Here is a prediction for you, Wednesday’s Champions League game at Celtic Park will not end with 22 players on the field. Spartak and Celtic are both enduring awful form at the moment but with different characteristics. The accusation against Celtic (valid or otherwise) is that they have failed to apply themselves sufficiently to overcome opponents. Spartak, on the other hand, stand accused of indiscipline.
Zenit drove the proverbial horse and cart through their midfield on Friday night. Two goals were conceded to players who carried the ball to the edge of the area and shot unchallenged, but Spartak went down running, kicking, heading, kicking and kicking. Their failure is clearly not a lack of desire. Celtic can use this indiscipline to their advantage. Know to expect late or illegal challenges but don’t rise to the bait.
An hour into the corresponding game in Moscow Spartak were 2-1 ahead having lost 3-2 to two late goals in the Camp Nou in the previous game. At that point Spartak were in the box seat to qualify for the knockout stage. A professional foul on Gary Hooper destroyed that position as they were reduced to 10 men and Celtic thundered back to win the game. One momentary lapse in discipline on Wednesday night could cost either team.
The CQN Annual, the perfect Christmas present, is available here
The loss of two goals through the middle on Friday will hopefully give interim coach, Valery Karpin, cause for confusion. Celtic destroyed Spartak on the wings in Moscow, something we would expect them to tactically adjust for on Wednesday, but this recent loss might have them pondering which defensive frailty to concentrate on.
Aiden McGeady made his first team return as a second half substitute after a six week injury lay off. He is a player who will be as much at home as any of the rest of us on Wednesday so I’d prefer he missed out on this occasion.
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Ntassoolla
If I may be so bold to ask…..why did you decide to make it a conundrum
Popped in at the wrong time
I don’t come on very often but I occasionally flip back through the pages when I do.
Celtic Quick News?
Got as far back as page 11, couple of tangential uses of the word ‘Celtic’, yet someone says that the site is influential with the Celtic support??
It appears that only if it’s to do with anything other than Celtic ….
See youse after the Spartak game.
Hail hail
Estadio
Ntassoolla ‘
You did not answer my question.
‘ Crossing thoroughbreds with plough-horses’.
Is that racist ?
Simple YES or NO.
An article on Brussels by Khaled Diab (wonder if the name will cause you to doubt its veracity):-
“Among Belgians, Brussels has something of a reputation for being an unsafe city where criminals of Moroccan and other immigrant extractions rule its mean streets and certain neighbourhoods are no-go areas, not only for law-abiding citizens but also for the police.
Three recent incidents, including a dramatic one in which a police officer was shot with a Kalashnikov during a getaway after a thwarted armed robbery, have confirmed this perception in the minds of many.
The predictable media frenzy – with a tone that would be familiar to a British audience – about street crime and the need for “zero tolerance” followed hot on the heels of the tragic shooting, and voices of reason and nuance have been drowned out. The police even took to the streets to call for more resources and pay, as well as stiffer sentences and faster judicial procedures.
In addition to idle musings about who polices the police during such a protest, I wondered whether the Belgian capital’s image is deserved and whether more draconian security measures are really the answer.
According to available statistics, Brussels has, by northern European standards, a high petty crime rate and it is top of the European league when it comes to domestic burglaries but is one of the safest capitals in the world – and possibly the safest in Europe – when it comes to violent crime, particularly murder. And despite the current media stampede, in the first half of 2009 Brussels registered the lowest crime rate in almost a decade.
Like many Brussels residents, my wife and I lived for years without problems beyond some minor annoyances, on the edge of what is regarded as one of the city’s more dangerous neighbourhoods.
The public debate, carrying as it does racial and religious undertones, has not surprised locals in Brussels’s problem areas but it has caused widespread disappointment. “The violence we hear about in the media is the exception and not the rule,” Kamal, a 32-year-old Moroccan, told me. “With all this talk of zero tolerance, respect has reached zero level. We need a public debate, but one based on mutual respect and acceptance.”
The sense of disillusionment is pervasive, especially in Kuregem, which is regularly portrayed as some kind of urban “war zone”. Eric Gijssen, a video artist and social worker who has lived in Brussels for two decades and works with young people in Kuregem to help them find their voice through the medium of film, has noticed a growing apathy among his charges.
“The youth I work with and other locals are becoming increasingly apathetic,” he said. This is a far cry from the active and engaged young people we met some years ago at the Alhambra centre who were keen to challenge stereotypes and misperceptions. “They no longer believe this will make a difference, and have turned their backs on the media to find their own information sources and forums online,” Gijssen added.
While he acknowledges that there are plenty of problems, he finds that the sensation-seeking elements of the media and self-serving politicians are only making a delicate situation worse. “Instead of stigmatising entire communities, we must first of all engage with the youth and offer them alternative perspectives,” he said.
