Craig Gordon
I think we all have a desire to be generous to Craig for a couple of reasons: as Ronny said, without him, we would not have gotten through the group stage, and we are due him some support after he spoiled his copy in the first leg. He returned to form last night, made several fine saves, but we would expect him to make all of them.
He also contributed a truly exceptional save from an offside attempt.
Adam Matthews and Emilio Izaguirre
Neither full back was as productive in the final third as they were a week ago, but that would have been a consequence of a different game plan, and the numerical disadvantage. There is a tendency to criticise our full backs, especially Izzie, for bombing forward and leaving gaps at the back, but this is their role in the team. It’s up to someone else to provide cover. We’re as strong at full back as I’ve known us.
Virgil van Dijk, Jason Denayer and Efe Ambrose
For two want-away players, this tie was a big stage. Virgil didn’t give a good account of himself. The first booking last night was incorrect. He stopped the player but played the ball and his challenge was never dangerous. Scouts watching his second yellow will have recorded that he made a very bad decision which ultimately cost his team. The referee had a nightmare, but the second yellow was a correct decision.
Jason and Efe played well. There was one moment Efe failed to follow a player in the box but Craig Gordon saved. Jason was comfortable throughout. If he wants a morality tale on what could happen if he returns to Manchester City, he should look no further than his team-mate up front.
Nir Bitton
The scouts who were there to watch Virgil would have left with a notebook full of comments about Nir Bitton. At Murrayfield against Legia, Nir was part of a midfield which included Mulgrew, McGregor and Johansen. It was an abject team performance and the Israeli bore much of the brunt of criticism.
Here’s the thing: I’m beginning to think he’s our best player. He could have played in any of the Champions League games I’ve watched this week, Sign him up, Peter.
Scott Brown, Stuart Armstrong, Stefan Johansen
A major reason last season’s European campaign was such a write-off was the absence of Scott Brown following his rush-of-blood red card and three game suspension. We need players with the ability and engine of Scott and Stefan, both must be a nightmare to play against.
Stuart Armstrong looks like he has been playing in this Celtic team for years. He’s fitted in very well and already looks like an automatic choice. Wait to see what he’s like after 6 months.
Gary Mackay-Stevens
I couldn’t believe the innate criticism of Ronny after the game on BT Sport for subbing Gary, who was our best player until that point, after the red card. When you are early in the game, away from home in the San Siro, it is a perfectly acceptable tactic to sacrifice a wide player (Gary was our only out-and-out wide player) for a defender or covering midfielder.
We didn’t win the game, but anyone who asserts that we would have won the game by leaving a wide player on in place of a covering midfielder or defender, is stretching credulity. The tactics chosen kept the game alive until the 88th minute, albeit the break required didn’t materialise.
When he was on the field, Gary won the ball in a central position, ripped 60 yards through Inter, before finding a team-mate. He looked to be revelling in the space and opportunity given to him.
John Guidetti, James Forrest, Chris Commons
This was a hard shift for all three. John could have had a penalty but thereafter found himself on his bum too often. He is a player who has not progressed as hoped under Ronny, yet, and has a lot of work to do between now and the end of the season.
James has not returned to his blistering performances from a couple of years ago, when he was clearly our M.V.P. As his limbs mature his speed and injury record could go either way. He’ll be with us for another few years, so Celtic have time to build resilience into those leg muscles and nerves.
Kris came on with 13 minutes left and used his unerring goal-sonar to squeeze an attempt out of the meagre provisions he had. He also appears to have updated the referee on what an incompetent clown he is at the end of the game.
This was the first of seven European away games we failed to score in this season, but the reasons we’re out of Europe all lie in what happened last week. You cannot make goalkeeping and defensive mistakes like that and remain in Europe, nor can you pass up so many clear-cut chances.
Don’t know where to start on the flare last night. I fear the next decision from Uefa will be more than a fine.
Thanks to everyone who donated to our Mary’s Meals school kitchen appeal yesterday while entering the ticket competition. The winner was informed by email a few moments ago, so check your inbox.
