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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Bit of tension on here tonight?
Respect, guys! What would Evelyn Hall make of this?
For me, the many different ‘blends’ of Celtic fan (myself included) have 99% commonality based on two main factors.
1) They love our club dearly
2) Despite thinking otherwise occasionally, they could not manage the team or run the club as well as the current incumbents.
:)
Hail hail
WITS,
Please take that mentally ill bit back. Not right at all.
FFin referee conspiracy:
“We should put all the evidence together from this game and last season and make an official complaint about the standard of refereeing and the lack of protection for our players.
Tell them we want that game [on Sunday] replayed and we want a full breakdown of what actions are being taken to prevent this happening again.
The last thing they need is another legal case and our pockets are deeper than theirs. We can claim loss of revenue through finishing lower in the league and medical bills where our players have not been protected.”
————
“VAR anyone?…Oppsss sorry – SFA have been using that money to destroy our club…”
————
“I called it before the game , I even said jack and Morelos would be the two main targets .
Make no mistake what happened [on Sunday] was premeditated . Think back to Souness at Easter road all those years ago . This had the same feel to it .
It’s basically this – ‘ Gerrard can’t come to Scotland having it his own way , thinking he’s it. We put a marker down to show him life will be made as difficult as possible for him while he is here , because we don’t want his type ( winners ) at [Sevco] football club. We like the current set up where Rangers are not a threat .we cannot allow them to stand up for themselves- We will grind him down and hound him out.’ …If people think this doesn’t happen , you are totally naive to the inner workings of Scottish football .”
————
“KEVIN CLANCY- see all these irish c[haps] that landed on our shores.
Is it not time they went home.”
————
“I think we need to employ a referee who can supervise our games.
Then get into them when any decesion is doubtful or blatantly goes against us… lets call it 50k a year.
Its like an in house financial advisor.”
————
“Exactly. Now these f[ellows] are gonna have to be careful because he will highlight every single decision now.
The scum mhedia can say what we like but this was a great job by our manager. Correct too, based upon last season.
Its been there for years, duncan ferguson in the jail, woods and butcher up at court.”
————
“Good idea.
Employ a former Ref to analyse decisions after each game and ask questions of the Ref’s decisions would keep them on their toes.
Hugh Dallas would be ideal”
————
“They pounced on Hugh’s naïveté with the email to get rid of him. Daryl Broadfoot, iirc, played a role in disseminating the info to agitators within the public sphere…refereeing in Scotland has been well and truly usurped by the other ticket. They control every facet of the game at an organisational level in this country.”
————
“Get somebody outwith scotland,lets be honest, only referees know all the rules.
We will have stewart robertson emailing them on the monday when he gets round to it.
They could be a great assest, couple of weeks wages of pena would cover a year.
Keeps up to date with new laws etc etc.
A mean who does that at [Sevco].”
————
“There’s bound to be someone out there who could help. I would imagine that [Sevco] would already be on the case where this is concerned.”
JAMES FORREST, excellent stuff today ,HH
Brendan wants Celtic to be the best they can be .
He doesn’t answer if his ambition is being matched by the suits.
It takes me back a few years. I had the pleasure of a morning in the company of Peter Lawwell when working in his house. It was a pleasure, I left the house thinking that PL is a genuine fan who has the club at heart.
One sentence he said that day , resonates today.
“ The most important relationship at the club, or any club, is the one between the Chief Executive and the manager of the club “
The relationship doesn’t look strong tonight .
I can understand Brendan’s frustration.
Baffled to be honest , at why this has been allowed to fester.
Zenit and Feyenoord both now 4 down.
Incredible scorelines.
Progress only lost 2.1 in Russia, so maybe Progess v Maribor in final qualifying round.
Hail Hail
Mahe
Hope you and your family are safe and well in California.
Keep on keeping safe and sound.
YNWA
Angelgabriel.7.31
Great post.
Hail Hail
Joost keep chyngin’ the wurdz.
Gene…
Cheered me up no end, always love the bit with the coal lorry, cause I was there.