Gijssen and others with grassroots experience see the fixation on security aspects of the Brussels question as short-sighted and even counterproductive. Instead of attacking the symptoms with a fist of steel, what is required is treatment of the root causes: poverty and social exclusion.
While it is not inevitable that poverty will lead to crime, ignoring the strong correlation between the two is disingenuous and an easy way for politicians and society to cop out of their responsibilities to create opportunities for the marginalised.
In Brussels, the contrast between wealth and poverty is extremely stark. As the country’s main economic dynamo, Brussels has a per-capita GDP that is 233% that of the EU average. However, most of the wealth generated in the city is earned by people who live in its plusher suburbs or who commute there from other towns.
In contrast, inner-city Brussels, unlike most other capital cities, has the highest unemployment rate in the country (17.6%) and, according to Gijssen, in places like Kuregem, youth unemployment can be as high as 50%. Unsurprisingly, this chasm can often lead to feelings of resentment on one side of the wealth divide and fear on the other.
“In places like Kuregem, young people have very little or nothing, and not much of a future to look forward to,” explains Gijssen. “One thing is essential: more investment.”
But rather than investing more, the authorities have been siphoning off funds from community projects in Kuregem and other poorer neighbourhoods in Brussels and, at a time when everyone is feeling the pinch of the economic crisis, immigrant neighbourhoods have fallen off the political radar when it comes to employment and education.
“If jobs and other opportunities are found, then this security problem will vanish,” Kamal told me. “We need to combat social exclusion through better socio-economic integration.”
Ah well
Common courtesy n aw rat kno.
setting free the bears if you refer to your post @00:18 on 4 December, 2012 there is nothing there to explain the accusation of racism directed at kojo.
Rubbishing statistics or putting such a disproportionately high crime rate down to being poor. That IS ducking the issue.
kikinthenakas
Mrs Tet is fine, no 100% but as well as we hoped, and I thank the lord for that.
The cave is as ever the best thing since sliced bread, or the automatic washing machine, the best thing I have ever done in my life.
Ask emu’s about the cave, he has been here, it’s a different world, the dreams are proper dreams, seriously, the dreams are better.
Watching the game in the house, the Barca game will be on in the bars, so RTE2 will be the choice, non bias, they will tell it like it is, Glies, Dunphy n all.
Give my love to Starry :>)
Get yersel over her.
HH
Gerund or gerundive?
Only you know.
I understand your frustration Estadio, when I come on here its to learn and talk about Celtic & Celtic related issues as well. However when someone does come out with some very controversial statements, its hard not to respond and then you get drawn into a debate. Anyhow I’m pretty knackered had a long day and need to get my beauty sleep so goodnight to all. Hopefully it will be match talk to-morrow.
Seems Like The Reverend Peter Mullen Is Entirely In Tune With The Views Of The Oracle Of The Vegas Strip……
The Wise And Wonderful Kojo…..
Most PerspicacÍous Palomine……
Who Recently Revealed That He Had Known For Ages….
That The Malignant Malinky Manchurian Candidate…..
Was A Communist…..
Right..?
Ye’re Darned Right…!
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/petermullen/100192467/paralysed-by-political-correctness-the-west-looks-on-as-egypt-and-syria-follow-iran-into-islamofascism/
Ntassoolla
Rubbishing statistics or putting such a disproportionately high crime rate down to being poor. That IS ducking the issue.
No sir,
You not paying attention to the facts is ducking the issue.
What’s your opinion on the Scottish Government disposing of statistics which prove there is an both Irish-Catholic problem in this best wee bigotted country?
Eh?
Its not even. So lets make up a new law that makes it even.
The police and politicians in London now flatly refuse to give a breakdown of crime by race of perpetrator and victim.
This trend is to be found all over Europe.
Request for such information are silenced by the accusation of racism.
Anecdotal evidence as quoted on here is no substitute for hard facts. Social problems do not go away when you ignore and turn a blind eye. They become worse.
Denying researchers access to basic information will ensure no solutions are proposed except the knee jerk reaction of the right.
Calling people right wing racists because they fail to confirm YOUR prejudices is the response of the unthinking.
Apologies, Estadio & others tired of this nonsense.
No matter.
I hope the day will never come that we don’t speak up against racism & injustice.
Good night.
both-anti
The sound of white coats flapping
izzy I’ll stick to the subject in hand. The accusations of racism made by some on here tonight.
Jumping to another topic is flighty and leads us nowhere.
TET
Will pass on my regards to the bhoys, glad the Mrs is on the mend.
As for dreams, loadsa mad dreams when I go to Vinaros, next time I am over will try and make a trip over, love a wee road trip me!
Enjoy the game in the house, no too far to stagger to your bed!
Was very nervous about the game but seem clam today, must be some of the Barca players quotes, I think Barca will win easily so it will be up to us and I am swaying towards a 2-1 and a wee jolly somewhere in the last 16.
