Anyone who has watched Celtic in recent weeks knows the impact Jeremie Frimpong has on the team. He alone has the ability to run at and past defenders, without him, Celtic are significantly easier to defend against. This has been clear from recent performances and his absence from the starting line-up against Riga was my principle concern before the game.
He did not start last night because when we go three at the back, it is Jeremie or James Forrest on the right. After the game Neil Lennon told us James has struggled with an ankle injury for a couple of weeks, leaving us with the classic ingredients for recency bias. James’ recent injury-affected form has been below the standard or Jeremie’s. But of all the occasions you could make a case to start James Forrest, European qualifiers will be the easiest. He scores and creates goals in qualifiers at a prodigious rate.
Also, watchers of Celtic in recent seasons will know that Injury is the Mother of Invention. Where would Ryan Christie be without Eboue Kouassi and Olivier Ntcham picking up first half injuries at Murrayfield? Jeremie is now likely to get a run at Hibs and Sarajevo. What happens in the middle of the park is more intriguing.
Scott Brown took a knock that will keep him under observation between now and the Hibs game. That clip on Scott’s Achilles’ gives the manager lots to consider. After Hibs, we have four hugely important games: Sarajevo, then after the international break: Newco, Aberdeen away and Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final. The roster becomes significantly trickier if we overcome Sarajevo, as we would have two Europa League games before next month’s semi-final.
I read many asking, why does Scott Brown play practically every minute of every game? It is clearly not that you have spotted something that escaped the manager’s attention, Neil Lennon does not have a blind spot that tens of thousands of Celtic fans can see through, so let’s not pretend otherwise.
You have been watching football all of your life, so you know by now that what you see on the field is only part of the story. Any team: footballers, salesmen, network engineers or shop staff, need a common culture and leadership to reach their best. What a boss gets from his or her line manager in frontline performance, in any walk of life, is not the entire contribution.
I have a friend who is also a customer. He tells me what I need to do with my staff and I tell him the same about his staff. Neither of us take the others’ advice, because I am using the resources I have to keep my team focussed on our objective and he is doing the same. I talk to him about practically every personal aspect of my life, but I don’t even go into the detail of this stuff with him, because it involves personal details about others. In very simple environments like mine and his, teams are complicated things.
I would like to see Jeremie start more games and I am really keen to see central mid re-jigged. From my seat on the couch, both are crucial to our outcomes this season. But I know there’s a ton of human dynamics in every team that outsiders are clueless about. The manager needs to keep this indoors while suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous opinion. It can be a tough gig. It is good that we have all ‘been there, done that’, when it comes to building a winning football team, so none of us exist in a fantasy that we are the true fonts of wisdom Neil Lennon really has to listen to. I mean, can you imagine thinking like that? Jeez.
Have a great weekend.
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we are celtic enthuisiasts, faithful, through and through
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eh7wK_jXkAE0nXj?format=jpg&name=900×900
Parkheadcumsalford
It is George Connolly in the back row. The first two goalies are Bent Martin & John Kennedy (good with the cones, I hear).
The obscure ones, I ma guessing might be Frank McCarron between John Fallon and Bobby Murdoch and Henry Quinn & David Cattenach between Joe McBride & John Clark.
The pic is on Celtic wiki site with the names of hte players and trophies
I don’t remember that John Kennedy and Henry Quinn. I did recognise Dave Cattenach, although I wondered why he was placed so prominently.
PHILBHOY
I presume you ate joking, if not, then I take issue with you regarding”telling Lies”.
I am not a liar, never was, never will be.
I guess you are referring to my post regarding South Of Tunis.
promise you I was convinced I saw a couple of posts from him and I responded accordingly when asked.
on another topic, I saw a loaf of bread named after you, but after looking again it said it was Thick Cut
Best to you
KINGLuBO
The trophies are the likes of the Empire Exhibition Cup, the Coronation Cup and the Scottish and League ones and the magnificent Glasgow Cup.
MAJESTIC HARTSON on 25TH SEPTEMBER 2020 6:15 PM
Thanks for posting this again.
Can you, or anyone else, give a basic breakdown of what this means, or what it suggests for simpletons like me? 👋🏽
With my basic grasp of this it feels more than a tinfoil hat theory but any more (simplified) knowledge would be great.
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At the heart of this is a (or my) suspicion that the police and prosecution services acted out of pro-Rangers bias.
At the time of the administration, the administrators were portrayed as the bad guys with little attention on David Murray who we all know led the club to the edge of the abyss and then shoved Craig White into it.
The press narrative was all about why Rangers must survive – backed by pleas from Alex Salmond right through to threats from the base Rangers support against anyone seen as obstructing that objective.
For whatever reason, the police and prosecutors abandoned all reason and arrested people with absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing but just for doing their jobs. This wasn’t just a charge which was ultimately not successful as the evidence was not strong enough – there was no evidence.
Why did this apply uniquely to the Rangers case?