H.H
English transfer window closed and a certain Patrick Roberts is still registered with Man City. Once squads of 25 are confirmed tomorrow, and as expected he isn’t listed, where will he go? On loan to a Championship team, abroad, or …………………..?
G67- we could do with a lift…..
!!Bada Bing!! @ 6:58 pm,
I would agree with that and I think if anyone had read Brendan’s comments this week, they’d take the same view. Key for me was…
…”That is the business side. “I run football and operate football and I want top footballers in and I want to work with them as quickly as I possibly can.””
Now I’m sure Brendan wanted JMcG in and I’m sure it didn’t devastate his 2018/19 plans that we didn’t get him but there is a larger point here. Note his comments re: McGinn v his comments re Arzani t’uther day…
”Q: Regarding John McGinn, do you see why people would think the club should put money on the table and get the deal done?
BR: “150%. If you open your door to players in general and they have an opportunity to go through that door and have a look and see that there are other good clubs with facilities and are equal – and probably better – than what is here, then you risk the chance of them not coming back though the door. That is the gamble you take if you wait.”
Q: Are you any closer to Daniel Arzani?
“Not that I’m aware of, no. I think it’s something that’s between Manchester City and Celtic.”
And again today…
BR on McGinn – “The only thing I have to say with young John is I wish him all the very best,” Rodgers said. “In the two years I have been here, has he developed into a first-class player.
“As a Celtic supporter himself, I would love for him to be here working and playing, but it wasn’t to be.”
BR on Arzani“He hasn’t done anything since his last game for Australia, and that is a little while back.
“So he is going to have to come in and adjust and get up to speed and adapt, and get some hard work in before we can consider him for a game.”
Now to me there would have been issues and challenges but maybe the story of the two midfielders gets to the heart of the matter. For me is Brendan marking his territory while trying to run Celtic’s football operations.
It seems to me at the start of the window he requested John McGinn and an experienced quality Centre half (at least)…
The business side didn’t deliver…
Even if JMcG was not vital to Celtic’s current plans, the Board being able to effect a complex (loan) transfer from the other side of the world, while not being able to bring an SPL player forty miles down the M8, may well make Brendan question their priorities.
Also the failure to bring in a Centre Half while flogging our best guy to the EPL, after he has been unavailable due to World Cup duties, is going to stick in the craw.
Looks like Brendan said – up with this I will not put!! And quite right too…
Bare a thot for the ghuy, who this evening is picking up from his desk the Boyata to Fulham paperwork, with the £10M + fee and heading to the shredder.:((((
Maybe next time when Brendan says, we need an experienced quality CH and cover in midfield for the UCL qualifiers… the chap will get aff the phone to the Emirates and get working with his highly talented head of football operations.
Hail Hail
Here is my take on events regarding McGinn, based purely on what I am reading but putting myself in BR’s shoes.
I think the general consensus was McGinn would not add value to the squad immediately, “who would he replace” was a common question?
One of football’s faults is short termism, planning too far ahead is a bridge too far ahead.
But here I am, Brendan Rogers with a proven record of adding value to players. Armstrong bought for what £2m? Sold for £7m. Tierney. McGregor, Ajer, Dembele, Griffiths, Forrest, and perhaps Edouarde only because he came in at a price we usually sell and who can say his value in another year, are all higher value as a result of BR’s management skills and football expertise.
So I want McGinn, not as a starter but as Scott Brown’s replacement. An ideal candidate, knows the Scottish game, strong physically and mentally and can play a bit, almost Broonie’s profile when he signed at £4m.
I don’t know what was on offer in transfer fee and wages but if for arguments sake it was £2.5M and £3.5m would have got him on say £15k a week, what would his value be in three years?
Now that is where I would be pissed off. That is not to say there are not arguments against the signing but it does explain BR being gasp – human.
