Having pummelled Newco repeatedly this season there is a notion that we’re going to do it again on Sunday. I’d be tempted to hold that result. St Mirren, an inferior team, demonstrated for 57 minutes how far blanket defending and a bit of organisation can take you. If Celtic record an impressive result at the weekend, they will have to be at the peak of their powers.
We can expect Newco will have watched replays of the opening 20 minutes of our Hogmanay tie dozens of times recently. They will do their best to capture what worked for them during that period, and attempt to replicate it on Sunday.
We started slowly that day, which is not entirely out of character, but one or two also looked spooked by the occasion. Newco started on the front foot, again, something they repeatedly do, but just as they have done throughout the season, they soon ran out of steam.
There is not a great deal they will be able to do about Moussa Dembele, short of cutting off supply to him. As a consequence, they will stick tight to Scott Sinclair, who will have work to do to even get involved in the game, never mind hurt the opposition. This is no bad thing, as while Scott is our most productive player, the team will be full of players hungry and capable of hurting the Newco defence.
This is a game which could be in the balance with 15 minutes remaining, but which Celtic could score three times in the closing period. They have the superior fitness and mental fortitude.
Our greatest danger will be from officialdom. Conceding a penalty, a red card, or both, opens the only door possible for Newco to take anything from the game. Keep cool heads as we’ll do just fine.
1,174 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- »
GG
Just saw yer post at 9.51 :-)
Delaney’s, John did not enjoy his time at Dundee United as he couldn’t stand the senior of the brothers Grimm, Jim McLean .
In a strange quirk of fate, he went to United to replace his former Sons team mate , Tom McAdam, who had signed for us.
John ended up at Holyrood in the Southside. The last time I saw him was when the late Sean Fallon’s body was taken into Christ the King church in Kings Park. He is one of life’s good guys.
Naka I recall saying to mate just before he hit the greatest free kick ever ‘he’s not going to score fae there’. And the rest is history.
Hearing Charlie and the Bhoys playing loudly in the distance. Pre match Dalmuir party.
To play fitba The Glasgow Celtic Way! :)
SFTB,
firstly how are you old friend. been a while. hope you still showing CRC and HT how to play football :-)
Thanks for that re Naka. I went to see him play for Yokohama Marinos twice last season (Japan wise) and he came close but didnt quite manage it unfortunately. Knew he had left them (pity for me as I usually stay in Yokohama when over there on business) for Jubilo Iwata.
Hopefully i’ll get to see him do his stuff another time but against his old team Yokohama….which will be Ok with me as it always seemed wrong watching him play in a red white and blue strip at Marinos.
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
No place in the world I would rather be tomorrow than in my seat at Celtic Park.
We have taken medicine over the famine years of ultra doping and cheating.
Seeing Celtic play with a sporting chance of beating the team now representing the old order is a sight to behold.
I know some on here don’t go to games for whatever reasons and some don’t like these fixtures.
I will never tire of watching them getting spoon fed their medicine until the penny ( or lack of pennies ) finally drops.
Our day has come. No guarantees of a win but more than a punchers chance tomorrow for sure. I will take that. HH.
Gerry at 9.39, great description of the Arsenal man. Lol
Perhaps this was the greatest European comeback of all time*
* Warning contains cheating, but also mentions the Bhoys
http://watchthismatch.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/borussia-monchengladbach-7-1.html
MIT
No bad pal, Except for the fact that the wife just took off for Florida for 2 weeks as this storm is coming in –
I guess that will be me on the randan for a wee bit then :-)
I’ll be up the club tomorrow and will be sampling the cargo from various boots – Trunks as you would know them :-)
Want to see Tony re the Lisbon trip…..Need to borrow a wood, six iron and a putter.
Dallas, Paul McStay was my favourite player but Naka was a total joy on the eye…..
DD … Charlie & the bhoys no bad, a few years back (a good few) the Wolfe Tones played Scruffy Murphys in Coatbridge metres from the Coatbrig police station, whit a night :-)
Mike in Toronto,
hahaha, thanks Pal. If we ever meet again (Im fairly sure we met afew years ago in O’Neills merchant square when we all met up for the Inter Milan game in Dublin and then down cafe India for dinner afterwards….big Mouldy wont mind that though ;-) )i’ll happily take that pint, and then pay it back 7 fold ;-)
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Dallas
He gave a few Saint Tams bhoys a punt up to professional fitba. Many via Boghead. Never needed to use the strap. He had our respect by his actions.
