Time to pair Lustig and VVD in central defence

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This afternoon’s friendly against Tottenham Hotspur gives Ronny Deila a dilemma.  Last weekend he played a second string against St Pauli, but with things going so wrong in Warsaw on Wednesday, the pressure is on to pull a game plan together which will work at Murrayfield.

Our other concern is that the squad, without Ambrose, Brown and Forrest, is already looking threadbare.  We simply can’t afford an injury to afflict Commons, Griffiths, Stokes, Johansen, van Dijk, Matthews, Lustig or Izaguirre.

The suggestion was put to me this week that we should play Lustig with van Dijk in central defence on Wednesday.  Lustig can play there, but would Ronny trust them on such an important occasion without a warm-up game?

If I was taking a risk with first-team players this afternoon it would be to pair these two.  If we’re going to get the required result on Wednesday the most important area of the team to get right is the defence.

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2,168 Comments

  1. Marrakesh Express on

    Robert Tressell

     

     

    Very well put. I’ve said recently that the German model is something we should be aspiring too.

  2. Back in again…..

     

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    RobertTressell

     

     

    09:56 on 4 August, 2014

     

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    Thanks(I think?) for yer very animated and, well versed response.

     

     

    The Germans know their stuff ye know – thats why they attained the services of, Murdo and Lambo. Never mind Rambo…he was p#sh. imho

     

     

    But, when the chips are down……

     

     

    I’d put all the – Luddites / Hahahahappy-clappers / 6’s & 7’s-types – onto the one bus, ye know the one that’s driven by the PLC ‘bored’ and hope they all enjoy the ride…..Oh, btw….yeez will all be seated at the back co-‘boreds’ hun collusion.

     

     

    Will the Celtic ‘supporters’ be allowed to back their team in the same, noisy colorful fashion that the Legia fans were allowed to? Hmmmm?

     

     

    As I said – lifes too short, bye.

  3. Kev if at the end of this week we are turfed out the CL and drawn against someone who is an average team for EL qualifiers , then the PL cash cow must come to an end He must go to unite the support again

     

     

    Looking back to Mon 1st 2 years , he signed players that stayed in 1st team for years There was a large debt he inherited from the Barnes shambles

     

    The debt did increase, but not all because of Mon

     

     

    Ps did not mention the spurs shambles , but it is a team playing representing Celtic All national papers reported it as 6 1. Few of them said anything about a youth team

  4. yorkbhoy

     

    10:23 on

     

    4 August, 2014

     

     

    Market Cap as of today is £69M so to get a controlling 51% would cost £35.2M, assuming no premium is required to induce sale.

     

     

    Of course you could take off whatever % of shares is already in fans’ hands that they were willing to put toward the fan ownership model.

  5. Robert Tressell

     

     

    Community owned club is a great idea in theory.

     

    Do we have an elected committee running the team? Who decides on transfers? Etc etc.

     

    CQN can’t agree on anything. Imagine elected representatives of the wider Celtic support trying to set policy. Totally unworkable.

     

    Barcelona have elections or their officials every 3 years and its a promise fest. “When I’m president, we’ll do this, that and buy so and so.” No thanks.

     

    But I do agree that the present PLC model is the root cause of the wider disconnect between the club and fans.

     

    Auldheid has some faith in the idea of opening better fan forums where the board can explain themselves direct to the fans, at least those who are interested. My first move would be to get rid of the elements of the MSM who deliberately unsettle our fans with distortions and lies.

  6. SydneyTim

     

    10:40 on

     

    4 August, 2014

     

     

    It’s not entirely about the debt that MON left but a lot about the cumulative losses of c£40M that were achieved in his 5 great years. Remember there were two share issues in 2001 and 2005, that went some way to mitigating those losses.

  7. Weeminger. Were we not still paying the stadium off and building Lennoxtown. I may be wrong but I think we had debt due to that

  8. SydneyTim

     

     

    10:40 on 4 August, 2014

     

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    The Celtic ‘support’ sooner, or later will have to find some rebels amongst them or, PL’s stewardship of what is left of the club will, reach the 10k attendance mark and, ye know what, he’ll still take his bonus!!!

     

     

    Some folk seem to be misconstruing my angle on here.

     

     

    I’m not advocating £6mill strikers?

     

     

    But, would Johnny Russell – GMS – Stevie May – John McGinn not make a, decent improvement to things on the pitch?

     

    HH

     

     

    Sack The ‘Bored’ – CSC

  9. SydneyTim

     

    10:48 on

     

    4 August, 2014

     

     

    Could be right, and certainly the 2005 was stated as being for the construction of Lennoxtown. Whether the money raised went to that in one chunk is probably debatable.

     

     

    The only thing we do know is that £6M wont get you a Sutton, Hartson or Lennon these days. Maybe not even £10M would guarantee that level. So do Celtic chuck £40M plus (and I’m being conservative here) £6-8M/season in wagaes at 3 or 4 players and try and hope for the best. Over 4 years we’d need to be in the CL and getting to the last 16 every season to cover their costs. That’s an unenviable position.

