There can hardly be a better venue for Celtic to visit after a poor result than Tynecastle. The focus, which was so badly missing last weekend, is always evident there. As a consequence, we have a remarkably good record at what, on paper, should be one of the more difficult grounds to visit.
We should also see a tactical tightening. The empty acres behind the Celtic defence which Motherwell were able to exploit will surely be better defended tomorrow.
The postponement of the Hamilton game earlier this month, together with the loss last week, has given the league table a more competitive look. Last season this scenario was too much for Aberdeen, who stumbled at Dundee. It’ll be interesting to see how they deal with the Highlanders this afternoon.
Delighted to read this morning that the Celtic FC Foundation are helping Mary’s Meals in Kenya, as well as War Child, on the back of the stunning success of their Christmas appeal.
What a club!
396 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- »
Bada,
Thanks pal.God bless ye.
Sorry JJ didn’t know you had a couple of accidents, your ok now right?
Just to clarify the status of the game
Today’s referee E. Schrodinger has just confirmed that the game is both on and off
Hope that clears things up
foghorn leghorn
That depends on what channel you are watching..
Sky it’s on; if you (try and) watch it on BT it’s off.
I think.
Seems such a long time since Celtic lost to Motherwell as we await the final two games of 2015.
Tynecastle is normally a happy hunting ground and we’ve beaten Hearts very much more often than not, in the modern Celtic era. Don’t expect today to be any different and believe Celtic play better away from Celtic Park, on a smaller pitch, the wide open spaces at Celtic Park don’ suit our style.
There is no doubt we are on the verge of two potentially season defining games, that on the face of it Celtic fans expect to win .
Expect Ronny Deila to pick the best players available as he sees it, I’d play,
Gordon
Lustig Boyata Jozo and Izzaguire .
The rest is anybody’s guess with Rogic and McGregor likely to feature, and Scott Allan seeming more likely to start on the bench.
Bitton and Johansen holding, with the only other niggle whether Griffiths is fit to resume in his place as the main striker.
James Forrest could be the key in the Hoops, and today’s referee Steven McLean will hopefully be able to stifle his agenda enough, for Celtic to run out comfortable winners.
Update on game first half off,second half on.
Just to clarify the status of the game
Today’s referee E. Schrodinger has just confirmed that the game is both on and off
Hope that clears things up
——-
Though the fourth official W. Heisenberg is a bit less certain about it
lennon’s passion
The, game’s on Sky Sports, not BT Sport…. HH
We need a performance today imo.
Also hope THEY get jumped
On that note(I haven’t been following it) how has henderson been progressing’ if any.
HH
*HUMPED lol
*HUMPED
Good morning all
I hope you have all had good Christmases and that you and your families are well.
I have not been on the blog very much of late – work, family duties and the rest of it you know- and this is likely to be my last posting until the New Year. It may be a long one so apologies in advance.
Personally 2015 has not been a great year – I have had serious work issues that have had affected my health both physical and mental for most of the year and there are one or two family issues bubbling away that could turn out either way. But I have had worse years than this one and have been grateful for many things as well, with the most unexpectedly good being meeting up with old school friends for the first time in 30 odd years and finding that I still liked them. And the day I met them Celtic had just lost to Aberdeen so the mood was initially not great so it was unexpected that day went so well.
I would love to say that the Celts have been one of the things that have been good about 2015 but for me since one particular incident in mid-April Celtic has not been a source of much joy. If at half time of the Scottish Cup semi-final with Inverness Caledonian Thistle ( ICT) that Celtic would go on to lose I would have been very surprised and yet not only did Celtic go on to lose that day I think that since then we have lost our way almost totally. The non-decision just before that half time which should have led to the award of both a penalty and a red card for the ICT defender were beyond belief at the game but the incident should not have led to Celtic’s onfield collapse that day either. At half time at Hampden the incident had generated great discussion – especially as we looked at our mobiles and read texts from those watching on TV confirming that it was as blatant a penalty as we had thought. But I know I did not think it would have had had a major bearing on the outcome- I was wrong although it has been unfashionable to admit that terrible refereeing blunder though it was we should not have allowed us to have the impact on our team’s mood the way it clearly did.