If you need tickets for the CQN St Patrick’s Dinner, with a Q&A with Packy Bonner, Joe Miller, Tommy Coyne and Tom Boyd, Archie Macpherson speaking about Jock Stein, and music from Patricia Ferns, let me know, celticquicknews@gmail.com
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ard macha …
just getting spooky now … I just downloaded ‘at 17’ to my ipod this week!
ACGR
been a long time since anyone called me a whippersnapper…. you just made my night! cheers!
a wee tune to strengthen the collective resolve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dphpDdfZUGw
think it was bout 2 – 3 ish , if i remember you were talking bout the
herald and their sales increase and you mentioned about what the sales
would be like if something came out bout sevco/sfa etc .
Auldheid had just posted little later that u and him needed to talk and as
he is involved in res12 i wondered if their mibbee is another advert
on the blazers incompotence shall we say ?
Reason am asking is am soure month or so back , your goodself / paul
said there would be more coming about the sfa .
Mibbee am reading too many conspiracy books or being sober this time
on fri nite is frying ma brain ! Apols if i got it all wrong ha ha
ps , if a new how to retrieve post i would do so !
winning captains
01:09 on 28 February, 2015
It’s not a stag night, it’s just about 20 good Celtic Bhoys having a shandy or 10, my 2 older brothers r in their 60s & my (2)best men r in their 20s it is a decent bunch of good Celtic Bhoys, I wasn’t even having a doo but CQN11 ended up the place too be…. I blame Dick Byrne he told us CQ10 was good
HH and thanks for Everything you do winning captains, you are selfless.
nn and HH
winning captains , sorry forgot to mention your name in post
The Raven
01:20 on
28 February, 2015
think it was bout 2 – 3 ish , if i remember you were talking bout the
herald and their sales increase and you mentioned about what the sales
would be like if something came out bout sevco/sfa etc .
Auldheid had just posted little later that u and him needed to talk and as
he is involved in res12 i wondered if their mibbee is another advert
on the blazers incompotence shall we say ?
Reason am asking is am soure month or so back , your goodself / paul
said there would be more coming about the sfa .
Mibbee am reading too many conspiracy books or being sober this time
on fri nite is frying ma brain ! Apols if i got it all wrong ha ha
ps , if a new how to retrieve post i would do so !
gerryfaethebrig – I have got another Coatbridge Bhoy coming to keep an eye on you lot. You might know him, played for St Pats and went on to score what was it 168 goals for Celtic.
Not the kind of fella to upset!
Petec – thanks but not sure what for!
The Raven – meeting Auldheid next week before midweek match. Think he thinks that we could assist tactically re getting the message out. The guys over at TSFM realised the huge publicity we achieved for a very small media spend.
I think you are thinking about something else we said and we have it ready to go. Initially we thought bring it out for Hampden to get the max impact – but we got that anyway.
Then we thought a few weeks later but after seeing how pathetic they were on the day we thought we should wait. It will happen though.
We have been side tracked too with new website for CQN and also CQN 11 – did I mention we have special guests coming????
Someone, he knows who he is, came up to me prior to the Hamilton game and said he enjoyed my posts recently.
I was truely taken aback as I thought most people just scrolled past my posts.
He was on about my posts re my finding my faith again, to be honest I felt a bit uncomfortable about this and changed the subject to talk about a young girl I had met who was homeless.
Over the last few days I’ve been thinking about why I found it so hard to admit that I now believe there is a god.
For a long time I believed that there wasn’t a god, if there was then he wouldn’t have taken my eldest daughter from me. I hated this world. The greed and everyone for themselves struck a cord with me. F##k you all. I can live by those rules.
But I couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried to be a bast##d in life I just wasn’t that kind of guy.
I’m no angel, I have been involved in things I wish I hadn’d.
For about a year now I’ve had a feeling that something was missing in my life. I thought maybe it was my marraige and if we spilt up it would be good for both of us.
I made plans to move into a flat and was about to tell Isobel that she should start to make plans for the future without me.