BURNLEY78 on 11TH MARCH 2017 10:39 PM
I feel exactly the same.
It walks like a hun
It talks like a hun
It looks like a hun
It cheats like a hun
Forget the semantics.
Its Rangers.
Gordon64,
much to the eternal enjoyment of 4 of my mates (and possibly my eternal shame?), i turned to said 4 mates who i sat beside in Block 144 then, and stated “….5 yards too far out” just before Naka rattled that free kick into that top corner.
get reminded of that every time we are together.
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
The Token Tim
Managed to teach crc a lesson this morning :-)
HT is too frightened to play with the more stylish and sophisticated Saturday morning 5s :-)
A wee comment from Shunske about how sorry he was to leave his boyhood team but the bhoy has values:-
““In 2016 there have been lots of changes in the team. I’ve faced many things as captain, as a member of Marinos and a human being,” Nakamura said on Marinos’ website.
“In order to follow my soul, to face football sincerely until the very moment I hang up my boots and to do so with joy and pleasure more than anything else, I’ve reached this decision after anguished deliberation to leave Marinos.”
Nakamura was offered an annual wage worth ¥120 million by Marinos, but the dead-ball specialist has been unhappy with the influence stakeholder City Football Group has had on player reinforcement policies over the past year.
“My heart was set on retiring here, I never thought of leaving a year ago. I didn’t want to take off the No. 10 shirt I adored. (But) every day there were things I felt were wrong,” Nakamura told reporters in Yokohama. “I had to deal with them as captain but that in turn left me with less time to face football.
“I wanted to end (my career) in a way that leaves me no regret, fully burned out. When I thought of a place where I can face football properly, it wasn’t here. I had to choose a different path if I were to reach a goal that was good for me.”
Nakamura, who intends to end his playing career at 40, decided on the move despite an Iwata offer thought to be ¥40 million less than the one made by Marinos. He now leaves his hometown club without winning a league title.
“I vividly remember how warmly you welcomed me back when I returned in 2010,” Nakamura said on Marinos’ website, before recalling a banner from September 2013 that read ‘We want to win the league with Shunsuke.’
Marinos needed only one win from their last two games that autumn, but fumbled away the title to Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
“It is really disappointing that I couldn’t share the joy of winning the championship with our supporters in 2013, but the banner was overwhelming, something I didn’t experience even at Celtic,” he said. “It’s etched deep in my heart and is something I cannot forget all my life.
“I’m grateful from my heart to every single person associated (with the club). I truly thank you.”
Marinos’ general manager Takao Toshishige expressed regret at the outcome and admitted that the team’s changes have not come without a cost.
“This is what shouldn’t have been allowed to happen,” Toshishige said. “Keeping him was a priority, but we have to respect his wishes and accept this.
“We have to honestly accept that there has been some disconnect and creaks. We absolutely cannot allow something like this to happen again.”
Sources last month revealed Iwata had made a multiyear offer for Nakamura. He and Iwata manager Hiroshi Nanami, also a left-footed playmaker during his playing days, have a strong bond as former teammates on the national side and both have worn Japan’s No. 10 shirt.
“He said the door is open after realizing the situation I was in. I want to believe that and just play soccer plain and simple,” Nakamura told reporters.
This season, Nakamura was limited to 19 league games by injuries to his left knee and both ankles, scoring four goals as Marinos placed 10th. Jubilo managed to survive relegation, finishing 13th out of 18, six points above the drop zone.
The rapid rejuvenation at Marinos under CFG has been met with a backlash and several other senior players could move on to pastures new, but Nakamura asked center-halves Yuji Nakazawa, 38, and Yuzo Kurihara, 33, to finish in style at the club.
“I want the club to allow those two veterans to contribute their last ounce of energy for Marinos,” said Nakamura, who played with Nakazawa at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. “Nakazawa is my brother in arms and it feels lonesome to be apart. He was a rival I could look up to.”
Nakamura joined Marinos in 1997 and moved to Italian club Reggina in 2002. He moved to Scottish powerhouse Celtic in 2005 where he won three straight Scottish Premier League titles, played for Spanish club Espanyol in 2009 before returning to Marinos in 2010.
Nakamura has scored 68 goals in 338 appearances in the J. League top flight and won the J. League Player of the Year award in 2000 and 2013.
He has been capped 98 times for Japan, scoring 24 goals.”
