I remember a situation several years ago when we had five full backs and converted-full backs out injured at the same time. The injured count for central defenders is not currently as high but the situation is just as critical.
Erik Sviatchenko joins Jozo Simunovic, Dedryck Boyata and Kristoffer Ajer on the injured list. Kolo Toure is certain to be added to the Uefa squad before tonight’s deadline but will be pushed to be match fit for next week.
Fortunately, the man who has spent more time injured over the last two seasons than anyone else, Mikael Lustig, is fit and able to move from full back into the middle, with Saidy Janko able to deputise on the right.
More words have been written about Efe Ambrose than any other Celtic player this month. It’s quite possible he’ll move on towards the end of the transfer window but he’s set to be given an opportunity to make good his error in Gibraltar by leading an unfamiliar defensive line-up in Astana tomorrow.
If I had a choice, I would prefer Celtic in adversity than Celtic over-confident. We know we will have to protect the defence tomorrow so the match plan should be straightforward.
Astana are not without their concerns either. Kazak media are concerned Astana are weaker than a year ago, due to the departure of Georgi Zhukov the likely absence of captain and top scorer, Tanant Nuserbayev, added to the turmoil at the club this week, caused by Lyon’s bid for midfielder, Nemanja Maksimovic. They will battle tomorrow, but their preparations are far from ideal.
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Which is why i have no problem with us jetting all over the place to take part in this elite tourney as its well worth it….but only if we spend it ;-)
Mats
Accepted mate.
We all want the same thing a winning exciting celtic team.
Hail hail
Clogher Celt , WITS, MWD and others,
Agree. We know Lawwell failed with the strategy big time. He has poured circa £30M down the drain with his projects. He hired 2 duds and kept the last one a year longer than necessary.
Lawwell had one major supporter throughout this systematic downsizing —Paul67. The elephant in the room has never been addressed by P67 even after the Sevco semi final shambles.
Lawwell does not particular care if we make the CL ; his bonus is secure with STs sale after Dermot appointed BR. Also his loot of £10M means he can leave at anytime knowing the driveway will always be warm.
I fail to understand why Paul67 cannot address the reason we are in this mess— or even attempt it without upsetting his sponsor.
Good luck to Efe tomorrow evening as I feel he carries the weight of Lawwells failings on his back tomorrow and will be the easy scapegoat if he errs in any way. Lawwell / Paul67 will push him under the bus just like Ronnie.
We should walk this tie under normal circumstances—-however it’s a 50 50 game.
Good evening from a hot and sunny Makarska coast in Croatia. I’m on my 3rd bottle of Karlovacko (lovely beer btw) but hope I can make sense.
From what I’ve read, BR prefers 3 at the back. Currently we have 10 defenders, 6 of whom are CBs (Jozo, Erik, Boyata, Kolo, O’Connell and Efe). Ajer can also play at CB so make that 7.
Yes we have an injury crisis but I don’t think signing another CB will help in the long-term. Replacing too many midfielders with too many CBs doesn’t sound like sound management to me.
There is a valid historical reason why some Asian nations are members of UEFA.
In the days of the old Soviet Union (USSR) there were regional leagues for all the Soviet states from Russia to Ukraine to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and so on. Each state’s champion was involved in play-offs for championship of the USSR. In the 60s, 70s and 90s the USSR champions were invariably from Russia or Ukraine, most notably Dynamo Kiev.
Technically speaking, clubs like FC Astana could have won the USSR championship and played in the old European Cup, but these were footballing backwaters and it never happened.
Upon the break-up of the Soviet Union, all the former Soviet states reverted to their own leagues and, as they were previously members of UEFA through the USSR – Russia being its main driving force – they were allowed to continue as members.
Only when the Champions League was expanded to include qualifiers to accommodate ALL member nations’ champions, allied to Scotland’s constantly declining country co-efficient, are we now in recent years finding ourselves having to travel deep into geographical Asia to progress in Europe.
I’m not saying it’s right. Just explaining how it came to pass.
Cheers lads for providing Foxy with the link.
Seems we are swelling our coffers at record pace!
That’s fantastic money for pre season friendlies! Great news for the shareholders ahem Celtic :-)
About the ICC tournament income, even if there is a 3rd tier of payments among the 17 teams taking part world wide and we fell into that tier, we could assume that the ‘per match’ fee for the €4m to tier 1, and €3m to tier 2 teams meant say a mere €2m for tier 3 team such as us (there is an Australian team taking part also). That would equate to €6m or £5m.
