The plan for central defence this season was clear. Carl Starfelt would be allowed to leave, and Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke would be signed. Liam Scales would return to Aberdeen on either a loan or permanent basis. Stephen Welsh and Yuki Kobayashi were not expected to play significant roles.
Before August was out, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Nawrocki, Welsh and Kobayashi were all injured. Celtic dropped their first points of the season at home to St Johnstone, with Scales and Lagerbielke in a shaky looking central defence. We anticipated a difficult time the following week at Ibrox.
Against St Johnstone, Liam Scales was caught in the headlights when defending a couple of over-the-top balls that forced him to turn back and clear. One which came late in the game could have resulted in the visitors leaving with all three points. On moments like this, careers can turn.
Newco were watching. One week later, they tried the same tactic against Liam, but he was ready for it. To be fair to Newco, Celtic were a bit deeper than they were against St Johnstone, so they had less space to aim for behind the defender. This allowed Liam to attack several of the attempts to turn him, or simply clear if the ball fell behind him.
He played every minute of our Champions League games but partnered Carter-Vickers, Welsh, Lagerbielke, Phillips and even Iwata during the campaign. Now, he is without doubt our first choice to partner Carter-Vickers, no matter who else is available.
Importantly, he is left footed, on receipt of the ball he can open the game up more naturally than Starfelt, who played left last season but preferred his right. Left footed defenders are rarer and therefore more valuable than the more common alternative.
By the summer, he will be 26 years old. He is not the finished article, like Carter-Vickers, and he doesn’t bring the ball forward, like Kris Ajer, but he is a better defender and less error-prone than Kris.
Were it not for how reliant the manager has become on him in the middle, he may have plugged gaps on the left. At this age, Liam is running out of developmental road but he is entering the peak five years of his career. Given a fair wind, his partnership with Cameron could sustain for a few years to come. There is no surprise Celtic have opened talks on extending his contract.
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Some of them don’t know whether to laugh or greet when Celtic win.
Don’t know about you, but I think there is aplayer in Bernabei and Holm
KINGLuBO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCk5TsAJsXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyHBIzB0Oy8
I’m jetting in for only my second league game of the season and turns out both were vs Killie (I did go to the 3 euro games).
Hopefully a similar performance good result.
Re centre halfs/halves,
I think the partnership is the most important in the park, if they haven’t worked up a relationship then one mistake and there’s a good chance of the keeper having to make a save. Whereas anywhere else on the pitch there’s always someone else who can mop up.
To my memory every time we have gone through a bad spell recently we have been chopping and changing our centre halves.
I’m not writing any of the newer boys off yet until they get a decent run in the team.
Thanks Bada, but am I understanding this correctly – 6 clubs are complaining they lost money beca8se Cinch cut short the sponsorship deal after the Huns wouldn’t stop complaining and the Huns are one of the six?
Agree with your point this league is tighter than it needs to be because of self inflicted nonsense and it will be a tough one to take later if/when the Huns go top. It really shoulda/coulda been won by now.
It is what it is, however and I genuinely believe we can still get it over the line👍
Why was McInnes asked on BBC Scotland this evening about Saturday’s game? They and STV hav3 been in raptures since yesterday about their deid team going top of the league tonight. STV depend on advertising. So I realise they have to placate their perceived bigger audience. BBC Scotland we have to pay for. Celtic should officially complain to BBC in London about the bias. It gets worse by the season.
Bada Bing
I don’t know what I gave to “wake up” to or be more realistic about if or when Sevco go top tonight.
I have always known we were in a league race. I didn’t think the league was won after either of our Derby wins or when Sevco changed managers. I consider them and still consider them to be an inferior team to ours but I never thought that made the league race a certainty.
So if and when they go top what do I need to change about my attitudes or emotions?
Clunks,
I guess we will know soon enough if the Mark Lawwell departure rumours are true.
It’s all over Celtic social media. Is it a case of Wishful thinking or no smoke without fire.
HH.
What a warped, sad and twisted bitter we bunch the video Celt’s folks are.
Of course stars can prove lots.
We have enjoyed the best 20 years of Celtics domestic history this past 20 years.
We have beaten CL champions La Liga Champions and Premiership Champions in competitive games and we reached the last 16 of the CL in 3 occasions compared with only once beyond Xmas in Europe in any comp in the previous 23 years.
We have won 5 trebles in that period compared with only 3 in our history.
