You and I often discuss that teams learn lessons from failure; less so from victories. So it was after the League Cup Final in December. Celtic took home the trophy after a penalty kick decider, but whatever plans we had to control events were thoroughly subverted.
Two weeks later, Celtic went to Ibrox with no learning whatsoever from that final. Philippe Clement, who was deep in job-losing form at the time, bossed the battle. It was a chastening experience, one which remains in the memory ahead of Sunday’s game. We need to learn lessons, not only when they are obvious (Dortmund), but also when they are hidden by a result.
No less than Jose Mourinho got it wrong against Alloa’s 11th best manager of the 21st century. This Newco team remain dangerous, they have the muscle memory from their last two games against Celtic and have a sense of grievance over the loss in December. Celtic will need be far better prepared than the last twice we faced them. We will be allowed lots of the ball but will be subject to synchronised presses.
Newco will defend their box, play on the counter and largely live of misplaced passes as Celtic try to build. Whenever they get into the Celtic penalty area, they will crumble to the deck. A grab of a jersey will be magnified (looking at you, Auston) and there will be plenty left on each challenge. In possession, their most potent player is Cerny. Jeffrey Schlupp and Trusty will have the job of showing him down the line. His fondness for cutting inside is almost compulsive.
Your confidence will be fortified by Celtic’s attacking options. Daizen Maeda has thrived against Newco since before his recent run of free scoring form. Newco have no answer to his speed and power. When playing on the left, they doubled up on him, as does every other Scottish club.
Memories of Jota against Newco from his first spell in Glasgow, his goals and the way he controlled play, remain vivid. What’s your favourite, the Scottish Cup semifinal headed goal, the goal when he rounded Allan McGregor and rolled the ball into the empty net, or the deft control and lob over keeper Jon McLaughlin? Your other memory of Jota in these games was how Newco doubled up against the Portuguese winger.
What Newco could not cope with in this season’s League Cup Final was the dribbling of Nicolas Kuhn. The German was Celtic’s fulcrum on the right, scoring what should have been a late winner. Nicolas went into that game favourite for the Player of the Year award; Newco doubled up on him in an attempt to inhibit his craft.
There is a theme to how Newco defend against Maeda, Jota and Kuhn; they double up against each of them, but they have never faced all three in the same game. I am looking forward to seeing how this plays out. Celtic need to move the ball quickly to drag opponents across the field. This will result in misplaced passes; live with it. Passes reach their destination 100% of the time when you slow things down; that outcome would be a poor indicator of our play. This is particularly true of Reo Hatate, he needs our support to misplace the odd one when trying to expose a defensive stucture.
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Italy are bruisers and good footballers
All My Loving
Up to the HIBS cup game Celtic have played 233 home matches attended by
1,279,066
Ww have another 5 home fixturas to play in the league.
2ndRngers, Hearts, and Kilmarnock, and if the split works out correct – Hibs, definately, but then a problem as we have played Aberdeen, Dundee United and Heart twice at home already.
Either ways,
we will play 29 home matches for an aggregate attendnace of 1.5 million spectators, our highest figures ever.
Well done the celtic supporters who fund the club, by attending and spening, and also the remote season book holders.
23 home matches, typo.
and Hibs game attendnace unknown because almost a week after the match celtic havnt published it anywhere.
BURNLEY78 on 15TH MARCH 2025 1:42 PM
Thanks for the info!
Bada: I was there three weeks ago and there was no sign of any renovations about to take place soon. Also, the security guard was surprised that I was offering him money to get in saying it was free entry for everyone. You are not allowed on pitch, obviously.
If mwell finish in the top 6 instead of hearts then the fixutres can be balanced out.
There’s no business like old firm business
I am going to assume CELTIC will be scottish league champions and will enter the play off round for champions league.
As B78 has been tracking, Celtic could play in the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SIDE OF THE DRAW -(5 QUALIFYING WINNERS)
However, the 2nd place which might be Rangers, hav 3 qualification rounds to play.
If they can get through, they will likely face play off for 2 places only the 2nd team from ,
FRANCE, NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM PORTUGAL TURKEY..
lets hope they can bring there europa and timskepling form to the table for scotlands sake.
Good afternoon all from the Victoria Bar. A great day in the Brazen yesterday with BelmontBrian, Thelurkintim and The Drummer. £3 for a Guinness, be rude not to. 👍🍺
totes brrb £3 have 2 for me
The BIG Race of Today was the MIDLANDS HANDICAP at UTTOXETER @ 3pm.
I managed to get the FORECAST UP…
1ST odds 11/1.
2nd odds 14/1.