Since that day we have not been a good team I think. There have been some good performances since the ICT match of course. Controlled displays away to Aberdeen in May, in Azerbaijan versus Qarabag and for 7/8 of the match in Amsterdam showed that we can play well against decent teams who are attacking us. The home league matches versus Aberdeen and Dundee saw us produce the kind of progressive, entertaining, football we produced regularly during 2015 prior to that Scottish Cup semi-final. The prevailing mood leaving Celtic Park after the Malmo and Fenerbahce matches was not positive and yet there were spells of those matches when we played thrillingly- far better than we did in the autumn of 2014 in European matches. But mostly it has been, if not downright awful, pretty flaccid. You know the games I mean – plenty of these games were won in uninspired and uninspiring fashion.
I know teams have ups and downs during years and that to be able to win when playing badly- which has often been the case this season- is a good thing to have in your armoury but the level of performance is not good. We have a sterile, predictable style of football that rarely sets my pulse racing. I read some of the stuff here and elsewhere about how good teams play players on their ‘wrong foot’ but watching Forrest, Armstrong, MacKay-Steven, McGregor and most recently Allan struggle playing in this way suggests to me that the coach is, at best, stubborn, not really watching what is happening out on the field and at worst could not care less about his players confidence levels. I know to some it seems that the individuals concerned must be weak minded and overly cossetted to react so negatively when the crowd, understandably, groans as yet another attacking move peters out because, say, a left footed player stuck on the right miss controls a pass played to his right foot or slows the momentum of an attack to a snail’s pace as he has to take the ball inside and into a pack of opponents but as someone who gets frequently told in his own work how badly he and he his company are doing I can understand why repeated ‘negative feedback’ can damage your morale. You would think that a coach with the experience of Ronny Deila would notice that not one of his wide players has thrived playing in this style but it would appear not. As with the ‘one up’ formation the style of playing wide players we employ is not a bad one when it works but all evidence I have suggests it does not work with us.
One of the most widely used openings to sentences concerning Celtic is ‘Ronny Deila is a nice guy but…’, well I have no idea if Ronny is a nice guy or not as I have never met him but in interview he comes across as being as intelligent and articulate as any manager we have had in my 54 years on this planet. He is not a fool it would appear but he could be in real trouble as he is mismanaging Celtic almost totally at the moment. Twice we have failed to reach the Champions’ League under his watch and in the Europa League this season our performances were for most of the last four games painful to behold and in both games with Molde the manager seemed utterly incapable of learning on the hoof or for the second game with the Norwegians of remotely rethinking his tactics. Aside from Jock Stein pre 77/8 and Martin O’Neill every manager we have had in my time has had periods of sustained crisis early on in his time in charge. Some like Big Billy (the first time), Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon came through pretty strongly others like Brady and Mowbray failed to cope. Deila is undoubtedly luckier than all of his predecessors in that he does not have any domestic opponent that has any sort of financial muscle (built up by steroids though it often was) or great onfield quality as was the case in the 1980s and Ronny’s team will probably win the league this year again but this does not mean he is necessarily a good manager (nor a bad one even more obviously). But I look at his team and wonder if there is one player now playing better than prior to that semi-final in April. I really doubt there is. Some would argue for Leigh Griffiths – who has played really well- but I am not convinced that he is any better as in my opinion he has simply maintained a level of performance he has been at since he signed for us. It was not Leigh’s fault that Ronny hardly picked him in the first half of last season as his performances under NFL had been excellent.
