Before we get into some proper reflections on yesterday’s game, can we pay a moment’s respect to the passing of the careers of Steven Davis and Jermain Defoe, who respectively spent 15 and 20 years in professional football. I know we will all wish them the very best on their lives after football – starting today.
Without a word of a lie, when I sat down to write this, I had to go back and confirm that Glen Kamara started the game. Scott Brown has seen them come and go in his 12 years at Celtic. When any of them win against the champions, he’s often the man opponents delight at getting the better off. Kamara did just that on social media in May after the Ibrox club’s win over Celtic. You could set your watch for Scott dominating the former Dundee player. Yesterday, Kamara looked like what he is, a £50k signing who cannot cast a shadow on the Celtic captain.
On Friday we talked about the bedwetters who were worried about the challenge from Newco this season. They added a load of duds, mostly free transfers, to a squad that won nothing and they had people, who should have known better, worried about the Treble Treble winners facing them. Newco signed 10 players this summer, 10 PLAYERS!! Nine of them were not good enough to get into that pathetic starting line up. Gerrard has not signed playing assets, he’s added financial liabilities!
I don’t remember the last time we saw such a makeshift Celtic defence start a big game. Jozo Simunovic and Kris Ajer both failed late fitness tests. Hatem Elhamed missed the previous three games through injury, and had only made five appearances for Celtic, but he was patched up and played at right back. His fellow Israeli, Nir Bitton (new contract please), was asked to fill in at central defence alongside Christopher Jullien. The latter is beginning to look like a £7m euro bargain.
Newco fans thought they would rip Boli Bolingoli apart (perhaps they had CQN comments pages). Boli absolutely bossed the left flank. On several occasions, he took an extra touch under pressure, showing the kind of composure you get from someone who turns up ‘ready’, as Oldco were fond of saying. He and Christopher Jullien are yet to experience defeat at Celtic.
Defending well will get you a point, but if you want to win a game, you need to put the ball in the net. With 32 minutes gone, Celtic were well on top, but the game needed a chance. Fortunately, Newco defender Connor Goldson (soon to be found playing golf at the weekend with Davis and Defoe) was in possession to play an immaculate pass onto the toe of Mikey Johnston. Mikey took the ball from the halfway line before releasing Odsonne Edouard. From that moment, the whole of Ibrox knew the outcome. The French striker closed in on goal before slipping the ball below the keeper. We have so many match winners just waiting for an opening.
You, me and just about everyone else criticised Neil Lennon for his tactics against Cluj, but what a masterclass from the Lurgan Lion yesterday. He sent players into a hostile environment with a coolness not seen in Glasgow, since Barry White last crooned into the microphone around these parts. We dominated the game, could easily have scored more, and did not concede a chance worthy of the name.
The front four: Odsonne Edouard, James Forrest, Ryan Christie and Mikey Johnston were scintillating. Olivier Ntcham was at his incisive best when he replaced James. He linked with Odsonne and Johnny Hayes to create the clinching second goal. I have been critical of Olivier, but when he turns up, he is unplayable.
All that was left was for Jordan Jones, Ryan Jack and Alfredo Morelos to demonstrate that Steven Gerrard’s talk about improving discipline is a mirage. It is disingenuous of Gerrard to criticise Jones, but overlook Morelos stamping on Jullien, and elbowing and kicking Scott Brown, and Jack’s studs-to-the-knee lunge at Bolingoli. Referee Bobby Madden did not see Morelos’ attacks, so you would assume the SFA Compliance Officer will be involved. Surely? The tifo display, showing a Celtic fan on the ground with a figure holding a bloodied sword over him is more sinister than I can remember at any football game. Is this acceptable to Newco, never mind the SFA?
They remain loyal thugs, but now they know the reality. This is the 9-in-a-row season and there’s nothing they can do about it.
559 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- »
Enforced knee jerk after Losing Jerk Jones for the season.
Looks like some of the posters got their fingers jammed in the closing window.
