The lesson from Arbroath

760

So what did we learn yesterday?  Primarily we learned that you can’t replace 8 players from a team which won 0-4 at Tynecastle while leaving the core element of the team in place.  It is justifiable to be critical of the performances of experienced key players who didn’t perform, but Wanyama, Brown, Matthews, Miku didn’t become bad players overnight, nor did Tony Watt, what happened is the essence of our team – the system – was missing.

The effort was there but the focus which makes this Celtic team wasn’t.  In many ways this was the perfect setup for a Champions League game against a team too many people are telling me we’ll turn over.  Our Christmas Cup Final on Wednesday will require every element that existed against Barcelona last month.

The knives are out for Spartak’s foreign players, who are taking the blame for the clubs disintegration since losing at home to Celtic, both in the press and online fan polls.  We may see a more Russian looking Spartak on Wednesday.  Which will be no bad thing.

[calameo code=00039017193b8a8bbd612 lang=en page=126 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

760 Comments
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 9
  5. 10
  6. 11
  7. 12
  8. 13
  9. 14
  10. 15
  11. ...
  12. 20

  1. Marrakesh Express on

    Reading back some posts about James McCarthy. I know his family and sometimes have a pint with his old man who’s a cracking guy. Dont blame Mowbray for not signing him. That’s down to Lawwell. I wont mention the numbers involved but PL made him an offer which was not far short of Wigan and Wolves, both wages and transfer fee wise.

     

    The boy comes from a Celtic mad family and it was his dream to play for them. He was desperate to sign and his uncles were all set to celebrate as the deal looked to be on. When Hamilton upped the asking price PL baulked at it. No one can blame Hamilton as they needed every penny but PL told James’s agent that he had a limit and wouldnt go above it. The English clubs then went into a bidding contest which Wigan won. The frustrating thing is that one year later, the boy was being valued at 10 times what Wigan paid for him. He is now well out of our reach. To say James’s family were gutted is an understatement.

     

     

    hh

  2. Snowing heavily in G66 for the past 45 mins.

     

     

    Here we go, here we go, here we go……………..

  3. Ole EuroChamps67 has a quick peek outside to reveal that, as expected, the Porsche was covered in a layer of thick frost and snow. He estimated that it would probably take around twenty minutes to half an hour to scrape it all off in the morning. He didn’t envy the neighbours one bit, but his old banger however, was snow free due to it being parked closer to the house.

  4. Spain’s top goal-scorer competition is run by a Madrid-based sports newspaper called Marca. Yesterday, the referee’s official report gave Barcelona’s second goal to Leo Messi. Marca has it down as an own goal.

     

     

    Marca decides in Spain. However, if Leo wants to make sure he beats Gerd Muller’s record without any controversy he had better play on Wednesday night and he had better grab a few goals. Come on, wee man. Give us a hat-trick.

  5. Marrakesh Express

     

     

    22:38 on 2 December, 2012

     

     

    Reading back some posts about James McCarthy. I know his family and sometimes have a pint with his old man who’s a cracking guy. Dont blame Mowbray for not signing him. That’s down to Lawwell. I wont mention the numbers involved but PL made him an offer which was not far short of Wigan and Wolves, both wages and transfer fee wise.

     

    The boy comes from a Celtic mad family and it was his dream to play for them. He was desperate to sign and his uncles were all set to celebrate as the deal looked to be on. When Hamilton upped the asking price PL baulked at it. No one can blame Hamilton as they needed every penny but PL told James’s agent that he had a limit and wouldnt go above it. The English clubs then went into a bidding contest which Wigan won. The frustrating thing is that one year later, the boy was being valued at 10 times what Wigan paid for him. He is now well out of our reach. To say James’s family were gutted is an understatement.

     

    ——————–

     

    He could’ve signed for free, no?? I don’t blame the guy but lets not dress this up, him and his club went for the most money.

