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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@ WHAT IS THE STARS on 9TH AUGUST 2018 6:06 PM
“There are far worse things happening than a successful football team becoming slightly less successful”
You do realise people are paid huge amounts of money to ensure our continued success? You can reduce everything in life down and make it all relative, but if you turn up at your job and do a piss poor job, you will get fired.
Sure, you could say “still got my health”, but we live in the real world and that’s not how things work.
James Forrest
A club that can’t even have their tunnel line up with the halfway line deserve nothing good :)
Bhoys & Ghirls,
A very quick analysis of the posts last night clearly shows those who did not attend the game were far more critical than those who did attend.
Hmmmmmmm.
James
There was absolutely nothing wrong with my earlier remarks
Professional Moaners
Professional bloggers with crazy egos
Trolls
Mentally ill
4 catergories of people that whine all day every day on this blog about the perceived injustice of their football team not performing well enough,despite the fact the football team in question is one of the most successfull and well run sporting clubs in the world.
It doesn’t seem long since bros were saying such things as “PL has been put back in his box”, “Brendan has DD’s ear and is in full control of all football matters at the club ” and “this is no longer a heated driveways production”.
It now seems to be the view that in fact, PL is running the show and BR doesn’t control the football after all.
What has happened to cause this change/ Has Brendan pissed off DD?
Still think we we can progress in CL.
Adi – Glad to see they were prepared to spend serious money on a right back.
Hands : Didn’t realise Armstrong had that many appearances last season. Still don’t think he was a first pick though.
Wonder if the opinions on here will be dependent upon the result of another game later?
Let’s see.
MINCEYHEIDMAN
You can be sure if the huns lose it will be a cracked Celtic Crest on the BBC the morra:)))
@ WHAT IS THE STARS on 9TH AUGUST 2018 6:17 PM
Were we well run when we had Ronny in charge?
30k at parkhead;
no european football;
piss poor team and footabll;
coefficient falling through the floor;
defeat to Sevco who at that time were a tier below us.
Is that your idea of well run or are you only considering the last two years of being double treble winners which coincide with Brendan?
If you want to claim the board’s influence for our current position, you have to take their mess for what preceded it.
I fear the Irish Raj now has a choice — sort this out in a manner he thinks best or hold the jackets and deal with the last man standing.
I do not believe BR is a single being deity figure are that he is infallible.
He still has lots to learn and sometimes will need a boot up the erse to remind him of that fact.
However he has transformed the club in 2 years and he is well on the way to taking us to the next level — lots of working to do but we have a template and we have made good progress.
On the other hand PL has a rather ropey CFC CV covering an inability to build from strength, poor financials, forced player sales and an ability to empty CP. He is a low rent property sector bean counter who has enriched himself well beyond his proven ability and is currently out of his depth to the point that Jules Verne wrote a book about it.
The issue here is that’s this is the firstborn time BR has been manager of CFC.
It is not the first time that PL has been involved in a transfer window shambles.
PL has to go.
Fat and happy with cash generation his goal.
Football unfortunately is secondary.
No matter how effective his booster club is or how vocal his AstroTurf mouthpieces become he has to go because another BR will be hard to find.
Imo, we may have better players but AEK have a better team. Even when they were down to 10 men, everyone of them knew their job and did it comfortably in the main. As Paul67 said, they had done their homework.
Again imo, I would like to see Boyatta and Siminovic play in Athens and to that end, I hope they are part of the team on Saturday.
Why oh why can Gamboa and Kuoassi not even make our bench?
@6.19 should read “bloggers were saying”, not “bros were saying “
I am sorry to see that there appears to be a difference between the Celtic board and Brendan Rodgers over transfers.Now according to the MSM we paid a record fee to sign French Eddie and we turned down 9 Million for Derek Boyata two huge decisions sanctioned by the board so we can hardly say the board are not backing the manager and the transfer window is still open so other signings may well be forthcoming.I understand the manager may well want transfers to happen quicker and I believe all managers will be the same. So I think there can only be one winner if this difference opens up and becomes a rift there will only be one winner and it wont be Brendan Rodgers.Celtic are bigger than anyone individual and no matter how successful or how much loved the manager is he will be the loser the board view will prevail remember Wm.Jansen. H.H.
Parkhead : The Gamboa one puzzles me. I thought he did well v Rosenborg. I know ML is Brendan’s preferred right back, but thought Gamboa guy at least a bench place. Couldn’t see any way Mikey Johnston was going on the pitch, so better with an experienced hand on the bench.
THE BLOGGER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GM on 9TH AUGUST 2018 2:05 PM
I recall the days when many would unquestioningly believe anything negative said or written about Fergus McCann.
Today many want a stand named after him.
The perspective of time is a funny thing.
—————————-
The “Sir Peter Pantsdown” Main Stand, with the “Celtic Heated Walkway” does have a certain ring to it!
Not as good as Almore’s Cafe mind :-)
HH
CRC
PARKHEADCUMSALFORD
Kouassi was on the bench last night mate..
I wonder if Brendan might give him a run out this weekend??
If he hasn’t left before then of course:)
HH
The contract extensions will also cost money both in terms of wages and signing on fees. I would imagine players like Rogic and KT must have been well rewarded for extending.
After an unprecedented double treble a record run of victories in the league a euphoric mood amongst the support , we have never been in a better place as a Club in decades as we head for 10 in a row .But seemingly we are now a shambles because we didn’t sign John McGinn who would not have enhanced our team in my opinion
It all falls apart my arse , a mountain out of a molehill our Management & Directors are not fools they know what Bendan has brought to the table I’m with Wits it’s a storm in a John McGinn T cup & matters will be resolved quickly
MAH
How are you keeping?
