In a game full of delights, it was the fourth goal which stole the show. Jota had tracked back and had to control a loose ball facing his own corner flag. His first touch brought control and options, transforming a defensive position into a promising counterattack.
That kind of control makes the game look easy, Greg Taylor and Reo Hatate were able to pass out of the corner and progress the ball to Arne Engels. Arne’s pass around two Dundee players looked anything but easy; it was similar to the pass he made to Daizen Maeda at Fir Park on Sunday, for the third goal. If anything we see between now and May eclipses this as Goal of the Season, I will be surprised (although an own goal winner against Munich would meet the grade).
The same player collected the ball but this time he chipped the Dundee keeper from the edge of the box. If this is what we are in for, for the remainder of the season, it could be another memorable May. 13 points clear with 13 games to go, the run-in is underway.
6 is the magic number for Dundee. A 6-0 defeat last night, 0-6 defeat on Saturday, 6 points from bottom of the table St Johnstone, who have picked up 6 points in their last two games. Safety from relegation is no longer looking assured.
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Oops double post,apologies.
HH
I see the huns set a precedent and Real Madrid have copied it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2y1yxy7yno
However, the difference between Spain and Scoddland is the authorities are not scared to call them out.
Liverpool v Spurs semi final on ITV as well
If Taylor has, indeed, signed a contract with Zagreb, I predict his rating will rocket on CQN :-))
The Blogger Formerly Known As GM on 6th February 2025 7:31 pm
I see the huns set a precedent and Real Madrid have copied it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2y1yxy7yno
However, the difference between Spain and Scoddland is the authorities are not scared to call them out.
GM, can you see something/anything like that happen in Scodland? No, me neither.
Ave Ave
Greg Taylor is a decent left back. He must also be a strong willed young man. Neither he, or his family could have missed all of the unkind comments, and on occasion, abuse that has been levelled at him.
He’s a good footballer, works hard and has an eye for a pass. He’s done everything that Brendan and Ange have asked of him. I guess the lack of appreciation comes from him not being 5 foot 10.
I hope that he goes on and has a great career – and at a club where his abilities are appreciated.
I have no doubt that he will give his all in the remainder of his Celtic career.
What he, and James Forrest have done to be belittled by much of the Celtic support, I can’t imagine.
All the best Greg.
Weeron.
!!BADA BING!! on 6TH FEBRUARY 2025 7:32 PM
Liverpool v Spurs semi final on ITV as well
………………..
Unfortunately that includes Super Salary
Ah have to say
You’re spot on
There’s no doubt about it
Muted
Vietnam, The War That Changed America, Apple Tv is f amazing. I never knew the rebellion came from the soldiers on the ground. I always bought the narrative that it was the ‘damn beatnik hippy wasters’ who were revolting.
I’ve got to say, a couple of times last night when Engels spread 30-40 yard passes, my mind went back to the late great Bobby Murdoch.
Not comparing the two. Just little reminders in style of passing.
I like Greg Taylor as a player. Always gives 100%.
I felt from the beginning that his biggest problem in being accepted by a number of Celtic supporters was that he wasn’t Kieran Tierney.
does mccoist ever stfu
never ss – an almighty hh
Nite all.
Wow, just wow.
1973/74 – Celtic v Atletico Madrid (European Cup S/F 1st Leg – 10.4.74)
https://youtu.be/MjVVUzVJQ60?si=kdY_QnqlQ4LDAYJr
I for one have always appreciated Greg Taylor. He always gives his all and generally plays with a smile on his face, especially on the occasions he scores. It looks like he’s leaving in the summer and I will wish him all the best.
PARKHEADCUMSALFORD on 6TH FEBRUARY 2025 8:48 PM
I for one have always appreciated Greg Taylor. He always gives his all and generally plays with a smile on his face, especially on the occasions he scores. It looks like he’s leaving in the summer and I will wish him all the best.
*and thats all you can ask for, every team needs journeymen, and thats what he was for us
Determination is important in football but confidence is also a huge factor. Only a few weeks ago, very strangely, Dundee battered Celtic in the second half. The away side just managed to salvage a point. It didn’t seem so at the time but that late penalty may have been hugely consequential.
“Record Sport understands that BBC commentators and Sky Sports pundits are amongst those who have been asked for their views, along with some of the written press, who all contribute towards the KMI’s findings.”
No wonder football clubs are pissed aff…
KMI??
Key Match Incident..?
Hail Hail.
Is that the “review panel”?
You’re not telling me it’s made up of stenographers and hundits??
According to the beeb ange is for the sugar lump before the weekend
Think Ange’s time may well be up.
Looks like he has a team of sparrow hearts.