Out of the blue a guy I hadn’t heard from for yrs called me and asked if I was interested in volunteering with a project for homelesss people in Glasgow city centre.
Those that know me know what happend next.
This blog has helped me come to terms with the past. Some of the posters have made me examine my conscience and make amends for the mistakes I made.
I can’t explaine why I now get comfort being in a church and praying. I can feel something that is hard to explaine in words.
Have I regained my faith? I don’t know what’s happeming but I feel more positive about the future and that can’t be a bad thing.
Gerryfaethebrig, your credentials are neither questionable or any of my business, I’m just happy you’ve made me an offer I will gladly accept.
Thank you my friend in Celtic.
Please contact me at acgr@hotmail.com
winning captains
01:48 on 28 February, 2015
Hope he doesn’t know me !
Up like a bird, 00:43 on 28 February, 2015
Lovely wee post. It’s not in vain, its because we have belief in the ethos of our club, the love of Celtic and a desire to do better on and off the field.
Hail Hail
A wee bonus point for acgr. I thought mrs gr had deleted the Dave Gilmour Gdanksk gig from the planner. Turns out she’s not so I’m getting to listen to wish you were here and shine on you crazy diamond from Poland again and it sounds and looks brilliant.
Celtic men and wummin are pretty goog:_)
One dram and its offski for kip and sclaffbaw on gods holy turf.
a ceiler gonof rust
02:00 on 28 February, 2015
I had 5 CQN11 tickets about a hour a ago, they r selling like hot-cakes, ACGR your name is on one
I shouldn’t have told my young nephews how good CQN11 will be
ACGR is £25 @ ticket ok ? Hopefully you won’t be sitting next too any “roasters”
Hail Hail
Eddiek, that’s why I like you. You are honest to the quick and your heart is on your snot covered sleeve.
Love bruv, see you sunday
HH
Nite nite
winning captains
01:48 on 28 February, 2015
I have a feeling it’s a St Pats Bhoy but definitely not Gerry Creaney !
gerryfaethebrig
John ‘Yogi’ Hughes?
HH
lymmbhoy
First time I saw Big Yogi play was in a pupils versus teachers game at Clitonhill.
He was up against William Docherty our science teacher, who was very adept at administering swift punishment to unruly first year pupils.
The pupils won either 6-0 or 6-1 and we cheered raucously.
As I matured and aged, well moved into my teens, I finally realised the “Big Doch” was a devout and dedicated Catholic teacher who cared about his pupils and went out of his way to ensure they were well schooled and able to face the trials of the real world before them.
CLIFTONHILL.
‘gg
Haha…….it’s been called worse.
HH
My young brother used to play for the wee Rovers in 80s.
Facilities were best described as basic.
BTW Yogi scored 189 goals for Celtic according to Celticwiki.
http://www.thecelticwiki.com/m/page/Hughes%2C+John+%27Yogi%27+%281959-71%29
Just watched the – Inter fans being seduced by
the Sellic fans – walk-on – before the 1st leg on
VideoCelts there…it’s a version of YNWA thats
up there with the YNWA’s from the stowed-oot
Celtic ends without a roof at ibrox and hampden
during the Mr Stein era….versions of YNWA that
used to make the huns riot and invade the pitch to
get the game abandoned…thats when they endured
‘true justice’…Mr Stein style….
…wonderful, wonderful, wonderful…away to watch
some DVD’s were ye can hear the ole Jungle in its
glory…the days when Celtic were Champions of the
underdog community…they were the days…Off oot.
From the sunshine state, Boyne / Tannum, Queensland .
I’ve been saying it for months Nir Biton is a clear candidate and future leader on the field for my beloved Celtic. He reminds me a lot of George Connelly, and that is saying a lot.
HH Jim McCafferty
Good morning CQNers,
Our disciplinary record (players) has been mentioned previously and has been a concern for some time as we concede far too many silly free kicks. When you combine a poor referee and our indiscipline we end up at a disadvantage and collect way too many cards, Thursday night was the case in point.