So our income would be somewhere between £5m and £7.5m (depending on whether there is another tier), for 1 home match at CP (Leicester) and 2 games in Ireland (v Barcelona and Inter Milan)
Either way, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick !!!
HARRY BOE
Yir drinking the wrang stuff btw
Try Zmajsko -:)
TBB-we should be planning CL campaigns in January,there are still good players out there. A Director of Football would be able to help Brendan with this,providing he is happy with this role. PL need not apply.
Burgas Hoops
That’s the shopping list sorted for tomorrow. Cheers mate.
CORKCELT on 26TH JULY 2016 6:00 PM
I agree. I also have that feeling. Someone posted on here a wee while ago saying that Efe’s chances of playing a blinder were considerably heightened by the fact that he won’t be playing in front of a home Celtic support.
Which is very true, and also very saddening.
———
I don’t wish to tempt fate but I just watched the Astana – Zalgiris Vilnius whole game. Two poor sides, but Zalgiris should have won by 3 or 4. They missed about three absolute sitters, handed to them by Astana constantly losing possession in the middle, a flaky defence and a hysterical keeper.
Astana looked very, very poor from the back to the front, shelling in aimless crosses, mainly from the left.
Since that game they are further depleted by the loss of their skipper and main goalscorer.
We should be going into this with a real sense of purpose. Aye OK, we have a makeshift defence, but I would still rather have ours than theirs, especially if we stick Efe in front of it to shield it.
We have the firepower in the top two-thirds to score a couple against these.
I was concerned last week when I read an interview with Brendan, where he described our players as “humble – there are no egos”. That might explain the meek capitulations in Europe over the past 2 years.
Maybe the players bought in to Ronny’s philosophy of liberal egalitarianism more than anyone thought.
I don’t want humble! Fed up with humble! I want a bit of gallus, a bit of Bertie Auld! A bit of Celtic!
Astana are a poor side, a lot poorer than last year’s model, from what I have seen and heard. Our players are better than their players.
So long as the Bhoys come out the tunnel tomorrow believing that, and in themselves, we’ll be all right.
No More Moldes!
HH
Lawwell really has become the boogy man
Right….thought about this some more, and given his performance vs Leisester I’d go with the. Following
————————C.Gordon———————-
Jancko. Lustig. O’Connell. Tierney
P.Roberts McGregor Brown Armstrong Izzy
———————Griffiths—————————
This one’s a winner
My long gone dear mother taught me to respect the home of my host.
Should I disagree with their lifestyle or opinions I should respectfully show my feelings, but if I couldn’t do it respectfully and politely, then I should leave, or better still not visit in the first place.
I haven’t always been able to do that but it does get easier with age.
Mike in Toronto.
Thank you very much for taking the time to reply.
In tae diving, so looking forward to that, seems tae be getting rave reviews.
Once again many thanks.
Hail Hail bud.
Efe should have been moved on before now,that is the issue
!!BADA BING!! on 26TH JULY 2016 6:40 P
What makes you think BR wants a Director of Football?
Think we’ll play with three central defenders tomorrow.
I would go O’Connell, Lustig, Tierney but think BR will risk it with Ambrose.
Ruggyman-Izzy could play in front of KT tomorrow,left MF……?
!!BADA BING!! on 26TH JULY 2016 6:55 PM
Will you be pig sick if BR makes him into a great centre half?
Team choice tomorrow
—————— Gordon
Janko, Lustig, AMBROSE, O’Connel, Tierney
——————– Brown
———- Roberts, Armstrong, McGregor
——————— Griffiths
Rogic, Dembele, Izzy on standby as players tire in heat.
Timaloy29,
Yep all Timdom knows that Lawwell ran Celtic into the ground whilst taking £10M out.
However one of the leading Celtic web pages thinks the sun shines out his big bahookie.
Lawwell should have been sacked along with Ronnie. The damage Lawwell has done to the club can never be repaired.
Dermot must surely be working on a Lawwell replacement as he has provided little support to BR to date.
weebobby collins
“There I was, standing at the traffic light when a car pulled up. I looked at the registration plate, it was…****EFE ”
I think it’s a bit disrespectful to tell Efe to GTF on a vehicle registration plate :-)
Why criticise PAUL 67 for not knocking Peter Lawwell now firstly Paul may well feel Peter is doing a good job so there would be no reason to criticise. Secondly over the years he may well have made friends with Peter and feel that it is disloyal to have a go at a friend.Paul runs this blog and allows us freedom to discuss our point of view on many issues but he does not have to agree with any of us. We are gifted from Paul this FREE asset and I feel it is out of order to have a go at Paul for not promoting your point of view in fact it is bad manners we should think about it before having a go at our host. H.H.
