When Braga lined up for kick-off I thought, “Three at the back against a front three away from home in Europe, we should be OK here.” And so we should have been. Braga were average-to-poor during the opening 20 minutes, as Celtic settled into a pattern of attack, primarily down the left flank (we’ll come to that later).
There is always a temptation to scapegoat after a poor result and it would be unnecessarily harsh to single out Kasper Schmeichel for not stopping a shot from 33 yards which went directly above his frame. Kasper’s decline is clear to see, but the team in front of him last night were not any better.
Once the goal went in, Braga players seemed to grow a few inches, while Celtic’s shrunk in stature. The visitors went man-for-man when out of possession and Celtic were – yet again – unable to pass through the press. The possession horseshoe of doom was in full swing and midfielders, facing their own goal, only passed sideways or back to Cameron Carter-Vickers or Liam Scales. Or, of course, Kasper.
The entire support could not wait until halftime in the hope that Brendan Rodgers would sort things out. The change was a surprise. Celtic went three at the back to match up to Braga (note, match up to Braga, who are seventh in the Portuguese league). This created a bit more opportunity in the middle of the park, although the personnel change, which saw Marcelo Saracchi play an advanced role on the left had a lot to do with the improvement.
Changing to an untested formation was a risk. Twice Celtic rode their luck as Braga exploited the space where a right back would normally be, but the chances were not taken. Kelechi Ịheanachọ again stepped up, won a loose ball and smacked his shot below the keeper into the net. To the incredulity of the majority inside Celtic Park, the referee disallowed the goal and VAR did not see enough of an error to overrule the official.
Some sides grow with a sense of injustice, but that did not happen. One man’s thing to fight against is another’s excuse.
Braga’s second goal was a classic of the pressing genre. They pressed a poorly structured team all night and got their reward by forcing Celtic so far back a clearance took a ricochet and flew into the net. Fair play to them. A team who are midtable in Portugal, who could not afford our players or their wages, and a manager who is under severe pressure, tactically out-thought Celtic. Our left flank, with Seb, Kieran and Marcelo, were bossed by a Swedish defender Gus Lagerbielke.
We are like the kid who turns up at the board to play draughts when everyone else is playing chess. Motherwell come to Celtic Park on Sunday undefeated in all competitions this season. Whisper it, they have a good manager. Jens Berthel Askou is like the chess-playing kid and is not keen on excuses.
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Yawn.
Ill bet there are 1000 Celtic fans whose wives, husbands, partners etc are nurses, bus drivers, bartenders, taxi drivers etc..
.please fek off with the moronic snd totally ignorant criticism.
It is cringe and embarrassing for a workng class support.
The problem is staring us all in the face.Seems bar a few,it is sacrilegious to say it.Calmac.
We play the ball out from the back,through our CHs.Calmac has dropped so far back now,he is taking,2,3 yard passes from them,giving it back or square.We don’t move forward.Calmac looks like a 3rd CH.He points forward a lot,but rarely puts the ball in the same direction.It contributes around 90% to the dreaded” horseshoe”.BR as much to blame.Move him further foorward,,he still has the goal threat and cleverness.
Reading back,thank God a few on here will be nowhere near the meeting on Monday.The suits would get a fekin pay rise.
Posh boy criticism.
Re the minis on top,
Wasn’t Hibs out in front for a long time a few years ago but fell away gradually and were relegated! (Not really but sounded better )!!
That awkward moment when you’re disappointed hearing Hertz scored a last minute winner.
I loved the Thelin 2-2 hype after his victory at Celtic Park last year and how his team then subsequently collapsed after we hammered them at Hampden.
Fast forward 12 months and unfortunately I don’t feel the same way.
Something is seriously amiss when you feel threatened by a team assembled on a shoe-string budget managed by Derek McInness.
I mean, how much “pace and power” do you need to win the SPFL?
Laxalt
Why ?
Some might have ferries etc but fans in a stadium backing the team can make a difference imo.
Just my view. I am perhaps old school and recall when Henry dropped the ball at Hampden or when We beat Hibs 3-2 in injury time and the ground was nearly full. Or even v Milan. Late goals can be so good. If the fans don’t care enough to wait and watch why would a player give and extra 20%.
I would rather we had that. Than folk heading home to put the dinner on.
Timmy 7
WTF is posh about staying to support your team when they need support ?
So we are now saying football fans in a stadium don’t influence the game either ?
We need to win tomorrow but preferably with a statement win . Are Hearts our main challengers for the league or is it the other way round ?
A wee message to the board.
‘Have no secrets, fear no lies’.
HEAVEN17CSC
Glendalystonsils
Tomorrow is the day we really do need to stand up. Players, manager and support.
100% aligned toward winning. Failure and it is really conceivable we could be 8 points behind Hearts and a point ahead of rangers by the time we play rangers at Hampden in the LC semi.
A win tomorrow by any score is a statement. In my opinion.
