The truth is, football is not always exhilarating. If we were two points off the pace going into yesterday’s Premiership game, all sorts of dramas would have taken place, but with an 8 point lead and a game in hand, there was no conceivable jeopardy.
Instead of contesting for all three points with his strongest available team, Brendan Rodgers chose to rest limbs ahead of the trip to St Petersburg, where he will attempt to defend a one goal lead. This was, without shadow of a doubt, the correct course of action. There are few enough advantages of playing in a weaker league, being able to rest players before a European game is the principle benefit.
Brendan also has developmental considerations. Jack Hendry, Calvin Miller, Odsonne Edouard and Charly Musonda will all gain from game time in the first team. The expectations when playing for Celtic are uniquely onerous, these four young players will learn that from occasions like yesterday.
We came through a unique season last term. The treble was won with a procession of brilliance, but our European endeavours ended in at the Champions League group stage. If you look at the league table, you might be tempted to assume there is clear evidence that we are weaker now than a year ago, but the jury is out on that question. If we progress to the Europa League last 16 on Thursday evening, Brendan’s second season will be set to eclipse his first. This is perhaps a consequence of enduring some afternoons like yesterday.
Developing great footballers, building great teams, is not a linear process. It takes time and patience. Don’t bet against this squad delivering another treble and a European run which extends into the light nights.
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Listening to my first BBC Sportsound podcast in a while but can’t take much more of it.
To save anyone the earache a synopsis of the first 15 minutes.
Kenny & Chick: Celtic are rubbish, they look weak. We’ve got a title challenge on.
Michael Stewart: Aye, they dropped points but extended their lead at the top so why are we bring this up now?
Kenny & Chick: but they’re rubbish.
Michael Stewart: They extended their lead at the top. What’s your point.
Repeat until fade……………..
All that’s missing so far is someone shouting THE RANGURS ARE SECOND!!!
wasteofpublicmoneyCSC
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS – 8:28 AM
“Aye,people lack sensitivity and patience,but I think the drivers could be a lot more considerate.”
“So upset to be sent this by one of our crews this morning! Along with this note left on their ? they received a load of verbal abuse!”
Sounds like she’s lacking a lot more than sensitivity and patience.
BOBBY,
Has she misunderstood the meaning of ambulance chasing.
cv
THROUGHAGREENGLASSBRIGHTLY
I don’t disagree,but what I asked was,is being charged with a public order offence appropriate?
Sledgehammer to crack a nut,when a serious word wi the nutter would have sufficed,IMO.
Word of The Day
Conglobate /ˈkɒŋɡləʊˌbeɪt/
verb
1. to form into a globe or ball
adjective
2. a rare word for globular
in Medicine
3. adj.
Formed into a single, rounded mass.
Derived Forms
conglobation, noun
Word Origin
C17: from Latin conglobāre to gather into a ball, from globāre to make round, from globus a sphere
KTF
Has Pep been sacked yet
The charge relates to verbal abuse, not the written note.
In public policy terms it’s probably appropriate.
FC Zenit – Celtic FC
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Pau Cebrián Devís (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Roberto Díaz Pérez Del Palomar (ESP)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Carlos Del Cerro Grande (ESP)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández (ESP)
Fourth Official: Teodoro Sobrino Magán (ESP)
UEFA Referee Observer: Rune Pedersen (NOR)
UEFA Delegate: Johny Vanspauwen (BEL)
I can’t believe that after 23 hours there’s only 231 posts, unbelievable
This site appears to be dying on its feet.
It is, by a long, long way, the least user friendly site I have ever encountered.
A constant stream of invasive, disruptive pop ups.
And the idea that if you disable this, and download that, and use a particular browser it’s OK, just isn’t cutting it.
That’s not how the attention economy works.
Old Tim, Don’t forget there are many folk like me who don’t post much but enjoy reading here.
can anyone tell me how to get rid of the scroll thing on the right hand side of the pages when i use cqn on my mobile?
its a major pain in the teets
ERNIELYNCH
There have been a myriad of potentials reasons suggested-which is a worry in itself. Yours is probably the one raised by most people prior to just giving up.
I don’t think people have lost interest in the site,as such. But certainly many have lost patience for various reasons.
LETSALLDOTHEHUDDLE
Try disabling JavaScript. Fingers crossed.
i see its only 8 quid for a zenit away ticket
i culd afford to buy 2 of them at that price!!
i wonder how that price compares to our away league games.
does anyone think KevJ might know how much it is for an ibrox ticket for example?
i dont think he will know the answer. never seen anything in his posts to suggest he does ;-)
Hello again all you young rebels.
Finally managed to drag myself home from the rebel peninsula. a
big bit worse for wear but what do you expect after a weekend
with the Celtic faithful.
Loads of visitors at our gathering on Sunday so a big shout out to
Sammy over for the second time from Glesga and a lovely mother
Geraldine and her young son Lewis from Downpatrick who lurk on
CQN.
I thought the wee fhella was going to burst out crying when he was
handed our club polo shirt and a hat to match, now we have a diehard
follower for the future.
But we also had a hun, boooo, although he was with his Celtic mad wife,
i just had to ask him ” how did you end up supporting the dark side?
He explained ” when i was a wee boy my mother always said green was
an unlucky colour so i chose blue ‘
” looks as though that worked out well for you ” he he he he.
NAVANBHOY
Had a chat with Paddymac regarding the terrible accident young michael
Jardine had, the immediate consensus was to have a whipround that day
but after a wee bit of thought St Patricks day and a much bigger audience
would be more beneficial, the club will also make a donation so if you could
post me the details of the donate page etc. i’ll pass it on to Paddy and the
committee
We will also get in touch with the St Kilda Jock Stein club and without doubt
they will respond in kind, just as you would expect from the Celtic family.
