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.
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What about the poor “Glaziers”……………………
Clearly well packaged Guff and very apt for a “transfer winda-windup”
Get angrycelts.org oan the case………………
ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:)
HH
Oops! Omitted young Luca Connell from midfield and the other young Irish lad whom we signed last week. Apologies as his name escapes me at the moment. Can anyone please remind me.
Bognor. Similar with be. Ma mates given it a bit of banter. Only thing Is now is they are saying “ mm another quiet game “. Seems to be every week now
He does not do enough over 90 mins to get a 1st pick. 1st I have seen him hooked. So good that Neil saw the bigger picture
THEORIGINALSADIESBHOY on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2019 9:22 AM
Jonathan Afolabi I think is the other one
HH
Other stuff…….
Has yer man Jones been cited for his “tackle” on Bauer yet?
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas.
The windae is shut. Thank goodness.
Best transfer window I can remember for a while.
Excellent team rebuilding and planning for the future in what is Lenny’s first window of his new reign.
We will only get stronger. I love it.
And
I Love Celtic
What a time to be a Tim. 🎵🎶Yo ho ho, off we go…….🎵🎶
Hail Hail 💚🍀
HEKNOWSWHOKNOWS on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2019 7:47 AM
MOI ?
Married man, pal.
Never bat on a sticky wicket.
Good advice from H and S.
Did not take long for the usual suspects to come on and try to play down the best window any of us can remember.Doing their usual,sniping at the Board,sniping at players,giving out the old guff about spending more,what about,what about,this money,that money.Never seems to be an ounce of enjoyment in their lives,supporting Celtic.Now we are getting the crap,Huns are garbage,whats all the fuss,Transfer window was so so.Jamesy is rubbish,but a bang average Hun signing is a game changer.Some real gems like”Taylor,did not even know who he was,but we could have signed better”
Everything Lenny asked for,he got.And a lot more.Not good enough.Its got to the stage I am enjoying their squirming as much as the Huns.Give us another invincible season Celtic,make their lives a real misery.
SYDNEYTIM on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2019 7:57 AM
Macjay Scotstoun you are. I remember you were a wee bit older than me
Do you know earl st in scotstoun ? Did you like the barrowlands ballroom and did you like reading the bible. Just curios :)))
======================================================================
Wee bit older ? Very politically correct of you .
Maybe about 20 yrs.
Knew Earl St. very well. We lived Earlbank Ave.
Never went to the Barrowland.
The Magic Stick once , the White Effluent and Joannas on Bath St. regularly.
Muscular Arms.
Reading the Bible. Sorry . No.
Did all that at school which helped to provide my moral compass .
TRADITIONALIST88 on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2019 9:25 AM
THEORIGINALSADIESBHOY on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2019 9:22 AM
Jonathan Afolabi I think is the other one
HH
…………………….
Thanks for that. His name totally escaped me. That’s three Irish lads signed as well. Afolabi, Connell and O’Connell. Hopefully, they might go on to establish themselves in the ROI setup which might, in turn, win back some of the fans from the Emerald Isle that we have lost over the decades. Someone (TippBhoy?) posted on here on Sunday that there was little interest in Cork on us beating Sevco on Sunday which saddens me greatly.
International breaks are garbage.
I feel some sympathy today for Kerr McInroy. Most of his mates have been given a chance to train their way into other clubs’ first teams while he remains at Lennoxtown working through rehab.
Interested to see how Daniel Church advances this season at East Fife. Three years younger than Greg Taylor, at 19 he’s the age KT was pushing himself to amazing heights. An unused substitute at Methil last weekend. Train hard, get in the team and keep your place.
Billy Stark’s u19s squad only has Ryan Mullen from us. That’s odd.
————————————————————————————-
To my eyes, when Oli came on Ryan moved to the right to replace James. Oli’s impact centrally is better compared to Ryan’s hour there. I thought they were both great.
I’m not from Scotstoun and I love cricket. C’mon England.
BankieBhoy1…there’s a “puggie” here where I live…earth embankment for a now disused railway line…never heard anyone but us locals use the word…never ever seen it in writing lol
As of the transfer window closing:
First XI: Forster, Elhamed, Ajer, Julien, Boli, Brown, McGregor, Forrest, Johnston, Christie, Edouard
Second XI: Gordon, Bauer, Bitton, Simunovic, Taylor, Kouassi, Ntcham, Shved, Elyounoussi, Rogic, Bayo
Third XI: Bain, Frimpong, O’Connor, Hendry, Hayes, Connell, Coffey, Morgan, Arzani, Sinclair, Griffiths
What’s the deal with Arzani by the way? Is he still in recovery from his ACL? Haven’t seen him line up for the development side yet.