  6. bournesouprecipe

     

    22:34 on

     

    2 December, 2012

     

    Agree,ever notice if its only a 1-0 lead or draw going into the last 10 mins our attacking play is punctuated with stoppages and the frequency of free kicks to the opposition increases significantly,Saturday was a case in point.

     

     

    That said we should not allow the men in black to be in a position of influence by getting the game out of sight early.

  7. jeez_I_thought_blinker_was_pants on

    excathedra44

     

    Ally Mitchell scored it, had a mate in the away end (killie) that day, said it was one of the best weekends of his life!

  8. channelislandcelt on

    BSR

     

     

    Any other club- deid or no deid -that would have a match official as guest @supporter function ??

  9. Bt

     

     

    With the amount of money mrs weefra spent in tesco at the gow today, probably. :))))

     

     

    Weefra

  10. excath

     

     

    Agree, as a for instance, in Celtic’s last two SPL matches we’ve had four players booked before half time for first offence fouls?

     

     

    We’re still playing men in black.

  11. Celtic_First

     

     

    22:43 on 2 December, 2012

     

     

    This is a blessing in disguise, Benfica are an excellent team and they could win at the Nou Camp if Barca didn’t take the game seriously. I think all of their players will be doing their very best to make sure Lionel breaks the record and sets an even harder target for the following players.

     

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRvoRFxclgQ

     

     

    Lionel isn’t an out and out striker, this guy is and he is deadly.

     

     

    Wednesday is going to be an incredible night and we are going to have to play our best game of the season to get into the last 16, where I feel we deserve to be after our performances this season in Europe.

  12. celticrollercoaster loves Wee Oscar, our Celtic Warrior on

    Marrakesh Express

     

    22:38 on

     

    2 December, 2012

     

     

    Didn’t Hamilton sign McCarthy for £1.2m + extras? Hardly out of our price range, if we matched the terms?

     

     

    HH

     

     

    CRC

  13. prestonpans bhoys on

    Text two of my staff a few hours ago, they are Hibs fans and at the game, they have permission for tomorrow off, both accepted. They’ll be on the pish right now in Edinburgh.

     

     

    Another hun bits the dust……………

  14. Sergio Ramos has done himself no favours this weekend.

     

     

    There was a lot of criticism of Atlético Madrid’s Diego Costa after the derby. Pictures appeared to show him throwing out an arm at Sergio Ramos, but after the game the Real Madrid defender explained that what his opponent actually did was to spit on his own glove and then move his hand with a kind of whipping action, not to gub Ramos but to spray him with the spit.

     

     

    “The cameras are there; it’s as clear as day,” Sergio Ramos told reporters after the game. “But I’ve had a good shower and I’m fine now.”

     

     

    So far so hacket.

     

     

    Detailed analysis of the footage shows that this explanation is accurate; that’s what Diego Costa did. Why, though?

     

     

    Immediately before, Sergio Ramos walked past a crowd of players in the Real Madrid box. Atlético were lining up to take a free-kick from just outside the box. He quite clearly spits in his opponent’s face as he’s walking past him and carries on as if butter wouldn’t melt.

     

     

    The cameras caught Diego Costa’s retaliation very clearly. Sergio Ramos clearly thought he could get away with what he did to provoke his opponent. But he has been found out.

     

     

    Once again, in a world in which nothing can be hidden, you are much better off having nothing to hide.

  15. Marrakesh Express on

    the huddle..

     

    He went to Wigan for 1.2m. PL wouldnt go above 800k. To be fair to PL he offered him the highest wage ever for an 18 year old and this was not much less than he ended up getting at Wigan. At that point James had the pen in hand but his agent started to get more involved. There followed some further bargaining between Celtic and Hamilton and PL offered his 800k with McCarthy being immediately loaned back for one season. Hamilton’s chairman rejected this deal as they were desperate for the extra money so they asked PL to match the best English offer and he was a Celtic player. ‘No deal’ PL told the agent.

  16. bournesouprecipe

     

     

    22:56 on 2 December, 2012

     

     

    excath

     

     

    Agree, as a for instance, in Celtic’s last two SPL matches we’ve had four players booked before half time for first offence fouls?