Hopefully we can ease the worry and suffering of that poor family.
H.H Mick
Good morning all,
Some of you have heard about my friend and Celtic fanatic Mick Jardine from Coatbridge, via Navan and now in Australia who suffered 35% burns in a welding accident at work in Australia almost 2 weeks ago.
He is thankfully out of the coma but at the beginning of a very long road ahead of skin graphs, operations and physiotherapy to hopefully get back to himself and be able to earn a living to support his young family who are totally reliant on his income as a self employed welder.
The first Fundraising event is being held this Saturday in Navan, County Meath, for any locals it is going to be a brilliant family day and lots of local companies have really rallied to the cause and donated fantastic prizes. Tickets are available for Saturday’s event at €25 each and are selling fast.
All the information about the line up for Saturday and the amazing prizes on offer which range in value from €100 – €10,000 are available on the newly launched website http://www.mymatemick.com
Hail Hail
navanbhoy
LETSALLDOTHEHUDDLE
Try disabling JavaScript. Fingers crossed.
—–
already disabled js to stop the pop ups. but the scrolly thing remains
MELBOURNEMICK
And just when we are wondering what became of the site we know and love,you come right back us with that.
HH,Mick. Absolutely brilliant stuff.
MELBOURNEMICK
That would be brilliant thank you very much, you can get all the links to the go fund me page and any other fundraisers that will be happening on http://www.mymatemick.com
As you say the Celtic family is already rallying to the cause and showing how wonderful it is (as we always do)
Mick and his wife Caroline will be humbled and so grateful to hear of the support they are getting in Australia aswell as this side of the planet
Thanks again
Hail Hail
LETSALLDOTHEHUDDLE
Try hitting the X before it causes you problems. But,wow,what a pain just to browse something.
Really isn’t good enough.
NAVANBHOY
I think CELTICROLLERCOASTER is targeting Mick as the recipient of his next competition.
I’ll double my donation for this one.
And it is a donation,I usually end up in the relegation places!!!
JOHNJAMESSITE pressing a button and hoping for a response today.
JIMTHETIM53.
I’m more of a lurker than a poster nowaday’s,but it’s more ill health that’s getting me fed up with the blog, I can still read, but posting for me is hard now,My grammar is shit, and I struggle to put a sentence together, I suppose it’s an age thing, but this blog is great for someone like me, virtually self inflicted housebound, I can still get about but it’s a struggle for me to get to the games, and even getting to the Blane Valley is an enormous effort to get out the house. so the blog keeps me from calling it a day.
As I say, it’s a struggle for me to post now,but there are some posters who need to think about the rest of the guy’s who read this blog, we don’t want to keep reading the crap that is posted on here these days,we have lost a lot of great posters who have given up,
As I say my grammar is not very good these day’s,I hope i’ll still be here as long as the blog keeps going.
Philboy
Without any doubt the referee can and does influence the game. That this is done consciously and knowingly in order to produce an intended outcome I am reluctant to believe.
John Beaton has refereed 3 Celtic league games this year; the game on Sunday, as well as 2-2 v Hibs at Easter Road and 2-1 v Thistle at Firhill in January. From memory only Sunday’s game of the 3 has been so talked about from an officiating point of view.
I would suggest that what we saw on Sunday was a tactic used by the opposition in the knowledge that they were likely to get away with it. No team has had a red card in any Celtic league game this year even though teams who play Celtic are very likely to receive a yellow card per number of fouls committed.
St Johnstone committed the most fouls against Celtic (24)in any league game this year and yet it wasn’t until the 90th minute that their last 2 bookings occurred. Until that point their bookings per fouls committed was almost double their average. The closest they had come to the figure of 24 was 18 against Kilmarnock (5/8).
The success of the tactic was shown by Hearts, who are the leagues dirtiest team, ( see spfl stats) and continued by Kilmarnock at Rugby park. It was aided by both playing surfaces and I think we are going to see more of this, particularly from Aberdeen and Rangers, because it is getting results for the opposition at the moment. A trend, perhaps short term, seems to be developing.
There is a boringly good debate to be had on foul interpretation by Scottish refs, and of course the stats do not comment on the quality of the referee’s decision making, but after a quick look at the European stats in the champions league group stages, we are not an overly penalised team in that environment either. This suggests we are being consistent and choosing to learn and adapt to play our own style regardless. The manager must see this consistency of approach as beneficial in the long run.
HH
new article posted.
OLDTIM67 on 20TH FEBRUARY 2018 11:46 AM
There’s nothing wrong with your grammar so stop worrying about something as insignificant. You and others are eloquent enough when giving us history lessons or expressing a well thought out point of view.
Anyhoos the winter will soon be over and the weather will have improved, depending on your point of view ( far too hot for me here in Brunei) and I will be back in 3 weeks looking to have a wee swally with you and the other BV Troubadours. Just need to get the wife a job in Scotland as I really cannot settle here.
BOBBY MURDOCHS CURLED UP WINKLEPICKERS 11:32
Thanks yeah I was talking to CRC at CQN corner before the game on Sunday who told me that and it’s a great idea, hopefully your luck will improve too from the relegation places, the only way is up!!
navanbhoy
OLDTIM67 on 20TH FEBRUARY 2018 11:46 AM
Read some of the posts on here and compare yours – you sound like James Joyce in comparison!
I always find your posts very entertaining and informative so keep on posting!
KTF
Old Tim, That was as good a post as I’ve read on here. Please don’t underestimate yourself. I will pray to Our Lady of Good Aid for you. And yes, winter is nearly over. Keep your chin up.
Old Tim67
That is a great honour getting compared to James Joyce.
I’m sure VFR800 would compare most of us ( myself included ) to William Mcgonagall.
Keep posting and HH.