As Ronny Deila chose to leave first team players to their training duties, instead taking a fringe squad for Saturday’s friendly against St Pauli, Norwegian compatriot, Henning Berg, had a league game in Cracow, which Legia won comfortably.
Playing games is the best way to improve fitness but two games per week comes at a cost, fitness metrics are never as high ahead of the second game as they would be if pre-match preparation was a week long. With a day already lost to travel, Ronny clearly decided the players needed preparatory work for Warsaw more than the disruption caused by the pre-match-day preparation for St Pauli, the game itself, then post-match rest-day brought about by Saturday’s match.
Henning Berg rested most of his first team ahead of their second leg against St Pat’s (resulting in a home defeat in the league), and, perhaps mindful of not showing too much of his hand to Celtic, rested four players on Saturday. His team are also a couple of weeks’ training ahead of Celtic, which will be the major benefit Legia will hope to exploit.
While Celtic moaned about having to play three qualification rounds I’m sure Ronny will be happy he saw his team in competitive action against KR ahead of tonight’s game. There was enough about the first half in Iceland two weeks ago to remind him that an edge is needed, and it is not straightforward to find, even against such lowly opposition.
While Celtic progressed to the group stage in each of the last two seasons, the corresponding fixture to tonight caused some concern on both occasions. HJK Helsinki were eventually overcome 2-1 after taking a lead at Celtic Park two years ago, while we took an equally narrow 1-0 to Elfsborg last season. Celtic would go on to produce memorable and record breaking seasons, but the preparation gradient has proven to be steep.
Celtic’s major advantage could, conversely, be the partisan home crowd, who are sure to be switched on from kick off, but Berg’s team have not won any of their three home games this season. The natives are getting restless and could easily become frustrated, increasing the tension already evident on Legia. The first goal could be crucial.
No passengers tonight, Celtic, especially late in the game, when limbs tire.
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LB
What is the second one?
JJ
Just Another Tim
cheers
Pub for me I suspect.
Tlwio
southside
13:21 on 30 July, 2014
That reminds me of a game a couple of seasons ago at CP,can’t remember who the opposition was.Craig Thomson was the ref and for all Celtic free kicks he took 9 steps to place the wall for the opposition he took 11,I know i counted every one,do you think I’m paranoid? This is an absolute fact as I say I counted every single one because I noticed him counting 11 on our first free kick in the game.Probably not a game changer and i’m sure many would say I was petty but to me it proves the refs state of mind is most certainly not pro Celtic.
Timmy7_noted.
Tontine Tim
Was Denny Johnstone one that Kojo rated highly?
JJ
Timmy7
Maybe he had the wind behind when he walked only nine paces? 0:-)
Someone asked erasure about limited tickets available for murrayfield and if it’s nearing sell out.
Just been in ticket office for my daughter. THE TOP TIER IS CLOSED!!
Will likely open it now bottom tier selling out. Anyone else as appalled as me?
No faith in fans, and regulars/season ticket holders don’t get their equivalent regular seat.
I bet this isn’t about atmosphere , it’s about hedging police and steward costs.
Erasure=earlier. Give a little respect.
I Liked this quote from Scottish boxer Charlie Flynn after he had won Bronze.
Asked if he could turn this to Gold later in the week, he stated
“I just look at the next guy in front of me, you know what I mean? As they say, you kill the crocodile that’s closest to you. Kill that and move on to the next one.”
Come on Celtic kill that croc tonight.
.
I thought Denny Johnstone was highly rated with the club? The official website story reads like an afterthought. Was he out of contract? There is no mention of any fee involved or whether he left due to being out of contract.
houl yer wheest
14:45 on 30 July, 2014
Is next week’s game included in the ST?
=============================
Sadly no
Celtic v Legia Warsaw
UEFA Champions League
Wed, August 06 2014
Kick-off 19:45
Tickets for this match are now on sale to Season Ticket holders. Tickets are priced as follows:-
Adults – £20
Concessions – £10
Under 13 – £5
Each Season Ticket holder can purchase 4 tickets at the season ticket price.
Tickets can be purchased online, by calling 0871 226 1888* or by visiting the Celtic Ticket Office.
The deadline for Season Ticket holders to purchase a ticket is Wednesday, 30th July.
Payment will be taken for the Home Cup Ticket Scheme on 30th July.
HH
MadMitch
14:43 on
30 July, 2014
I looked at this a long time ago with Man U as the model. Everybody knows they had that extraordinary group of Scholes, Giggs, Beckham et al come through but after that it was pretty patchy.
I’ll be interested if D Utd and Soton have had a lucky bunch or if they can do it consistently over years.
From my research I more or less concluded that 1 guaranteed starter being promoted from the youths every 2 seasons was good going for a top level club.
the long wait is over
No problem. It’s a shame they don’t do Pay per View matches. You’ll just have to suffer the intake of several pints now :)
HH
the long wait is over
14:50 on 30 July, 2014
Afternoon all,
Apologies if already raised.