I think there has to be a rethink based on future value. BR does his job on the park. PL does it on the business end. They are both very good at it and whilst being a Celtic supporter can carry the “start a fight in an empty hoose ” syndrome, there is no reason why current thinking cannot be revisited because to lose either BR or PL in the next few years would not be in Celtic’s best interest.
Perhaps DD will give some direction.
50shades
me too
50 shades
maybe we should ditch parks and convert some old coal lorries
What a difference a few weeks makes in Celtic terms.
A week or two back Brendan Rodgers publicly stated he knew the realities of Celtic’s financial position. As he put it we are not Chelsea etc and able to stockpile players irrespective of the cost. He himself said he only wanted players who would make our team better. How many posts have we read on here from people complaining about all the squad fillers we have bought. “Spend on first team ready only no more projects” . We read daily how Hibs had valued him at £4m but Aston Villa got him for £2.75m I believe. Am I the only one who thinks maybe Rod Petrie was prepared to sell to anyone but Celtic, even prepared to lose money if needs be rather than sell to us.
Last week James Forrest was blogging that Hibs were “at it” and we were right to refuse to match their demands. This week hmmmmm. Phil Macgiollabhain blogged that there was serious anger and disquiet in the Hibs camp over Petrie’s attitude to Celtic and how it could jeopardise a previously fruitful relationship. This week he is claiming that Celtic have dithered over transfer targets before and this has angered Brendan Rodgers. Rearrange the words cake, it, having and, your, eating to make a sentence springs to mind.
Brendan Rodgers is an absolutely outstanding manager, one we are lucky to have if the truth be told but if he is washing his dirty laundry in public I lose a little respect for him. If Celtic directors have been briefing BBC journalists in retaliation then they are no better. The media have never been our friends and if both the manager and the board have ran to them trying to score cheap points off each other then they both should be ashamed.
Many contributors to this site seem to misunderstand the difference between facts and opinions. I post my opinion I would never claim it to be anything else but an opinion some post opinions and demand they be believed as incontrovertible fact.
I am not posting this to cause a row or elicit a reaction, It is simple my random musings on what I have read on here today. Agree disagree or ignore it will not bother me in the slightest.
Anyway back to lurking and plotting my next trip to Celtic Park
So who have we brought in to replace,
KT now hes away to Everton.
Dedryck away to a n other run of, oh aye Fulham.
Moussa away to a n other and half of France
Jozo away to Coventry ( o wait that wisnae a fitba related one).
Ollie ta ach you awe know whit I mean.
Think it was Groucho or maybe it was Karl Marx that said rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated…..
P.S.
If that Canadian lawyer comes on noo and tells me they are both deed I’m gonna scream and scream ???
Hmmmm…..
https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/pay-4m-or-wait-171-days-for-mcginn-pre-contract/
Doubt if PR7 will be returning, aren’t we just to take ‘Aussie wonderkid winger’ on loan. Personally would love to see the wee Paddy back at Celtic on a permanent deal. Watching the game last night and pondering on our laborious oh so predictable attempts at breaking down a solid well drilled defence i thought ‘Paddy would’ve waltzed through that lot’. Wishful thinking? – Perhaps.
James Forrest ( ages ago )
Apologies, I take that back.
What I really should have said was ‘I’m not surprised’ given that you’re anti Celtic board, not just this board pick a board, any board.
Despite Celtic’s success, you seem to concentrate writing ‘negatively’ and in so doing it’s not surprising the vast majority of ‘The Celtic Blog ‘is about Sevco on a near daily basis during Celtic’s domination of the SPL. In between you don’t really do Celtic ‘supportive’ positive stuff?
Brendan Rodgers dispelled the theory in a very early interview and he confirmed exactly like every other manager of Celtic he might have the final say of who we wanted, but had no input on the price of a player.
Brendan Rodgers in his own words was crystal clear days after the celebrations amongst our support at his appointment, and the dizzy notion that somehow Peter Lawwell and the board had been gazumped when Dermot Desmond had overruled and got ‘his man in’. Some also believed this was a new era for how much money Celtic would spend on personnel, and that Brendan was in charge of the transfer budget over everybody else. He’s not and said so repeatedly in the last week, or so.