Cmon the Jambos!
Get it right round these fake dim Tims!
And the fake Huns!
It would be liberatng if the old firm chanty wrastlurs got relegated in the same season!!
Get rid ae the PLC pretentious palavar!
Get back to the days before money was invented!
Who invented money and have never paid a single penny in tax?
Eye!
Celtic huvny had a board since Desmond White died in 1985!
Blame the trolls who huvny been vaccinated by the scientists!
Trolls are super rebels who don`t need vaccines!
That is what was said in the most truthful book ever written.
The Jungle Book!
lol
Hibs managed to commit as much fouls today after just 1 minute as they did against us the entire game last weekend.
Maybe they were a wee bit too wound up today since it was a derby.
Bowie fell to the ground again at nearly every opportunity but where were the free kicks?
He probably wishes he could play against CCV every week.
The possession stats were about even and surprisingly the foul count was as well.
Different referees and games refereed differently.
UNN @UnityNewsNet
Once again the reaction to the incident in Manchester is being used to mould public opinion and people are falling for it.
They want to ban YOU from social media.
They want to ban YOU from protesting.
They want to put YOU in a Digi ID/AI hellscape.
Don’t fall for it!
https://x.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1974091151247569147#m
PALANTIR – Should be the focal point.
Thunder Road- interesting point.
Alan Morrison recently did some work looking at this.
Context is key – Hibs probably played differently in a hurly-burly derby versus parking a bus against us, but a comparison would be interesting.
Great moniker/ great song btw👍
Brought the great Steve Earle to mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaEJzoaYZk
A lot of get rid of BR guys on this blog this particular Saturday night when Hearts go 5 clear and we play tomorrow, are they often on so much on a Saturday night?I’m as disappointed as anyone at how we are playing I want BR to right this starting tomorrow and that is a genuine wish. All the best to Celtic Fc tomorrow.
A lot of quite justified talk at the tail end of last season about performances deteriorating because we were so far ahead and had become complacent .
Now that we are playing catch up with hearts in the league and have only 1 point from our first 2 games in the EL we have nothing to be complacent about , so that won’t wash . If our current situation doesn’t galvanise hearts and minds we’ll know we are truly in trouble
“A lot of quite justified talk at the tail end of last season about performances deteriorating because we were so far ahead and had become complacent”.
Whisper it quietly, it was no “tail end”.
Aside from a deflected goal against Young Boys we haven’t won a big game this year.
Burnley78 on 4th October 2025 7:21 pm
We have an outdated structure and manager…
——–
B78 – if any company or organisation had the same CEO for 17 years who had maintained an outdated structure (you prev referred to its as a structure in the ‘dark ages’) and presided over a pattern of similar footballing failures, should they have made that kind of ghuy its Chairperson even given some of his good work? You write plenty of BRs alleged shortcomings and not much of the executives liable ?
B78, people are leaving early because they know we are not going to score after watching 80 minutes of boring football, and I’m on your side.
Turkeybhoy I think more people will agree with you than not on Callum. He is a club legend, one of the great Celtic captains, but like Neil Lennon and Scott Brown there comes that season when you are a yard short, your don’t have that same energy or drive. For me that was last season when it was put down to game fatigue. Callum McGregor is past his peak and will never reach those heights again. Same with Jamesy. We need to replace them and move on, let them become memories of great games and times.
THUNDER ROAD check out the stats for Kilmarnock v St Mirren
We all have eyes, but we all are not seeing the same game
No goals this season, why ?
O’Reilly, Kyogo, Kuhn, Idah sold, Jota injured, the club and Rodgers treated Maeda shamefully, that’s a lot of goals, a lot of top talent sold or pissed off, what a cluster***, talk about digging a hole, Nicholson was so deep he could be shaking hands with our antipodean Celts.
McGregor requires help in midfield, the room space Braga midfielder had to shoot was negligent we were outmanned and out thought tactically, schmeichel never covered himself in glory either,McGregor can no longer underpin a 3 man midfield, with a dysfunctional front 3, we have no wingers, and a pissed off Maeda plus a recovering former goalscorer will he make it all the way back ?
A surprising autumn change on Thursday night saw Rodgers accept what so many of us could see, 4-3-3 is not possible, he doesn’t have the talent/goals to play it, we changed to a 5-3-2 we had support in midfield, 3 at the back give us better defensive security (until the substitutions)we started to compete unfortunately a shocking decision stopped us deservedly levelling the match, we just couldn’t get a break 2nd half, but we can only hope the Manager and coaching staff have been spending time making our tactics and team selection match our strengths in the squad at their disposal, abandon 4-3-3 the mythical attacking Celtic way.
