A good number of us managed to avoid a panicked reaction after the defeat to Midtjylland on Wednesday. That position can under stress on Saturday evening. Despite making Hearts look every inch a promoted side who were unable to pass the ball, Celtic again lost to a team with a fraction of their resources. It was a soft capitulation.
Carl Starfelt endured a nightmare debut. Skinned by Ginnelly in the build up to the first goal, he tried to make amends but only succeeded in surrendering his position goal-side of Liam Boyce. Boyce continued to torment the central defender for the rest of the game.
Hearts winner was a textbook copy of Midtjylland’s opener on Wednesday. An angled free kick into the box should have been met by a Celtic defender before it dropped enough for an attacker to make contact but John Souttar had freedom of the Celtic area to choose his spot.
Anthony Ralston earlier looked to have set Celtic straight with a sublime goal that, like Callum McGregor’s on Wednesday, deserved a better result.
Bobby Madden should have red carded Andy Halliday for an uncontrolled lunge that ended with his studs in Callum McGregor’s ankle, but the referee chose to caution the player instead. Liel Abada made another perfectly timed run into the box to score but Greg Taylor was adjudged offside. The decision was generous to the home side.
It hardly needs saying that Starfelt will get better. Christopher Jullien took weeks to settle into Celtic in less stressful times. Kyogo Furuhashi was given the closing 11 minutes but was unable to make an impact.
Ange Postecoglou has two days on the training field with the players to practice attacking the ball when defending set pieces before they fly to Jablonec. If he is to effect a remarkable recovery this season, it has to start soon.
316 Comments- Pages:
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SQUIRE DANAHER on 2ND AUGUST 2021 10:52 PM
Dear God, the Comedy Club are in tonight.
Now now, I thought insulting behavior and wicked nasty name-calling was considered to be bad form these days
Eh?
CFM on 2ND AUGUST 2021 10:49 PM
On second thoughts, maybe calling that contribution ‘comedy’ was overly generous.
It would appear that every single decision made by the club is to be subject to forensic scrutiny until it can be proven beyond doubt that it’s a bad mans fault
A questionaire needs to be completed so we can get to the bottom of it.
We must have answers, and they must be the ones we want
SQUIRE DANAHER on 2ND AUGUST 2021 11:09 PM
CFM on 2ND AUGUST 2021 10:49 PM
On second thoughts, maybe calling that contribution ‘comedy’ was overly generous.
Nasty nasty nasty man
Play the ball not the man isn’t it? Hmmmm
CFM on 2ND AUGUST 2021 11:09 PM
Are you not curious about who is making these decisions?
ERNIE LYNCH on 2ND AUGUST 2021 11:12 PM
Do you ever make a point without it being a question?
ITSCALLEDTHEMALVINAS @10:57 PM
My nephew and his mate just got one as well having been on the waiting list for several years. He reckoned there was about 7,000 ahead of him so what you say sounds about right. It’s quite sad for me from a personal point of view as I used to take him to the games when he was wee and would have enjoyed going with him now that he’s an adult but I didn’t renew my ST as I couldn’t in all conscience give the PLC another penny. Didn’t try to discourage him though as it’s been his dream for a long time and who am I to say what he should do. Just hope he sees them have as much success as I have over the years although at this current moment in time that feels like wishful thinking.
Anyway, good luck to you ICTM,
HH
CFM on 2ND AUGUST 2021 11:11 PM
Play the ball not the man isn’t it? Hmmmm
———
I played the post not you. I don’t recall conversing with you before and have had no beef with you.
You had earlier suggested, with unsubtle sledgehammer ‘wit’, that AP would have been aware of the ability of J Hart.
That wasn’t what I felt was the point of the discussion and I felt your comment seemed to distract from it.
Which I attempted to illustrate.
Squire Danaher
My best guess is, we can’t get a goalkeeper from the top of the top drawer (whether availability or affordability) but we have a chance to get a proven talent and, being realistic, we need that and at the same time Hart needs somebody like us.
Who is driving the deal – I don’t know but does it matter? It’s an upgrade on what we have, better material for Ange to work with. We would all have been delighted to see Forster back – he’s not great at playing out from the back either by the way – no matter who had done the deal, Ange or my aunty Jean.
If we’re getting an upgrade – and this looks like good one – why don’t we embrace it? I’ll bet Ange does!
If I was curious do you think I’d come on here to find out the answer?
:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
SQUIRE DANAHER on 2ND AUGUST 2021 11:18 PM
Nah, you just insulted me because you were uncomfortable reading something that came down on the other side of the argument to your own
barkas has lost all confidence and bain was never anything other than a backup keeper, neither look like they are good enough at this point. At 34 years old Hart, if he does come in, will be an upgrade, potentially a significant one at that and has lots of years left to produce the goods.
