The Emperor has no tactics

770

It was Brugge who showed the way in our Champions League game in November last year.  They pressed Celtic in the middle third which was enough to inhibit our ability to progress the ball into advanced areas.  Other managers watched.

Five weeks later, Phillippe Clement copied these tactics in a 3-0 win over Celtic at Ibrox.  Barry Ferguson followed this up in March, winning at Celtic Park, then again in a draw at Ibrox.  Already-eliminated Young Boys came to Celtic Park, went man-for-man in the middle and lost to a late own-goal.

We watched the same show in the Scottish Cup Final in May: 120 minutes of midfield suffocation before a penalty loss to weaker opposition.  It was no different over 210 painful minutes against Kairat.  Yesterday’s failure to land a glove on the most nervous defenders in Scottish football follows a well-established pattern.  Russell Martin changed every tactic he has used in Glasgow and reverted to the play we all know succeeds against Celtic.

Games with against lesser sides and without Kyogo, Jota and Kuhn have floundered in the middle of the park.  We seem to be focussed on adding attacking options today.  This is necessary but attacking players are blunt if you cannot break a soft press in the middle of the park.

We got draws at Ibrox, against Kairat and in the Cup Final because we can defend well – Liam Scales was well worth his Man of the Match accolade. That will probably be enough to win the league while Newco beat themselves and the Hearts project is too new.  But we are at a tactical cul-de-sac.   Chris Davies did more than put the cones out.

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770 Comments

  1. I’m not as downbeat as some, granted. Pleased with the business we’ve done already and not buying into this nonsense we need more. Celtic will win the Treble and reach the Europa Cup quarter finals minimum. Mark my words, bed wetters. Ave Ave

  2. What Brendan needs to do is make a statement tomorrow and tell everyone why he’s leaving and call them low life’s out.

  3. SIONNAIGH on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2025 10:16 PM

     

    I’m not as downbeat as some, granted. Pleased with the business we’ve done already and not buying into this nonsense we need more. Celtic will win the Treble and reach the Europa Cup quarter finals minimum. Mark my words, bed wetters. Ave Ave

     

     

    Step away from the crack pipe

  4. Rodgers looks really really really stupid and his authority has been severely undermined!! He said, no players leave unless replacements are in place (hence the Idah delay). He must be absolutely furious right now – his ego will not take this embarrassment!

  5. That’s the plan. To humiliate him and discredit him so he walks and they don’t have to pay him off.

     

     

    Utter scumbags.

     

     

    I thought we had no connect when Bankier was chairman but, this lot have taken a mile further.

     

    .

     

    Utter charlatans, the whole lot of them.

     

     

    How can they ever claim to be Celtic supporters is a complete mystery?

     

     

    Their time will come.

  6. Night all.

     

    Hope Kenny and Osmand take their chances when they get them. Pressure on them will be immense. Good luck to them both.

  7. the problem we have with our strikers is their inability to take the ball with back to goal – Yamada at least showed for that pass and was routinely fouled by djiga. We need a target center forward.

     

     

    It’s a shambolic disgrace and shows contempt towards the fans and the playing staff.

  8. Desmond and the rest of his board crony’s should hang their head in shame …and they are now , as well as our great club, the laughing stock of the business community !!

  9. BR getting on his mobile – Iheanacho now the target.

     

     

    What a shambles.

     

     

    We’ve literally become a laughing stock this window.

     

     

    ACSOM think Tisdale will be the sacrificial lamb.

     

     

    They clearly think we’re idiots so Tisdale could find himself the Patsy.

  10. Knew there would be trouble when he helped to get rid of junior…blood is thicker than water …

     

    I’m not buying europa package…..had it

  11. From @dailysteven

     

     

    @CelticFC £700 season ticket, £25 for Newcastle, Falkirk and Kairat and I’m fairly sure you’re going to charge me somewhere around at least £160 for a Europa package soon . I’m out nearly a grand by the start of September and for what? And there are 50 odd thousand more of us.

     

     

    @daftfenian

     

     

    Iv forked out £1200 for 2 STs. 2 Falkirk and 2 Kairat ticketson top of that. Fuel there n back. Food n drinks while there. Windfall – f** that, that’s their lot now

     

     

    @nairny87

     

     

    Cancel the Direct Debit m8, give them not a penny more. It’s the only way.

