For decades the League Cup was relegated to secondary importance when we had league games ahead. Brendan Rodgers turned this on its head four years ago. Before a League Cup semi-final against Hearts at Murryfield, he rested players for a Europa League game at Leipzig: Morgan, Gamboa and Kouassi started while Christie came on as a half-time substitute for Ntcham. Christie was a half-a-game away from his rebirth as a contender.
You have probably not looked ahead at the weekend’s fixtures yet, but we have a top of the table clash on Saturday. Tonight, however, we are in Dingwall to face Ross County in the League Cup. County are second bottom of the table, having lost to Celtic at home, and away to Hearts, St Mirren and Newco. Their only points came in a 1-0 win over Kilmarnock.
Unfortunately, you and I have too many sore memories of cup exits to Ross County teams. We also remember Celtic pitching up for cup games after memorable wins and getting turfed out (St Mirren and Inverness). We have a genuine dilemma tonight.
Ange Postecoglou also has objectives other than just winning the next few games. He has to prepare a squad for the rigours of the season. This may well mean dropping Callum McGregor for Aaron Mooy, while giving James Forrest, Stephen Welsh, Scott Bain and Alexandro Bernabei a start. We also have to hope Giorgos Giakoumakis is fit enough for an hour anyway.
It is inconceivable that Celtic will not rest players tonight, but the resulting disruption should not be easily dismissed.
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‘Mon the second string ☘️
podium
I’ll take a result that might be less than NINE goals Paul67..
Not an inch more.
HH
Brilliant stuff from Ange again the other day: “we don’t want to put a limit on the team we want to be.”
——
Absolutely love that kind of thinking.
Would be good to hear someone from the upper echelons say the same about the club.
Don’t think I’ll be holding my breath on that one though!
Maybe change joe due to stitches
Possibly 1 or 2 others maybeee,
That apart,full first team and a victory please.
EC67,Greenpinata- I understand your suggestion to prioritise diff types of games,league cup,league,sc Cup and Europe.
What makes Celtic to me is our winning mentality
I don’t want that diluted in any way shape or form
Changing for this or that tourney I think could inhibit that winning habit.
In Ange we trust bhoys :-)
Hail Hail
“It is inconceivable that Celtic will not rest players tonight, but the resulting disruption should not be easily dismissed”
———————-
Shouldn’t be too much disruption. We now have a clear identity and playing style. All the squad will be familiar with it and know their roles.
Thankfully Ban is 3rd choice!
I posted this on last page but as Paul has raised it here, forgive me for posting again:
It might be heresy to say so, but with a very busy few months coming up and an unusual World Cup break, I really would prefer playing a mostly second-string team tonight and if we lose so be it. Better to let the players that need game time get it, and the players that are essential rested.
I’d much prefer to see us getting into the Last 16 in the CL and winning the league and not being too concerned about domestic treble. Lose tonight and the upside is it frees up some midweeks in the winter. Win with the second string, let them be the ones to play again in the next round.
linked with this guy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Abildgaard
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My preferred starting eleven tonight,
Siegrist, Bernabei. Ralston, Jenz, Welsh, McCarthy, Haksabanovic, Turnbull Forrest, Maeda, Giakoumakis
Reporting in Austrian media that Ajeti is going to Sturm Graz
Have we found a buyer for Jota yet ???
AN TEARMANN
Glentoran v Benfica.Oval,Belfast
Finlay,Creighton,McCullough,McKeague,Thompson,Weatherup,Sinclair Jackson,Bruce,Morrow and John Colrain[player/ manager.
Colrain scored in 10 mins penalty. Eusebio (86 mins)
In away game it was nil each,Benfica advanced away goal rule.
●Billy Sinclair [Glasgow] scored in the one each game v Rangers,lost 4 nil away.●
● Was it Dixon Blackstock famous for keep the head or ?? for ” calling out”?
●
Bada, put out to graz. 😁
Glentoran – Benfica Sep. 1967
!!Bada Bing!! on 31st August 2022 12:36 pm
linked with this guy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Abildgaard
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Happy with that, especially if it is a reduced fee. Any idea what the fee was for wee Owen?
P67 — we need to have a squad with the depth to meet a challenge like tonight.
With the start to the season it is pretty easy to identify the starters / the active element of the squad / the benchwarmers / the periphery.
Making changes needs to focus on the 18 / 19 members of the starters / active squad and the offer opportunities to the benchwarmers / periphery later in the game if things are going well.
Throwing in the benchwarmers from the start is not the way forward — no leaders and little drive will not get the game started well.
Need to ration the starters to those that we cannot easily replace and pad out the team with active players with as few benchwarmers as possible.
If we are going to play players like BL then please pair him up with CCV and no MoJ — play him with experience around him and not similar players still learning the ropes at P/head. Then we can judge how good they are in a good team rather than a raw team. Wholesale changes will just put out a team of strangers with little leadership / desire.
If MJ / AA do not get on the park tonight then they should take the hint.
I have a bus up for sale — well used at times but currently looking for a new challenge.