Yet these sad entitled wee clowns, who probably have never actually done anything of note in their pathetic little lives seek to paint a bleak picture for our club in exchange for a few clicks they are happy to sow more discord amongst Celtic fans.
No wonder rangers fans are rubbing their hands with glee at the self inflicted misery they see across the city. Who needs the rangers supporting MSM ?
Hearing from one of the people on the board (who i know well #wink#wink) who knew a woman who once washed Bertie Auld’s Tam O’Shanter after a night out shooting seagulls in Aye that the departure of Tranfer Boy Wonder Lawwell will be announced at 4.55pm Friday.
Here’s the back shift on…….
SFTB- Talking in general terms…….
Greenpinata
If I was the lad I would be off in a shot. He has better career options than here, I know they for sure but apart from being a Celtic fan and close to home I can’t see why he would stay and take this grief.
Perhaps to see players such as O’Riley, Bernardo, Yang, Narwocki, Holm and Oh prove him right in the long run ? These roles don’t always deliver short term return. That is the tricky thing.
B78- don’t go choaking on your prawn sandwiches,always a pleasure for you to talk down to people.
I think the cheating ramped up when Sevco realised they’d boobed with Beale. They sacked their back room ‘ recruitment team ‘ and then got rid of the manager. Their window was a disaster, Hampden went on full alert and Goldson was allowed to play in goals, etc etc.
Annoying when all they’ve done is get another Baldy Beale, but we buy into it every year, so we suck it up.
Kinglubo- I posted the other day,I would start Bernebei on Saturday, he’s had a couple of good games,the only way to find out if guys are good enough, is to get games. Strange how Holm has not been more involved, looks good enough
Holm is now competing with kyogo (as an attacking mid), calmac, Oreilly, Barnardo and hatate when he is fit
If only he was a left back or a winger…..even a striker who showed as much promise
Too many players infront of him just now
Burnley – I mused on this during the transfer window.
As you know there’s no such thing as a middle ground on social media.
A balanced view on most topics will not generate likes, clicks or views. The content has to be as salacious as possible.
Unfortunately this creates competition to create ever increasing salacious content/click bait and it becomes a race to the bottom.
I rediscovered this during the transfer window and will not be visiting many of these supposedly Celtic friendly sites again.
With “friends like these” and all that…..
Test
Ross Co are woeful but rangers playing with a real intensity. Could be a cricket score at ibrox.
Bada Bing
I am a vegetarian
As for talking down to folk. Do you really think these guys have an interest in Celtic succeeding ? Or is it about their bank balance ?
GM
Totally agree.
A narrative to please Celtic malcontents will ensure it gets clicks.
B78- too many egos at work, the most important guy at any football club is the manager,the club is disjointed at almost every level,Celtic won’t change until Dermot Desmond moves on, that’s not happening anytime soon,and the same conversations will continue to go round and round.
Colin is having a bad evening at the Seagull arena.
Aberdeen 0-2 Murderwell.
BURNLEY78,
Everyone at Celtic faces intense scrutiny. It comes with the job.
The saying , If you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen comes to mind.
Cheers and HH.
Astonishing refereeing support for rangers. Not that they need it.
Rangers play like a team who believe.
We seem to play like a team with no belief and no plan. This is despite 8 or 9 starters who have won the league in the past 2 seasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWKtcILzvuA
GOAL Aberdeen 0-3 Motherwell
Adam Devine
Well, the Three-Oh Bair dream is dead.
Harry Paton skipped through the Aberdeen midfield before Bair found Blair Spittal. His shot was blocked but the ball bobbled to Devine, and he side-footed it past Kelle Roos.
I wonder what Neil Warnock’s half-time talk will involve…
Greenpinata
I doubt most folks could name previous chief scouts.
This lad gets it because of his name.
He could go to bigger clubs for sure.
Goal County.
Gwan the RC
Get into them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hahaha
watch the hate and screaming from the stands now kill their game
Disappointing for some posters on here?
The term malcontents. Some wore that badge with pride. Ref below.
“The board weren’t fans of the fanzine or the writers, and in turn were described in the Celtic View in one issue as ‘Malcontents‘! It became a label that the ‘Not The View’ writers proudly took on and stamped on their frontpage.”
It seems I was a malcontent and proud to be one as I certainly didn’t side with the old board .
HH.
I wonder who the other contenders were for the Aberdeen job?
Going by their perceived criteria I’m guessing Harry Rednapp and Sam Alerdyce were unavailable.
A bewildering appointment.