The Forecast paid out £152.25 for a £1 Stake.
YA DANCER.
Who said that gambling is for Mugs ?
LOL
HH.
Bada
O’Gillins for Celtic games, watched the Villa game there back in January.
Ireland just about do it.
Chairboy
You seem very very very defensive of Brendan. I am unsure why ?
I posted earlier to say that I would personally hope we would treat this game really seriously tomorrow. My thinking being simple …. That we have not beaten them over 90 minutes for the past 2 games and we were deservedly well beaten the last time after being matched at Hampden. We have our next match at Ibrox and then we go there first up next season.
My thinking is really simple. We are playing a weakened team, maybe not depleted so much as physically drained. A team with a rookie interim management group of limited experience and a club which has attempted to downsize this past year for the first time in many years. All of the above is fact. None of it is criticism. It is cause for us to hope we can get a better result than the past 2 games.
My view is winning handsomely tomorrow should be a big priority. We should be 100% focused on that and not the St Johnstone semi final right now.
You seemed to think this is some kind of agenda against Brendan. You also seem to think you know his mind better than anyone for some reason. Well maybe you do ? You almost certainly know him more than me. I have been in his company on less than a dozen occasions so it would not be hard for you.
However just because you state what you think Brendan thinks and I don’t happen to agree does not even come close to me being negative about the guy or anything he has actually done.
Italy just lacked the nous they needed against Italy in the ol’ rugger game….
Two yellows and a red didn’t help though
“I have been in his company on less than a dozen occasions…………”
That’s just to let you know he’s been in his company…must be an important guy.😉
Wee Bobby Collins.
That is funny.
Of the 21 matches Brendan has managed against Rainjurz over his two spells in Scotland, his Celtic team have won 16, drawn three and lost two, giving him a win percentage of 76%.
Worth noting CSC
My point is I don’t know the guy at all. Never mind that I would try to know what he is thinking.
My son worked for him and I attended a few receptions and dinners. I certainly don’t know him.
However you will think what you want. I won’t stop that.
My point remains I believe (probably in line with most who are actually going to support Celtic tomorrow) that we should really be focused on winning the game. It is the top priority and not concerning ourselves with a cup game v the bottom placed team in 5 weeks time.
Bournesouprecipe
Like you I hope he gets back to his winning ways tomorrow.
Celtic Mac
Totally agree. 3 of Italy’s games this season were probably winnable at certain points.
St Stivs
Yes for thems in Europe next year.
CL qual for non champs route is tough despite their seeding.
3 rounds
1st v 2nd in Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Norway
2nd v 2nd in Belgium Turkey Portugal
3rd v 3rd Holland 4th France
No really easy ties there. Especially for a reforming team with new manager.
burnley78
Italy are a very talented outfit, doesn’t always show with their results.
Could have won today, and it bodes well for the 6 Nations going forward.
Wales are soooooo……..bad.
sad to see but the players aren’t good, the play is bad and england are on the way back up
BURNLEY78 @ 4:18 PM,
The reason I’m so defensive of Brendan Rodgers is several fold.
Most of the points, I’ve stated clearly here, so not sure why you have any doubts.
My first and main reason is there are a lot of people who, for various reasons would like to see the back of our manager.
Rangers supporters and the SMSM are obvious examples.
Yet the more sinister are fholks like yourself who get involved in the dark arts to do him down.
Going back to 2018 I used to take pelters on here for such a stance, thankfully now, true Celtic supporters see through the agenda and are alive to the negative propaganda.
It doesn’t mean that I’m somehow smarter than them, far from it, it’s just once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
I don’t have to dig deep to defend an embattled manager, far from it, the evidence and stats are legion, defending BR&CO from the disinformation and lies is a fairly straightforward position.
As I stated to the late, great SFtBs, my m.o. is simply to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.
It is a one sided approach, and like I’ve said multiple times, I’d be happy to have an open and honest debate about the strength and weaknesses of our current manager and backroom staff.
Yet the cult of personality, agenda merchants and placemen mean that the debate as it stands currently is fire fighting the nonsense.
You see, I’ve been reading leads from Paul67, and comments from fholk like yourself on the blog for quite sometime now.
So, your approach to say, your friend Peter Lawwell’s tenure as CEO is coloured, the generation of Domination, we have never had it so good, the best in your life time to be a Celtic supporter.
See, you are a similar age to me – when I argued the best time for us as Celtic supporters were when we were lads during the Jock Stein era, yet you wouldn’t have it, under Peter we never had it so good you told us.
There are posters who tend to be negative, critical, that’s fine.
There are posters that are always up beat, positive, much better.
