This is one of those hard ties to analyse. AEK were no more than a decent team. Certainly not a clear cut above, and for that reason, the tie remains alive. But despite being preseason, they defended impeccably.
They did their homework. Tom Rogic, who was immense on Saturday, was not given a yard. Celtic opened well with Callum McGregor the principle threat, most often when linking with Kieran Tierney. After those two crafted the opening goal, AEK man-marked McGregor out of the game.
James Forrest was effective when used; it was his change of direction which drew the second yellow card for Galanopoulos, but we were overtly left sided, reducing Forrest’s effectiveness. Olivier Ntcham was our creative fulcrum after McGregor was shut down, but the normally incisive balls into the box didn’t quite come off.
A few early mis-steps from Jack Hendry were not punished, but the resulting nervousness throughout the crowd was clear. Central defenders are crucial to how Celtic play. If you inhibit their willingness to step forward or show for a pass, you inhibit the entire team.
I’m not sure what Kris Ajer thought when he let a cross ball bounce inside the box a minute from the break. It was an inexplicable decision which brought AEK level and changed their game plan for the second half. Even tiring with 10 men, they defended their box flawlessly.
We regularly tried to find Odsonne Edouard with a ball over the top, but invariably found the striker dropping off to take a ball to feet. Nothing seemed to work for him.
A word on Scott Brown. Much of what Scott does is understated but I thought he raised the bar last night. He bossed all his personal challenges.
I called AEK favourites when the draw was made and they are more so now, but they are not Barcelona, circa 2010. We have been here before; no throwing of towels just yet.
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Pity we had massive games before the transfer window closes.
The board really are magnificent at turning triumph into disaster,
Are you all proud as the board ostracise Rodgers and who knows what puppet will be next.
Get to. The back of the bus.
Burnley78
Same Q:
Do you believe our CEO deserves a 100% pay increase from £1m to £2m py and if so what do you think he has done to deserve this?
HH
CRC
HEN1RIK on 9TH AUGUST 2018 11:32 PM
If a treble treble manager doesn’t have the backing of our board then we have major issues at board level and fans need to seriously unite to have them removed.
++++++++++++++++
And replace them with what?
Its not the people, its the policy and that is dictated by circumstances.
Our wage competitors don’t have to work as hard for their income as Celtic do, so we try and grow our own or bring in younger foreign players and grow them.
Then when they start turning it on, our wage competitors come in and take them away.
Its being going on in Scottish football for years, although Rangers were our wage competitors and when we grew level after Fergus increased ground capacity and so income, that mob cheated (and probably still are because its in their nature) but it was other Scottish clubs that were (and are) in the position we now find Celtic.
It has been like that from Martin O Neil’s days. Very frustrating for all and by that I mean all.
I had hoped we might be breaking out of the vicious CL dependency cycle, but whilst CL money gives us an edge over our Scottish rivals, the kind of quality BR means is proven quality and that comes at a premium in a wage market we cannot even enter.
You might as well shake your fists at the clouds when it raining, or you can use a brolly, stay dry and wait for a change in the weather.
‘We never once felt English’
We caught up with a number of English-born footballers who told us what it meant to play for the Republic of Ireland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRy3jEukp1E
Check out the pic on bbc website of morelos and tavernier… lol
As always, the sagacious Auldheid has hit the nail on the head (or should that be held?). Some on here, based on the last two year’s performances, are complacent and utterly dismissive of Sevco.
That would not be smart. They had 8 new players out today, Barisic will make 9. When we face them, probably only Tavernier and Morelos will be survivors from last season. Those who think we will repeat our 5-0 win are dreaming.
Imagine the game on September 2 from Brendan’s point of view. He will be on a hiding to nothing versus his ex-player and license lacking manager novice Gerrard. Win, and people will say “Meh, that was expected.” Lose, and he may feel humiliated. A draw will be celebrated as a victory by the Govanites. Football is a funny game. Include the MIB factor and there are no guarantees. Even Murty drew at Celtic Park, albeit with considerable assistance from Madhun.