From Jobo
*SENTINEL CELTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2024-25*
*RESULTS FROM GAME #38 CELTIC 6 DUNDEE 0 (ENGELS(2), IDAH, MAEDA(2) KUHN)*
Good evening, friends.
An apology to start with. After each game, whenever anyone picks the same 3 as me, I do try to send a personal reply. But the results would have been delayed until midnight with this game as it became pretty clear early on that 3 folk were in many folks’ minds. Approximately 43 (forty three!) had the same 3 as me.
Most folk seem to agree that last night was one of our best performances of the season to date. Our levels remained high throughout the entire 94 minutes, and it really was 6 going on 10 by the end. And all 6 goals had something great about them.
A lengthy VAR check midway through the first half seemed to confuse pretty much every fan in the ground and every player on the pitch given that there had been no apparent claim for any infringement. But later TV pictures showed a clear pull on Trusty’s shirt and Arne Engels put his disappointment of 2 weeks behind him to dispatch an unstoppable penalty into the left hand corner. Our 100th goal of a pretty successful season.
We had to wait until stoppage time to give us our comfortable half time cushion. A wonderful through pass from Taylor reached Idah, whose shot was parried by the Dundee keeper. Jota’s follow up was also saved but Adam managed to score from that rebound making it 4 in 3 games from the ever improving Cork man.
Early in the second half and we saw the best goal of the night (until that point). A double step over from Jota on the left created space for him to send in a vicious curling cross to the far post for Daizen Maeda’s diving header.
Not long after that brought the highlight of the night and a potential goal of the season. Jota worked back and found himself down at Celtic’s own left hand corner flag. A couple of passes to get out of trouble and then Jota squared to Calum who played the ball across to Johnston and then forward to Engels. Arne sent a beautiful 50 yard curling pass into the path of Maeda. And having executed a Larsonnesque header in our last game, this time Daizen decided on a Larsonnesque chip over the onrushing goalkeeper into the gaping net. A very European like roar from the stands hailed this wonder goal.
Our final 2 goals were – shockarooni – shots from outside the box. Firstly, Engels tried his luck from 28 yards, getting a slight deflection that was enough to create some top spin on the ball which fley into the top right postage stamp. And then with about 10 minutes remaining Nicolas Kuhn reminded us all that he hasn’t gone away! Cutting in from the right and from the corner of the 18 yard box he sent a brilliant curling shot into the far corner of the net. Another screamer on a night with fantastic goals.
Since 30 November 2024 we have played 9 home games in all competitions. We scored 1 against Young Boys, 2 against Dundee United and Kilmarnock, 3 against Hibs and St Mirren, 4 against Motherwell and St Johnstone, 5 against Ross County and 6 against Dundee. A total of 30 goals. And we have conceded just once, against Kilmarnock in the cup. That is some going!
And if instead we just concentrate on league games, then the last goal conceded at Celtic Park was Aberdeen’s equaliser in the 2-2 draw on October 19th. Since then, we’ve played 9 home league games, scored 29 and haven’t conceded a single one!
Overall, we have now played 38 games this season, winning 28, drawing 7 and losing 3. We have scored 105 and conceded 33 (domestically it’s 92-19 and in Europe it’s 13-14).
Thank you so much to the 78 who voted this time around. The total votes cast for each player are as follows, with my own nominations asterisked.
Schmeichel: 0
Johnston: 0
Carter-Vickers: 2
Trusty: 0
Taylor: 5
McGregor: 1
Engels*: 71
Hatate: 26
Maeda*: 78
Idah: 2
Jota*: 49
Bernardo: 0
Kuhn: 0
Schlupp: 0
Kenny: 0
McCowan: 0
And so, the players receiving POINTS for the game against Dundee are –
Maeda – 5 points
Engels – 4 points
Jota – 3 points
Hatate – 2 points
Taylor – 1 point
Note – the top 5 for Sunday’s game at Motherwell were almost identical – Maeda, Idah, Jota, Hatate, Taylor!)
And the overall positions after 38 games played are –
58 points – Kuhn
54 points – Maeda
48 points – Hatate
47 points – Engels
45 points – Schmeichel
43 points – McGregor
41 points – Bernardo, Scales
31 points – Trusty
24 points – Kyogo
23 points – Carter-Vickers, Johnston A, McCowan
21 points – Taylor
19 points – Valle
14 points – Idah
7 points – O’Riley
6 points – Jota
4 points – Forrest, Yang
3 points – Welsh
0 points – Cummings, Holm, Johnston M., Kenny, Murray, Nawrocki, Palma, Ralston, Turley
The 2nd of our 4 consecutive home games is this Saturday. It’s a 5.30pm kick off for our fourth round Scottish Cup tie against Raith Rovers.
