After three wins and a draw against Newco this season, there is some confidence among the support. Newco are also confident and not without reason. After a poor start at Ibrox on 2 January, they controlled the game, turned Celtic over, before slipping up late on.
Although Celtic were totally dominant in the League Cup Final in February, the result was tight. Margins matter in football and it is only a marginal improvement Newco are looking for. Newco changed things up when they came to Celtic Park earlier this month. Up against it, without any fans, they pressed Celtic high, which upset our passing. It was a game dominated by mistakes – Celtic’s largely went unpunished, two unfathomable Newco mistakes gave us the result.
Mick Beale knows there is little he can do about Kyogo, Maeda and Jota, who will surely start. They will defend deep when Celtic cross the halfway line and try to emulate Motherwell’s achievement last weekend.
Against the Celtic defence, he will look for set pieces. Their goals at Celtic Park came from a free kick and the second ball from a corner. Their disallowed goal also came from a corner and although the shove by Morelos was punished, they may hope that he will get away with something similar next time.
How marginal does a shove need to be before it’s a foul? Morelos is as out of shape as anyone in the modern game, but he is a handful. Playing for set pieces is a legitimate tactic for Newco tomorrow, it will allow them to bring all their strengths to the fore. Short of this, the Celtic defence look far too mobile for them.
Midfield is where Beale will hope to trouble Celtic, he will flood this area and try to make it difficult for Celtic to pass through. It is also where Ange Postecoglou has major decisions to make. If Ange gets it right here, we will be back at Hampden in June.
I vacillate between wanting Hatate to start the game or to be on the bench. Anyone out for six weeks will be well short of sharpness and endurance. If he starts as a sub and comes on during the second half, will he have energy for extra time? It is never healthy for your subs to run out of steam. Giving him the opening period might be a better gameplan.
We saw this scenario play out when the teams met at the start of the month. Aaron Mooy, one of the heroes of the League Cup Final and returning from injury, set the tone for Celtic’s poor passing. He had neither the sharpness nor enough energy to get around the field.
Aaron has been out of favour since, but his fitness deficiencies will surely be addressed by now. I would start him. He can dictate a game and has the physicality to cope with what I am certain will be Newco’s other midfield strategy – “get in amongst them”, which is a euphemism for kicking and elbowing people.
On this point, Cantwell flew into challenges at Celtic Park until eventually curtailed by a yellow card. He will do the same tomorrow. Let him. Give him enough rope and do not retaliate, it is not our natural game, nor it is Cantwell’s. He’s no Barry Robson.
Use of substitutions is likely to be critical to the outcome. Liel Abada enjoys facing Newco, Barasic in particular. While their defence are always occupied with the movement of Kyogo, also having Abada dart around the penalty area like a pinball is too much for them to cope with.
Like Hatate, he has been out for six weeks and will not be in perfect shape, but he is young and has a killer touch in the box. He could be the match winner.
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Hail hail
Paul 67,
If we play to our full potential then we win.
HH.
Reo a no no for me.
Worth observing though that is he’s got enough play the first 60 minutes, he’s got enough to come on for the last 30 plus any extra time.
…if he’s got 🤦♂️
We’ll written and we’ll balanced article Paul, thanks!
T
Strangely not too nervous about Sunday’s match as for me the holy grail has already been achieved and the riches of direct entry onto the Champions League and a League Cup as a bonus, achievements beyond our wildest dreams to replicate a brilliant second season under Ange. But when another treble and a world record is in the offing not to forget yet another derby victory over Gers . Yes let’s have it.
PAUL67
Margins matter in football and it is only a marginal improvement Newco are looking for.
So you subscribe to the oft-heard belief that the gap between Celtic and Rangers is miniscule?
I beg to differ.
BUCKFAST AT TIFFANY’S
Love the moniker. Made me smile.
Inverness 2 up, maybe a bit undeservedly. Pitch at least looks better than the league cup final. Hopefully, no damage done today.
ziggydoc1 – I think the grass looks long. If you watch Falkirk’s missed chance the ball seems to be moved by the pitch onto the post.
I really can’t see us starting Mooy. We’ve gone with Iwata and MoR the last couple of weeks which would suggest to me, it is they who will start alongside CalMac if Hatate is deemed a risk.
https://twitter.com/ScottishCup/status/1652276440866365441?cxt=HHwWgoCxieeqiO4tAAAA
Hoo Haa Celtic are playin tomorrow.
HH
M77 lookin welcoming :-)) eh Bada
HH
JOCKODEE on 29TH APRIL 2023 12:59 PM
ziggydoc1 – I think the grass looks long. If you watch Falkirk’s missed chance the ball seems to be moved by the pitch onto the post.
___
Yep, I think it looks a bit long. It should have another cut before tomorrow. Should, I say.
Just disappoint scoddland Bhoys , please………….
HH
Inverness it’ll be then. 3-0. Falkirk actually looks a better footballing team. ICT a big team, as usual.
Eleven years ago
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CqMSUThVfyQ&pp=ygUoUGFzc2luZyB0aGUgY29mZmluIHdoZW4gdGhlIHJhbmdlcnMgZGllcw%3D%3D
I’m thinking the grass has been left long for a particular reason.
Celtic 5 – Huns 1 (pen)
Cantwell and Morelos to be sent off.
Ave Ave
Looks like ball boys on the sides but none behind the goals. Often the balls being returned quickly. We’ll see if it’s the same tomorrow.
T
Oops, just saw a ball boy behind the net.
T
Sorry to say ICT v Falkirk is a very poor game from a quality perspective.
No matter who wins tomorrow ( And it will be us, if we play to potential) ) has the cup in the bag.