BANKIEBHOY1 on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2019 8:29 AM
Went out for a some munchies and missed the Scotstoun love – in.
I remember that area so well.
A wee shop within a tenement building where the occasional ” Penny Dainty ” could be purchased.
TIMALOY:
https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/arzani-targeting-celtic-return-within-weeks-after-surgeon-gives-thumbs-up
I know where Arzani is, but what locus of Brendan’s Eboue ‘Coutinho’ Kouassi ??
That Sunday smile’s still a stayer ;)
I agree about international breaks being garbage. Thankfully, I’ve still got a warm, fuzzy feeling after Sunday’s great victory. Lenny’s tactics (and I’m a critic) and our team’s display were absolutely magic. So many great performances, especially from our new guys. I watched the first half again last night. We all noted that The Great Wall had little to do but something that I noted was the number of times he had the ball at his feet inside our box and held on to it calmly considering his options before sending it deep into their half. This helped to run down the clock. Boli and Chris Jullien were brilliant but I was really impressed by Hatem Elhamed. He was magnificent at right back and in the middle of defence. I’m very disappointed for Nir Bitton who is one of my favourite players. He has been magnificent so far. I hope he does not have another lengthy injury. Moritz Bauer looked good too for the short time we saw him. Things are looking swell and thank God the bloody transfer windae’s closed.
As well as Afolabi and Connell, I also missed out Mikey Johnston from my list of players. Sacrilege.
Decent finale to the transfer window.
Solidifying the defence, which should have been done weeks ago! But good to get that done all the same.
Decent development signings.
Nothing that has me putting cream in my tea. But overall better than the last few disastrous transfer windows.
Are we stronger coming out of this transfer window than we were going in. I’d say yes, a wee bit stronger as we didn’t lose N’tcham.
My one hope now is that Sinky gets his act together and competes for his place also. The more competition the better it will be for the team.
What we had was good enough for domestic football and what we have now will be able to compete in Europa league (hopefullly).
Neil has been shrewd with his signings with a view to building a team who will do the job domestically and build to compete properly in next seasons CL qualifiers.
On this occasion I will both slap the back of PL and criticise again.
Good job, even though a little too late for CL. Not exactly the SSM of old but at least he has had the suit stitched a little.
MWD
TLT
Exactly the same situation with the scotstoun “Puggie”…….the name I think correctly describes the lane and embankment that ran parallel with the elevated train track.
In my primary school years it was the playground of choice for the more adventurous proto-Bear Grylls types roon oor bit. There was a perfectly serviceable “Swing Park” 50 yards away but that was mainly used by the lassies playin’ “Chinkies” and Chaseeees.
In my memory now the Puggie provided a sort of rough’n’ ready ” Center Parcs ” experience for the economically challenged! On any given weekend the Puggie might feature an impromptu den, a wee fire, found treasure like a folded skoo book, the remnants of a kerry oot, or an old settee……..
Thems were The Days.
This is big for me!!!!!!!!!
But – Well done PL
I have been having a go at PL for not investing in players
For clarity I am equally impressed with all his other work
However I have to doff my cap to PL this morning
A little late – but I suppose that’s the nature of the beast
67ECW
Neill has added a lot of bodies to the squad but I’m hoping in January we will be able to get a few out the door either on loan or transfer.
I can’t remember where but I heard a rumour that the Jack Hendry to Hull loan fell through because we wanted more money. If so thats a disaster. The lad has no future so hopefully, he can leave in January either on loan or permanently.
Handing Sinclair another year will always bamboozle me. Hoping we can move him on in Jan.
Conor Hazard is back to being 4th choice. Hopefully, he gets another chance to play somewhere in the second half of the season. Either that or an emergency loan.
Either Kouassi Eboue or Luca Connell would benefit from moving on loan as well.
Lewis Morgan has a lot to do to keep himself here come January.
The biggest priority is new deals for Jozo Simunovic and Nir Bitton! Get it done Celtic.
Interesting how we seem to have glossed over the loan signing of Elyounoussi. The fella is a top player.
All laughin’ and jokin; aside do we now realise that wheras we might want to get our business done early, and we might attempt to get our business done early…………………….in reality….reasonable reality – we might need to accept that Celtic has little ( not none, but little, option) to do its business at the tail-end of the, closing, slamming , shutting…..winda?