As for the players who have come in under Ronny in 2015 not one has been a success, qualified or otherwise. I do not know the mechanics of who and how Celtic go about signing players from other teams. Some say that it’s a committee of Peter Lawwell, John Park and some or all of the coaching staff with either Peter or Ronny having the final say. I do not know. What I do know is that every player we have signed this year has not impressed me. The two players signed from Dundee United in the January 2015 impressed initially but have faded absolutely to the point if either or both left few would be that bothered. Simunovic and Janko have probably not played enough but the former has shown signs that he is yet another player to be fading after a promising start. He has a tendency to dive into tackles during recent games, is not blessed with much pace, is not a good header of the ball and does not seem to possess much threat at set pieces although I do think there is a player in there although as with the United signings he looks as though he is just another player with ‘something’ that we will not develop. Ciftci never looked much in black and tangerine and does not look much in green and white and that is pretty much it. Boyata looks terrible to me – he made two bad mistakes in a league game in August versus ICT which were not crucial and has never recovered. I do read the post-match assessments on here and am bewildered when I read that he has played well, often with the word ‘again’ added. I just do not see it all. He is slow, passes atrociously, cannot read the play, has poor concentration and his head goes down very easily. The one real plus is that he does seem to have some attacking threat. And so when we are losing to Motherwell Ronny throws Simunovic into attack and not the centre back who has chipped in with five or six goals. Of the players who looked so good earlier in the year Bitton looks to be stalling, Commons ( though still dangerous) is showing inevitable signs of decline, Brown got injured as his form began to dip whilst Johansen has gone into a steep decline. The players must take responsibility for their own form but what help are they getting from our coaching staff and what on earth is the decision process that allows a complete dud like Tyler Blackett and a has-been who was never that great anyway like Carlton Cole to get in the squad? We might well be going to win the league this season and hopefully a treble but this is not a good Celtic team.
And yet as I say it all looked so promising until the non-intervention of Steven McLean and the various other officials that day in April. I think Ronny is struggling and think it is only the lack of a plausible replacement that is keeping the clamour for his removal at a peep. The lack of a credible opponent domestically is probably helping him too – Aberdeen do not actually look any better than one year ago and if we win today they will not be significantly nearer us than then in terms of points either- but I am uneasy about this season and feel that Ronny is not the man longer term to take us forward. This is largely his team and it is not as good as the one he inherited.
I will return though to that afternoon in April this year when we never got that penalty that had it been scored would have sent us cruising to a Scottish Cup Final where our opponent would have been Falkirk. The effect that day had on our support has not been a good one I think. That a mistake was made seems obvious to me though it was no worse or less obvious than the refereeing mistake in Malmo at almost the same time in the game as the semi-final. I could not tell you the name of that referee that night in Sweden and I bet that most of you could not without looking it up. You will all know who referred the game in April though and a good number of you will have your own idea why McLean and his ‘team’ failed to act. I am not sure that McLean is anything other than an incompetent – there was a game recently in the Premiership where he was reported to have missed another blatant handball by a defender in the penalty area that suggests he is unsure of the basic principle of the sport but since that day we have seen a return of what is known in some quarters as Celtic’s Paranoia. I think as fans we all feel that there is something in our mistrust of referees and officialdom but I think since that day it has begun, here at least, to be overused. The referees are terrible but it is not just us who thinks it. A sense of injustice can actually spur on sporting teams but using it as an excuse for failure is not appealing. A fellow contributor on here mentioned the old Millwall and Hun song ‘No one likes us we don’t care’ and said it could now apply to us. Sorry, it is not for me.
Celtic means a lot to me. Far too much probably for a man of my age with the financial, emotional and family worries I have. I love the history – both actual and romanticised- and if I were to list the twenty happiest moments of my life at least half would be associated with Celtic. I like discussing present failings and reminiscing about past heroes (and duds) with fellow supporters whether it be in the bus or car home or in the pub after a match. On here it can still be like that but increasingly I find the discussions on CQN are not to my taste. The conspiracy theories, the acceptance of the intolerance of others, the hiding behind statistics can be too much like sitting beside a pub bore. During the week if I have a day off the blog seems to be given over too haranguing lectures by one correspondent or the narrow minded, belligerent sychophancy of another. I do not doubt both do support Celtic but you know when they are on here I never read either of them saying anything that suggests any real affection for Celtic and in one instance at least I think their support for the Bhoys has less to do with real pride and love for Celtic but a dislike of Rangers. Celtic are frequently irritating these days but I have seen things turn around and my maligned Ronny might do it. Two years after we were trounced by Arnhem we won in Moscow and beat Barcelona. Supporting Celtic should be about loving our club and wishing it well not the grafting on of tired political conspiracy theories and hatred of others. Unlike some who contribute here I can admit I can be wrong.
