As 2019 started, so did 2020. Newco ended 2018 by beating Celtic and carrying momentum going into the winter break, but a 2-1 defeat on their first away game after the break gave Celtic the upper hand, which they would not relinquish. Newco did equally well by beating Celtic at the close of 2019, but yesterday went down 2-1 to (still) bottom of the table Hearts, their first away game since the break
It is not that Newco did anything wrong during the break and its certainly not, as Gerrard suggested, “eight players…..were passengers”. It takes a team to win a game but it takes a squad to win the league. Injuries and suspensions are only part of the story; players become jaded and opponents learn how to play them, all of which means sometimes you need a deep squad, even to play teams at the bottom of the table.
On Saturday, Celtic kept a clean sheet without three of their first-choice back four. They did not look comfortable defensively, but they had enough to get the job done. It is this second, and sometimes, third, tier of player that gets you through the winter months.
I could not believe Gerrard’s more general comments after the game. Instead of putting some perspective on a defeat after an impressive run of wins, he raised the spectre of slipping out of contention, “We need to avoid that level of performance from now until the end of the season otherwise we might not be in a title race never mind competing for the league.”
Can you imagine what this does to players’ confidence? He added, “I still think we have the bottle.” He THINKS they have the bottle! The last thing a player should hear from his manager is talk about bottle in a title run. Let others do their best to infect your club with poisonous words like this, a manager needs to contain setbacks, not turn mention of an innocuous container into a Molotov cocktail.
He has never won a league and with comments like that, no wonder.
199 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- »
Ave Ave
It’s not easy having thousands of miles between you and your loved ones mate. I know your concerns. May I suggest that you send the same Email to the Club disability/Access officer, I’m sure he may have ideas that you may have been unaware of. Good luck my friend and God bless the Auld fella.
http://www.celticfc.net/pages/accessibility-policy
Oops, sorry.
HH
Is Gerrard really selling those two guys Barker and Jones already?
Did he not sign them only last summer?
Ffs and people think our recruiting department has problems
Bhoylo83
Maybe a bit of credit due – offloading wrong signings quickly – whereas we just keep them in the Lennoxtown vortex
BHOYLO83
Can either play at left back?
:-(
PHILBHOY@ 8.59:
Left back to do dressing room duties.
Teuchter: thanks, I forwarded on the address to my sisters. They are still in Scotland so are better posited to do something. Let’s see what they have to offer….
Thanks,
Geez, it’s a worry.
Phoned my old man. Rang and rang and rang, eventually answered but no-one spoke. So I hung up and tried again…. Now persistently engaged.
All sorts of stuff running through my head now….
I think Taylor is our best Left Back but is far too easily pushed off the ball. A number of times this has happened and he seems to go to ground looking for a free leaving us men short when other teams attack
If the strength and conditioning coaches can bulk him up a bit I think he could be a good player for us
Bhoylo83
He is not a young lad.
He is supposed to be a seasoned pro.
Next we will have suggestions to put him on a rack and stretch him,so that he can be a wee bit taller and win more headers.
Bolingoli ,Taylor and Hayes are a HUGE drop in standard from KT and Izziguirre when he was younger.
Bauer and Frimpong ( as a defender)are a drop in standard from Lustig and dare I even say Gamboa ,
El Hamad looked up to the job ,but is of little to us ,if he is mostly injured.
We need more powerful fullbacks ,that can defend.
More power full wide men that can provide assist’s and chip in with goals.
Lastly,if Eddy gets injured ,were fooked.
TT
Ave Ave
It’ll be alright mate. I was lucky to have my sister back home.
They are better looking after things than us worriers.
KTF
Scrolling back delighted to see Posts from Old Tim, AngelGabriel, Kikinthenakas, Bhoylo, TinyTim. Etc
The Bhoys are back in town.
Bhoylo83 – looks like the fire sale has started.
What happens when your trying to keep your house (Ibrox) by selling your car (Morelos) but no one wants to buy your car.
You end up trying to flog your old clothes (Barker) and that table lamp you just got in the sales (Jones).
Except they won’t raise enough cash so you have to get rid of more.
Carpets and garden furniture next (insert player names).
soro will have signed on the understanding that if he does well he will be offered an improved contract and if he does really well celtic will not stand in his way if he can get a move to england or one of the other major leagues. a move to the premier league is like winning the lottery.
i believe the fallout between rodgers and dembele was because rodgers didn’t want him to leave. what manager would want to sell their best player? lawwell wanted £20m in the bank.
@ TINYTIM on 28TH JANUARY 2020 9:52 AM
Disagree about Bauer. I think he has looked solid so far. He has only played 9 games to date, a few of which have been from the subs bench and one was the away leg in Cluj- a dead rubber- so difficult for him to build any sort of momentum or understanding with the back line.
Frimpong is exceptional going forward and is more than sufficient defensively for the majority of the SPFL, although I think I would choose Bauer or Elhamed at RB if we were playing at Ibrox or in a tough European game.
AVE AVE
Contact Alexis Dobbin , who is the Disability Liasion Officer. I was moved from South Stand to the North West Corner section 144 last season due to mobility issues.
Alexis.dobbin@celticfc.co.uk
ST TAMS, thanks. I’ll pass that on too.
Finally managed to get through to my dad. He’d just dropped the phone and hadn’t realised it was still engaged. Phew!!