What would you think if the police did this to any other professional person, worker, family member, citizen if the police arrest them with no evidence and lay charges against them?
Should we not get answers to who was behind this and what process, formal or informal, was followed which led to admissions of malicious prosecutions and a like bill to the Scottish taxpayer of tens of millions of pounds?
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I saw the comment that this was a distraction from an investigation into the role of David Murray. There is a belief that he suggested to Craig White a way to fund the purchases of Rangers via Ticketus which, of course, was illegal as that method involved using assets of Rangers, i.e. their future season ticket sales, to purchase the club.
Whilst my main purpose here is to investigate the behaviour of the police and prosecution services, I would welcome a wider inquiry into the circumstances which led up to the sale of the club to White and the administration.
Sadly, it seems like Resolution 12 is lost/time-barred but we have another opportunity here to investigate the saga.
Only if enough people keep up the pressure on MSPs will this not fade away.
Any news on the Griff returning for the game on Sunday ? Would like to see Turnbull given a start to, time to kick on. Hibees been a wee pain in the erchie lately.
Just under 2 hours until the polls close. Not just hospitality that has a 10pm curfew! CQNPOTY@GMAIL.COM
Hrvatski Jim…yes and no re Murray. I was specifically referring to his business practices that ultimately led to their demise ;-))
H.H.
KINGLUBO
No one on here would claim to have seen posts from the much missed SOT.
Except a LIAR like you,
You are lower than a snakes belly.
And that is low.
Just a drunken question, following Celtic now or the eighties ?
EXSLAEMUIRBHOY
Griff won’t start.
I also think that if Broony is not fit Lennon will footer about with Bitton in midfield.
I don’t believe he trusts Turnbull or Soro.
Big G…both…forever and always, but you knew that ;-))
H.H.
The lurkintim ,keep thinking back, and wishing Paul mcstay was playing today
Philbhoy, I don’t really want to get involved but why on earth would any Poster make an insincere post, welcoming a missing Poster back, knowing full well that he wasn’t back and knowing he would have to subsequently apologise for it.
King Lubo has been around for a fair while and I have never noticed him being particularly controversial.
I would hope that both of ye could draw a line under it & move on.
CORKCELT
He made it up.
He’s an attention seeker.
Do you recall any of his previous posts?
BGFC…that wiz 2 games you reminisced about wae bad results….are u a h*n lol. I listened to the Partizan game with ma mates, in my bedroom, on the tranny ( b4 if became an accepted sexuality lol )…whit a rollercoaster. My folks thawt we were fighting ;-)). The Kòln return was redemption. Does any1 hav a link to this 3-0 game? TIA
H.H.
Philbhoy, No, I don’t recall any of his previous Posts but I will watch out for his future posts with increased curiosity.
CORKCELT
You are right, I will say no more.
HH
A mate of mine has given me login details for one of his 3 season tickets.
I am a bit of a luddite with these things.
Is it as simple as it looks?
What’s the code Philbhoy…and I’ll let you know 😂
H.H.
Watching mcstay winning the Scottish cup as captain against Airdrie check his face out When he lifts the cup,the weight of the world was on him, his career deserved better, looking back now he should have left
THELURKINTIM
The code is GIRUY7162!
Hope you are good!
Big G…I was in the Brazen that day…everywhere I turned it was joy…
But to yer point…Paul probs shoulda went to Italy…would you or I if we played for Celtic…naw…testament to the Bhoy ;-))
H.H.
SFtBs @ 6:34 PM,
It’s difficult comparing different eras… modern football just doesn’t have the same buzz for me.
I remember Working away so was in a Hotel for the Celtic v Partizan Belgrade game. I was shouting at the telly and had to face my colleague, who was in the ajoining room, over breakfast the next morning…
Those European nights were special and often we dug deep giving our all… I wonder what Burns, McStay and Aitken would make of some of our recent lacklustre performances? Sure they’d love Frimpong though.
Guess it’s why I’m so defensive about those games.
It was very interesting listening to Rangers fans during the ninties, then the noughties then nothing, when they died it was like football died for them, they’d avoid you and if they couldn’t they’d avoid talking about football, it really hit their phyche, very odd.
SAINT STIVS on 25TH SEPTEMBER 2020 6:38 & 6:51 PM,
Well, I was never been too fussed about domestic trebles, in competitive sport you expect to err. It was only when the invincibles introduced a level of consistency that I thought this is brilliant.
That’s a great table, it’s difficult to compare but some things stick out, like the amount of games big Jock was in charge for, phenomenol.
On CQN I believe the Gold standard is to compare WGS’s home record with Brendan Rodgers UCL Group record;)
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL @ 6:59 PM,
Yes, Scottish football has fallen off a cliff. One argument that supports SFtBs assertion that we underachieved in Europe is when you consider we were not that far behind the Aberdeen side that won the ECWC and they beat Bayern Munich on the way and Real Madrid in the final.