Some of the free kicks conceded are through over-enthusiasm, others are from players trying to get back into position leading to tackles from behind, in most matches I’ve watched we could easily reduce our fouls conceded total by about 50% if we played smarter.
Kris Commons is probably our best exponent in terms of ‘playing the ref’ in that he wins a lot of free kicks when he gets himself between the opposing player and the ball and falls over. John Guidetti is probably the worst and he could learn a lot from Kris.
The Slovakian referee on Thursday appeared to come into this match with some pre-conceived ideas about Scottish football and we gave him all the rope he needed to hang us with some unnecessary fouls, instead of moaning we really need to wise up and start ‘playing’ the ref.
Our disciplinary record (away support) is frustrating as those who let off the flare on Thursday didn’t do it spontaneously; it’s not something that just happens, no, this was planned, even down to the perpetrator having the assistance of a couple of mates to hold up a flag in front of him/her to obscure their face.
We’ve no need to get paranoid; we just need to get a bit smarter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSbfqCO8XBI
CQN Saturday Naps Competition
Lads, for those who are in the CQN Saturday Naps competition, please go back and post today’s selection at the end of the previous article :
“Internazionale 1-0 Celtic”
All the best, fleagle1888
Fanadpatriot and petec
Cheers bhoys.. great version of town i love so well
Keep the faith
Another warm one in perth here
First all day session in a few weeks coming up… cant wait for the game tomorrow.. then ireland play england.
Fine weekend for a bank holiday
Jimmy @ 06.23
That assured and classy performance on Thursday will not have gone unnoticed and I’m sure scouts all over Europe will have noted it – I fear Nir Bitton will be another who leaves us in the summer.
If anyone is on the 06.36 train Birmingham to Liverpool give me a shout.
Good morning from what promises to be a clear sunny day in Nordrhein Westfalen, just one more week before I see ma wee wifee wummin up in Amsterdam, we haven’t seen one another for two months, lucky her I hear you say.
Jimmy, I made that point the other night about Nir Bitton reminding me of big George – coolness personified. PL needs get this Bhoy secured on a longer contract sooner rather than later because if he continues to play like that then the vultures will be hovering.
Eggs Benedict for breakfast methinks.
Morning all
A bit of seterday morning culture;))
http://youtu.be/vSpOZ9OcWT8
HH
Eddieink…1.53
Thank you for a moving and thoughtful post. That you are finding your way back to faith is a comfort to you but your battle back to the real you is a true victory for you and your loved ones.
I am in the place you were (for much less reason) I hope I can find a way and not keep selfishly pushing away those I need most.
HH
Mild morning in darkest Lanarkshire, going for fast and furious gym workout around 9. Back feeling better now, looking forward to game tomorrow.
Sent that last post too swiftly….was wondering if the sash bash was in full flow again last night? Wilson of the BBC, him with laser vision and defective hearing, makes no mention in his report for Beeb website.
Morning all.
Early of a Saturday for me. Have a wee date at Crosshouse Hospital.
Looking forward to whatever it is WC was referring to. It can’t be about the “football” the undead are not playing. 2 or 3 minutes was more than enough for me last night. How any of their “support” can bear to watch a full game is beyond me. I had to listen to McCall talking about them after the game. He was doing his best to talk them up; it was hilarious. Bhoys, is he hurting.
Doesn’t it strike anyone as strange that followers of Sevco are protesting so much about being called huns? So they are happy to be called ‘Dirty Orange B*****ds’ then?
Whenever my kids came running to me shouting that so and so called them a name, my response was usually something like:
1. Ignore them. The more you react to the name the more they will use it because they know it gets to you.
2.The standard response, “sticks and stones…..”.
3. For God’s sake grow up. You’re 35 years old !!
Good morning my friends from a slightly damp but discerningly breezy looking East Kilbride. And dark clouds creeping in from the Hamilton side of town.
Jmccormick
Microphones at hun end turned off or down by BT. No community singing heard by me.
Absolute crap game Falkirk were the much better side
HH
I predict that tomorrow GMS will play a major part in ripping the sheep a new one. Well that’ll be him injured after that prediction.
kissofdeathcsc