Apologies for going on so much but I am not on this site much and feel I needed to get this off my chest.
Mon the Hoops.
Jimbo67
Foghorn
Now you have let the cat out of the bag (box)
An ever growing number of Hearts casuals at Platform 5 bar across from Haymarket station. Be careful Bhoys.
Foghorn
Now you have let the cat out of the bag (box)
——-
Or have I ???
Jimbo67……hope thing’s pick up for you
and your loved one’s in 2016.
HT……don’t worry, the polis will be all over
it,eh!!!!!
Any advice please as to how I can get in behind the vertical 888 advertising so that I can read what Paul 67 has to say? CQN becoming impossible!
Hoopy festive greetings to P67 and to all bloggers. ..CQN is a braw place. ..hoping for a good game in Edinburgh. ..
Take care
Braw
Just saw sky sevco news build up to our game with Tanner and Mccann. Their usual drivel with regards to us, every negative imaginable and talking about Hearts being solid in defence despite them conceding more goals than we have.
JIMBO67
Great post,so well up to your usual standards!
I hope you have a much better year to come. I hope you reconsider your thoughts about posting less frequently too.
Look after yourself,mate. Chin up,don’t let life grind you down.
HH
Rab Douglas goalie gloves what’s happening Tatti got a ticket before you.
Griffiths and Commons out?
Neustadt! HH loon!
Where ye been hiding?
TC45
TIMGREEN
There should be a large X in the top corner. Click on that,the ad will disappear.
Annoyingly,not permanently.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 27th December 2015 12:44 pm
TIMGREEN There should be a large X in the top corner. Click on that,the ad will disappear.
————–
Tried that. No X. Anyway gone now. Replaced by yet another betting ad. Not the CQN I loved for a decade.
Annoyingly,not permanently.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/tynecastle-perfect-venue-for-stumbling-celtic/comment-page-10/#comments
There should be a large X in the top corner. Click on that,the ad will disappear.
Annoyingly,not permanently.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/tynecastle-perfect-venue-for-stumbling-celtic/comment-page-10/#comments
timgreen on 27th December 2015 12:37 pm
Any advice please as to how I can get in behind the vertical 888 advertising so that I can read what Paul 67 has to say? CQN becoming impossible!
—————
What are you using laptop/pc or mobile/tablet?
TIMGREEN on 27TH DECEMBER 2015 12:50 PM
I had the same issues. Following advice from one of the guys on the blog I installed Goggle Chrome, Goggle Chrome comes with a free app called Adblock Plus, once Chrome was installed with Adblock Plus CNQ worked a treat.
HH
Jimbo67
Fine post mate….hopefully all goes well with you in new year……and today hh
HH BMCW!
Happy hols mate!! Y’all doing well?
TC45
Celtic team to face Hearts: Gordon; Lustig, Boyata, Simunovic, Tierney; Bitton, Johansen; McGregor, Rogic, Armstrong; Ciftci
Celtic team v Hearts ko 2pm – live on BT Sport 1
Celtic Football Club @celticfc 5s6 seconds ago
Celtic team to face Hearts: Gordon; Lustig, Boyata, Simunovic, Tierney; Bitton, Johansen; McGregor, Rogic, Armstrong; Ciftci
Subs: Bailly, Izaguirre, Ambrose, Allan, Mackay-Steven, Cole, Forrest
TCR
Hope you and the family had a fine Christmas in Derry.
Not heard any whispers about Radnor reopening. I do know that Wetherspoons want to open their first pub in Clydebank. They got knocked back from opening a boozer in the Shopping Centre by the Council last week. Seemingly there is enough pubs already in the town.
Celtic team to face Hearts: Gordon; Lustig, Boyata, Simunovic, Tierney; Bitton, Johansen; McGregor, Rogic, Armstrong; Ciftci
Embramike
Game on SS1
Not a great team I’m afraid
Embramike
Is the game not on Sky Sports 1???
Just saw the team sheet.
So who’s gonna score the goals now that Broonie’s out?
A bit of a worry…
;o)
Time for Armstrong to step up.