Hail Hail
Thanks for yer PIN Philbhoy 🤣. I feel as if am existing and not living sometimes…but am doing ok, thank you 👍
Hope you and yer lovely ladies are well
H.H.
Thelurkintim A true Celtic hero, but is given little prominence in planet Celtic, hh
THELURKINTIM
The girls are good and spoiling me as usual!
You take care my friend!
Maybe it’s just me but when I look back at the huns 9 , I always think of Paul McStay lifting that cup , even though I should think about not running down to the pitch and ripping up a bit of turf when we stopped 10,
*** CQN PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2020-21 ***
RESULTS FROM GAME #10 – RIGA 0 CELTIC 1 (ELYOUNOUSSI)
I’m sure the final result below won’t surprise anyone but for the first time this season the man of the match received 100% approval getting a vote from every single voter.
The game wasn’t an enjoyable watch although a lot of that is due to the fear of crashing out in a one-off game. I’m quite sure if I could be bothered to watch the game again knowing the score that I’d find that we played better than I thought at the time. We were certainly in total control but until we took the lead, well, we’ve seen that script too often before.
Thanks to the 49 who voted. The numbers cast for each player are as follows (with my own choices asterisked) –
Barkas: 2
Bitton*: 34
Duffy: 0
Ajer: 1
Forrest: 0
Brown: 2
McGregor: 8
Ntcham*: 7
Taylor: 5
Christie: 13
Edouard: 0
Frimpong*: 49
Ajeti: 1
Elyounoussi: 24
So, the players receiving points for the Riga game are –
Frimpong – 5 points
Bitton – 4 points
Elyounoussi – 3 points
Christie – 2 points
McGregor – 1 point
And the overall points table is now as follows –
1st – Christie and McGregor – 23 points
3rd – Frimpong – 16 points
4th – Ntcham – 14 points
5th – Elyounoussi – 13 points
6th – Barkas and Duffy – 9 points
8th – Ajeti – 8 points
9th – Ajer, Bitton and Taylor – 7 points
12th – Edouard – 6 points
13th – Forrest – 5 points
14th – Elhamed– 4 points
15th – Jullien – 2 points
16th – Bain, Bolingoli, Brown, Dembele, Klimala, Soro and Turnbull – 0 points
So, back to league business at the weekend and a Sunday 3pm home game against high flying Hibs.
Hail Hail!
HJ @ 8.02
CW only paid £10 for TFOD1.
No fancy financing required.
Just a bit of imagination to keep the bank happy.
SDM had been strong armed to getting rid of it by the bank after the folk from Halifax called time on GM’s magic cheque books and his own elastic line of credit.
Punting TFOD! to get rid of a large slice of debt of the MIM books and remove the BTC potential liability.
PHILBHOY – late reply, we are just back from having a curry. We moved to Denia in 2004. The Bulls are still jumping in the sea. Mapa Mundi I think is still there. The street was nicknamed Dutch alley because there were half a dozen restaurants run by Dutch folk.
Life is great here, we love it. We have an 8-year-old son so this is his hometown. Took him to see Valencia vs Celtic a couple of years ago. Great day out although he’s not too interested in football. Prefers his Aikido.
Cheers
Thanks Jobo…b interesting to see where we’d b on here without the pressure of voting every game ;-))
CelticCFC
H.H
THELURKINTIM on 25TH SEPTEMBER 2020 8:52 PM
BGFC…that wiz 2 games you reminisced about wae bad results….are u a h*n lol.
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THELURKINTIM – I know exactly what you mean – you really do remember the boots in nuts!!! :-(((
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HRVATSKI JIM on 25TH SEPTEMBER 2020 8:02 PM
Great posts – and also good follow-ups by other posters. Having been on the wrong site of the OBFA, I am really uneasy even posting an opinion.
The fact that I’m uneasy shows the level of distrust some (i.e., me!) have in some aspects of the system.
I’ll shut up now.
HH
BGFC
Neil has stuck his team to the mast, is he going to change it , doesn’t look like it, 3,5 2, is the formation the fans want, I personally would like him to be more, versatile by the game, introduce the massive squad he has, go on Neil forget Matt m in the pub
PHILBHOY on 25TH SEPTEMBER 2020 8:37 PM
EXSLAEMUIRBHOY
Griff won’t start.
I also think that if Broony is not fit Lennon will footer about with Bitton in midfield.
I don’t believe he trusts Turnbull or Soro.
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Keep newcomers on a short lead. Turnbull and Soro will have to prove they’re straining at a longer leash earned to be considered for selection. That will come with confidence and familiarity of the Celtic first team standard.
Why wont Griff be included in the staring line up / first team squad? All has gone quiet since NFL said he was bursting at the bit :-(
A Celtic manager with all that talent at his disposal, let’s see how it pans out, good luck Neil
BGFC…but that’s nothing…mibbe being a Celtic masochist is a prerequisite…lol
John Wick is starting…will catch u on the upside
H.H.