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.
580 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- ...
- 16
- »
CELTARELLA on 9TH AUGUST 2018 5:19 PM
None of them cure it, they help manage and lessen the symptoms
Honestly guys, thanks to those of you trying to make this a less depressing day but to me this is a far more serious situation than I thought it was last night.
Look, manager’s frequently complain about the length of time it takes to get signings across the line. The intervention of a board member last night elevated the seriousness of it, but today’s press conference is far worse than that because this isn’t about the timing of signings or getting them across the line … this goes to the core ideological situation at the club itself.
This is about ambition. If the manager and the club no longer share a common vision of where the club is headed then that’s a break that isn’t going to be fixed until one side or the under undergoes either a change of heart or there’s a change of personnel.
The change of heart is not going to happen. The change of personnel will involve the manager leaving, there will be no other outcome and no-one should pretend otherwise.
This is a fundamental divergence of opinion on the only that really matters; the long-term strategy. Brendan is no longer buying into it. Either the plan changes – which it won’t – or he’ll go.
https://videocelts.com/2018/08/blogs/latest-news/why-there-is-no-change-in-celtics-transfer-prospect-despite-english-window-closing/
So appears the English teams can still sign players on loan. So they can do the “Mbappe” loan and then transfer over in either January or following summer.
The Hands:
As I understand it, Joe has got that one wrong. EPL clubs cannot bring in loans past tonight.
I wrote this morning: ‘the SMSM are now like a dog with a bone’. I also wrote the pre-Hears game presser will set the tone for the coming weeks.
BR had 2 options today: seek to extinguish the fire he started or pour more petrol on it. Looks like he chose the latter.
The dangerous thing about fire is that what looks initially to be contained and controllable can quickly get out of control can quickly burn down your house.
Shame on anyone who knowingly gives the SMSM a stick to beat us with.
JAMES FORREST on 9TH AUGUST 2018 5:21 PM
Why does he need to “use leverage”?
Because that’s the way it works in their business. If you don’t get what you want you use what you have to try and get it.
Celtic football club doesn’t exist to make Brendan Rodgers happy.
Davidopoulos on 9th August 2018 4:02 pm
scullybhoy
Are you on a computer or a smartphone/tablet?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I am terribly sorry lhad, but I was called away there. I am on a PC.
CELTIC40ME:
Let’s get one thing straight; we’re not talking about Celtic Football Club here.
We’re talking about the people who “run” Celtic Football Club here.
And that’s not the same thing.
@ JAMES FORREST on 9TH AUGUST 2018 5:32 PM
From a quick google, I believe EPL teams cannot loan players, but EFL teams can.
Thought that mate, thanks.
@ CELTIC40ME on 9TH AUGUST 2018 5:35 PM
“Celtic football club doesn’t exist to make Brendan Rodgers happy.”
Starting to turn on Brendan already?
Scullybhoy
No worries – have a go at installing Chrome browser (if you don’t use it already) and get the AdBlock Plus plug-in/app that will cut out a lot of pop ups, banners etc
If you get stuck trying Google searching instructions as that will probably clearer than my instructions!
THE HANDS CANT HIT WHAT THE EYES CANT SEE on 9TH AUGUST 2018 5:40 P
Not at all. But he’s not bigger than Celtic, as I’m sure he’s well aware.
Ivehadtochangemymind @ 5:28
I have to disagree …. JF’s comment was good … but Sandman’s comment last night about Leigh Griffiths looking a bit overweight, and wondering whether he had knocked himself up …. funniest CQN line in a while.
@ CELTIC40ME on 9TH AUGUST 2018 5:44 PM
Is Peter Lawell bigger than Celtic? Of the two, who would you rather lose? I would argue that Brendan will be far harder to replace than Lawell.
There’s nothing unusual about this, by the way.
This is not uniquely Celtic, although the ability to turn triumph into a multi-car pile up certainly is something we’ve got a history of engaging in.
Directors always think they know more about football than managers do. When did you last hear of a board of directors stepping down over a duff managerial appointment? King across the city has sacked four managers in three years, one of them twice, and he’s still taking plaudits for the “genius” of appointing Gerrard, which is going to be the next epic failure over there.
Will he or his board fall on their swords? Of course not.
Boards view all manager’s as expendable. Because deep down every director has his own ideas about how to pick the team or buy the players and all are much better are judging failure than they would ever be at sitting in the dugout. And almost all envy the adulation the guy in the dugout gets.
Read McLaughlin’s piece today, and remember that this comes from inside Celtic Park:
“Comments Rodgers made earlier this week have not gone down well with members of the Celtic board, who are proud of their track record in the transfer market.”
Their track record.
As if they scouted the players themselves and coached the good ones into top tier talents. That such successes are absolutely damn all to do with the board of directors, who only provides the money to close the deals, appears not to have dawned on whoever fed McLaughlin that line.