TIMALOY29 on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2019 9:59 AM
As of the transfer window closing:
First XI: Forster, Elhamed, Ajer, Julien, Boli, Brown, McGregor, Forrest, Johnston, Christie, Edouard
Second XI: Gordon, Bauer, Bitton, Simunovic, Taylor, Kouassi, Ntcham, Shved, Elyounoussi, Rogic, Bayo
Third XI: Bain, Frimpong, O’Connor, Hendry, Hayes, Connell, Coffey, Morgan, Arzani, Sinclair, Griffiths
For the past 3 years we have had both Rodgers and Neil saying they want to work with a smaller squad yet it seems to only grow in size. Another sign of a recruitment department that is not fit for purpose.
Sinclair, Hendry, Kouassi all should have exited the building if the manager didn’t see them in his plans. Impossible to coach a 1st team squad of 30+ players.
Ultimately a very good window. We need to sell some of our best players essentially to pay their own wages. The conveyor belt has to run a bit more smoothly though. We could have been playing CL football this season if we had applied a little more grease.
So Paul67 saying that we have spent 13.8 m in 12 months
We took in 54M Not exacts a statement of intent
Has our team quality been increased or have we just filled in what we have lost with cheaper options ?
#lawwellout
Great transfer window.
The marquee signing is Elyounoussi, despite it only being a loan. The tainted press raving about Kent. See who has the bigger impact this season.
67ECW…I think you’ve been hacked 🤣👍
H.H.
Have Sevco installed they additional thousands of seats yet ?. For them to be closed down ?.
Bankiebhoy
I agree with have little option to do our business at tail of of window but I believe that is policy. Taking Taylor as for example, if he was a priority that deal should have been done on first day of the window, not the last. But I think that plan relates more to waiting and seeing what European structure we qualify for or not. I’d still prefer investment before hand, especially with a new manager having being appointed, to provide Neil with better quality to select from in the qualifiers. Especially the last 2 qualifiers. Players should have been in well ahead of time for Cluj.
Still. I think this has been a successful window with a view to next seasons qualifiers. Defence has certainly been improved.
Forster in goal breeds confidence in me. Jullien looks like a cracker. El Hamed looks assured and confident at both right back and CD. Boli played well on Sunday and looks like he has something and will be pushed all the way by Taylor. Bauer looked quality when he came on also. With a few weeks of playing together, I hope we get to see a settled back line with the added quality and the first team picks knowing that if they do not compete they will be replaced. Added to that Bitton who doesn’t look out of place as A CM and Ajer, I am confident our defence will not now let us down often.
Mid to front I have full confidence will that they will just keep playing quality football and scoring.
MWD
Lawwells hoping to cash in in some of the new signings..
Hence the reason for the massive squad.
As simple as
Daily rectum has about 4 desperate .. sorry, separate stories on the best ever winger in the whole wide world signing for Sevco.
Transfer window was the best, in my humble opinion for many years. First team strengthened, young prospects secured and some of our youths sent out to develop elsewhere. You can’t replace KT with a similar player but happy overall with our business.
Hate international breaks, already looking forward to the Hamilton game.
I love to revisionism of both sides of the same coin after a window closes.
That all the nay sayers should get back in their boxes and so on.
A lot of information came to light over the past few weeks in regards to how things played out with BR and also how Lee Congerton’s time was spent.
It wasn’t one window in isolation people were reacting to – there was a definite feeling of Deja Vu in regards to ECL failure.
Everyone who’s happy now and lining up their sights on the bed wetters and anti board posters – just think how happy you’d be if we were in ECL stages and the cashola that generates? Because I have it on very good authority there was a different signing strategy if we had qualified.
But wishes and horses and all that.
My disappointment arises from the fact that from a position of power a lack of control and due process we dropped the ball in our scouting/signing departments and if all rumours are true then Congerton’s research on players was nothing more than their names written in crayon on brightly coloured cardboard folders.
So maybe NFL’s eye for a player has actually helped us this window – I hope so.
Because we needed to sort our back 4. We need a plan to rest Calmac & Jamsie & Ryan & Scott Brown effectively without upsetting the rhythm of our winning squad.
If I could line my sights on anyone just now – it would take the form of a plea – can we stop obsessing about Newco and their imminent demise? However they’re doing it, they’re doing it – no one plays football for nothing so everybody’s wages are getting paid. Time to accept (despite the blogs elsewhere) that there’ll be a bunch of journeymen playing out of Ibrox week in, week out and their sole motivation, is also that which kills them – our pursuit of leagues 9 and 10 in a row.