Pretty convenient that them paid more for Kent than we paid for big Jullien 🤔
Level 5 pish
Got timed out…thought there would b more comments…
Overall a satisfying window…
Fighting on 4 fronts…got the strenghth and depth to cope…
happybunnyCSC
It looks like Damien Duff’s experience with the Irish squads has helped us secure a couple or three promising youngsters.
Can we recruit a coach from the Begian, French or Dutxh youngsters?
*and strength
Duff seems to have had a galvinising effect on MJ…NFL seems to have had a galvinising effect on the whole squad…lots to look forward to ;-))
Hail Hail
Oops….
*Galvanising….not to be confused with Calvinising
11 new signings(i think that’s right)
A range of youth and experience
Welcome to Celtic
HH
Alright lurki,you dane awrite? Hope so mate
HH
Celtic have invested in our team.
Seems like the Board have invested in Lennie .
D…am dain fine ta…hows you? Banged yer hed off many Irish ceilings lol ;-))
So we’re settled…the strongest squad in my living memory…which ain’t far, admittedly….more than enough for 9, 10, 11, 12 etc
KTF
Okay. Time for some perspective.
We are maybe all getting carried away with this win over Sevco.
Despite the hype from a salivating press and media,
Despite the bed wetter and towel throwers on here and elsewhere
Despite our makeshift defence
We all need to face the fact
They are crap.
Not “bang average” as I heard a hurting hun say on SSB
They are inept, incapable of finding a team mate with a telling pass
Clumsy in the tackle, slow on the turn
Their main expertise lies in route 1 football or high balls from set pieces where they dive.
The bungle and blunder under pressure.
So let’s not get carried away
Our real tests will come when we go to Livingston, St Mirren, Hibernian etc.
When sleekit referees will do their utmost to ensure we drop points.
When the Dallas school make dubious decisions in their favour.
Anyone have a cure for a tongue stuck in cheek?
Oops
They bungle and blunder under pressure.
‘GG….you play down the fact that they were all out to win it…but we, simple as, bossed it ;-))
Has this been a good transfer window ?
Question is did this transfer window improve our team for CL where 30-40% of our revenue comes from. 100% no
Although for the 1st time in living memory we have signed 3 1st team stats
Foster , Taylor ( well bringing in 25m and spending 3m on his replacement is good business ) and Julian The rest are projects although with no reserve league , where do we play them. Of course the right back we don’t have a 1st 11 start ( either the Austrian or the Israeli )
Ps Neil’s best tactic came in the 70th minute with changing our team from 10 to 11 players :)
Sydneytim
I agree with your p.s. 😀
Thelukintim
;-))
Oh ffs…invisible Forest argument…pair of fannies…imagine setting up where the oppo is gonna gang up on a player…
? Just facts at ibrox Forrest has never played well
On Sunday he was lost when trying to tacked
He at one time was close A 70 30 ball to him
He shat it
Another time with his head down ( as is his trait ) he had space to run He didn’t and passed to Eduard , who was Surrounded by 3 huns
Once he was taken off Ntchamp done more in 5 mins than Forrest done in an hour
Syd.
We didn`t see much of Tavernier and those dangerous crosses into the box .
He and Flanagan were too busy doubling up on wee Jamesy.
Because they knew the threat he posed.
Which is more than you do , Syd.
:-) :-):-)
Glad to hear that Perth was a blast.
Macjay He is a head down player. Give him the ball and tell him to hit byline etc fine
But to be the 1st part of our defence , he is useless. Indeed was standing beside a Perth boy who was saying to me. Look at Forrest. No where near anybody when they have the ball, no marking , useless I call it and he was hooked at crucial point of game as we can’t continue to have a player on the park who can’t mark , or defend
SYDNEYTIM on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2019 5:32 AM
I do get your reservations , Syd.
I think Jamesy is a confidence player.
If he doesn`t impose himself on the opposition fullback early in the piece , I think he tends to lay the ball off . If he`s double marked, he does the same. No point in running into a brick wall.
Lenny has swapped wingers in some games . A good counter ploy.
What is undeniable is that Jamesy has scored some vital goals for us , some in the very recent past.
Including a hattrick playing for Scotland.
Some achievement.
He`s well worth his occasional off days.
