Tactical masterclass

207

What a great game of football.  Brugge dominated from kick-off by figuring out how to block Celtic into submission.  The game was 10 minutes old before we had possession for more than a few seconds.  By contrast, Celtic were unable to return the block as Brugge regularly passed the ball out from the back.  The visitors had done their homework and tactically dominated the first half.  Celtic prepared for the last game they played, not this one.

Brugge have now twice benefited from a bizarre goal in this season’s Champions League.  Their penalty against Aston Villa was, if anything, more ridiculous than Cameron Carter-Vickers passing the ball into his own net.  The difference between the Villa mistake and last night’s was that Brugge forced the issue at Celtic Park.  Carter-Vickers was the fourth Celtic player in possession pressed across the field, as Brugge hunted for a mistake.  Bizarre, yes, but it was worked for and deserved.

The subdued Celtic Park crowd waited for Brendan Rodgers to make the necessary changes.  When they arrived just before the hour, it took very little time for Brugge to be knocked off their tactical perch.

Alex Valle struggled for the first moments of his substitute appearance against Leipzig earlier this month.  The contrast with last night could not be greater.  He was composed on the ball, held onto it, drew opponents in and moved.  A minute after coming on, he found Daizen Maeda, who scored an absolute peach from a tight angle, in what is becoming Celtic Champions League tradition – it went in off the far post.

Great games, like this one, don’t all need lots of chances.  Brugge (and I) thought they had restored their lead, but the goal was ruled offside.  Celtic created better openings that the visitors in the final period of the game, but nothing more than edge of the box chances.

Brugge boss, Nicky Hayen, takes a great deal of credit.  Not many young managers from comparable leagues will come to Celtic Park and out-plan Brendan Rodgers like this.  Brendan can also take credit for mapping out the changes just before the hour.

I also really liked the way the Bulgarian referee controlled the game.  He let play flow and I didn’t disagree with a single foul or caution.  He was also quick to get involved if he saw a hint of timewasting, and was so effective at this, there was little added time at the end of either half.

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  1. Nice 2nd bottom of the league,just ahead on goal average,of Dinamo Kiev who gubbed the Scum,on 0 points.

     

    Itsh a funny old game,Saint.

  2. Nice is one of my favourite places, and they have the potential to be a great football city, but that will not happen until the tax dodging charlatan that is “Sir” Jim Ratcliffe is run out of town. Should be run out of Scotland too, along with his partners in crime PetroChina. Manchester United are welcome to him.

  3. BBC

     

     

    Rangers have scored two goals in five away Premiership games this season.

     

     

    They scored four in 24 minutes in Nice tonight.

     

     

    Football is weird.

  4. Burnley78 on 28th November 2024 9:57 pm

     

     

    last night with 5 to go, i heard the shout of “shitebag” for jamesie when he didnt win a 40/60 ball

  5. bigrailroadblues on

    Good evening all from the Victoria Bar. The hun continue to offer much hilarity in here. I’m all for it. 😉

     

     

    Anyways, hope to see you all at the Shipbank tomorrow. You bunch of rascals.

  6. Glasgow World have already got out a full run down how much the scum have earned and can earn.

     

    🤔🤔

  7. TB- The SFA will be all over the MS picture at Tynecastle last week……no? Not holding my breath

  8. !!Bada Bing!! on 28th November 2024 10:49 pm

     

    TB- The SFA will be all over the MS picture at Tynecastle last week……no? Not holding my breath

     

     

    ————

     

     

    lets be fair, if the person taking the orders is leass than 30 years old, with no knowledge of the troubles , they wont recognise michael stone, gerry adams, ian from paisley or even maybe hearts legend barney battles.

     

     

    i doubt there is an edtor reviewing the content.