Yet posters like yourself with agendas, who are so doom and gloom and negative, compared to being King of the happy clappers under PL – now that is suspicious.
Add to that the fear and loathing you transmit.
The scare mongering that we are going to go bust, that we should be doing so much, much better, even though, currently we are stronger financially than we have ever been, and domestically and in Europe we are performing better than we have done since the Matin era.
To prove your point of view, you may cite individual examples…
Gordon Strachan getting to the knock out stages of the UCL
Neil Lennon getting to the knock out stages of the UCL
Rangerses getting deeper into Europe than we do.
Of course where was the argument that the Rangeres do better than us in Europe when PL was CEO!?
WGS and Lenny were outliers, our failure to get into the UCL 80% of the time we had to qualify under PL were palpable, all the time, the PLC was stating that this was one of their football main aims and objectives.
We got much further in Europe under MO’N regularly before before PL became CEO.
If you look at our domestic form in the 21st Century when PL was CEO and when he wasn’t – there is no marked difference to suggest under Martin, Ange and Brendan, we are doing so much worse than we did under PL.
We did very well before PL’s tenure, we are doing very well after PL’s tenure – yet somehow you wish to promote the idea of Peter the man with the midas touch.
So Martin and Brendan’s achievements are done down, while Gordon and Lenny’s are hyped up, and Tony and Ronny and Lenny Mk2 are conveniently forgotten.
When Brendan Rogers came back, there was accusations of not being a team player
This became his training methods are leaving our players injured.
This became, Chris Davies was the main man and Brendan is nothing without him
This became Brendan Rodgers is going to lose the league because he’s past it and no match for Phillipe Clement.
This became assistant manager (sic) Adam Sadler had came in and turned things around and now he was the brains behind the operation.
This became our recruitment has changed and Brendan pulls all the strings and was going to make us bust.
This became getting to the play-off stages in the UCL, our stated objective, was easy and a Club as big and team as well resourced as ours should be getting to the last sixteen by default.
This became our failure to garner Co-eff points, even though we got sixteen points and outwith an exceptional year the season we beat Barcelona at CP, we have never got close, ten being an exceptional amount.
Things are now getting even more ridiculous, if that was possible, where you just lie about Barry Ferguson having a better record in Europe than Brendan Rodgers.
That OPTA predicted we would do so much better than we did.
Intimating that if we lose tomorrow that will be four times in a row we have failed to beat R2ngers.
Your anti-Celtic rhetoric is anathema to true Tims, who were brought up with true ideals of what it takes to be a Celtic supporter.
Business, friends and associates for you and you ilk, come before the well being of our great Club.
And while….
Family, Faith, Friends and Fooball are all part of our ethos – they are not mutually exclusive, and you don’t do down our Club for personal causes.
Hail Hail
Jeez, what a humiliation for Wales.
Deko- cheers,nice to hear from you,hope you guys are wellHH
Almore- thanks, are they building a cafe? 😀
Bada: The planning application is in or so I hear. Not holding my breath though.
Allez les bleus
Rangers approach tomorrow will be to start fast and try and score early – seems obvious but worked for them in the last game at Ibrox.
If they don’t , especially if they go a goal or two down , it will then be to kick us off the park, with the usual impunity.
Barry Ferguson has already put out a wee wolf whistle to the officials.
https://news.stv.tv/sport/barry-ferguson-wants-rangers-to-do-the-dirty-side-of-the-game-against-celtic
i see a really daft stat doing the rounds –
Brendan has managed against rangers 21 times,
winning 16 (76%) drawn 3 (14.5%) and lost 2 (9.5%)
in those hysterical bloggers it is actually prsented as “the rangers” havnt lost the last 2 games and therefore are on some return journey.
no mention Brendna therefore DOESNT GET BEAT IN 905 of the matches.
I could think in my head, hibs , hearts , kilmarnock have better records against brendna that these blue anti-football twats/
as a ps, i found the barry interview a wee bit disturbing.
apart from looking startled or out his face as if samaras is about to hit him in the coupon with a ball
when asked directly about the police actions and a resonse to potential trouble he replied.
that doesnt concern me i am just happy to have them there.
rabble rousing canny count or spell bankrupt eejit.
lest they forget, barry has been sent off at celtic park, and was in the team for the 5-1 and 6-2 humpings while being paid off the books.
get them done brendand and our crew.
Blogger GM
Agree Wales really were poor.
Incredible their U 20s beat England last night.
Really conflicted now for tonight. A Scotland win means England’s Championship.
Was your lad in action today in the 7s ?
SS,
I felt the same after listening to Ferguson. Dangerous wee ragtag.