Macjay. Indeed off the bench if we need a goal
I was watching Christie. Passion , energy , brave, goes with his man. Everything you want in a game like that
Forrest has none of that
macjay1 for Neil Lennon a 16 year old had him in his pocket at the cup final
Macjay. Indeed off the bench if we need a goal
====================================================
Syd.
It seems that Lennie disagrees.
With respect , I`ll go with Lennie.
All the best , pal.
SFtBs @ 11:47 AM,
While your detailed posts highlight the great success we’ve had domestically my thoughts are this.
There was Rangers Oldco
There is Rangers Newco
Rangers under Walter Smith and aided and abetted by financial doping, the mibs etc made Lenny’s Celtic second best.
The season of their melt down and the rise of the continuity myth meant we were imperious in Scotland. Fine.
Now even CQN is acknowledging the myth has gone and we have continuity. I’m not King Canute. It is what it is.
Outwith Rangers the two biggest clubs, Aberdeen and Hearts have been managed by incompetents for as many seasons as I can remember.
Steve Clarke did more to improve Killie in a couple of seasons and proved what good managers can achieve.
When Brendan Rodgers was winning trebles with us in Scotland his achievements were described as shooting fish in a barrel in the English press.
Celtic are just not ambitious enough, when I say we are risk averse, I believe this is a Board strategy. It is why we have a financial controller controlling our board, our recruitment and our football operations – and not specialists.
Now you have defended this strategy by stating that the Board have delivered financial stability and have minimised risk to Celtic in terms of factors that could in anyway compromise Celtic as a going concern, while dominating domestic football.
Now, you have pointed to the rise of Sevco, yet we find it hard to think of a club as badly run as Rangers so look at their rise from Scottish football’s fourth – tier like a hot knife through butter – that’s interesting right.
A couple of years ago Paul67, in his state of the club address, highlighted, quite rightly, how very well Celtic were doing on the field and on the financials, we simply had never had it so good.
I posted some thoughts, Paul67 commented in agreement on my post, in the “comments section”, which he rarely does these days.
My point was, if you look at the potentiality of two businesses you would struggle to get two more alike that Celtic and Rangers, now I’m talking business comparison only (coca ~ cola, pepsi type thing).
Size of customer base, demographics, brand loyalty; Celtic bigger globally, Rangers bigger UK but incredible similitude.
Yet as a business, Celtic three times larger. Why?
Here’s the fact… Desmond Dermot is an incredibly successful businessman, as an individual a tier 1 player.
Yet even Rangers executives can make money out of Rangers blue pound.
For DD making money from the green pound is also shooting fish in a barrel.
What is my point?
Well it’s this, running a business like Celtic, or any other business, is a challenge for your average Joe, for someone with the skillset, acumen and advisors DD has it’s a licence to print money.
This has never overly concerned me, what has overly concerned me is the way the PLC Board run the football club, they are a group of elderly gentlemen (in the main) who know little about how go put a successful football team on a pitch, yet wish to micro manage ever aspect of it.
For instance: It’s my contention that they instructed Lenny to play N’tcham against Cluj, to put the player in the “shop window”.
What has this meant.
Well in sharp contrast to our excellence in the world of football commerce, we are the most underachieving major club in Europe. We’ve heard a litany of excuses and our expectations have been well managed in this respect.
We are identified historically as one of the world’s biggest Clubs
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/celtic-named-worlds-biggest-clubs-13986213
We are in the top 30 of Europe’s elite
http://www.celticfc.net/news/16231
We had pulled ourselves up to Pot 3 UCL status
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/everything-celtic-fans-need-to-know-about-the-champions-league-dates-draw-opponents-1-4937648
And yet, we are performing outside the top 50 in terms of Europe, why? Why this disparity?
The development and procurement of football players has one prime purpose for the PLC Board, the selling on and profit taking from these assets.
Every Season, with a couple of exceptions for new managers, we bring in more in transfers than we pay out. Even though this is Lenny’s first window of his second tenure, we have made a profit on registrations.
For the UCL our dealings were, as last season, too little too late. Yet it is the wheeling and dealing that disrupts the squad building and dressing roon harmony at this crucial time.
