5,800 miles is a long way to go for two football games but that’s the distance from Celtic Park to the Nissan Stadium, where Celtic are currently playing Yokohama F. Marinos. It has been a great trip so far for our sizeable Japanese contingent, while the commercial department have been able to put down some roots in a large and wealthy market. This is an important commercial day.
Maintaining interest from Japan depends on the interests of the football operation, which will inevitably peak and trough. Still, we need to be like Daizen Maeda and make the most of the opportunity while it’s there.
Football is not known for understatements and Inter ultras certainly didn’t go there with their notice to Romelu Lukaku. Their note read, “you repay us with a stab worthy of Brutus. You kissed the badge that is worth more than our lives to us and now like a vile cheap mercenary”.
It’s been 2067 years lads, let it go. A note untempered by anyone who is not an angry male.
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I thought tours to countries in which we already had supporters and from which some of our players come from were always dual purpose or even treble purpose: i. giving the fans (some of them nascent because of the presence of players they care about, in this case Japanese players) a chance to see their team in the flesh ii. commercial, i.e. gaining more supporters and thus potential consumers of what is on offer and iii. a pre-season warm-up.
Getting beat 6-4 by a local team is not that important from a warm-up perspective but wouldn’t it be better to let fans see a winning side and to achieve commercial objectives by winning against local teams? There is a solution – play these teams (Australian, Japanese etc ) when we’re more up-to-scratch not as an exercise in getting up to scratch. It just makes sense. Seem to remember the last time we went to Japan (with Nakamura) with similar objectives we got beaten.
I wouldn’t get too excited about the frontline as anything resembling the Japanese defense won’t be seen in CL. Don’t think big Joe is the answer in the CL either and possibly neither is young Bernabei, Greg Taylor or Carl Starfelt. Can BR sort it out in time? I hope so.
Yoko Oh No? The bed wetters hit the panic button on here well before the Sun got up.
Good morning all from a sunny, calm Garngad.
D :)
PRESTONPANS BHOYS on 19TH JULY 2023 9:03 PM
Thanks for sorting out the typo on the link.
AIPPLE on 20TH JULY 2023 12:50 AM
Thanks for messaging me this morning that you were in touch with Ronnie’s daughters. I’ll hear later how you got on.
Until we meet again…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
SIONNAIGH on 20TH JULY 2023 6:43 AM
Yoko Oh No? The bed wetters hit the panic button on here well before the Sun got up.
Whereas you plastic rebels are deciding which rebs fit into the Good Friday Agreement narrative!!!
Run along
Abada next up for the exit door according to McGowan.
A real shame if true, I think he would have excelled under BR.
£35million of talent going out the door this summer will undoubtedly have BR even more determined to go out and spend.
AN DÚN on 20TH JULY 2023 9:22 AM
Abada next up for the exit door according to McGowan.
A real shame if true, I think he would have excelled under BR.
—————
My thoughts exactly and posted the same yesterday. Hope it’s just media talk and Brendan convinced him to stay. He’s a real talent and BR could improve him loads. 👍🍀🇮🇪
An Dun,
I hope its not true. Liel Abada will be a superstar, but he’s not there yet.
Another year with a good European performance and I’ll be happy to see him go for circa £30m.
Brendan will set him on his journey, but not yet.
His girlfriend looks magnificent in the Celtic top. Hopefully she likes it enough for another season.
H H.
Abada is going to be a superstar,if he goes it should be for no less than £20mil with high sell on % HH
Abada actual performance, he puzzles me.
His “numbers” for goals and assists versus minutes on the park, are good, but often has real stinkers.
The 2nd Rangers games at Hampden, he just made bad decision after bad decision.
He is better than Jamsie at the same age.
But no where near a Jota.
If he goes he goes.
As a PS, McGowan is another copy and paster from these very pages.
TURKEYBHOY @ 12:22 AM,
Well, it is a patchwork defence with our two best defenders missing.
Yet as things stand that is the defence that starts the season, if things don’t change it’s the defence that goes to Ibrox.
Normal service last season wasn’t that great, our defence was ragged-dolled at New Love Street, last visit to Ibrox we conceded three.
Our defence looked poor in Europe – it IS an issue.
Odin wasn’t playing as he’s a moneyball recruit that needs plenty of time, conditioning and coaching to get him to squad standard.
Playing our own development youngsters was the best idea, they more than deserve their chance.
No more moneyball players in this window please.
We needd height, physicality, experience…
Hail Hail
Liel Abada smashing player sometimes, but unfulfilled like Giakoumakis and Juranovic. Plenty more to give in the game maybe like Daizen Maeda more centrally, played as an out and out striker. Stephen McGowan might be right, but the fee is all important and needs to suit Celtic.