Some nice wine and food and then back to my local and wee long lie on a Thursday, life’s no bad at all…..
Kikinthenakas
Heaven help us. We have a thinker among us. We are not worthy of this enlightenment.
Good night all.
Ntassoolla
izzy I’ll stick to the subject in hand. The accusations of racism made by some on here tonight.
Jumping to another topic is flighty and leads us nowhere.
>…in other words…
Ducking the issue.
Haha ha ha………hunny
Ntasoola
“setting free the bears if you refer to your post @00:18 on 4 December, 2012 there is nothing there to explain the accusation of racism directed at kojo.
Rubbishing statistics or putting such a disproportionately high crime rate down to being poor. That IS ducking the issue.”
The first 5 statements directly stated the reasons. You may not like them but they were there. I won’t duck an argument with any casual racist.
Only the last para referred to your difficulty with stats and that was the only one you responded to. So far tonight, you have not displayed any ability to read a stat or an argument.
However, it is late for me, so I will bow out and leave it to other moonhowlers to do battle with any BNP bus run on our site.
Just one wee request- please clarify that you are here as a genuine supporter of our club and confirm that you are not flying a false flag.
We do get trolls on here. You will know that if you have been here for a while.
G’night CQN
Keep challenging Daily Mail/ UKIP and BNP thinking
To distill his thoughts.
Blacks ,Muslims and Catholics are more likely ,pro rata, to commit crimes than ordinary decent folks.
Not that I want to be contreversial, if that’s how you spell it, but sometimes, the all inclusive thing seems to strain the thing to the limits.
I’m as inclusive as they come, have more non white friends than white, give not a jot for the religion thing, in saying that, go to Mass every week, even tho was never brought up a Catholic, and I love it.
Tis a strange world so it is.
Is that the best you can do?
Call a fellow Celt a hun and think to score a point that way?
You “are” limited.
But that’s your fault.
No-one else’s.
Bad folk are more likely to commit crime than good folk…..
Good football teams are more likely to win than bad football teams…..
Kikinthenakas
What I called you was as someone unable to read an argument or a stat.
I asked you a question and made no accusation.
You did the classic response of ducking the question and feigning martyrdom and squealing you had been accused.
You sir are no Celtic man. And never ever Will be.
Listen to me. No-one will ever meet “Kojo”. He is a parody of a blogger. He has people “working” for him. He is a businessman(?) in Las Vegas. Think Charlie Green with a nastier streak. He has talked about film stars he has met, and if the truth were known, would make him approximately 126. A fantasist with a modicum of intelligence. A legend in his own mind. A graduate of McGill Uni (aye right) –subject–psychology. As for his views on football? He called our manager a cornerboy. Just scroll by. That way you won,t pick up any dirt.
Haha
Hadn’t noticed wee singing dick had made a wee comment.
Aww
I hate crap like this but I cant stand racism and the poor being blamed for the worlds problems when its exactly the opposite- the greed of the few blights the lives of many.
I hate scumbags like Kojo and his ilk – I’m sorry but I do. Ashamed that people like him associate himself with Celtic.
Just before I retire to the pit in the cave, and yes it’s a cave, a hole in the side of the mountain, not that you would think it’s a hole in the side of the mountain btw, I do have hot and cold running water, I do have leccy, I even have interweb, that’s why I am typing pish to you all now, oh, and it’s warm as well, no water running down the walls, in fact, it’s too warm, we have to open the outside doors to let the heat out, seriously we do.
Anyways. Love to you all, this Tim is wasted, been a good day, holibobs here this week.
Take care and god bless Timland
HH
KTF
ntassoolla
00:57 on
4 December, 2012
You are not understanding the basics ……. me thinks though doest protest too much …… You are on the wrong blog ……. We ‘resist’ undisguised racism / religious bigotry ……. Away over to FF, the zombie site……. They’ll be only too pleased to discuss / promote it with you……
Good night to all Celtic Fholk ……………
setting the bears your posts are a collection of cliches. See if you can find some “brand new ones”, as the Holywood mogul said.
Izzy you’ve amply demonstrated your mediocre capacity for name calling. See if you too can think up some new ones.
I’ve always been a Celtic supporter. Not the new, politically correct, left wing lounge lizard type. Just the regular old irregular type.
THE EXILED TIM
But best of all…
No feeking huns!
Izzy
Got it in one mi amigo:>))))))
mediocre capacity for name calling.
>How very dare you. I’ve never been so insulted. I have been name calling for nigh on 30 years and is one of my more proficient talents.
Mediocrity is my enemy when it comes to name calling, ya pie.
Well at least I managed to steer the topic away from Jabba..that can’t be all bad.
So the next time I go to see my Egyptian doctor I had better bring some pepper spray along with me ?
MACA whose church has just been attacked by those lovely civilised white anglo saxon
(they wish) Protestants