Make no mistake – this ‘Manager vs Pupil” scenario will be a very high pressure situation for Brendan, observed by all of the U.K.
I have watched several Sevco games now, jncluding today. Someone, presumably Gerrard, has identified clear weaknesses from last season, and radically addressed them. Whether they will be regularly effective or sustainable will become apparent as time passes, but early indications are that they have considerably closed last season’s gap. September 2 will indicate whether we have stood pat or strengthened.
INIQUITOUSIV
NEGANON2
What is this disaster you speak of ?
After the Ronnie debacle, the CEO has his salary doubled thanks to him getting us to an invincible season and then a double treble season. What’s not too like?
RidingonthetailsofBrendanCSC
Auldheid as ever justifying the unjustifiable.
It’s your role auldheid.
Utter nonsense.
Are you proud betraying your own and promoting the Hun?
Why don’t you just support them? Why doesn’t Paul.
It’s utterly disgusting.
Aidan bhoy. How bout after a double treble we lose the manager and revert to hoping the Hun keep up.
It’s worse than wwf. Its pathetic.
Do you like watching men in spandex?
Get usd to it…
Auldheid…you been reading Khalil Gibran again? You are too sensible for this blog… :-)
Whatever Peter Lawells salary is…its not enough
CQN headline tomorrow
CRC Issues None Too Subtle ‘Come and Get Me’ Plea to Dermot in Attempt to Replace Pedro
Promote from within (CQN)!
??????
Neganon2
Why would he do that?
I’m sure he knows he can’t get everything he wants.
I’d like us to buy Bale and Leon L (deliberate spelling) but I know it won’t happen.
I think we are all, my good self excluded of course, trying to make a waterspout in a tea cup.
I know yourself and others have long standing gripes with the club, and of course these inbuilt biases are all reflected in your opinions.
And that’s what they are. Opinions only.
No basis in fact. No tangible evidence other than shared opinions, that word again, based on reliable news reports.
There’s maybe been a wee boardroom spat like in the movies.
However we all know the couple, can’t say Bhoy and girl these days, make up in the last reel, get together again, join the coop and take home the dividend.
JimmyQuinnsBits @ 10:23 pm
I’ve been keeping out of the rancour of today’s debate but I have been surprised that nobody made this observation, one I have been brooding on all day, until your post.
I am 100% in favour of our manager and the development work he prioritises. BR has the right to voice any displeasure he feels at any disappointments in delivery of promises.
However!!! The Timing???
We were on the eve of a major qualifying match. Why choose that time?
Posters defending BR say that he had to make a comment about the slow progress of the McGinn transfer and to express anger that we had let him go down to Birmingham at all. Some have even said that it was timed to try and apply pressure to put a matching bid in.
I fail to see the compulsion in the timing of his statement. The English transfer window did not shut until 5 pm today. BR and PL had the hours after the AEK tie was over and 17 hours of Thursday in order to meet, plan and sort out their strategy and let John McGinn and his agent know what they would do. Even if Villa were unwilling to wait for an answer, beyond the Wednesday, we could still have got an extension to midnight on Wednesday, at least.
Brendan did not need to make any public statement before the game at all. I don’t say that it affected his team preparations because I felt most of the team played fairly well and were not affected unduly by the drama and angst.
But it did affect the fans, not just on this blog but in every conversation that I heard and overheard on the way to and from the ground last night. It distracted focus amongst the fans. Now, we may not be as important in winning matches as we like to think but we were not at our best last night. I heard too many referenced shout-outs to the McGinn situation – “Nae wunner yir upset about McGinn, Brendan, that Lawwell has left you with nothing but sh**** to put on the field” was a near-varbatim shout around the 60 minute mark last night, and I heard much more of the same.