Our manager grabbed the job and is delighted with his contract of XXX thousand pounds a week, he is and was in the full knowledge that if Hibs wanted £2.7M he wasn’t going to interrupt the talks and phone Hibs to up our offer from £2.5M to their preferred £2.7M
From a personal point of view I think for the first time we are seeing the devious side of a Brendan, whose is caught between a support that hear about £40M coming in, and want £40M out He is on record earlier this summer ago of saying we were miles, and miles behind in Europe, he can hardly turn round and blame the board, who are the real money men at Celtic if we come up short, of a Centre BAck as the reasons we’re miles and miles behind. Brendan’s relationship and affinity with the Celtic hieracrchy is a lot stronger than ours here on the internet, they pay his wages after all, not ours.
“ And we’re going to blow it. “
Steady young James a mere storm in the Internet tea cup.
We’re playing the best football for years
You got that right, you should realign your tanks up against the same SMSM that heard a whisper from the Celtic Board about our manager. SMSM that managed ’to know nothing’ about EBT’s, unpaid loans, outstanding bills, and taxes for over 20 years.
Carp Diem CSC
Hail Hail
If it goes wrong next week and we play Sudova (1-0 away win tonight) in El qualifier, and you believe in fate, 02/03 season lost to Basel in CL qualifier, we played Sudova in UEFA Cup qualifier. Where’s the Europa Final next year?.
Gene….
Good idea about the coal lorries, although knowing our board they would probably use the scabs that broke the picket lines during the miners strike, I still shout scabs at the bassas every time I pass one.
Zenit and Feyenoord both lost 4.0.
If Hibs beat Molde, they play winners on Minsk/Zenit tie.
Hail Hail
AngelGabriel
I have watched John McGinn play fitba for over a decade. I know a few members of his family. The McGinn family are huge Celtic supporters. John McGinn was a Celtic season ticket holder along with the rest of his family. I do not know John personally but my nephews and nieces do. I know that all his family were delighted at the prospect of the best fitba player in their family, signing for Celtic. Why he signed for Villa? I don’t know.
Read back and saw your post to Vale Bhoy.
Don’t understand his posts or what I perceive to be subtle digs at me.
Heyho.
Cheers pal for support.
YNWA
Have the directors of this club ever matched the ambition of our managers.
Jock Stein.
Billy McNeil.
David Hay.
Martin O’Neil.
Neil Lennon.
Brendan Rodgers.
GENE. add me to the list. I watched the coal lorry go round paradise as a 14 year old. never forget it.hh.
Welkum freen!
Auldheid,
I tend to think Rodgers has a game management plan and a succession plan.
McGinn was earmarked as a replacement for Armstrong – not a direct replacement but someone who could come on in the initial stages of his Celtic career from the bench and replace Ntcham or Brown or perhaps McGregor. When that phase had been complete and there may be injuries to those players he could then look to be a first team regular.
Individual games are played on this basis partly due to Rogic being unable to last 90 mins and due to the requirement to try other players to open teams up or shut them down.
Brown just can’t be around forever, Ntcham will go at some point and McGregor is a different player.
D.D.
I’ve not read back through all the posts, so didn’t see the one you are talking about.
However, I enjoy your posts, we can’t get everything right all the time. Keep giving your thoughts/ info etc my friend
As my wife says to me, Do you want to be right or be happy?
Hint, choose happy. :-)
Hail Hail
Barcelona 1 up against haribo
Pl told BR – you’re not getting another mid – get a CH and RB and we’ll talk.
“the above is pure fiction and no-one was hurt in its construction
celtic fan on 200 m final
DD
When one of your group gets something wrong they are slagged for it.
No malice just taking the mick.
HH
Paul67 et al
Played five European games so far, haven’t lost any. Might not win in Athens, can still go through mind you.
JNP
Would rather be humble and happy.
God bless you my friend.
YNWA
It seems CCE chased JF from the blog….