After being cuffed away to Kazakhstan and Belgium, and humbled at home by Russia, the four Celtic players in tonight’s Scotland squad to face Belgium at Hampden would be forgiven for wanting the European Championship 2020 campaign over as soon as possible.
More to the point, you and I really don’t want to see Callum McGregor, James Forrest, Ryan Christie or new boy Greg Taylor playing competitive football into June and July, a whole year after Celtic’s season started and days before next season is due to begin.
A defeat tonight would allow Steve Clarke to play out the remainder of the campaign by experimenting with his squad, unburdened by the pressure of qualification. Callum McGregor, in particular, could do with some down time during the October and November international breaks. Celtic players will have two games a week outside of international breaks until the middle of December. The season is not viable for them to constantly be under this level of playing pressure.
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Good morning Paul67!
Hello………….hello……………
Are you the Phillybhoys ???😂😂
I was shocked to see how poor a good Scotland team was against Russia. Do Scotland not have a second bite at the cherry through the nations cup ? If so then I doubt Clarke will be fielding any weakened teams.
PARK ROAD 67
Someone called me that once.
I think it was meant to be an insult!
Hope you are good!
Hail Hail
PHILBHOY
All good here mhate , I would never insult you btw 😂
Oli was Incredible when he came on @ the Hate Factory.
Broonie is resigning himself to the Bench at Times.
This European Adventure is gonnae be OMEGA.
Brendan wiź right to get the Players to give the whole Support the Praise. Going to the Celtic end First mean’t a lot to so many.
Hope Shved’s injury isn’t too bad. I’d have started him against Hamilton otherwise.
AN DUN on 9TH SEPTEMBER 2019 12:31 PM
I was shocked to see how poor a good Scotland team was against Russia. Do Scotland not have a second bite at the cherry through the nations cup ? If so then I doubt Clarke will be fielding any weakened teams.
___
They do. Coefficient is very important too. Make no bones about it, he will be doing his utmost to get wins against San Marino, Khazakstan & Cyprus. He will be looking for performances against Belgium and Russia.
Paul67 et al
Lose to to Belgium tonight and Cyprus beat San Marino and Scotland will be in fifth place by the end of play. No route to Wembley from there. Que sera sera I suppose.
dorisdaycsc
Paul,
If the players want to play for their respective countries, not just Scotland. That is up to them. There is nothing you or me, nor anyone, can do about it.
We’ll just need to man up, and take it… Like every other good team in the world.
What are we becoming? The New Entitled?
Hail Hail
Pull them all out now, they are risking their careers playing for a team run by that bunch of useless no hopers (..oh no we’re not embarrassed, why should we be..) the SFA, it’ll all end in tears, just ask John Kennedy.
THe top stars in the world play all the games they can but usually they get a summer break when there are no international tournament ,
Then again their clubs usually plan For the least number of qualification ties, whereas our club counts these as our European banker income stream.
Is Armstrong involved in Scotland squad? For Clarkes sake its a shame Griffiths cant play because you can see them getting anywhere with McBurnie up top and McTominay in the engine room.
Unfortunately Clarke seems to be suffering from the same issue that affected previous Scotland managers and that is picking your best players. And just because they are based in England does not equate to them being your best players!
But if it means Christie get a good rest then who are we to complain!
HH
I see Ryan Jack has withdrawn due to injury – wonder if he’ll be fit for the weekend
Siempre
I think Christie will play tonight. He showed more adventure as a sub than any other midfield player. if i am right, Armstrong will not start – similar role to Christie and may replace him
O’Donnell should be dropped but we have no other RB
Roberson should be dropped but as captain, he won’t be.
Same back 4 as last time.
McGinn will drop out for McLean I think – far too immobile to face Belguim (so glad we never bought him)
McGregor will give way to Christie
Forrest or Fraser will drop out for Snodgrass
McBurnie for Phillips
3-1 Belgium
CONEYBHOY
Are you Steve Clarke?
:-)
Coneybhoy
Think you’re being generous with the 1
CONEYBHOY on 9TH SEPTEMBER 2019 3:07 PM
Not sure I agree on McGinn, real potential and influence for a young player.
Not seen much of Phillips but what I have seen is clumsy/awkward (which sometimes works to his advantage through getting lucky breaks… but not that often!) and decision making pretty poor for an international?
HH
GENE on 9TH SEPTEMBER 2019 @ 3:01 PM
“I see Ryan Jack has withdrawn due to injury – wonder if he’ll be fit for the weekend”
I hope so.
John McGinn is vastly overrated. I’m not calling him useless but talk of him as a £50 million player is wide of the mark.
TIMALOY29 on 9TH SEPTEMBER 2019 3:30 PM
John McGinn is vastly overrated. I’m not calling him useless but talk of him as a £50 million player is wide of the mark.
========
Obviously, yeah thats crazy. But you could argue that about any footballer.
However what is more telling is the fact his Villa team mates have huge respect for him – Grealish was quoted as saying that he was amazed by his impact and the leadership qualities he showed from the off… for a guy he’d never heard of before! (which again highlights the ignorance of many in England to our league but whats new).