Nicola Kuhn has led the player of the year chart since Game 16. Will he still be leading after the weekend? Only you can decide!
Hail Hail!
Liverpool 4-0 up against Spurs in stoppage time.
McCoist — “You know what Sam. I just think Liverpool are too good.”
The man’s a genius.
Angeball is burst
Aye ,he might be the genius that wee wullies kmi panel ask ,was that a penalty ally ?
Absolutely
I wonder how many times in a Question Time programme, wee Fiona Bruce thinks to herself, just answer the fkn question
All depends who wee Fiona is asking the question of. She has a future as a Scottish referee
Saint Stivs
I do think it is difficult with ticket price comparisons but I don’t doubt the point you make.
I like the Bayern Munich stadium and have been a few times to games there.
On 2 occasions not involving Celtic I had to pay over 100 euro for each ticket for equivalent of our north stand lower at 18 yard line. 1 was a basic BL game v lower table and the other was a ‘dead rubber’ CL match with Inter where I paid almost 200 euro. I paid 45 euro last time there with Celtic. So it’s not always as cheap as it seems for this tie. Maybe they are trying to get interest in what they see as a less exciting tie which might be over ? Not sure. It’s a great topic to discuss though but more complex than it seems. The rise of Mavericks in Dallas and Nuggets in Denver show the value of an effect I’ve pricing strategy for tickets in basketball for sure.
Effective
Good Morning Celts – Chilly Morning In The Chilterns…
AN TEARMANN @ 4:45 PM,
Yes, an interesting tweet you posted there…
“Makes you think we ripped apart a recruitment system wrongly assuming we could employ equivalents. This is how it goes now.”
https://x.com/CQN/status/1886531088153034777?s=19
My guess is Paul67 is referring to the system based on data/analytics we “borrowed” from City Group.
Of course I’m far from certain this recruitment system was all that brilliant at CFG – how you modify that and bring that to Celtic with successful outcomes, I don’t know.
It reminded me of a story my Uncle told me a long while back.
He was a Naval Architect who learned his profession on the Clyde.
Way back in the day, The Navy wanted a landing ship that could transport tanks – ten vehicles from the armoured division.
Anyways, somewhere along the line they decided a vessel carrying twelve vehicles would be much better.
The landing ship went back to the drawing board.
The ship was elongated to make provision for the extra tanks.
However, they did not go back to the original Naval Architects and did not carry out rigorous calculations to redesign the landing ship.
The modified design had not recalculated things like; stress, stability, draft and taken into account important things that keep the vessels afloat.
The new longer ship in the end, could only carry seven tanks.
What is your point caller!?
Unless you are totally aware and understand the importance of different aspects of systems, how they are executed, their strengths and weaknesses – then implementing them and utilising them is fraught…
Maybe CFG’s recruitment success back in the day, had more to do with their buying power than their analytics.
Whatever the reason, the 2023 summer transfer window, and the two windows before that proved Celtic’s recruitment system was not fit for purpose.
Ange’s “eye for a player”, had been far more effective.
It doesn’t seem to me that the Executive and Manager ripped apart anything.
It seems to me that what they did was change the parameters, use the data and analytics but depend on experience and expertise to ascertain the best fit as regards current player recruitment.
It is worth reiterating that the modified recruitment system, is NOT at odds with Celtic
F.C.’s Stated recruitment strategy…
…”Our successfully proven strategy has delivered stability and footballing success over many years and remains the same. We must balance the signing of players that can be developed and sold when conditions are optimal alongside the need to sign players who are able to make an immediate impact and deliver footballing success. The execution of this strategy is increasingly challenging owing to wage and transfer inflation, but this formula has underpinned both our footballing success and financial stability over a number of years now and it is vital that we adhere to it. – Chairman, Peter Lawwell”
There has been tangible improvements in our recruitment since Summer ’23, the players that came in, the onfield results, the players development, the value of the squad, it all points to a much better managed and implemented system, still within our recruitment strategy.
Hail Hail
A few thoughts re post Jan window and other things.
Personally I love Greg Taylor of Celtic. His attitude and his energy, his drive and his commitment. I also really rate outputs and his general contribution on and off the ball. He also is one of a long line of really good Celtic players who have excelled for us despite not being from a traditional Celtic background.
I am sure the guy will deliver this next few months even if he is to be away to the (currently) distant 3rd placed Croatian League team this summer. If he is then his CL days will most likely be over. We will miss him and realise how good when he is gone.
