Taking the foot off the pedal talk

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The count of how many times I’ve heard “I hope we don’t take the foot off the pedal like we did last year” has reached double figures. This is never a good sign. Football games, against any level of opponent, need to planned for and respected.

During last season’s League Cup semi-final, Celtic went two goals up early on, then made 100% sure the result would never be in danger by denying Newco even an attempt at goal (the match stats recorded one attempt, which was actually a wayward cross from a free kick). Compare and contrast with Borussia Dortmund’s two goal advantages last night. While I’d love to score a barrel-load, winning the game is all that really matters.

We have seen enough Celtic teams dominate possession in Europe against less-resourced teams only to lose to the sucker punch. This has been a harsh lesson, which I hope has been learned.

I doubt many of us know what to expect from Newco. They won the Championship but this season didn’t have to contend with vastly superior Hearts team. They are also in the semi-final because they thumped Premiership Dundee 4-0 at Ibrox, which is a huge result for any lower league team (we’ve failed to score twice against Dundee recently).

All my “Rangers” supporting pals tell me they are hopeless at defending, so there’s a decent possibility they will defend deeply and play on the break – just as several others have done effectively against us this season. We’re going to have a lot of possession in the final third, but Scott Brown and Nir Bitton will need to offer a lot of defensive cover.

Most of all, we’ll need discipline. There’s a red card winging its way to the first Celtic player to stare at an opponent in a rash manner. The First Minister will probably get involved too, so be prepared.

Did you read Walter “dare I say it, 10 in a row” Smith? What a man to have in your corner days before a big game. He’ll have them thinking it’s 1957 all over again!

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Charlie Gallagher! What a Player! is the new book by Celtic historian David Potter, published by CQN Books at the end of the month. Order your signed copy HERE or click on the image below.

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  1. boondock saint on

    Reading all this pish about mo johnstone. I was there the night he was paraded in his shitty sweater and then put the hoops jersey on. We were getting ready to travel to tannadice for the BP youth cup final. I met him years later in Boston when he was playing for Kansas. We got the crowd to heckle him the whole game. We waited outside the team bus for him afterwards, singing mo mo feck yer mo, with a whole bunch of other mad tims. Not long after, he had an article in soccer America blasting us and saying if we were real Celtic fans why weren’t we back in Glasgow.

     

    Oh and Kansas lost that day. Ah the folly of youth.

  2. Delaneys Dunky on

    Clunks

     

     

    Can you drive a van?

     

    We could hire one, fill it with clothes and toys donated by Glaswegians, and drive it to where Kitalba wants it. That is my plan, if you fancy sharing the driving?

  3. OK – Relatively straightforward, 1st to answer gets 4pts unless otherwise stated, otherwise 2 points for a correct answer.

     

     

    Question 1

     

    The Scottish Cup was minted in 1885, how many times has Celtic won it?

  4. Delaneys Dunky on

    HT

     

     

    Love the Celtic Cross. Got Celtic Cross rosary beads in our trip to Belfast last year.

     

    One of my finest possesions. Keep me 10 badges please.

  5. The Spirit of Arthur Lee on

    Won it already

     

     

    I will leave the quiz to the so called fans

     

     

    Love

  6. I will be returning my “Roxy Music’s Greatest Hits” CD as it stuck after playing only one track.

     

     

    I thought to myself

     

     

    “There’s got to be more than this”.

  7. Geordie Munroe: That’s the one. As DD says, I should stick to the tour guides. Is it real?

     

     

    If anyone is coming to Dublin next weekend I would recommend attending the GAA league finals next Sunday in Croke Park. The GAA will mark their commemoration of the Easter Rising after Dublin beat Kerry in the Division 1 final. There shouldn’t be a problem getting tickets. I’ll be taking part in it.

  8. Geordie Munro on

    “The Scottish Cup was minted in 1885,”

     

     

    Aye but no wance the huns got their hawns on it man :)

     

     

    HH

  9. itscalledthemalvinas on

    Phew,what a relief. I can sit with the weans tomorrow watching the famous Glasgow Celtic without their ears being subjected to sectarian dittys.

     

     

    itsonlyaminoritycsc

  10. Answer – 2002

     

     

    Which 2 clubs still in existence has the 2nd and 3rd highest no of wins?

  11. Kitalba: Email me at

     

     

    dublin2016@mail.com

     

     

    and I’ll see if I can be of assistance.

     

     

    HT: If I get over for a match before the end of the season I’ll try and hook up with the AICSC so that the badges might be sold at their annual charity dinner in July.

  12. GuyFawkesaforeverhero on

    I think paul67 is sending his idiots a message.

     

     

    Four days, two blogs. What else do you need from him?

  13. Geordie Munro on

    I was going to say hearts and Aberdeen

     

     

    Then I thought ‘why would I like that?’

     

     

    So I thought Raith and Aberdeen. But that’s just daft.

     

     

    So I goggled it.

     

     

    Queens Park and hertz

     

     

    HH

  14. itscalledthemalvinas on

    Caught the game today. The playground in St.Mary’s Paisley was broader.

     

    They have tampered with the width of the park. The technical areas could accommodate half of Glastonbury

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