  10. KevJungle is a Celtic fan…not a supporter.

     

    10:50 on

     

    4 August, 2014

     

     

    You focus entirely on the wrong person PL is not defining the strategy he’s implementing it. I’m sure there are cheaper alternatives out there. What if they’re not as good as getting sponsorship etc into the club. Saving £500k on PL’s wage could (maybe not though) cost us millions on lost revenue.

     

     

    Would you take that risk?

  11. Weeminger

     

     

    Thanks.

     

     

    I think the fan ownership in theory would be a good idea. You would have to employ people like PL to do the jobs they do but maybe they would be more answerable to the fans…

  12. Just Another Tim on

    Is Barrowfield a club asset that can be sold? Will we ever start phase 2 of Lennoxtown?

  13. Weeminger Think the 1st share issue went to the north stand. The rest came from creating a debt that was manageable and Paid off

     

    How to go forward. Vastly reduce the squad, bring forward youths and sprinkle that with well paid pros

     

     

    Kev

     

    Indeed lee is a striker and will score goals play him as a striker

     

    It was sad that the top striker goal scorers in Scotland over the last few years have not been Celtic strikers ( commons is midfield )

     

    Not saying that Stevie May is world class , but he scores goals in SPFL , something that our strikers can’t seem to do. Sammi scored his 1st home goal on last day of the season

     

    It seems to be ignored

  14. KevJungle is a Celtic fan…not a supporter.

     

    11:01 on

     

    4 August, 2014

     

     

    No he hasn’t.

  15. Two excellent posts this morning.

     

     

    Marrakesh Express’s story about the Brazen visitors @9.37

     

     

    and Robert Tressel’s 9.56 views on how supporters can be accommodated without turning us into a spendthrift club heading for bankruptcy.

     

     

    I share ger57’s view that the Spanish club model of electing millionaires to go and get you a bling signing is a very poor model, indeed, but I would be keen to hear more about the German club model. How do they resist the siren call to spend more on players? Are there limitations in play to protect them from themselves?

  16. Zbyszek

     

    My brother has a small house and he rents a room to a student during term-time. At the moment there is no student there . So theres one bed and a sofa I think, but he is happy for the guys to stay for 2 nights?Maybe he’ll get a blow-up bed. Dont worry about political talk ,my brothers views are much more moderate than mine.

  17. Weeminger. The CEO is to listen to the manager and sign the players he wants if we have the cash

     

    PL does not do that

     

    A CEO who earns 1m a year from a club with a turnover of 70m is unheard of. There was an interesting article on EPL CEO’s and their salaries , only a few earn PL remuneration. Most are on half to a quarter

     

    We can’t afford EPL wages

  18. sydneytim

     

     

    10:40 on 4 August, 2014

     

    Kev if at the end of this week we are turfed out the CL and drawn against someone who is an average team for EL qualifiers , then the PL cash cow must come to an end He must go to unite the support again

     

     

     

    ——

     

     

    Really?

     

     

    Peter Lawell going will unite the fans?

     

     

    How so?

  19. SydneyTim

     

     

    11:05 on 4 August, 2014

     

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    Yeah, the carefully planted ‘lackeys’ on here seem to do a good job of – sweeping the ‘glaring’ deficencies under the carpet. imho

     

     

    67 Heaven will be on the now with one of big – long – boring posts from Phil about the latest innocous happenings from the sevco dome or, as the ‘bored’ would call it Ibrox Stadium.

     

    HH

  20. Keviungle ….

     

     

    You need to watch the games more closely rather than blaming the board for every defeat , Mia

  21. weeminger

     

     

    11:05 on 4 August, 2014

     

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    I’m sure it ain’t a kick in the erchie aff it.

     

     

    Oh, and don’t, please don’t post me stuff that is presented by an ‘afflicted-‘bored’ as evidence, please don’t. Thanks.

     

     

    I wouldn’t trust the ‘bored’ as far as I could spit them – CSC

  22. If Celtic are , according to many on here anyway, so reluctant to spend money, why does Peter Lawwell receive such a hefty salary?

     

    BothwaysCSC

     

     

    JJ

  23. KevJungle is a Celtic fan…not a supporter.

     

    11:13 on

     

    4 August, 2014

     

     

    Are you suggesting that PLs salary as stated in the annual accounts is a lie? That’s a very, very serious allegation.

     

     

    However, let’s assume it’s correct. The earliest annual report available states his 2005 salary as £300k. I’ll be generous and give him the same for 2003 and 2004, although I think it was less. The most recent states his 2013 salary as £1M. I’ll give him the same for this year.

     

     

    On that basis he’s taken about £7.5M out of the club (I make no comment on the right or wrongness of that). In addition he has shares and share options that he could make about £500k on.

     

     

    That’s a massive difference to the £20M you stated.

  24. Jungle Jim

     

    11:18 on

     

    4 August, 2014

     

     

    Do you think the £500k we might save on a cheaper alternative (assuming they perform to th same standard) would make a difference on the pitch?

  25. Weeminger. The CEO should interfere with a mangers signings

     

    A CEO should make sure all transfer money received is reinvested in the team

     

     

    Both those items PL has failed in

  26. For the record. I’m not convinced PL is worth his salary but DD and his supporters obviously are.

     

     

    However I will challenge anything I consider to be factually inaccurate. It’s helps nobody’s argument at all.