Finally the changes to the organisation of the B team seem to be getting bigger by the day — no ore a waiting room for the glee club now a march or starve boiler room looking for the dynamic / ambitious.
AP and his growth agenda know no bounds — all good.
Bhoyjoebelfast on 31st August 2022 12:49 pm
AN TEARMANN
Glentoran v Benfica.Oval,Belfast
Finlay,Creighton,McCullough,McKeague,Thompson,Weatherup,Sinclair Jackson,Bruce,Morrow and John Colrain[player/ manager.
Colrain scored in 10 mins penalty. Eusebio (86 mins)
In away game it was nil each,Benfica advanced away goal rule.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I was at the game.
Why is it the basis of a quiz question?
Transfer window closes tomorrow night, plenty time yet to move MJ and Ajeti to pastures new. MJ would benefit going to Hibs perhaps? No need to move home and could cover for McGeady who is out injured and not likely to play every game.
Paul67 et al
Just had a look at the adjacent League table. Five games played. Five.
Couple of weeks back Ange told us, to the effect, that once we got into the two games a week scenario, we’ll need all of our players. Some of those players will start tonight. The notion that some players will be “rested” is simply laughable, five games in. We will start with eleven Celtic players, and hopefully end with eleven. Anybody that needs rested shouldn’t be here, or there come to think about it.
As for previous disasters against Ross County, well, if memory serves me well, one was a Scottish Cup semi-final and one was a League Cup tie, both were under Neil Lennon
For the record, Neil Lennon has left the building.
Scully:
AN TEARMANN looking for info.
DB @ 12.34
My thoughts are that we need to put out a recognisable team tonight.
One that has a spine of players that are active in our SPL games not just a team of strangers / stiffs from the far corners of the dressing room.
I hope we play some of the younger players — but play then in a known structure with known faces around them.
We should have active players desperate to start / desperate to get more game time.
Active players — players who have been given regular game time in the SPL this season.
Pretty easy to spot.
I wouldn’t read as much into BR’s decision to prioritise the League Cup over a Europa game as P67 is perhaps doing.
BR is a great manager. He’s also something of a narcissist. Rodgers prioritised the league cup because he thought another trophy would look good on his CV as opposed to getting knocked out in a European round that no one else would remember. It was a decision taken for Brendan’s own interest not the Club’s.
AN TEARMANN
Glentoran v Benfica.Oval,Belfast
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I don’t know if you are familiar with Belfast, but the Oval was near to the Nationalist Short Strand. Therefore, a lot of nationalists went to the Oval (kept their heads low, right enough).
SB @ 12.52
OM fee — not much would be my guess.
Well off the pace regarding AP2 — had chances last season but never grabbed them.
BD showed the attitude required.
OM and others did not — hence to move.
AP is like a fox in the Glee Club henhouse.
Bhoyjoebelfast on 31st August 2022 12:57 pm
Scully:
AN TEARMANN looking for info.
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Sorry, I didn’t explain that too well. I was actually asking your good self,
‘Why is that particular game often referred to in soccer quiz nights?’
Celtic Mac – for “rested” read “protected from injury”. It is easy to identify 4-5 players who are essential for Saturday and for RM. Kyogo, Abada, Jota, Hart, Hatate and Calmac, at least for me, should not start tonight.
Mad Mitch – putting it that way, makes more sense than my wholesale changes.
Stoke in for McCarthy
Like many, I’d be happy to see wholesale changes this evening.
Agree with An T, the reality may be more along the lines of 2 or 3 fresh faces.
Any first team members of our squad that Ange doesn’t fancy for Ross County should be moved out in the next 24 or so hours.
AD @ 1.00
Interesting comments about BR.
I rate him as a coach but he seems to be missing something pretty big.
We made a big mistake chasing him out the door for NL2.
He was a step a step forward but not the final destination.
AP has bigger horizons which is what we need now.
Plus the coaching gap — if it ever existed — is getting smaller every day.
HK has made a difference plus BR never put the youth set up under much scrutiny.
All good.
BR and the SLC — the SPL pot hunters loved his efforts.
Me not so much.
Scully;
In my reply to AN TEARMANN I mentioned Benfica advanced on away goals,should have mentioned that In doing so,that was a ‘first’.
What happened to the Morelos money?
BB @ 1.07
That will be another bus up for sale.
deniabhoy
Paul used the word “rest”.
Please refer any editorial suggestions to the contrary, or corrections, directly to the readers editor.
In Ange we trust.
CelticMac
“We will start with eleven Celtic players, and hopefully end with eleven.”
Is Alan Muir the ref tonight?!? Your words cast my mind back to Carl Starfelt getting a ‘soft’ 2nd booking (following a first booking for complaining about not getting a FK when elbowed in his face iirc) in Dingwall.
Compare/contrast with the two rugby tackles at £1brox at the weekend – the second as the last man…
Having just read it is Willie Collum tonight all bets are off – anything could happen!
QB
Round about now somebody will post about getting rid of ‘ the deadwood ‘