Now for a rightback, leftback, centreback, centremid, left winger and forward easy as that 🤣🤣🤣
craig gordon is a better keeper than Hart,
what a mess that was last 2 seasons.
CFM,
Like the cut of your jib.
FIELDOFDRAMS on 2ND AUGUST 2021 11:18 PM
Who is driving the deal – I don’t know but does it matter?
———
Of course it matters.
Otherwise AP is merely a stooge.
The man has not taken the job from a position of strength – although he could make an issue of this and double bluff the PLC/football boards.
He has an identifiable style of play which is already apparent and seems to my fairly unqualified eyes to be dependent on him sourcing the personnel capable of playing it.
At least let him find and sign his own players.
The longer this goes on the more obvious it becomes that we are still “benefiting from the experience” of our former CEO.
Well done Celtic – If the news is correct, I’m happy………….
A proven Goalkeeper, should help firm up the spine of the defence.
Now, a decent midfielder and a proven Goalscorer.
Onwards!
HH
CFM on 2ND AUGUST 2021 11:22 PM
SQUIRE DANAHER on 2ND AUGUST 2021 11:18 PM
Nah, you just insulted me because you were uncomfortable reading something that came down on the other side of the argument to your own
———
Right ye are then. 👋
I’m not a fan of Joe Hart but that’s not based on his ability, over 100 PL clean sheets, joint record,4, for the most PL Golden Glove awards and 75 caps for his national side proves he has and plenty of that.
Naw it’s his arrogance that did me in. After he joined Man City he was loaned out tae Tranmere and then Blackpool for experience, he was given the No 1 shirt on his return tae Maine Road and made his international debut.
However the signing of Shay Given meant he was relegated tae the subs bench and off he went again on loan this time tae newly promoted Birmingham.
He proved outstanding at St Andrews culminating in being voted Brums POY and being picked for the PFA Team of the Year as well as being selected for his country’s WC squad in SA.
Mancini recalled him tae City but allegedly he told him it wisnae tae sit on the bench and to me this was his arrogance. With that Shay was on his way tae Villa Park.
Possibly that arrogance is just confidence and if so augers well for us..
SAINT STIVS on 2ND AUGUST 2021 11:24 PM
craig gordon is a better keeper than Hart,
———————————————
yes, but then we wasted £5M of supporters money on Barkas
Imagine holding the record for the fastest red card in Premier League history.
What kind of classless, thuggish, nasty piece of work would you have to be?
Squire Danaher 11.26pm
I take your points but at this stage we need a goalkeeping upgrade pronto.
This may be driven by Ange, it may not, but the bottom line is Hart is a goalkeeping upgrade.
Time is not on our side and it isn’t on Angel’s side either. Maybe he sees other positions as more urgent – who knows?
One thing we may agree on is, our board have done our club, our manager and ourselves no favours in this window or in most windows in recent memory. But maybe we can also agree that whoever has pushed the button on this, Hart looks like an upgrade.
Angel’s side, dear me. Ange’s side.
I’m on the side of the angels though 😀
Only a full month to go of the transfer window, – Celtic spend north of £13M
The rest SFA
The fastest red card in history
https://www.sportbible.com/football/news-community-funny-its-been-20-years-since-the-fastest-red-card-in-football-history-20201030
Hi BOURNESOUPRECIPE (and, by freaky coincidence, me and WeeBGFC are watching Jason Bourne on 4 Film +1 as we speak).
I wonder what the net spend will be between Jan – Dec this year.
Will be interesting to see – also more interesting to see whether there is a correlation between net spend and perceived squad quality. What would be great would be a positive or even zero net spend, but a big increase in committment / quality. It looks as if some big wages are heading out the door – will we use them better – or just bank them?
HH
BGFC
TOM M
Good post.
I’m happy with Hart…………big improvement on what we have…………….but some are never happy.
Joe Hart is obviously an Ange Postecoglou signing becayse he is coming to play for the first team and Ange will have signed off on that. It does not matter that he does not fulfill the prototype of keeper he is looking for as he has all of the main requirements i.e. he has been a good and competent keeper for many years. If he’s good enough to be number 2 at a top EPL club, he’s more than good enough for us.
The recent signings of Lawal and Scales and possibly Shaw and Uroghohige will have had less input from Ange, though he may have been kept in the loop, because they are development signings not first team ready. They will mostly have been identified by our scouts as good cross border raid signings of good promising players near the end of their contracts.
Ange has enough priority work to do, following hte Howe fiasco, in making the first team squad decent. Many of the players he had to rely on in his first month such as Dane Murray, Owen Moffat, and possibly Uroghohige or Shaw will drop out of the first team squad of 20 odd players as more mature and ready signings are made.