     

     

    i sent a picture in to celtic of my granny grace,

  9. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Coefficient Watch

     

     

    Celtic 12.0

     

    R2ngers 7.5

     

    Hearts 4.0

     

    Kilmarnock 2.5

     

    St Mirren 2.0

  10. Back to Basics – Glass Half Full on 28th November 2024 10:57 pm

     

    Coefficient Watch

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Celtic 12.0

     

     

     

     

    R2ngers 7.5

     

     

    ————

     

     

    beating them also in the co0efficient is killing them,

     

     

    their blogs are full of 55 and co-efficient pish

  11. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    10 points won’t be enough for top 8 in Europa League.

     

     

    I don’t expect R2ngers to take any points from Spurs or Man Utd.

     

     

    If not, a win at home on last day against USG would take them to 13.

     

     

    Possibly still not enough.

     

     

    Ironically, we (and Aberdeen) probably want the same outcome for R2ngers as their hierarchy.

     

     

    9th is better than 8th.

     

     

    Extra prize money in the Champions League for finishing the top eight, going straight into the last 16, avoiding play offs in is MASSIVE.

     

     

    Not so in the Europa League.

     

     

    So R2ngers can make more money by fleecing their fans in a play off against a low ranking team with a good chance of still reaching last 16.

     

     

    It means they play same number of games as we do.

     

     

    Parity for us. Advantage for Aberdeen.

  12. CELTIC MAC on 28TH NOVEMBER 2024 10:16 PM

     

    Nice is one of my favourite places, and they have the potential to be a great football city, but that will not happen until the tax dodging charlatan that is “Sir” Jim Ratcliffe is run out of town. Should be run out of Scotland too, along with his partners in crime PetroChina. Manchester United are welcome to him.

     

    —————-

     

    That’s the most convoluted exposé, even by CQN standards, that I’ve seen for quite some time following a win by the Govan club..

     

     

    4-1 away from home against a top league club in Europe is, by any stretch of the imagination, a first class result. Politics and personal animosity only show that some kind of nerve has been hit. We would have been delighted with a win like that and rightly so.

     

     

    The Ibrox club have shown in recent years their ability to carve out results in Europe when least expected, and will be, as usual, our nearest domestic threat when the Aberdeen bubble bursts, as it surely will.

     

     

    I know Brendan will not take them lightly in the LC final, nor should we in the support. We don’t need to blame anyone to boost our ego. We are big enough and confident enough to recognise a good result when we see it, 4-1 away to Nice is a good result no matter who may be their chief investor HH

  13. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    SS – yip.

     

     

    Finally, UEFA have recognised, through the coefficient points system, the value of a Champions League run compared to that in the tin pot competitions.

  14. darwin

     

     

    Do not recall mentioning Nice’ opponents this evening, so I’ll leave that to you.

     

    My reference, and not for the first time, was to a tax dodging knight of the realm, owner of FC Nice and part owner of Manchester United, and his current partners and threat to industry in Scotland, aligned it has to be said, with both the SNP and Labour governments, PetroChina, a state owned enterprise quite happy to undermine this country’s energy security. Fly the flag for the Ayebrokes Club if you will, just do not expect me to join in waving red white and blue.

  15. From Jobo

     

     

     

     

    SENTINEL CELTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2024-25

     

    RESULTS FROM GAME #20 CELTIC 1 CLUB BRUGGE 1 (MAEDA)

     

     

    Good evening, friends.

     

    A very cold and frosty evening in Celtic Park ultimately saw Celtic move on to 8 points. It certainly didn’t look that way at half time.

     

    We were slow and sluggish throughout the first half, giving our opponents too much space and failing to commit to any 50/50 challenges. But although Brugge played their way through us several times, ultimately they didn’t have a single shot on target. Unlike Big Cameron who uncharacteristically committed the old schoolboy error – when passing back to your goalie, never play it between the sticks! With Kasper absent from his line the inevitable slow motion catastrophe saw Brugge 1 up after 26 minutes. I did feel that a goal was coming for them but would have preferred them to have worked a bit harder for it!

