Don’t give me any semi-final chat for now, we have a league game ahead, the biggest threat to which is to take your eye of what’s in front of us. For the next six days, the season is one game long.
St Mirren did their homework before coming to Celtic Park yesterday. The Paisley club are five points adrift at the foot of the Championship but for almost an hour were as compact and competitive as any Premiership club against Celtic this season.
There was nothing particularly innovative about their strategy; two banks of four, which seldom had more than five yards between them, with a couple of runners trying to occupy Celtic’s back line, but it wasn’t until the introduction of Patrick Roberts, and, crucially, Leigh Griffiths, that Celtic’s shape was up to the task.
Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair were double-marked throughout as St Mirren sacrificed control down their left. We are at the stage of the season that there can be few surprises from any team, and certainly not from these two. The challenge for Celtic is to exploit other areas of the field.
While Brendan Rodgers was right to give credit to St Mirren for their performance, from what I gather there was a bit of an inquest behind closed doors. We lost a goal to a straightforward set-piece, could easily have been two down early in the second half, and created very little before the opening goal.
Much of the afternoon took on a familiar ‘Celtic treble upset’ look. You and I have been here before. Many times. We got away with it this time, partly because we were playing a team at home who have won only four of 25 Championship games this season, but mostly because we have so much in the tank this season we can raise our game.
St Mirren have marked a few cards; no game can be taken for granted.
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MOONBEAMSWD
No way I’m posting it on here!
16 ROADS
Mailed you how to avoid the ads,bud.
SOUTH OF TUNIS on 7TH MARCH 2017 9:20 AM
Lucky , lucky man.
Your ” Tales of an old codger” are a delight.
BMCUWP
Is it fear of mods due to the expletive in the first para that has you worried about posting it? :@-)))
MWD
Just took a moment to check back. Tye article on the http://www.johnjamessite.com re Masonry and links to paedophilia, if true, is mind-blowing. Since his previous article was about one of the Easdales successfully suing a blogger for defamation of character he must be pretty certain of the validity of his accusations.
However, BMCUW is correct not to reproduce on this site.
Truly shocked to read about alleged widespread occurrence of attacks on innocent children, whenever, wherever they are committed and by whoever. HH
LIONROARS67 on 7TH MARCH 2017 9:14 AM
Thanks for that.
Seemed a bit weak to me.
Make sure nobody takes offence.
If you are shocked by JJ you might want to read up on Kinkora for a little more meat in the bones High Society/Security Service/Public Servant/Politician/Royal Royal peadophile cover up!
MWD
MOONBEAMSWD
Time and a place,mate. No problem pointing people in the right direction,their call whether to go there.
To be honest,it’s X-certificate stuff.
SoT
Sounds fantastic, enjoy!
Sorry
Was it easy enough to get tickets to that game ?
A few of us thought about going there but it didn’t seem that they would be on public sale.
BMCUWP
I imagine JJ will at some point meet his maker sooner rather than later if he keeps touching on this stuff. High society won’t like it much.
MWD
Question above meant for South of Tunis.
AN TEACH SOLAIS on 7TH MARCH 2017 9:36 AM
All that stuff has been on the internet for years.
And was probably being talked about before the internet was even a thing.
MOONBEAMSWD
I remember reading a bit about the Kincora Boys’ Home paedophilia and even the story that was allowed to emerge is truly horrific.
Always thought that there was a cover up and if I get time tonight will read what is available online – though it still churns my stomach. Whoever is responsible, be they high or be they lowly should pay for their despicable deeds.
HH
BMCUWP, that article from JJ is certainly explosive, from the comments in his previous one on the Easdales he seems quite confident he has covered his tracks well. He will need to if the allegations are true.
Seen George Robertson once outside a Labour Party conference in the 90s. A smugger self obsessed oil slick of an individual you will never see.
jj Article
PLEASE DO NOT C&P THE ARTICLE OR EXTRACTS FROM IT ON CQN.
There will be many questions about its veracity and possible legal consequences relating to its content.
The Public have a right to demand answers on the ‘subject matter’ – best we deal in facts and not speculation.
Thanks.
I think Saturday’s game was indicative of the challenges we face in Europe.
St Mirren really weren’t all that good. They were organised and competent. That’s about it.
Since playing Aberdeen on 1st Feb we’ve played St Johnstone who are in their worst run of form of the season, Hamilton at home, Inverness who are swapping bottom place with Hamilton twice, and Motherwell who are trying to prize last place from those two, shipped 7 to Aberdeen and sacked their manager.
St Mirren just weren’t the clusterchaos of those others.
The biggest challenge Celtic face in challenging in Europe is our football environment. We’ve raised our game under Brendan Rodgers and I love it, but the bar is low and without a standard of challenge we will never raise our game consistently high enough to challenge, despite possibly having better players than some of the teams we’ll face. This cannot be resolved by any manager. We’ll win some big games but never challenge while we play in this sort of environment.
Sunday will be a much stiffer test than St Mirren, irrespective of the rhetoric. Our pitch will be a bit of a leveller and we’re yet to hear about the referee (presumably by a process of elimination it will be Bobby Madden).
I hate overconfidence going into the derby, I’ll take any victory.