Ange will have half an eye on those fringe players and reserves and his decision will be to decide on when they are ready to join the first team squad and contribute. He cannot, because of the Howe fiasco, be expected to do this all at once.
Cut the man some slack! He is firefighting at the moment to knock this into a recognisable shape. He cannot be a micro manager just yet and he bears no responsibility for Celtic’s stupid and unprofessional dalliance with Eddie Howe’s promises- that fault lies elsewhere.
OE has not left the building so our next batch of signings will be low ball efforts.
Nothing wrong with that as it shows that we are getting creative in the face of poor financials.
JH — Good signing / I hope he does well for both himself and for us.
Hopefully he has not lost his huge talent to boss / organise his box.
FF — I wonder what this year will bring but I fear salvation is some way off.
VB — Hopefully he uses his time out of the limelight to rebuild his game / confidence.
There is a player in there somewhere but the last 12 months have been too much for him.
SB — I hope he just goes / as the danger gets closer he gets smaller.
FF was the future once.
Now he is just a good shot-stopper with vampire tendencies.
JH on the other hand had excellent movement and presence — hopefully he has still got it.
Now for the SR CB — interesting career path.
JH with a better education or a bit more than that — I say more.
Plus JMcC — only 12 years late.
Him and VW would have been some pairing.
We can but dream
SFTB @ 11.58
Are you moonlighting as the Tabloid Wing of the CQN writers club?
LSc was bought because we have no full blown / full grown defensive height in the squad at the moment.
I think he will go straight into the team either as the heading CB or an emergency LB.
He is 5 years older than DM and at least two stones heavier so he should allow DM to develop at a more natural pace.
LSh and OU look like PL specials — formula projects bought on the cheap to be thrown into the youth mixer with the probability of no constructive output.
The change of manager will help plus we have a thin squad and the numbers help — AP had no input into their scouting and signing as far as I can make out.
BL — interesting signing tearing it up with the Colts. Looks a prospect with a huge appetite to take the game to the butchers / bakers / candlestick makers he is up against. One to watch hopefully in conjunction with DM.
Just finished watching ‘Tommy’ on BBC Alba, Celtic through and through, who left us way too soon. Family man first though, family, faith and then football. Great documentary, guess it was made on the tenth anniversary of his passing back in 2018. One wee story did cheer me up though, told by their daughter Emma, when Tommy was our Manager, and we were away at St Mirren, the old Love Street, and she was in the aul stand, wi the even aulder wooden seats. Anyways there was this wee guy sitting in front of her giving Tommy dog’s abuse, and when he stood up for greater effect, Emma took the chance to flip up his seat, and when he sat back down, well you get the picture, flat on his backside. Lesson to be learned, you don’t diss Tommy when his daughter is sitting behind you.
EmmaBurnsCSC
Daewtmminrith
Sorry MM
What with my moonlighting for tabloids, I have precious little time to engage in the exchange of insults which inevitably arises from a discussion/ exercise in cryptography with you.
You live in a world where everyone is a failed minion and you are a Master of the Universe.
I have no desire to visit.
BGFC
91%
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen
Director: Paul Greengrass
90%
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox
Director: Paul Greengrass
93%
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper
Director: Doug Liman
Celtic will outspend for Scotland despite the cynics, – SMSM know it, and the SFA are ramped up from game one.
We have more money than sense at the moment and are outpicking Watford, Sheffield and other cash rich Championship clubs who should shirley be able to beat off wee diddy Celtic?
The money up front buys need to be better this season Starfelt, Hurihasi, and Abada look like decent top dollar signings, on good Celtic money. Celtic supporters have front loaded the wage bill with ST sales, the board need to pay the transfer fees through the revolving door.
HH
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 2ND AUGUST 2021 10:38 PM
“What is all this “Hart not an Ange signing” bollocks? What exactly does an “Ange signing” actually mean?”
In practical terms it means able to do what managers of this style of football need them to do: apart from keeping the ball out of the net, good distribution with feet, can act as a keeper sweeper. Klopp, Guardiola and nearer to home, Rodgers, made it clear. what a GK needs to do in this system. ANge is not following an original path. Buying Hart would, in my opinion, represent a panic buy and if Ange chooses him things are even worse than I thought.
People keep saying Fraser Foster was not very good at
passing the ball out from the back but what he was very very good at
was stopping the ball entering his net which in my opinion
is by far the number 1 attribute a goalkeeper should have
If Joe Hart is as good or even nearly as good as big Fraser at stopping
goals that will do for me and leave all the fancy football to the outfield
players
What we need now is to shore up our embarassing leaking of goals
even when we have 80% possession like against Hearts last weekend
If Joe Hart signs for us he will have my full backing the same as any other
player who pulls on the hoops