     

    Brugge are certainly getting their fair share of luck recently, if you remember the penalty against Aston Villa!

     

    We kicked off the second half but there was no immediate sign that we were upping our tempo until about the 50th minute when we started to control the ball better and make less sloppy passes.

     

    On the 59th minute Brendan hooked Engels and Taylor, replacing them with Bernardo and Valle and our fortunes improved within 2 minutes. Maeda, who I thought had a poor game, seemed to make another mess of our approach play only to then regain his determination and curl a fantastic right foot shot in off the far post for his 10th goal of the season. Game on!

     

    Momentum seemed to have swung Celtic’s way but about 10 minutes later, more bad news as Brugge bundled the ball home after a bit of a melee in our box. But good old VAR did its job and the goal was disallowed (correctly) for offside.

     

    The rest of the game was played out with Celtic looking the more likely to score but we had to remain wary of Brugge breaking away. No more clear cut chances though and so the evening ended with a share of the points which was probably about right.

     

     

    We have now played 20 games this season, winning 16, drawing 3 and losing 1. We have scored 59 and conceded 17 (domestically it’s 49-7 and in Europe it’s 10-10).

     

    Thank you sincerely to the 79 who voted this time around (just above the average turnout of 77).

     

    The total votes cast for each player are as follows, with my own nominations asterisked.

     

     

    Schmeichel: 50

     

    Johnston: 0

     

    Carter-Vickers: 2

     

    Trusty*: 62

     

    Taylor: 0

     

    McGregor*: 7

     

    Engels: 0

     

    Hatate: 1

     

    Kuhn*: 11

     

    Kyogo: 2

     

    Maeda: 64

     

    Valle: 12

     

    Bernardo: 26

     

    Idah: 0

     

    Forrest: 0

     

    Yang: 0

     

     

    And so, the players receiving POINTS for the game against Club Brugge are –

     

    Maeda – 5 points

     

    Trusty – 4 points

     

    Schmeichel – 3 points

     

    Bernardo – 2 points

     

    Valle – 1 point

     

     

    And the overall positions after 20 games played are –

     

    41 points – Kuhn

     

    31 points – Hatate

     

    29 points – Maeda

     

    28 points – Scales

     

    25 points – McGregor

     

    22 points – Bernardo

     

    18 points – Engels and Trusty

     

    17 points – Johnston A and Schmeichel

     

    14 points – Valle

     

    9 points – McCowan

     

    8 points – Kyogo

     

    7 points – Carter-Vickers and O’Riley

     

    5 points – Taylor

     

    4 points – Idah

     

    3 points – Forrest

     

    1 point – Yang

     

    0 points – Holm, Johnston M., Nawrocki, Palma, Ralston, Turley, Welsh

     

     

    It’s back to league action this weekend and a 3.00pm Saturday home game against Ross County.

     

    Hail Hail!

  16. CELTIC MAC on 28TH NOVEMBER 2024 11:32 PM

     

    ————

     

    I take your separate points re the Scottish economy and the tax affairs of Ratcliffe – the latter I know nothing about.

     

     

    But surely the trigger for your post was the result in Nice – that’s what I was addressing.

     

     

    Like you I don’t wave the ‘flag’ but I do recognise a good European result when I see one. HH

  17. Back2basics

     

    Ta for coefficient stats.

     

    Strange tho the weightings are the same for all 3 of UEFA club tournaments,I mean Liverpool vs Real Madrid is same,as Nice vs Nooklub is same as Cercle Brugge vs Hearts.

     

    Seems silly.i would like to see 1-CL,½-EL and ¼ for EC,some dire football in the,EL&EC

     

    ==≈================

     

    Different

     

     

    Re the crowd last night were a bit to custom’ry for my liking,tutting and groaning when things didn’t go the way the players wanted. I sensed a little touch of quietness,not nerves like I was, but a false feeling we had beat the world vs Leipzig so Brugge were beatable..easily,they were nothing of the sort and they showed it.