Gordon
O’Connell Lustig Tierney
Janko McGregor Brown Armstrong Izaguirre
Roberts
Dembele
Lawell getting it in the neck on here should not be surprising.
Once again we approach a European campaign unprepared.
The additional cost of completing Toure transfer earlier would not have put a dent in his bonus.
The increased revenue from season ticket sales and the huns being in same league have done nothing to alter the strategy of our annual European shambles.
I have expressed the opinion many times that the actual footballing side of our club comes second to profit.
There is no attempt to correct the imbalance.
The arrogance of some may lead to to the decline of our once great club.
If only we could have a fan and visionary on the board?
Cultsbhoy
Mute point ‘re huns mate, they pressed home their advantage with taxpayers money.
Rodgers ain’t stupid he’s not rushing in and buying for the sake of one or two games no matter how important. He wants the right players and he won’t make a GMS type signing because he can’t get Sinclair for example.
Even if we got Duffy he wouldn’t be thrown into this fixture anyway, patience and faith people. HH
I don’t know why the fools at Celtic keep doing it wrong when I have the perfect alternative.
Instead of all that prudent spend and project punting that they do, they should try my plan.
Their way is just a risky risk and they’re gambling with our club’s standing.
But my way is a “managed” risk which is not really a risk at all- it’s nearly a guarantee FFS.
Of course, I haven’t had to put my theory into practice anywhere outside Football Manager but I’m dead good at it, honest.
Of course those fools at Celtic will never see that and we’ll go on buying the same old same old.
Thats some money for this tournament. Some boost for the whole season, Brendan paid for, So on top of huge shirt sponsor deals as well, Brendan will have money to spend on players to make us better and ready for the European stage, As i have said on numerous occasions on here, Our squad is strong enough domestically if Brendan can find the right players and the right shape, The foxes game was encouraging, Two different teams against a fast , strong and organised opponent. I was pleasantly surprised we were giving as good as we got at times in Sat.
Same form should see us through tomorrow.
KLV
Poor Cierto Setting sail from Rothesay after the ferry gets there,think last time we away about 11 am Don’t know the first about sailing other than this one sleeps 6 and there will be 3 of us. Skipper is a yachtsman and has bright and taken yachts across the Atlantic and to and from Croatia. We two just sit and reel in or whatever he says and go ashore to ‘refuel’ I will find out more and let you know Sipper is called Bill Strang and I have never heard him talk footie tho he walks (Santiago de Compostella’,mountaineers,country dances ,toastmasters,and plays golf with me( none of the others!) delete bright and don’t know where that came from.
SCOTBROWNSBHOYS
I concur. :)
KLV
GARY67
I would play Kt in Izzy’s position and bring in Efe.
Izzy is full of energy and enthusiasm but as a defender he is a liability.
He has no positional sense and is constantly caught wrong side of man.
He also dive in a lot giving away needless free kicks in dangerous areas which they seem to thrive on.
Not whats needed in a European away game.
I know Efe is error prone but he does the basic defensive things well for the most part.
As part of a central three he should always have back up if formation is implemented well.
I know next to nothing about Astana.But i’m confident if we are organised and try to trouble their defence we can get a result,hopefuly a win.We have deficiences in our team but i’m sure Astana do too.Negativity can become an oponent in itself.I’m staying positive,maybe my optimism is misplaced,only time will tell.
And anyway,it’s only a game of fitba.There’s real things to get hot under the collar about.
FOREVERANDEVER!!!
KLV
Still practicing the patience bit maself ☺
Sean Thorton
No problem pal.
Actually, it was nice for me to take a break from work, and to turn my mind back, and think about the nice time I had there.
I hope you guys have as nice a time there as KT and I did!
FAN-A-TIC
Izzy is full of energy and enthusiasm but as a defender he is a liability.
Hence the reason I’d play him wing back with KTbbehond him. As well as bombing forward, KT is a very good defender and given our lack of them he should be on the left side of the back three with Lustig in the centre. It’s then either O’Connell or Ambrose on the right, and I would give O’Connell his chance, we’ve watched Efe eff up too often in big games.
Jam tomorrow prevails at a runaway pace