Tooearlytobethisworkedup CSC
The future of the Olympics ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/39183183
But as we approach four years of Bach’s leadership – and with fresh hosting, doping and corruption controversies affecting confidence in his organisation – the demands for an Olympic revolution are growing louder by the day.
The recent withdrawal of Budapest’s bid to stage the 2024 Games – the fourth city to pull out of the race – is highly embarrassing for the IOC and seems to have left the Olympics at a crossroads, in desperate need of a new vision.
And the knock-on effects of this latest blow to Bach could be extremely significant: a possible double announcement of hosts for both the 2024 and 2028 Games; and perhaps making it more likely that the IOC takes the unprecedented step of banning Russia from the next Winter Olympics, if that is deemed necessary to restore credibility at this critical time.
PETE THE BEAT .
I lived in Napoli for a year in 1999. My next door neighbour was/is a Napoli fanatic . He got us tickets but the old codger wasn’t happy with the location – ” not suitable for an Interista like me ” . . The old codger’s sister got us tickets in a part of the stadium he is happy to sit in..
BlantyreKev
Madden was rested at the weekend I think so he could be the front runner. However, I think they are running scared of another tanking and they may prefer to have an “escape goat” rather than a true blue officiating.
For that reason, I’m going for Collum.
BLANTYRE KEV @ 9 57.
” the bar is low ” .
In early January – La Gazzetta dello Sport ( the Fitba Pink / Italy’s biggest selling / most read newspaper ) ran an article headed — VERY DESIRABLE HOT PROPERTY OR DESTINED FOR THE FOR RENT PAGES .?.
An article re young talent bought by money rich clubs and then put out on loan , One of the young talents was Patrick Roberts — – I paraphrase from memory – fabulous skill/technique , bit small , bit one sided but a talent -what the hell is he doing playing v the likes of Kilmarnock and Motherwell.?
Total complete confidence in Brendan and his support team will have the players up for this fixture, we will have to be patient though, just as in recent games the last 30mins is the deciding factor where our superiority will pay off
I’m talking crap. Madden refereed the Killie – Motherwell game.
Still stand by the Collum prediction.
In the mainly catholic Austria theres strictly no religion in school.
Morning All,
Bateen Bhoy if you are tuning in you have mail.
BRTH
DAVIDOPOULOS on 7TH MARCH 2017 10:08 AM
BlantyreKev
Madden was rested at the weekend I think so he could be the front runner. However, I think they are running scared of another tanking and they may prefer to have an “escape goat” rather than a true blue officiating.
For that reason, I’m going for Collum.
……………………………………………………..
So that’s what Brendan was saying to him as 4th official on Sunday!
“so I hear you’ve got the gig next weekend Wullie”
https://twitter.com/ayethatllbright/status/839022805127737344
Jingle Jangle not being squared up by Level 5?
DavidO- I will go for Thomson, he’s better at slowing a game down than Xavi……..the Sevco go to guy,for damage limitation
The prophetic words of Boney M’s Belfast, coming to pass (though they didn’t mention Croppydiles)
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/century-ago-belfast-was-anvil-of-the-empire-now-its-ceased-to-be-a-unionist-city-35506428.html
Some article today from John James!
It will be Madden or Clancy. I think Madden.
!!Bada Bing!! on 7th March 2017 10:21 am
DavidO- I will go for Thomson, he’s better at slowing a game down than Xavi……..the Sevco go to guy,for damage limitation
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I hear what you’re saying but I think they need to keep big Craigie fresh for the Semi Final.
thetimreaper on 7th March 2017 10:26 am
It will be Madden or Clancy. I think Madden.
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Clancy??? Pfft. As if they are gonna go with an untried escape goat!!
Collum got 5-1 game, Thomson the Moussa semi. McLean New Year and Beaton the final v Aberdeen
So by rotation and hierarchy I think Madden. But there’s another 2 with Ibrox and the semi. Thomson hasn’t had a derby league game yet, and Beaton not a derby at all. I’m assuming even the SFA wouldn’t appoint him after the weekend. That was the audition for the semi final and he came through with flying colours. Clancy has had Euro games I think so may be a runner but that would be completely random, he’s not up to it generally regardless of allegiance.
I think it’s released later this morning so I am wasting my time anyway :)
O.G.RAFFERTY on 7TH MARCH 2017 10:24 AM
Very interesting.
Words of hope for the future.
Someone posted about a miller hat trick…..what trick does he do with a hat?
Intrigued CSC.
The trouble is how can these JJ allegations ever be properly investigated . The police are mason-ridden and the media are under the thumb. The security services will protect the establishment.
Game to play with a group of your mates:
Ask them if they had a choice of which referee for the derby which one would they pick. I can guarantee that whatever the answer there will be howls of derision from the rest.
It is truly a question with no acceptable answer and no consensus.
I can be a wee bit like the player out of contention for a place because they have been poor. Their stock gets higher when a player in the team goes off form. Then they get back in and you realise why they weren’t playing.
Right now I’m thinking Collum, but that’s frankly ridiculous. It’s just a while since his last howler and Beaton is in the spotlight.
Overall (and here comes the derisiun from you, I can feel it) I think McLean is the best referee in Scotland. And yes, I am aware. :-)