HH
CRC
CQN redacting pertinent info???
The Hoops’ only summer signings so far are £9million striker Odsonne Edouard, from Paris St-Germain, and goalkeeper Scott Bain, who had come out of contract at Dundee.
However, the boss confirmed two arrivals within the next couple of days.
Honduras left-back Emilio Izaguirre, 32, who left Parkhead for Al-Fayha in Saudi Arabia 12 months ago, will sign a two-year deal.
And 19-year-old Australian international winger Daniel Arzani will arrive on a two-year loan contract from Manchester City after confirmation of his switch from Melbourne City.
Celtic have picked up £8.2million in the sales of Stuart Armstrong, £7million to Southampton, and Erik Sviatchenko, £1.2million to Midtjylland, during the close season.
==========
Ok so what about the £8-9 million from the Virgil windfall. Lets see low estimate, 7+1.2+8 = £16.2 million, so we spent £9mill ( albeit we never laid out that amount up front, maybe, just maybe £9 mill if all add on triggers are reached) but for the sake of it lets say it was 9 so we have banked £7.2 million and yet we haggle over 500k for one of our managers main signing targets.
MgGinn has divided the blog, not worth it / worth it, but the only thing that should matter is Brendan wanted him in the squad.
To date fellow tims lest we forget we have spend a grand net total of heehaw on improving our squad.
Izzy and the Aussie kid will also cost relatively little in wages. Question did BR even want the Aussie?
The obsequious pro board postings on CQN has reached an all time high that is despite our managers obvious unease at the lack of signings and the 1st teams short comings which were evident last evening.
http://celticbynumberscom.ipage.com/now-its-a-slump/
In December 2017 I defended Sinclair pointing out his form was just fine after his multi award winning opening campaign. Almost to the day of the article you can pinpoint definite form regression. Bugger. Edouard needs help.
MAH
I remember being raging when Celtic didn’t sign Pamela Anderson, but that was just a storm in a D cup. :)
Lawwell knows that the Celtic Supporter’s hivny got the balls to hunt him, or they’d have done it after LNS.
Jamesgang @ 12:02 pm
”Worrying if true. Scandalous if not.”
Well out of that choice I’d go for scandalous…
If Chris McLaughlan’s piece on this evenings BBC website is anything to go by…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45132786
Asked if the board match his ambitions, Rodgers said: “I wouldn’t answer that. It’s private.”
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.
It seems to me that Mr McLaughlin is re-regurgitating “stuff” from earlier this week.
Here’s what Brendan had to say at today’s press conference…
”Talking before Saturday’s trip to Tynecastle to face Hearts in the Scottish Premiership, the Northern Irishman was asked on Thursday if it was an ongoing challenge.
“I’ve got a huge respect for the people that work at this club – the board and the directors,” he said. “They’ve created a very stable foundation 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.”
Hardly the salacious WOW!! Effect that has the foundations of Parkhead quacking and Celtic Park shaking like a house of cards ready to collapse, as some would surely have us believe…
Now it’s one thing for the Celtic bashing SMSM to conflate transfer window tensions inside Celtic Park into a full blown conflagration.
It’s quite another for so called Celtic supporters to do it…
Hail Hail
joost keep on nixin’ hum…….
Zenit losing 3.0 at half time against Din Minsk.
Feyenoord losing 3.0 at half time against Trencin.
Just a couple of scores in the Europa that caught my eye.
One that maybe relevant to Celtic, but hopefully not, Suduva beat Spartaks 1.0 away.
Hail Hail
Hope the huns get absolutely humped tonight,might cheer us up a bit.
Time for a lie down before nightshift.
Welcome home Izzy, A Celtic man through and through..
CRC
Still going through Immunotherapy M have another 3 to go
Feeling fine at the moment though but catching infection is causing me grief at the moment & is a royal pain in the erse
DAVIDOPOULOS- Brendan would not have went public over a 10 minute argument with PL IMO, something else coming into the equation.As Oglach and a few Bhoys have said, McGinn or Willo Flood is insignificant, the point is BR identified a player he wanted, within our budget, PL did not deliver, and possibly not for the first time.HH
What we need now is a nice wee victory for the huns tonight and the malcontents on here will self-combust…..
Anyway just incase you haven’t heard the news apparently the Celtic manager never got a player he was after, shock horror never thought I would see the day when we didn’t get one of our targets, help ma boab .
In other news seems as though the flat earth society guy that chinned we Griff was right, as Celtic fans are throwing themselves aff it at the thought of Brendan Rodgers being in a huff.
??????????????????
Lisbon Lions on Sky Football
I too am with WITS, although after reading the blog i’m at my WITS end, smiley thing & HH
Cheers Gene ???
50 shades
Cheering me up
Chris McLaughlin gets fed the questions , BR gives a well rehearsed bat away.
What the hell is goin on here
Left Glasgow City Centre about an hour ago. Have never seen as many Polis in my life around Central Station. All kitted out in riot gear. Is there something happening tonight that they are worried about? Must be costing a fortune. Loads of Slovenians in luminous green about. Mon the Slovenians. Saw a few of them in Paradise last night, supporting Celtic.
I see the £49ers and the Jungle pisser hun squirrels are on, at it again. Never Celtic supporters.
Calling all of us Mugs etc.
D. :)
Listening to BR press conference today, Mc Laughlin has taken one reply to his question and tweeted it. No context, not what he said prior or after the answer. Listening in full it’s not quite as dramatic as has been portrayed. There is obviously a disagreement between the manager and the CEO/board, it’s probably to do with transfer business and the McGinn transfer shambles has brought it to a head. Easily sorted, DD to get them together, knock a few heads together and agree on how they move on.