Yer quite right Naka- I’m gonna gie up football when I am totally burned out too :-)
Burnley 78 Fair comment. Some of the finest Celtic supporters I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting will not be attending tomorrow. A massive respect to the Refuseniks Hh
Dallas
I remember the days of those ticket allocations. I was in the enclosure when Walker chested in Anton’s header. Had a wee tussle on the way out that day but no harm done segregation was poor.
No better feeling than stuffing them in their own midden.
KEEP THE FAITH
Gents…
Off to take the lovely DrKT for dinner …. so, everyone have a great night…. and will catch up tomorrow ….hopefully discussing the thrashing handed out to the undead.
Aff oot for ma dinner.
Mike, It’s OK…….I’m in the East end :-)
GFTB
The Clydebank young mad squad look on this as the biggest game for Celtic since the last hun game. They know no better. :)
We were teens wanting to skelp the huns once upon a time. :)
Burnley78 at 10.39pm
Exactly, hope you have a great day
G64
I am a tomorrow non attender.
The 5-1 game was enough of that mob in the flesh to do me for a while.
Delaneys 10.52pm
As you say we were all young once…. In my wee Celtic world the young team want to pump this mob, but the older generation are worse :-) see when u try to say it’s a new club, I get a deathly stare as if I am in the wrong, I will just go with the same shoite fir an easier life
By the way for the record I don’t hate much but 3 things I hate, the old Ranjurs, the new Ranjurs and their outdated orange walks ……I would gladly burn all three :-)
FirestarterCSC
THE TOKEN TIM on 11TH MARCH 2017 10:44 PM
Right City, wrong Bhoy. That was Torontony, not Mike in Toronto that met us that day.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
SFTB,
thanks for that.
Football whilst big, is waaaaaaaaaaaay behind baseball in Japan, but Naka is still a national icon.
Local guys loved it that I was a big fan of him. but Couldnt quite get to grips with it and why i would want to go see him. They know why now….
And Glad to know that ole twinkle toes can still show the “youngsters” how its done. Is CRC still birling in your wake?? :-)
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Macjay 10.47pm
Just read back your words are better than mine :-)
I wAtched the Chinese live game this morning. It was actually a decent game with some poor refereeing decisions. Nothing new there. What did interest me was the managers Gus Poyet and Fabio Cannavaro.
GFTB
The Prodigy are one of my favourite live bands. :)
HH
GFTB –
Had some great nights in Scruffy’s. Back in the day….! :-)))
DALLAS DALLAS WHERE THE HECK IS DALLAS on 11TH MARCH 2017 10:24 PM
Tontine Tim, my brother used to take me to Boghead occasionally as he was very friendly with ex sons player, John Bourke.
*John Bourke was a very popular player at Boghead during both periods he played there.
Chris Rock did a sketch on the difference between having money and wealth. And how black people could acquire money but would never have wealth. The same is true here. Wealth means power.
Refuseniks, wow….why make a deal of not going to a Celtic game on the eve of the game. Just don’t go !
Same class of macho types that voted “aye” in the last referendum. Can’t help talking and shouting, let folk with their own opinions get on with things.
Enjoy the game tomorrow and never vote aye
Last night after the saddest of days and when everything was attended to at Celtic Park, a small group found themselves in the Celtic Supporters Club on London Road.
Alex Gordon, who spoke so emotionally about Tommy was there. So was big Yogi. And others. They wanted to be there with the Celtic family.
Sitting at a table late in the day were three ladies. Mary Gemmell, Aggie Johnstone and Kathy Murdoch.
They were talking about their men, our Lions, who will never be forgotten.
One of my boys wanted to watch the European Cup Final the other night. Afterwards he talked through the performances. Tommy has almost his man of the match but he though Bobby Murdoch was sensational.
I told him they were all sensational.
WINNING CAPTAINS
That table sounds like another HOLY TRINITY
KEEP THE FAITH
Tomorrow the famous Glasgow Celtic with all its history and tradition plays Sevco 2012 (aka Glasgow Rangers). Celtic will afford this new club the respect it deserves. Hh
If the fire alarm goes off once more in this hotel I’ll burn the feckin place down myself.
Anyhoos, quietly confident about tomorrow but any team can win on any given day if the stars align themselves, and that team just couldn’t manage it last week and I doubt if Brendan will have missed that point.
Taranis No one but no one made an issue of not going to the game. And why bring the Independence referendum into the equation. I have to conclude that u are without doubt a hun. Hh