On this day :-))
https://twitter.com/LilZe_7/status/1652085292273131520?t=Qdn6K3GWaQ0vrVmMGJSuRA&s=19
HH
“SAINT STIVS on 29TH APRIL 2023 1:49 AM
What is unpalatable to some around celtic having a full team of players who were catholic ?
what is wrong with that ?
it was not a policy to exclude protestants,”
Let me say first of all that your posts are among my favourites so my disagreement here is with the view and not with the person holding that view.
It is not `unpalatable` to me but it is unimportant . To highlight it offers ammunition to the `They`re both as bad as each other` brigade.
I am sure we have thousands of Protestant supporters .Would they feel somewhat peeved to read of supporters thinking it was worth mentioning that we had teams composed of eleven Catholics?
Personally, I have no religious beliefs whatsoever and I would rather our club was seen as being charitable to ALL who are in need.
PS
Just read that ICT and Falkirk played in the 2015 Final. How on earth did that happen? Who did those respective teams beat along the way? Seems scarcely believable.
PPS
Time for a wee bit of snooker, methinks.
Cheerio for now.
Watched semi for a while but turned off as it was dire. Noticed Walsh appears to see some fouls especially for the blue team while other attacks on players are ignored. Is he just a poor ref or what?
Someone said on here last night that they thought our fans could stay behind if we were to lose tomorrow and applaud the team
Clearly they haven’t been to Celtic park for a while. Even if we are winning or the game is close in the final stages we have punters heading for the door 15 mins to go. When we are not winning the moaning starts after about 15 minutes with the first misplaced pass.
Hopefully tomorrow the support sticks with and does actually back the team on the park of the 100 mins or so
Curious if everyone is falling in line with the GB request to wear the hoops with pride. If so which hoops ?
For me it’s the classic cotton 67 style I think but considering Ange adidas of last season.
HOT SMOKED on 29TH APRIL 2023 2:38 PM
(From the last blog…)
Just read that ICT and Falkirk played in the 2015 Final. How on earth did that happen? Who did those respective teams beat along the way? Seems scarcely believable.
++++++++
Rhetorical question?
Or, have you (understandably) blanked that shameful episode from your mind?
If Celtic take their chances we will be comfortable, yes they will try to make it an arm wrestle but we have shown we are quck enough to pass round about teams, tempo needs to be right and as an option get it forward quickly to our front 3, free kicks and corners they have better delivery so we’ll need to defend well at times.
And make Collum and his cohort irrelevant to the outcome.
Some nònsense being talked today about the Huns roughing us up.Oh yes,I can see CCV,AJ,Carl Calmac,Iwata,being knocked about Hampden.In your dreams.
Some reports on here about today’s game,saying it was crap.I watched the full game,and some great possession play,some great finishes,during the game.Would have put the normal Hearts v Hibs game to shame.Two teams from lower leagues,but yep,why not talk them down.Enjoyed the game myself.Then again,I watch loads of football,not just my beloved Celtic.Some EPL games have been a lot worse than today.But,talk our game down.I thought that was usually a Hun trait.You ĺive and learn.
I would start Hatate tomorrow,but I know nothing of what Ange has been witnessing in training.I will go with what the big man picks.
If we can’t beat this shower of shit tomorrow,then we have no hope at all in the CL.We SHOULD murder them if we turn up,which we have not done this season.Let tomorrow be the day.
HOT SMOKED on 29TH APRIL 2023 2:43 PM
“SAINT STIVS on 29TH APRIL 2023 1:49 AM
What is unpalatable to some around celtic having a full team of players who were catholic ?
what is wrong with that ?
it was not a policy to exclude protestants,”
Let me say first of all that your posts are among my favourites so my disagreement here is with the view and not with the person holding that view.
It is not `unpalatable` to me but it is unimportant . To highlight it offers ammunition to the `They`re both as bad as each other` brigade.
I am sure we have thousands of Protestant supporters .Would they feel somewhat peeved to read of supporters thinking it was worth mentioning that we had teams composed of eleven Catholics?
——————-
ok then, lets ignore every contextual post around what historical moments were being discussed, and take one sound bite that in isolation might have the protestants in the support peeved.
i am peeved that all that effort to compare and contrast was wasted.
what outcome from my posts and several others contribution did you take.
Reading the header today, especially the first half of it, P67 is tipping a sevco win.
What is unpalatable to some around celtic having a full team of players who were catholic ?
what is wrong with that ?
it was not a policy to exclude protestants,”
————————————-
Let me say first of all that your posts are among my favourites so my disagreement here is with the view and not with the person holding that view.
It is not `unpalatable` to me but it is unimportant .
———–
it is of the utmost importance.
if the eleven catholics representing celtic cannot win the scottish cup and it was a deliberate signing policy or indeed a selection policy by mr kelly then it was to the detriment of the results
there were better players in scotland at the time, 1963. but for whatever reason celtic would not sign them.
a few seasoned pro’s would have been helpful.
regardeless of what school they went to. how many ever years before.
an inward looking , glasgow schools , vast majority catholic, with the ild bhoys network, was failing at that moment in time.
as TT said, so much that even the inner sanctum of shareholders were raising it as a concern at annual general meetings.
I too turned off the earlier semi-final. I too thought the football was dire.
It could boil down to set pieces, how we defend them. Notwithstanding the goals we’ve lost to them off set plays, there were other instances in the league Cup final where they had corners bouncing on our 6 yard line. Thankfully they bounced clear but that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
Thats all they’ve got though. Theirs is a narrow path to victory, they need the perfect game. Shut us out and take a set play chance. More often than not, it’s the football side that wins. Hopefully that’s the case again tomorrow.
FFS, Nobody is talking our game down. Yes some EPL games are equally poor.
For a neutral our semi was not a great game to watch and the fact remains that Celtic and thems are streets ahead.
HH.
the semi could have been improved if they played with a beach ball