     

     

    We’re still playing men in black.

     

    ——————-

     

    Always gets me that we can have 80% of the possession yet end up with more bookings and fouls. God I hate Collum.

  17. ThomTheThim

     

     

    So you saw the McGuinness,Interview?

     

     

    Tell.. me this…and tell me True…

     

     

     

    After watching that Interview.. Do you feel.. or .. Do you No Feel..

     

     

    That..

     

     

    Mebbe, Perhaps, Could Be..

     

     

    That Neil, has Made the Mistake o’ His Life..

     

     

    By..

     

     

    Bringin..

     

     

    The Mighty McGuinness ..intae this Celtic Movie??

     

     

    Neil,could be..well.. “Upstaged”, by him..

     

     

    Right oota the “Picture”

     

     

    Kojo

     

     

    Still, Laughin’

  18. channelisland

     

     

    Ole Deedco hold the world record for the number of ex referee after dinner speakers.

     

    and allegedly John Rowbotham regularly recounts the three Sevco penalties he awarded at Dens Park.

  19. Marrakesh Express

     

    ———–

     

    I have no problem with him chasing the money or his club doing the same, he ain’t Messi but 50 years time when he’s sitting in a pub talking about his career he can’t really shift the blame onto Celtic for him not wearing the hoops (that him and his family crave to see).

  20. Petec, agreed.

     

     

    I hope the Madrid press crank it up in the coming days and say that if Leo Messi equals the record or stays one goal short, his first goal against Bilbao shouldn’t count. I hope they really wind the wee man up.

  21. Marrakesh Express on

    Celticrollercoaster

     

    Thats what I’m saying…he’s out of our price range now but at the time PL did not consider him worth more than 800k. I suppose the manager and his staff are also culpable as they would surely be advising the less knowledgeable CEO about McCarthy’s worth. Or was this a big mistake by PL alone?

  22. celticrollercoaster loves Wee Oscar, our Celtic Warrior on

    Marrakesh Express

     

    23:01 on

     

    2 December, 2012

     

     

     

    I am sure PL looking back in hindsight now head in hands!!! That bonus he gets for profit on transfer activity could have been well enhanced if he had just okayed that extra £400k. Oh and we might have had a creative midfielder on our hands as well to unlock those games this year.

     

     

    HH(indsight is a wonderful thing)

     

     

    CRC

  23. Sipsini

     

     

    Toned down…as opposed to …toned up :(

     

     

    Ive mellowed with age … Catches up on us all

     

     

    I can imagine aldo giving it laldi…. Some bhoy ;)

  24. tommytwiststommyturns on

    Lot of empty seats in the Pox today! Where were the great loyal home support?!

     

     

    T4

  25. celticrollercoaster loves Wee Oscar, our Celtic Warrior on

    Marrakesh Express

     

    23:07 on

     

    2 December, 2012

     

     

    All culpable my friend

     

     

    HH

     

     

    CRC

  26. celticrollercoaster loves Wee Oscar, our Celtic Warrior on

    tommytwiststommyturns

     

    23:09 on

     

    2 December, 2012

     

     

    Rubbish I’ve seen the tomorrow’s paper, it was a capacity sell out!! World record by all accounts :-)

     

     

    HH

     

     

    CRC

  27. prestonpans bhoys on

    tommytwiststommyturns

     

    23:09 on

     

    2 December, 2012

     

     

     

    Different game when you have to split the gate, no £0.00 tickets:-)

  28. Don’t know the boy McCarthy, but I would have dug ma heels in till a got a move tae Paradise.

     

     

    If the wages were indeed comparable…then why no insist on the team you love?Or sit it oot.

  29. Kojo

     

    23:02 on

     

    2 December, 2012

     

    What makes you think NL brought him in.Crossed my mind he might not be just for the team.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 9
  5. 10
  6. 11
  7. 12
  8. 13
  9. 14
  10. 15
  11. ...
  12. 20