The common link is that they instruct their agent to get them a move, and if you listen to Brendan Rodgers we need to move players on, pronto. It’s his squad now like AP he won’t keep unhappy staff.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE @ 10:14 AM,
Well, the fee is very important as you say but my understanding is that Liel refused to sign a new contract, he may well have a clause that let’s him go for less than his current market value!?
We’ll see…
Hail Hail
As a PS, McGowan is another copy and paster from these very pages.
—
He did break Nicholson flying out to Spain for BR talks before anyone.
Chairbhoy
Down with Celtic signing £2M players, …………we want £10M players only
Liel’s market value?
This is determined by Celtic and what the buyer offers, you’re only worth is whatever someone is willing to pay not a notion from transfermarket.com 👍
roberto carlos is 5ft 6
Abada has very good stats, yet I’ve always found his performances littered with basic errors.
I have my doubts he’ll make it at a higher level but we’ll see soon enough.
When our first choice defence isn’t available and we point to our ‘patchwork backup’ that surely points to an issue in itself – ie, the second/third string can’t deputise effectively. So why are they at Celtic?
Wasn’t it Ange himself who said we don’t have a first pick, we have 2 great players at least vying for every position.
As folks have said, the squad was jet-lagged, playing in extreme heat against a side in mid-season flow.
Immaculate silence maintained for the victims of the NZ shooting earlier today.
AU v IRE – win/win however it ends up.
Viaplay pulling out of the UK ,only to be replaced with TNT another subscription company ,a working man’s game ,sadly taken over by greed ,and ex hun people ,come on Celtic apply for our own television rights .
CHAIRBHOY on 20TH JULY 2023 10:02 AM
If it helps with the concern we weren’t able to pair CCV and Starfelt in any of our European games last season. Jenz, who we’ve since let go, played in all six game, him and Welsh were the CBs at hone against Leipzig. Easy to forget how exposed our CBs were in Ange’s system and how we we’re never able to get our first choice partnership on the pitch in those games
I remember you having similar concerns about the relative strengths of us and the Huns in the CB position this time last year. I don’t think I’d swap how it worked out for both of us now.
Talking of market values Jenz recently went for a deal that reportedly could reach £10m. We chose not to take up the option of buying him at a much lower price and let him end his loan early.
It’s a reminder of what hard work it is to find players good enough to win trebles and progress in Europe the way we’d like to. We can’t afford £10m for a Jenz, we need to be smart and play the market.
You would certainly think that Brendan’s Celtic would place a bit more emphasis on defending our own final third than Ange’s which placed far more importance on defending in the opposition half
We might find that the defenders who’ve been consistently exposed in Europe are actually better defenders than we thought, once they are able to defend more and have the added protection of a system that includes more defensive minded midfielders
Whether that means we concede less is another argument, about systems as much as personnel.
We conceded more goals in both Brendan’s 2 seasons in the CL last season than we did last season, albeit against better opposition.
I think to make a progression from last season this we will need to make improvements in all areas, not just the personnel
Should read:
We conceded more goals in both Brendan’s 2 seasons in the CL last time than we did last season, albeit against better opposition.
Based on what we saw last season, in CL and domestic football, we need a better goalkeeper and at least one CH who is good enough to provide cover for CCV and/or replace Starfelt.
Beyond that, I think the squad is in good shape unless any more first team players are sold. I don’t think any of us really know whether any of the new signings are projects or are ready to fight for starting places. They are all used to first time football.
* first team football.
We simply cannot keep om selling top players, Jota , Abada and Hatate and replacing them with prospects, ain’t gonna work. Hoping we are not being led by accoutants whose only plan is to buy cheap and sell high.
Please don’t let that happen Celtic. pleaase
KINGLuBO
CELTIC40ME
Your personnel v systems point might inform why Ange thought Koba was better for his system than Moritz.
Comparing the two directly, Jenz looked a more complete package. Not quite as delicate a left peg, but that’s a secondary consideration for me when it comes to Centre Backs who need firstly to defend and handle physical pressures.
BTW; cracking wee contest in the World Cup tie !
Our fullbacks need to stop crosses do that we will be better ,we also need better awareness of channel runners with our midfield tracking runners allowing the centre halfs to defend their area, none of it is easy don’t do it against competent teams and we will lose goals.
new article posted.
QUADROPHENIAN on 20TH JULY 2023 11:55 AM
It’s a good point, passing ability and taking the ball under pressure is more important to Ange than strength although I still think Jenz wasn’t as strong against SPL opposition as he should have been.
The reports of Anges first friendly in charge of Spurs are talking about how much importance Ange places on passing center halves and how they’re players are struggling to come to terms with it
I still think there might be a place for Yuki in our squad and in Europe where keeping possession is more important than the spl where it just comes straight back to us.