrupulous / hyperactive / networker.
Prime example — the Bold Donald.
Not exactly sure which of these best fits DD?
But one thing is he does not do growth — arbitrage is his game.
Plus he does have very thin skin.
The pop at the support in 2004/05 springs to mind.
The GB have gotten under his skin with some well aimed barbs.
Currently he needs TFOD2.1 healthy to get us on the agenda for the EPL.
Consequently he will if required say nice things about them to help them rebuild plus he knows that is winds the support up so that is a double win.
Melbourne Mick on 30th July 2021 10:46 am
Who are the MM? Please enlighten the blog. IMO if you do not then you are perpetuating the behaviour you seem to be calling out.
:)))))))))))))))))))))
MADMITCH on 30TH JULY 2021 10:59 AM
Donald Trump has inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from his Dad.
SPL / SKY madness Part 27
Playing away games at 8pm on a Saturday night — what could possible go wrong?
It is looking like a disaster waiting to happen.
What next — games vs TFOD2.1 @ 5.30pm on a Sunday evening?
SKY wouldn’t get away with it in the EPL — but we are cheap / easy / pliable.
A bit like the girls / women I never met when I was nicking aboot.
EMERALDBEE \O/ A DOUBLE NINER!! on 30TH JULY 2021 9:35 AM
You’re so right. But I suspect the powers that be don’t want to spend much after spending over 4M on Barkas and seeing the result. 1M for Joe Hart might not feel too painful for them. As you say there is no head of recruitment and it needs to be someone who knows what Ange needs, which is not just a better GK than Bain or Barkas (Hart fits that condition) but a sweeper keeper type fitted to his system (Hart doesn’t fit that system. The style of play that Ange wants demands a lot from players and the club – it’s not something that Ange invented. What can we learn from teams that have adopted it. I’m no expert but I’d say it demands:
(i) really fit players who are confident and technically competent – they can be bought or developed, both usually needed and both ideal for sustainability
(ii) coaches and scouts who work within that system, i.e. not just finding good players but players who can meet the extra demands of the system
(iii) it demands freshening up the team every couple of seasons
Iv) it demands vision – no point going to a lot of trouble just to win the SPFL – we should be doing well in Europe every year.
Anything else? What is the experience of Klopp, Guardiola, Rodgers? Others?
Last point : fans most important role is confidence building. We need to be aware of that. SO let’s encourage everyone, not boo them or shout derogatory remarks.
CFM @ 11.08
My point exactly — DT was lucky.
His fortune then went up and down / down with each US property cycle.
No talent just a big mouth.
As with many now wealthy people the tale of how they got to such levels are interesting, DD is no different
From what I can gather with his influence over us, Celtic, is that he’s very risk averse
Garbage to Croy I’ve had nothing from any of the ballots
Garngad 🧐 I hate predictive text
iljasb on 30th July 2021 11:11 am
I don’t think anyone with the best interests of Celtic at heart could disagree with any of that.
However your final sentence raises concerns for me, by all means support the team and drive them on to success but our roll, IMO, is also to call out when the team is heading in the wrong direction and this has been going on now for years with the continual downsizing. I think too many of us seem willing to let the club fail on the pitch as long as we have a club off the pitch to support. It’s a habit for some rather than a passion.
Role jeezo phones”££$%^^
ILSJAB
Hart isn’t the long term solution but just a better gk at this stage will do, as you said we need the structure in place firstly, Germany would be a decent place to start looking for a sweeper keeper
Seems Fenerbache are sniffing about Batu, make of that what you will…..
MADMITCH on 30TH JULY 2021 11:14 AM
An abbreviated version of my handle – I’ve arrived at last!
Me thinks O’Bren doth protest too much.
GTTS @ 11.15
From a biased Kiltoon perspective you were probably right first time regarding the Holy City — Hope Park Quarry springs to mind plus the land reclamation at the Finger Post.
To any Ted looking in — please try and see the humour.
ERNIE LYNCH on 30TH JULY 2021 10:39 AM
EKBHOY on 30TH JULY 2021 10:28 AM
….
I couldn’t stop laughing at the time so managed to deal with it , 9 years or so back,
Clearly your paranoia and shit stirring means you can’t … go and put on some big boy trousers and refrain from talking childish nonsense …
Hands up anyone who thought,in the opinion of the MAD one,that Luke Shaw,or LS,as the MAD one labels him,was a “Worldbeater”.
No,no hands at all,I have to move on quickly here,going once,twice,OK,it’s no one then.