Back to Basics
‘…that table lamp you just got in the sales (Jones)’
Hahaha
Jones is the guy that tried to injure Bauer in the Ibrox game i think, him hobbling off pretending not to be in agony was Sevcomedy gold
B-)
Bhoylo…seems that tackle has ended his ibrox career…
How is it that when we have a player,who gets quite a bad injury playing for us,we get people on writing him off.Everyone who is out for a while is to be punted,or a replacement brought in.A couple of injuries,and you are a “Sick note”.I read earlier that Taylor is not up to it.Dear God.Too light,gets pushed off the ball too easily.Sorry,have not seen this myself.KT,was the best attacking LB in Scotland,but he was never the greatest defender,as is the case with most attacking full backs.They get caught out.In KTs case,the games I saw him play for Arsenal,back up this point.His defending was very poor.Going forward,terrific.Taylor was widely regarded as the second best back in Scotland with Killie.He should be given the LB position and let the boy have a long run of games there.Then,and only then can anyone make a valid point if he is up to it or not.
The Hands,
I agree about the RBs.Bauer,considering the lack of game time he has had,chopping and changing,has performed well.He has been a good loan for us.
Turkeybhoy
Too sensible and anyway, it’s not posters but everyone at Lennoxtown who believe they are shite.
I blame Social Media personally.
Turkeybhoy
‘KT,was the best attacking LB in Scotland, but he was never the greatest defender’
I liked KT, even though I believed he was little bit over-hyped, but he was a very good defender first and foremost
Transfer Style Guide 2020
(3) Celtic FC do not ‘buy’ or ‘sign’ players they ‘finally complete’ deals. The hugely dull nature of this event should be emphasised at all times by using at least one of the following terms – ‘protracted’ ‘long-running’ ‘drawn out affair’ and ‘dithering’
n.b. If Celtic pay a large transfer fee it should only be mentioned as a last resort.
Welcome to the club Ismaila Soro 1.76Metres
Norriem,
Again on the Taylor thing.You have heard “rumours”that the coaching staff are not keen on him.Taking this out of the equation,could be true,could be billed,you have watched the boy playing.Can you honestly tell me,you did not think the boy did well?.I hear also,”He never impressed against us last season”Utter nonsense.He played in the Killie team who gubbed us a couple of times,and the team the Huns never beat in the league.
A lot of opinions,not based on fact.
Nicholas Parsons rip
HH
Bhoyleo83,
In my honest opinion,defending was the weakest part of his game.Not so much against SPL teams,but in Europe.Going forward,exceptional.Not overrated by me,I loved the boy.As I said,watching him for Arsenal,his defensive game was poor.He WILL have to improve on it down there when fit again.
WESTCRAIGS on 28TH JANUARY 2020 10:52 AM
soro will have signed on the understanding that if he does well he will be offered an improved contract and if he does really well celtic will not stand in his way if he can get a move to england or one of the other major leagues. a move to the premier league is like winning the lottery.
i believe the fallout between rodgers and dembele was because rodgers didn’t want him to leave. what manager would want to sell their best player? lawwell wanted £20m in the bank.
Paragraph1 wee bitty speculative there my friend.Anything to do with Soro’s future solely now depends on how he does for Celtic
Paragraph2 lawells fault,sure is it not always the case.BR and Moussa could have been in China by that time,maybe to many ‘snakes in the grass’ changed their minds!.The Celtic fan is still there.
Hope your good
:-)
HH
WESTCRAIGS
your summation of Dembele Lawell Rodgers episode is not what Dembele suggested
and given that Dembele was on park at Scottish cup final I know who Celtic believe
On other maters
Bauer cant say i am impressed He was right back at Easter road and Livvy when we dropped points
just saying
I’m hoping that by the window slamming time, we have:
Forward – TICK
Defensive Midfielder – TICK
Centre Half – A Benkovic type
Right Winger – A competitive threat to Jamesey
I expect the last 2 to be quality, exprienced loanees.
On outgoings, I’d hope :
Hendry – TICK
Kouassi – TICK
Sinclair – TICK
O’Connor – TICK
Gordon – 3rd place keeper now
Morgan – He’s still here it seems
Shved – Not happening is it?
Connell – Get game time
test
How many loan players are you allowed to have a one time.
As we have 4 just now
Test
@ BIG WAVY on 28TH JANUARY 2020 12:13 PM
I read somewhere that a club is only permitted 5 loanees over the course of a season and only 4 at one time.
Given that we have Forster, Bauer, Elyounoussi and Arzani currently on loan, we would have to say goodbye to one in order to get another in. I could see that happening with Arzani as the first 3 games of the new year do not fill me with confidence that he will have anything to contribute this season.
Big Wavy
I think you will be disappointed with your wish list of signings.I would like Benkovic back.No idea why we have not gone in .Maybe we have,who knows.I think Soro is the defensive mid,we needed.Thing is,as I keep saying,will Lenny play him.Remember we have Elyanoussi to come in.
Personally,I don’t want any more wingers.Think that’s due to watching the games when both are poor.eg,Hun games.I would much prefer 3-5-2.We have strikers,let’s see them.Anyway,Lenny said Shved was bouncing in Dubai ????????????.
TURKEYBHOY on 28TH JANUARY 2020 12:39 PM
Anyway,Lenny said Shved was bouncing in Dubai ????????????.
======
And for all we know, probably still is.
HH
The Hands,
Once again basing your thoughts on Arzani,on total ignorance of the boys abilities.No disrespect t there.But how much has anyone seen of the boy to make any judgements.Again,as with Shved Lenny said he showed up very well in Dubai.
Hearing that tomorrow night’s game is in doubt, anyone else heard anything?