It has disrupted the team building of every manager since Gordon Strachan’s time. Each time we have a player, or group of players we can build a solid, successful team around they are sold.
The classic being Brendan Rodgers’ tenure. We had secured a double treble, we had the best team in a generation, they got on an open top bus and proudly displayed their wares, they were the pride of Glasgow when the summer 2018 transfer window opened.
Now, as is always the case some players were moving on, some not getting any younger and some had not came up to Celtic’s exacting standards; the team needed replacements and strengthened in a few positions.
The manager had a plan, sign Edouardo on a permanent, sign John McGinn from Hibs, sign a quality right back, sign a quality centre half – sell Armstrong, Sviatcheko, Boyata. Get the transfer business done as early in the window as possible and let’s go for UCL qualification and a treble treble.
The on park success had led to record turnover, record profits and most importantly, records on the pitch.
However the head of football’s strategy did not fit in with the PLC Board’s moneyball plans, a conflict took place.
Of course the Board won but the reprocussions are; when will we next qualify for a UCL group stage? A regular occurence until then.
Most are happy with this window, good, for me it’s been amateur hour, with our Manager often embarassed by his pronouncements that were inaccurate.
You state my observations are akin to the boy who cried wolf, maybe so. I look at those that Peter Lawwell has convinced this is as good as it can get and also convinced them that those who can’t see that are fools and think of the Emperor’s New Clothes.
Aff Oot…
Hail Hail
Sydneytim the antidote for positivity, what is wrong with you man? Having a go at our best player for a couple of seasons now JF? Wind yer neck in ya clown and go and watch Aussie rules or swim with the sharks.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon interesting that Lennie hooked him for what was typical performance .
good to see that Neil see that we need 11 men in a game like that,
Belfast I told you before away to shankhill with the rest of your mob, I want the best for my team you don’t
Good morning CQN from a happy Garngad
Well that was a decent transfer window.
I think we have decent cover in just about all positions. Then again with our luck and injuries you can never tell.
Well done NFL, well done the board.
Just out of curiosity how much did we spend in total???
People are saying they cannot believe we are making such a big deal over beating a 7 year old club who have done zilch, but the shite we have to put up with from TV, smsm even national TV spouting how Slirppy G are going to do this and that, after doing what??? Beat us twice last year? Feck off
That’s why we are taking great delight and rubbing their noses in the shite.
Anyway back to work this morning after a wee planned day off yesterday to recover.😒
Hail Hail
D. :)
Good window. Well done Lennie. They’ve listened and given you the squad.
Chairbhoy great comments we are a PLC who run a football club, but PLC 1st
it was interesting the PL was not in Sweden, but it was noted he was away finishing off transfer deals
lets make one thing clear, Peter lawwell should be no where near agents etc it should be the football manger nd the director of football( which of course we don’t have, which led to another shambles at CL qualifying)
#lawwellout
Tell you what you marsupial muppet there are probably people on the Shankill who are more positive about Celtic than you are. I bet you’ve whinged for years now about Jim Craig conceding a penalty in Lisbon.
David66 not sure
think we brought in about 50 million in transfer fees and compensation over last 12 months and spent about 15 million
hardly pushing the boat out!!!!
BelfastCelt indeed some silly people think bringing in 50m and spending about 15m and going out in CL qualifiers is success ,
but hey ho what do I know lol
woolovereyesCSC lol
Syd.
lets make one thing clear, Peter lawwell should be no where near agents etc
===================================================================
Agents negotiate with Clubs on behalf of the players they represent .
Is that correct ?
Who do you suggest should negotiate on behalf of Celtic FC. ?
SYDNEYTIM on3RD SEPTEMBER 2019 6:53 AM
BelfastCelt indeed some silly people think bringing in 50m and spending about 15m and going out in CL qualifiers is success ,
but hey ho what do I know lol
woolovereyesCSC lol
Think for one minute how much the wage bill at the club would be per week. Where do you think the money is coming from? Wonga?
macjay1 for Neil Lennon a director of football the ajax way not a bean counter,
look at the Taylor situation, haggling over 100K or so for a replacement for a 25m pound player