That is the kind of ego that would be quite prepared to set itself against the manager.
And as I said, football is full of this.
Genius mit!
Celtic40Me
There’s no cure for viruses either
You live with them for life
Your immune system blocks the proteins they make.
Mental disease can be cured
You have to first accept that you have it
Are there fans anywhere in the world who analyse a goal against them more than us?
Two evenly matched teams , albeit with different styles , draw a football game. Shockerooni !!
All to play for in the second leg, our away form in Europe makes them favourites. We did loads of things well last night. It’s far from over.
Some questions:
Has BR spoken today, or is all the debate about what he said at previous press conference?
What did the board member say to CM of BBC? I can’t see anything about this.
On BR and PL, both love Celtic but have different roles to fulfill. Ocassional conflict is natural. Both have egos, again natural. Let’s hope there is someone close to both of them who can stop this spiralling out of control.
BR is not perfect, but he’s the closest we are going to get to the perfect manager any time soon.
Keevins, who most of you probably dislike, but who had some great interviews with BR, summed it up perfectly – as long as BR is at Celtic, no one will touch us in Scotland. He is head and shoulders above anyone Sevco can appoint.
I am convinced BR wants to create his own piece of Celtic history with 10iar, the Club would be mad to lose sight of that.
Surely to God DD is capable of having a quiet word in their ears to get everyone pulling in the same direction again? No one got his number?
If Brendan leaves, Lawwell will get hunted by the support IMO
James
McLaughlin is an absolute zoomer. You’re hanging your journalistic credibility off that baldy old fud’s claim ?
Manager unhappy at lack of signings could be levelled across the majority of clubs. Sh*t happens.
Let’s see how the next 2 weeks pan out – I’m going for getting past AEK and some exciting upgrades at the back.
Until about 2 mins ago I hadn’t actually read the full comments from today’s presser. Here something BR said:
“I’ve got a huge respect for the people who work at this club – the board and the directors.
“They’ve created a very stable foundation here and I have to respect that.
“Of course, as a manager, I always want the club to be the very best it can be for the supporters, but I have to maybe understand where the limits are sometimes.”
JF and I said earlier that both sides need to sit down and sort their shit out. Do the above comments suggest there has been a small rapprochement and not a further deterioration?
So are we at a cracked crest moment
DAVIDOPOULOS:
As I said mate, his refusal to confirm that they share the same ambitions is critical to resolving this.
I wonder if the problem is lack of clear leadership above him. Who does Brendan, ultimately, answer to? Who is he “go-to” guy? Basically, who actually runs Celtic? Not on a day-to-day basis, but overall?
If it’s DD, as some believe, then this indeed would be a great time for him to step up and sort this out.
GENE:
If the manager walks out of the job we definitely are, but as I said in the piece I posted earlier it’s not a broken crest moment. The fundamentals of the club would survive even the worst case scenario here although it would only do it when serious changes were made at the top, and I mean the very top.
It would be hard not to call that a crisis, but it would not be an existential one. Celtic would survive. Some of its directors would be damned along with the White’s and Kelly’s but we survived those guys and thrived anyway.
CELTARELLA on 9TH AUGUST 2018 5:48 PM
There’s no cure for bipolar. It’s as simple as that
And when I say “survive” I mean we’d still be the biggest club in Scotland, by a mile, and we’d still do ten in a row and whatever beyond it.
GENE on 9TH AUGUST 2018 5:55 PM
So are we at a cracked crest moment
Apparently so. How did it come to this?
Davidopoulos on 9th August 2018 5:44 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thank you for your advice. I currently have Adblocker Ultimate, BT Protect and have even run Malwarebytes – all do nothing to help.
JF
I’m not so sure. Take in isolation, yes, but as part of a broader response, possibly not. I think it could just as easily be construed as an intention not to air any more dirty laundry in public
DAVIDOPOULOS:
That would be very welcome, of course :)
The one thing I know from today’s presser … he cannot wait to stick it to Levein and his long grass pish.
What an embarrassment to Scottish football that whole thing is.
Celtic40me
Maybe youre bipolar
I’d try lithium first
Celtic40me
you should know by now that celterella is never wrong
Brendan is eventually going to leave, they all do. Think it was WGS who said three years was long enough at a club like Celtic. Initially I thought that’s how long Brendan would stay then it seemed he would stay for the ten.
And there’s the rub , some are panicking about the ten and others about the sevco signings and SG , hell mend yeez for reading the tabloids and listening to their crap on the radio.
James Forrest
Honestly think you need to lie down
Its football
There are far worse things happening than a successful football team becoming slightly less succesful
The long term strategy of the club will not change.
I wonder if Brendan’s getting bored? Wouldn’t blame him. I’m sure he respects and understands the board and directors, but bottom line as a Football Manager this strategy, for better or worse, won’t get him where I think he wants to be.
SMSM strategy for Celtic………
” Here’s petrol, where’s the fire…..”