I am not seeking to absolve PL of any of the blame for this situation arising but BR speaking about this publicly on the eve of a CL qualifier is the first mis-step he has made in his Celtic career. No other Celtic manager would have been focusing on transfer progress messages to the fans on the eve of a Euro tie. It is a tactic I want no more of. Playing sides off against one another only ends in mistrust and rancour. Any frendlier expressions uttered by BR or PL today will be received with high levels of scepticism, if not outright cynicism now.
Like everyone, I hope this gets sorted out pronto. If we get Paddy instead of John McGinn, I think we get the better of the deal but both sides need to work on their connection and, please, no more dirty washing in public.
Jimmyquinnsbits
“Giving this to the MSM is like throwing some blood in the sea, then your kids, and expecting the sharks to look after them.”
Analogy of the Year Award!
No more dirty washing, period…
SFTB
Fully agree. And I said the same thing Tuesday night.
Not as well as your good self though.
Don Henly. Dirty Laundry
https://youtu.be/YHimia_Fxzs
NEGANON2
Think your being over dramatic about losing the manager., but if it did happen we move on.
Really looking forward to this season playing out.
Looks like we have a challenge from across the city.
Lets go
Brendan Rodgers….everyone waiting for him to fail,including sadly some Celtic fans so they can vent their frustration at the board and act out their Che Guevara fantasy about being anti establishment,
Interesting times. Hearts on Saturday will be tough, AEK tougher
Cant wait.
Gents,
Question the ” Moonlandings ” by Hans Christian Andersen .
Whatever would give you that idea.?
HH.
The last 24 hours not what i would or most would have wanted , but been some cracking posts on here…..not a lot on my opinion of if Brendan walks,PL will get hunted by the support
GG
I missed your post yesterday and I am glad that someone made the point befor JQB tonight. I saw that Aiden Bhoy also got the point in while I was typing my response to JQB.
I feel sad in criticising BR as he has given us so much but I am really struggling to justify the timing of his statement.
The Fureys & Davey Arthur – My Fathers House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-KF4Hjx26o
Since our 1-1 draw with AEK the stature of John McGinn as a player has grown quite considerably.Watching him in games last season I was unconvinced,at times as I thought he lacked composure and tended to try too much.In saying that ,if that was the signing Brendan wanted then the board should have wrapped up the deal weeks ago instead of wrongly thinking they held all the cards.We were beaten to the signing by a club that has nearly as much financial problems as Sevco.
Finbar Furey performs The Galway Shawl | The Late Late Show | RTÉ One
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z_cyws5Hyw
“vent their frustration at the board and act out their Che Guevara fantasy about being anti establishment”
Speaking of which anyone heard from Canamalar?
The lovely board are trying to throw a grenade under the ten 10 in a row bus, because they know that a Celtic team winning that feat, will set back the £49 old firm rivalry for years, leading to 000’s of empty seats, and that will affect bonuses.
Celtic Supporter’s running Celtic FC wouldn’t look at things that way, that’s why there are no Celtic supporter’s running Celtic.
Remember, this is the same PLC board who looked the ither way during the ‘honest mistakes’ 3 in a row to keep the old firm going. They would do it again, to stop the ten 10 in a row, that’s what they’re really like.
That these chameleon’s remain in control of Celtic to this day, should tell you everything that you need to know about Celtic’s supporters – post McCann.
Oot.
Ah leave Canamalar alone
Fee fi fo fum
LOL, the sweetie wives are out tonight;
…And the hysteria starts; Nostradamus doesn’t have a look in when it comes to CQN’s doom merchants.
Neganon2 gets a whiff of a crisis:
https://imgur.com/r/southpark/JQw5TgG
Dermot Desmond is paying Gerrards salary
FACT!!!
Iniquitous
I don’t see much complacency or arrogance in our evaluations of the current Sevco.