     

     

    My 2 daughters and son wanted the away strip and my son got the home strip during the summer that’s £400. I bought the training gear another £200, took My sister, her husband and my nephews to the Almaty game £380.. I’ll be £2000 in and it’s only September

  12. BSR @ 9:55 pm,

     

     

    As the fellah once said, ain’t that a kick in the head.

     

     

    Brendan Rodgers must really be saying to himself what was I thinking listening to these guys, when on a long luxurious holiday two years ago.

     

     

    Still, Celtic can have that effect on you, it draws you in.

     

     

    Are they being spiteful, tight-fisted, incompetent? That is the question now.*

     

     

    Of course, their defenders will argue they do nothing, they have a point.

     

     

    I’m still of the opinion that Brendan Rodgers can get a tune out of this group.

     

     

    A half decent Europa campaign and a domestic double will prove this manager is elite.

     

     

    *The answer is a resounding YES!!

     

     

    Hail Hail

  13. Honestly reading those replies on twitter is heartbreaking.

     

     

    What has happened to us as fans to alow this board away with robbing good honest people that back this club for years,

  14. It’s not even the board at this point, the largest (not majority) shareholder needs to give up control.

     

     

    Toxic. Putrid. Vile.

     

     

    We’re a bank, not a football club.

  15. Kelechi Iheanachio,331 games,91 goals,49 assists.Scored in EPL,CL,FA Cup,Europa,fantastic ratio.28 years old.

     

    To me,he looks a better option than what we have been looking at.

  16. Feck, can’t sleep. Had my magnesium too. Anyone else take it? If you like vivid dreams that you can recall when you wake up magnesium’s your man.

  17. BR ain’t no emperor but neither was this guy – he won a lot and was eventually stabbed in the back too…

     

     

    Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman, not an emperor, who played a key role in the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. After conquering Gaul and winning a civil war, he became dictator of Rome in 46 BC but was assassinated in 44 BC by senators who opposed his consolidation of power.

  18. An Run,

     

    Rather have him than the Charlton bound clown.I always thought this guy was brilliant.Only 28,let’s see.

  19. 67 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2025 9:22 PM

     

    IMHO (I have had a bottle of Red)

     

     

    It looks like the damage is done, 2 hours to go you never know

     

    If ever we needed to support our Manager then now is the time

     

    I know one or two on here including our Editor want him gone

     

    But the truth is he is all we have

     

    Nicholson is not helping him, Lawwell certainly won’t help him and DD is invisible

     

    Brendan even has to deal with a guy that set up a website with the strap line “not lazy journalism”

     

    I get the sense that some people would rather Celtic failed than Brendan succeeded

     

    The reality is, to win this league, it’s us, the players and Brendan

     

    It’s going to be a long Winte

     

    ——————-

     

    Difficult to argue with most of that – especially the part about preferring to Celtic fail than Rodgers succeed – tragic

  20. GEEBEE1978 on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2025 10:41 PM

     

    Iheanacho‘s contact cancelled. Free agent who doesn’t need to be signed tonight

     

    …..

     

     

    Guess that means he won’t be coming ?

  21. And still this anti board nonsense. Dermot Desmond is the decision maker and if you dont mind me saying so, I’m delighted with the results.

  22. seems more folk are coming round to the idea that the powers that be are deliberately trying to make the league more of a contest – not me i might add but wtf do i know – these folk are season ticket holders – in the cheap seats – very politically aware and not prone to conspiracy theories. Whether they are righ or wrong, if this becomes a commonly held view – then what…..

  23. Back to Basics

     

     

    There were a total of 28,335 Celtic plc shareholders dated 21st October 2021. That is shareholders. The number of shares each individual owns requires wading through a list.

     

     

    I believe Celtic provided the CST with a list about three years ago but in a PDF form that requires huge voluntarily effort to make useful.

     

     

    Hence as James Forrest mentions the need for a Membership Service Scheme.

     

     

    You did not ask but understand the CST have around 100 members having dropped from 2000 after David Low left and after pissing off some members by altering a resolution their members had voted for.

  24. glendalystonsils on

    SIONNAIGH

     

     

    And still this anti board nonsense. Dermot Desmond is the decision maker and if you dont mind me saying so, I’m delighted with the results.

     

    ===========================

     

     

    Results? You mean like Kairat 0 Celtic 0 ?