We don’t have to sweat how they pay wages if we get to a place where we don’t care if they are or not.
They are not our concern. Their funding is not our concern. And their future has nothing to do with us.
Celtic – that’s the team for me!
U
bankiebhoy1 on 3rd September 2019 10:33 am
All laughin’ and jokin; aside do we now realise that wheras we might want to get our business done early, and we might attempt to get our business done early…………………….in reality….reasonable reality – we might need to accept that Celtic has little ( not none, but little, option) to do its business at the tail-end of the, closing, slamming , shutting…..winda?
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
bankiebhoy – the dichotomy for me is that a lot of posters who demand that Celtic do their business early to seal Champs League qualification are the exact same posters who want nothing to do with Lawwell and the plc.
The Champs League is only a revenue generator – maybe gives us an extra £20million to lord it over the huns – but it’s not a competition where Celtic can actually ‘compete’.
The real scandal is that we still have to qualify for the Europa League given that we are champions of our nation. Take away the June/July uncertainty (Champs League v Europa League v Bugger All) and Celtic will be in a great position to budget consistently every season – and compete for a European trophy that we could conceivably win.
The Champs League should be a competition solely for big 4 nations – let everyone else compete fairly in the Europa (with no clubs present from big 4 leagues).
It’s UEFA who are playing us like a fiddle every year – not Peter Lawwell.
Not sure why people spend time discussing with people that are clearly glass half empty mentality. That is just their nature and nothing you say or any evidence will convince them otherwise.
Some people are just happy when they are complaining so they must find something to complain about.
When a glass half-empty person wins £29,999,999 they will spend the rest of their life agonising about their bad luck that they missed out on the £1 that will have made it a cool £30Mill. Their entire focus will be on a realisation that if only they have picked number 5 as their bonus ball, that would have made it a cool £30Mill win. They will remember that they actually initially selected the number 5 as their bonus ball then scratched it out and picked a different number. Instead of being happy that they won £29,999,999, they will be miserable that they lost out on £1.
Maybe we should all calm down and read the latest survey that states that the glass half-full person tends to live longer and also have a happier life even though their luck is no better than the glass half-empty person.
My unsolicited advice to any of us glass half-empty person , may well worth the effort to try to re-train our default to look at the bright points. As they say: count your blessings! Wasn’t so long ago that the glass half-empty people were wailing to the moon that Fergus McCann was the worst cancer to inflict Celtic. He was so bad for the club that we were advised to boo him when he was unfurling the flag, for what he done to Celtic….the manta was pay the going rate because Rangers were paying the going rate.
We are supposed to know our history but unfortunately we tend to have very short memory.
Other times we live in a bubble and think that football defies the laws of gravity:
1. Football is a business, you have employers, some players some that are not which you need to pay weekly/monthly wages.
2. that money do not grow on trees
3. If you do not pay your employees , they walk ..someone talk to Stoke.
4. there are various uncontrollable variables that you can not over stretch yourself.
5. the only way we can sustainable start spending £xx on players if we can have a base line income of £Y, if not , if we over spend this year and it does not work out then we will have to tighten our belts the next year.
Based on point 5 above that why I for myself will like them to spend what they have on brick and mortars,something that will increase the money that is coming to Celtic each year, our guaranteed baseline income. With a hotel complex our baseline income will increase so we can sustainable spend higher and increase our wage ceiling. Without getting zillions from TV money we need other ways to try to generate that money to allow us to compete with teams that have that advantage. We also can spend more on our academy to allow us to create more Champions League players.
You may have surmised that I am the glass half full type, so enough with my views.
I am sure we are all entitled to ours whether you are the glass half-empty or glass half-full. Just seems that the glass half-empty folks seem to believe that by howling the loudest they have a point. They apparently are the soul of Celtic which they are trying to save from going to rack and ruin.
BankieBhoy1…yep.. we are seen as a footballing and economic backwater…am surprised we can lure any footballer of note to our wonderful club 🤣
Are we seen as a stepping stone and place where reputations can be re-established…yes…but are we are still a big draw…absolutely…
looking forward to this season with much hope in my heart….
H.H.
I bet the boul’ Jonny Hayes is still walkin’ around with a healthy an’ happy grin on his
remarkable coupon!
What a feelin’.
:)
BashStKids CSC