Can anyone give me a steer on the cheapest way to get the game on Premier tonight.
Is it possible to buy as a one off “pay per view” type basis.
Cheers
Tlwio
__________________________________________________________________________
I upgraded my Virgin package last weekend. They charged me £3.99 for the part-month, and I have the option to cancel after 30 days.
Hope this helps!
HH
End London rule.YES.
MM
Sorry to bore you mate, but I was having a discussion with Bada Bing.
Southampton are in an unusual location insofar as the nearest FA Academy is 70 miles away. They have a huge competition free catchment in comparison to most other clubs.
Even here in Glasgow, there are Performance level pro-youth sides at 7 other clubs within 15 miles fighting over the talented few from a population of 5000 boys at each age group, not to mention numerous good Initiative level such as Thistle and Clyde.
Unusually, Southampton also have an academy at bath which specifically targets young Welsh boys in addition to those in the South West. Again, they’re operating with little local competition. Gareth Bale came through the Bath academy for example, although with Swansea (and recently Cardiff) in the EPL, they’ll be finding things a little tougher I expect.
Equally, in any distribution there are outliers. Is Southampton’s success over the past 10 years a statistical fluke, or a measure of their capability? Probably a bit of both.
However, I do fully agree with you that the system should be focussed on delivering a small number of exceptional players, and not successful youth sides, the latter being pyrrhic. I recall we agreed on that earlier.
Unfortunately, it comes down to the same thing – spotting the very few gems from the rest of the population – and I’m afraid we haven’t yet come up with the algorithm that factors genes, personality, environment and luck and accurately predicts the ones to back. McGeady is the only one I can think of from the top of my head who was identified at a young age as a future star and delivered on the potential.
You’d probably be unsurprised by the ‘gratuity’ received by Islam Feruz’s parents from Chelsea, but it’s not looking like money well spent right now is it, even though Chelsea doubtless were sure they were on a winner.
It’s still a numbers game, and we’ll continue to overlook boys like Roberston periodically, while producing shed loads of decent professionals for the rest of the game from the Lennoxtown conveyor belt of average footballers.
Cheers LB
Couple of singles and a double.
Jungle Jim
Mia’s Anthem 5.10 Perth (e/w)
6-y-o trained in Ireland by Noel Kelly. Winner of handicap hurdle at Uttoxeter last season and has finished 4th on latest two starts over fences. Given too much to do last time out, when staying on nicely in the closing stages, again at Uttoxeter and with the second in that race having won since, can get off the mark over fences at the fourth attempt.
LB
BT
Hope the first one covers the bets for the 2nd one too.
LB
JAT, JTT
Cheers to you both.
You’re not the same guy using similiar aliases are you?
Seems to be a lot of that on here lately…
:-)
Jungle Jim,
I would love to meet him and ask the question why,I’m 99% sure he would deny that it happened and he may be telling the truth because its so ingrained in his mind not to give us a fair crack that he probably did not even notice he was doing it.
Subconscious CSC
Found this on the BBC and yes he was out of contract:
“Celtic wanted to keep him, but the boy wanted to move on. Two unnamed Scottish Premier League clubs also wanted to bring him in as their number one striker.”
LB
It does cheers.. Covers full bet.
Also bet e/w doudle.
the long wait is over
Haha! Not that I am aware. (who said that)
HH
just another tim- we were haggling over a development fee for Denny Johnstone
LB- cheers :)
LB
Thanks
Timmy7
I think you may have a point re ingrained.
Before the CodWar, I said only a fool would predict the result and I went , correctly, for 4-0. Predictions are still for fools. I am going for 0-0 tonight.
Cheerio for now,
JJ
In Brugge for a few days with er indoors.
If the opportunity arises, as it did yesterday, I always like to spread the Celtic gospel with locals, knowing full well that conversation will quickly turn Sevco.
True to plan, two old Belgian guys in the pub began reminiscing about Paul Van Himst, with me going on about the 67 team. They rhymed off half the team and as usual raved about Jinky.
Anyway next minute one of them jumped in and quizzed me about the deid club. Three Jupilers later the old Anderlecht supporters knew the full hun horror story.
Keep spreading the word.
HH
Tontine Tim, !!Bada Bing!!
Thanks for that info re Denny Johnstone. Seems another good prospect has slipped through our net.
HH
Good luck to the Celts tonight.
My hope is that VVD and EA keep Radovic out of range and don’t retreat into our penalty box all night.
Enjoyed the CG stat last night on the highlights show that, due to the township’s assorted swimfish, gymfantastics and judoists, Coatbridge was then 15th on the Medal Table.
I always thought that between the ages 26-28, a player was at the peak of his earning powers.
If so, then the contract they signed in those years was their ” big one”.
If that is the case, then I would imagine that subsequent deals, by which time a player would be in, or close to his thirties, would be for a lesser sum.