HH
GENE on 9TH SEPTEMBER 2019 @ 3:01 PM
“I see Ryan Jack has withdrawn due to injury – wonder if he’ll be fit for the weekend”
—–
That’s fake news. Still sitting in Scott Brown’s pocket is the real story.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49615771
Perhaps they could start with looking at their own falsehoods regarding the status of newco
Philboy
Not Steve Clarke but i did go to school in Ayrshire!
Gene
I live in hope we net in every home game
Siempre
I think McGinn is similar to most decent Scottish midfielders(plus Andy Robertson); put him beside talented and athletic players and they perform a specific role well.
Put them all in a Scotland team and they all try to ‘out-pass’ each other and look slow. Ex players like McArthur and D Fletcher are other great examples
I’m not picking on McGinn , but either he or McTominay probably won’t start. They were a sieve the other night and I thought Mulgrew and Cooper handled the subsequent onslaught well.
CONEYBHOY on 9TH SEPTEMBER 2019 3:54 PM
Yeah was surprising to see a Clarke team so stretched. But at least you know what McGinn brings and has a goal in him. McTominay on the other hand… poor mans Darren Fletcher?!
HH
I’ve said it before… we need to sort this ourselves. Prioritise the League and Europe. Three point plan:
1) If we can tie the title up early, end the season there and then for our top players. Get them away on holiday, having a proper rest from football. Allow injuries to heal, regain motivation.
2) Make best efforts to improve performance in Europe. If we can dump Q1 and Q2, or better, we can increase rest time between seasons. Qualification is a numbers game to some extent, cut down on qualifying ties, and we will qualify more often. The more often we qualify, the less qualifying we will have to do.
3) Play our fringe players, some youngsters, and new signings in the Domestic Cup Competitions. This means less games for our top players, so injuries and burn out will be less prevalent. Our fringe and youth players, and new signings get plenty of real competitive action in the Domestic Cup games, making them more first team ready, when their time arrives. Who’s to say we still wouldn’t win the Cups?
Carry on as we are and injuries and burn out will catch up with us. Without proper rest between seasons, we will be continually found wanting in the CL/EL Qualifiers, and one day we will be unable to raise ourselves for the league. We can’t rely on Scotland Managers or the SFA helping us.
If we stay reliant on Domestic Football and the OF Business Model, we are doomed, as Leagues such as the SPFhelL, will be further squeezed as more money is diverted to feed the Behemoth Leagues. Europe is where we need to be, and we need to focus all of our energies there, and in the League, as that is our current ticket to Europe.
It’s time to dump chasing the Cups.
🍀⚽️
SIEMPRE CELTIC (FORMERLY TRADITIONALIST88) on 9TH SEPTEMBER 2019 3:37 PM
It’s all hyperbole.
Hunderbirds Are Gone
I agree with that. The League and Europe should be our priorities. When we have such a huge squad the fringe players should be played in the League Cup. Why have so many players otherwise? BR overplayed Tierney and then McGregor because winning the treble became a vanity project for him. Unfortunately I think most Celtic supporters are also obsessed with trebles. The next manager who fails to win the treble will be branded a failure – by the media and a lot of Celtic supporters.
79CAPS
There will undoubtedly be resistance to the idea amongst the support. However if we see an upturn in our European fortunes, then hopefully the Domestic Cups will lose their lustre. I totally agree with you re. Vanity projects.
The current war on four fronts, is unsustainable. The evidence is there, in the downturn in form for the likes of McGregor, and ever more lengthy injury breaks for the likes of Tierney, Rogic et al.
🍀⚽️
Look forward to the reaction on here if, god forbid, our B team gets humped by Der Hun at Hampden in a League Cup tie.
I’d be prepared to bet the new found pragmatism would not be in evidence much.
BIG WAVY
I think you underestimate the ability of the average CQNer to see the sense in such a pragmatic approach. In fact I would go as far as to say that….
Na, you’re right, it would be Armageddon on here 😡🤬 😂😂😂
🍀⚽️
Does Celtic have a B team?
Scarey how good our squad is starting to look.
Europe is gonnae be Good this Brexit year.
Oh and 9 in a ROW would be just spiffing.
TIMALOY29 on 9TH SEPTEMBER 2019 3:30 PM
John McGinn is vastly overrated. I’m not calling him useless but talk of him as a £50 million player is wide of the mark.
Just his agent doing his job I’d say – he signed a new improved contract shortly after all the talk.
The madness down south, makes McBurnie a £20m player, so given that, McGinn is well worth £50m
Embdy have info on the Hootenany planned for 21st in Glasgow – who’se organising the thing?
HH
BGFC
Any hope of qualification via this route ended in Kazakhstan.
Or, if you are a Sun Tzu fan, long before that.
Tonight is a dead rubber and we don’t need Hercule Poirot (Belgian – geddit?) to find out who killed it.
Step forward the SFA.
Withdraw them all.
Hail hail