Yes, in the past 2 years (and more) there has been a constant stream of posts saying “They’re getting better and we will lose a league if we keep on playing like we are and ignoring their improvement”. And those posts produced a string of reactive posts saying “No way are they ready to take a league of this Celtic squad”. (Just check any exchange between Mickbhoy and myself over the 7 years of our 7iar campaign- he has always cautioned that we could lose the league in each of those years and I have replied- of course we COULD but we won’t. Those reactive posts have been proven right………
up until now.
The problem, as I see it, is that both the happy clappers and the mineshafters are making the same prediction i.e. that the league is going to be harder to win over the next few years. We just differ on the reason for this state of affairs. The mineshafters think that Sevco are improving and we are complacent and will get caught cold. The happyclappers think we should win the league if we keep our focus on it as we have the better squad.
But neither side knows, certainly not at this point in time. This is the phony war period. Stevie G and his players are making the same noises that all Rangers squads have made- “This year, Sellick, you’ll not get it easy”. Pedro was uttering the same stuff last July & August and Warbo before him. It matters nothing. And neither do the jibes and banter of posters here dismissing Rangers- they do that for show- not as a well thought out position.
Only the events on the playing field will determine what weight to give to anyone’s words. We have not played them yet and the opening day gap of 2 points is nice but it’s hadly an indicator of the rest of the campaign. They had a tough away fixture and we were at home to the newly promoted mob.
Even our first meeting in early September will not be decisive but it will be a good indicator. I made the (what I consider to be) safe prediction last year, before I even knew about Stevie G or his signings that Rangers would beat Celtic in a match this season. I stand by that. We have had a record of wins and draws against them which is bound to end and the odds are it will be this year.
But how geared up they are to have adequte squad cover for a whole season’s campaign- that won’t be clear until late October or so- and if it’s still tight, as I expect it will be, we could be on tenterhooks through to Easter time. If so, I actually welcome the chase. We need competition and the threat of a lost league to improve our play. It has been a bit too easy up till now but that is because our bhoys were good enough to make it look easy.
What I worry about more than a league challenge from Sevco, Hibs or the Dons, is the resilience of our fans when that inevitable first defeat to the Ibrox mob actually happens. I worry less about the ability of our players and manager to bounce back but we have become a little too fearful and anxious.
I can respect the playing abilities of many SPFL squads but, overall, Celtic have a better and bigger squad than any of them. I still predict a title win but there is no complacency and there’s no room for it.
Greenpinata on 10th August 2018 12:27 am
100% the biggest fraud of the 20th century.
One small step for mankind, one giant lie for human history.
Itneverhappened.CSC
Last word from me (ever) on John McGinn, he chose Aston Villa despite being a Celtic fan, he won’t be the first and he won’t be the last professional footballer do so.
Celtic might have matched the eventual transfer fee but there is no way in the world he would have gotten
a wage such as quoted a SMSM, at Celtic
In the words of Blessed Martin O’Neil ” It was about money, its always about money “
SFTB
My post Tuesday night. Well it was still Tuesday here
‘GG on 8TH AUGUST 2018 2:22 AM
I’m a wee bit concerned about the message or more accurately the impression Brendan is leaving with these press sit downs.
We have an important game tomorrow, and must not lose focus.
These quotes will no doubt be interpreted as Brendan and the board at loggerheads.
Which may or may not be true.
However, we should not be airy our less than Daz clean laundry in public.
Nor should Brendan be using the less than friendly Scottish press as a cudgel to beat the board.
CQN does enough of that for everybody.
A couple of more weeks of that and we will be giving the Huns some hope.
Back to tomorrow, and I hope our better match fitness will help provide a comfortable win by a couple or three games.
And well done again to the school kids
Really don’t think anybody comes out of this looking good.
If Brendan really wanted McGinn he should be a Celtic player right now.
Brendan bringing this up the day before a massive game criminal imo.
And for what it’s worth and I know this won’t go down well I think Brendan’s recruitment has been poor.