Usually and I think it would be in Kris’ case, it would not be the money that is important, but rather another two or three year contract, while they still had something to offer at the top level.
After that, they could drop down the leagues, if they wished to continue playing.
As someone wisely said on here recently; they are not paid for what they have done previously, but on what they can do in the future.
Makes sense to the guy who delivers my mail.
blantyretim.
I booked the Adelphi Hotel for the 6th = £82,thanks for putting me on to it.Have to search for it on google maps now.
just another tim- as TBB has been pointing out ,it’s difficult to keep them all,but anytime I seen him ,he looked like he could do things a bit different to others. Strong ,puts himself about ,and knows where the goals are HH
RWE
I gave a review of the Opening Ceremony on here at the time. I was generally positive.
Like everyone else, I was suckered by the deadpan kitsch of the Karen Dunbar and John Barrowman section but, then, one or two wee things undermined my certainty that this was a disaster in the making. There were wee subtle hints in the lyrics that the Scottish myths were being sent up, the Andy Stewart/Calvin Harris mash-up, the Gay Kiss (a gentle GIRUY to the homophobic laws of many of the Commonwealth countries), and the dancing Tunnock’s teacakes were a sure sign that this kitsch was very self-aware.
I’d like to believe that Gordon Matheson was in on the act and was giving a caricature of an aggressive Glasgow welcome, but I suspect his performance was more post-pub than post-ironic.
I never thought I’d see or hear “Freedom Come All Ye”, the total antithesis of the Embra Tatoo and Fort George traditions that are celebrated at Ibrox Forces Day, performed in front of the Queen. We ditched our parochial pride by undermining our own icons, by focusing more on Nelson Mandela than David Livingstone and used a wee Jamaican lass to represent our future Youth. We made a charity appeal our centrepiece.
I can understand why a lot of it went over the heads of our more censorious critics. I am glad our cultural cringe was sent up. Some of Scotland is far too straight-laced and precious and wants to reach for safe touch-stones when presenting ourselves. Glasgow is a bit more gallus than that. We were self-deprecating and we did not care too much if some “sophisticates”, uninformed fish-wife commentators, or the straight-laced were offended or did not get it. If you took it as just a show of kitsch, well that’s too bad but it’s fine. Either way, we’re having a party and you can join in if you want to or you can stay on the sidelines tut-tutting, was the message.
Glasgow has been a pretty happy place this week. English and Welsh athletes have been cheered and applauded at their venues- that is a good thing. The Ugandan Rugby 7s team was adopted by the crowds at Ibrox, the Tongan Boxers by Celtic fans, and all the officials and athletes are being treated very well on the streets of Glasgow, which will disappoint some of those not sympathetic to other cultures.
Our transport system is not coping too well and there are inconvenient travel restrictions but these games are still being generally welcomed here. You will see later this week that Usain Bolt, who probably did say something close to “the Commonwealth Games are a bit shit compared to the Olympics” will still get cheered to the rafters despite a Press Campaign to try to get him to be their paper-selling villain of the Games.
Who knows? Maybe, even Gordon Matheson will be able to send himself up by the end of the closing ceremony. Either that or someone will have explained how a nicrophone works.
Say Aye to a Gallus self-confident Scotland regardless of whether we are run by Embra, London, Brussels or the One World Order.
Ah’ll tell Ye WHY Denny refused the Offer By Celtic. tae Extend his Contract.
Believe this..or..well.. Don’t Believe , This.. Maks nae difference tae Me..
Fur Denny, in His Opinion.. the Entrance .. which Lead tae the Celtic First Team Pool..
Hid a big Notice.. which Read.
No Young Celtic Youth STRIKERS …Need Apply.
Denny, hid a Loat tae Offer.. but he Could Clearly See
that.. Promotion of a Striker tae the Celtic First Eleven from the Youth System…
wiz Impossible.. Durin’ The Neil Years..
Things hiv Noo Chinged..with the recent Arrival of a Noo Management Crew..
Too Late.
But.. Denny Hid Made up his Mind.. The Die wiz cast.
N.. the result wiz..
We May hiv Loast a Budding Gem.
Noo Ye know
Kojo
Still,Laughin’
Justanothertim
He was rated was offered another contract which he turned down.
Atajic has been tried.
But his auditions, apart from one fine goal, have been very disappointing.
That will be the same Gordon Mathieson who should have been sacked and charged with ‘gross indecency in a public place’ or similar,about 2 years ago?
I’ve decided I live way too close to Celtic park. I need to live halfway round the world to be an expert on our youths.
LB
!!Bada Bing!!
Aye, that’s what I liked about him. For a young lad he could handle himself. He reminds me of Hartson. It’s a shame he has moved on and the club cannot be blamed as they did all they could to hang onto him. Good luck to him.
Here is what he is capable of, corker of a goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sowJhT_fks
HH