     

    i noted with irony Brugge fans singing you only sing when you winning til their goal was disallowed,it brought laughter but the support for the bhoys has been better recently,fans were to quick to point at fault,my fav was as the ball was laid to Daizen to cut in I heard….where the f°°° is he go….al as the crowd erupted.

     

     

    We didn’t play as well as we can and we still got a point

     

    Onwards we go

  18. i have recently been cheatin on this blog, with a ghirl called kerry dale.

     

     

    things were going good until you tell them about people not turning up for celtoc games

     

     

    ————

     

     

    Kerrydale Street>Celtic Forums>

     

    celtic blogs censorship

     

    Post a new topic

     

    Your message contains too few characters.

     

     

    Subject:

     

    celtic blogs censorship

     

    Message:

  19. Attendance Watch – Game Sold Out but seats are not occupied.

     

     

    moravcik67

     

    18K

     

    11,699

     

    Off treasure hunting in Holland

     

    11:23 PM – 1 day ago#94

     

     

    Think this one has run its course

  20. I think we can get a result in Zagreb.They will have to come out.Proper use of our pace should cause damage.Young Boys are just poor.Villa,hot and cold.

  21. MARSPAPA @ 7:52 PM,

     

     

    Well, huge praise indeed, there has been phenomenal tunes here over the years…

     

     

    It’s amazing how Fleetwood Mac reincarnated itself – of course the original was way better, but the girls came in and made an amazing rock band…

     

     

    Always great to see your comments…

     

     

    Hail Hail

  22. Hahaha Nice one,you have no need CB :-))

     

    We have enough of them here.

     

     

    In my opinion yes.

     

     

    HH

  23. Big [ Joe ] Phileepey

     

     

    Is on the Hunt for a European trophy playing the Rangers way.

     

     

    Cute, savvy, as One, not individuals.

     

     

    No stupid expensive dud experiments.

     

     

    They know how to make Brendan’s 11 look less than ordinary like SCF last season were our first shot at goals in the fag end of the game saved a lot of interesting questions from being asked and not just by Joe McHugh.

     

     

    Rangers are a working class club no unexplained wage rises for fat cats who are just a bad odour. They have worked to get to a European final in Seville only recently and losing on penalties was certainly chapping on a European trophy’s door.

     

     

    We as a club are run by non Celtic types who think nothing of blowing uncountable millions of £`s and just shrugging their shoulders as if well, who knows what.

     

     

    Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist are the 2 most honest voices in Scottish football, and are closely run by, John Brown and Martin O’Neill.

     

     

    Most honest voice from the supporter base is yet again, Joe McHugh, and his fantastic website https://videocelts.com

     

     

    A Celtic State of Mind, bottled out of asking Mick Lynch, if he regretted agitating for Trade Union members to vote for Keir Starmer whom every dog on the street knows that the Labour Party is controlled by the zio Lobby Groups, under KS, and after their hatchet job on Jeremy Corbyn, who himself bottled out of standing shoulder to shoulder with his witch hunted comrades, in the face of the UK, US, deep state operatives.

     

     

    Mick Lynch is another poodle or he wouldn’t have been on every media channel shilling for KS. Nobody would live by the integrity of James Connolly, then agitate for the zio genocide.

     

     

    This time next year it will be spun as “The Gaza Famine” just like the same banking controllers spun “The Irish Famine” next it’ll be…

     

     

    Whilst idiots play at spot the racist.

  24. Good Morning Fholks – BR&Co Presser Day

     

     

    What will they make of Wednesday’s Performance on reflection

     

     

    Have Bernardo, Valle, Idah done enough to warrant a start.!?

     

     

    AN TEARMANN @ 2:07 AM,

     

     

    :)))))

     

     

    Have A Grand Day

     

     

    Hail Hail

  25. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Good morning CQN.

     

     

    Just one more day until the next game.

     

     

    And it’s at Celtic Park.

     

     

    Ain’t life grand?

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