That said I reckon the ‘big unit’ we have from Palace could also be a work in progress with potential …. Even at 32 yo ! Our speed and style will challenge him for a bit but he offers pace and power which are also key alternative attributes. Certainly as a GT replacement domestically, if KT is coming and needs to be spared a bit for the bigger games. Maybe a compromise re salary with Schluup (gap maybe not as big as press indicate) could work long term if he proves himself. I also think the quicker he and Jota get minutes and game time this next few weeks the better these signings could be short term. They could both prove to be outstanding and really help us reach some key milestones now and maybe also for next few years. He doesn’t have as many ‘miles on the clock’ as his age suggests. CL play offs are vital next season and I will pop down a wee post on what this is shaping up like later. The short answer is maybe pretty tricky but watching the results in other leagues around Europe could be interesting re seeding prospects.
I notice a few on here speaking of folk seeking ‘confirmation bias’ in their view of things at Celtic. I certainly consider myself guilty as charged recently. Unfortunately I think many other posters are also if they are honest but I can only deal with me. I do have a huge fear of losing the amazing dominant position we have built for ourselves. It matters a lot to me and is a genuine worry. It perhaps clouds my thinking and analysis of ‘evidence’. I should take stock of this.
We are all enjoying incredible Celtic times right now and I really want it to continue. I missed the game due to health reasons Wednesday night and write from my hospital bed. It gave me a great chance to reflect and consider.
For now I will sign off saying we are a really great club but even better when we are aligned and harness our collective values and strengths. Especially if we take the ego out and really respect each other and what we are as Celtic fans in the first instance.
I mean that for all the great people who have helped us build to where we are onfield and off. From supporters to players to managers to directors to the kit man and the ticket office.
The respect isn’t always to evident in my own posts. I will endeavour to address this on here at least …… without my recently removed nasty appendix ….. ouch ouch lol !
Good morning CQN.
B78 – great post.
Watched that game last night. Spurs were dreadful.
I think there’s a good chance Ange will be mutualled in the summer.
Am totally on the outside looking in so have no idea what has gone wrong.
That said, I don’t believe a pattern of injuries is down to bad luck.
PS – Yves Bissuoma? A dreadful footballer.
That a football club paid £30m for him is indicative of what is wrong in the top tier of the English game … AND … how difficult it has become … trickling all the way down … to get VFM in the transfer market.
BURNLEY78 @ 7:36 AM,
Quality post – hope you feel better soon.
Agreed on GT, if he has signed a pre-contract then his excellent contribution on Wednesday night looks even better.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL @ 7:49 AM,
Yes, seen the game, in the context that they were playing one of the best teams in Europe that are bang on form, then we need perspective.
That said, there was very few redeemable facets of that Spurs performance.
He’ll do well to last to the summer.
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
In the light of a Entente Cordiale maybe to be fair to Paul67, we should look at his point about employing equivalents.
There were objectives in the transfer window just gone, the Executive, the new Head of Football Operations and associated staff were tasked with certain recruitment goals in January.
These seem only partially successful, some actually seeing it as a failure – the manager was clearly not happy that we failed to “backfill” Kyogo.
If the changed system can’t identify and procure the players that the Manager wants in and the Executive have apparently agreed to support him with – then it is not fully functional.
Yet on the other hand, the motives of the critics, must be examined.
The data and analytics obsessives need to recognise the “moneyball” recruitment system, never prioritised nor was very good at backfilling players.
It is always worth looking at our recruited players since the previous recruitment system was “ripped apart”.
Engels – 11 mn
Jota – 9 mn
Idah – 8.5 mn
Trusty – 6 mn
Bernardo – 3.5 mn
Kuhn – 2.8 mn
Sinisalo – 1.0 mn
McCowan – 1.0 mn
Schmeichel – Free
Jeffrey Schlupp – Loan
Keiran Tierney- Pre-contract
If our recruitment has been so successful we can walk away from deals we are not completely happy with, not needing to work down a list of options because our squad has the quality and ability to deliver, that has got to say a lot about how we have progressed.
So hopefully a review will take place of our January recruitment and we will be in a good position in the summer to get in the players we need, hopefully in a timely manner to assist with CLQ.
Hail Hail
Back to Basics
Re Ange I am hearing he was getting limited influence (virtually zero) early on recruitment. This This might explain his lack of pinching some of our talent. I also understand his contract may not be the best as at his age he was prepared to jump at a perceived top job and not consider the small print. So I would not expect him to be around too long now.
I think the job he did for us was incredible. Turning the ship around from the mess of Covid to winning the title with a modest spend and doing it with real style. Bursting the rangers bubble completely. So much so that even a UEFA final and further over spend could not satisfy their fans. Leading to 4 managers in 3 years and chaos over there.
And of course 5 trophies and some amazing ‘we never stop’ football for us to enjoy. He will always be a hero for me. I hope he can learn and develop from this.