Defenders> A Johnston, Trusty, CCV, Scales, Tierney, Scarrachi, Ralston
Midfield> McGregor, Hatate, Nygren, McCowan, Engels and Bernardo
The strength in the squad is in the players listed above and should be used such 3-5-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1 all practice and deliverable tactical set ups, please change from the predictable slow death of our 4-3-3
I have mentioned a few times on here that in games against better opposition, primarily in Europe, Celtic’s reliance on Calmac has been found out. Press him and there is a fair chance he will misplace a pass, especially when he is playing out from the back. He regularly demands and receives the ball with back to goal around the half way line and immediately passes it back to Scales or CCV while pointing at everyone else to play it forward. In European games it drives me to despair.
In 2023, Callum was given a 5-year contract that runs through until 2028 that has him as our highest paid player (at least it did) . That looks now like an ill-jedged decision. Does anyone see Callum still playing three seasons from now? Perhaps sentiment got the better of our board with that decision.
LIONROARS67 on 5TH OCTOBER 2025 9:27 AM
Thought we played 3-4-3 second half so we matched up in midfield. Anyway take your point , that there needs to be a change to support the centre forward , as there is very little coming down either flank
HH
Game day and nearly an hour since a comment.
Hmm…
we are a front line full of left wingers.
Tippy Tappy = Exodus of fans leav8ng early. Some to sit on buses that don’t leave until the game has finished.
Fast exciting football = Happy fans who show their happiness.
HH. COYBIG.
Today I would like to see a big change from the start, not the same tactics quicker and better, when they don’t work perfectly they don’t work work at all, but different tactics.
We need to see that theres been some thinking about how we’re going to start scoring against better opposition, not bullying mid table SPFL opposition
What that looks like is beyond me.
And not changes in personnel either, the freshness we were promised with new faces has disappeared, the freshness needs to come from new ideas from Brendan
C40me/b78
New ideas
It certainly won’t come from a board that is to old,to dated and to stale.
Enough of this focus on BR.
Back him 100% instead of the grudging snarl and snipes we have had bout BR getting people in.
We failed(badly) in getting those names into a hooped jersey.
The lack of communication not only extends between our board and us
The lack of communication also extends between directors on getting deals over the line in the most amateur of ways.
We are broke at board level,interests that have been there way to long should go.
Changes are afoot and are horrendously overdue on our board at all levels.new ideas new thinking to reinvigorate
A victory today.
HH
An T
I agree 1000% with your final point.
Any freshness needs to come from energising a much maligned (by our own manager) squad of players and by energising the coaching team as well.
A freshening up of our outdated one dimensional playing style would help.
As important though is an energising of the crowd / team dynamic to really provide the stimulus to drive us to the top.
I don’t care what flak the board get of the support backs the team and the team are really reciprocating. Right now the team don’t play with any freedom, in fact the opposite and the support see it. The passion which is so key with winning teams is not evident. The belief certainly is not.
I really want us to throw off the shackles and have a go like Hearts in the dying embers yesterday or that govan lot last Sunday and even in their 2nd half mid week. Maybe that is why fans all start to leave with 15 mins to go. They don’t see it changing.
I really do hope it will be different today.
Greenpinata.
I think you nailed it there.
Sadly BR has an obsession with the stats. Hence wee Cals 30 sideways passes each half.
Good afternoon CQN.
On a short holiday to sunnier climes, but hope to catch the game at a local tavern.
Our tickets being used by daughter’s friend and her family.
Good luck to all who attend.
Hope you enjoy it.
Apart from the weather, I wish I was there.
Interesting chat re Callum.
IMHO, his levels have dropped as a direct result of playing frankly scandalous amount of minutes over multiple years.
Shame on those who overplayed him for club and country (regardless of whether he intimated he was up for it).
Callum is only 32 years old. His performance drop off is ahead of his age.
What do you do when Mr Dependable becomes less so?
Simple (not easy). You plan for life without him.
Play less, perform better.
He was a 5-6,000 minutes per season guy five seasons running.
Get 4,000 good minutes out of him.
Then 3,000 … then 2,000
That ‘plan’ I am not seeing.
Instead I’m hearing from Brendan how central Callum is to the way we play.
At some point that becomes more a neggie than a possie.
And (just my eyes admittedly) I’m seeing a repeat of the Broonie slow car crash.
The key reference point for our build up gets ½ a yard slower, so instinctively sets his starting position 2-3 yards deeper.
Opposition can push up on us with less peril.
… and we find it much harder to get up the pitch at pace.
AN TEARMANN on 5TH OCTOBER 2025 12:34 PM
I’m not saying anything that Brendan isnt himself at the moment – he needs to find an answer to the problems that we’re facing at the moment.
B2B
Re Callum
We’re keeping our fingers crossed he doesn’t get injured, we’re more dependent on him than any other player. But at the same time playing him in every game because we don’t seem to be able to risk it.
I think he’s got a couple of seasons left in him, but since Matt left we’ve got nobody who can fill in. Iwata got another good review yesterday for Birmingham playing at right back for a change. I think it was a mistake letting him go