If Craig Gordon had the fortitude of his more vocal critics he would have crawled into a shell and you would be reading about a plucky Celtic defeat this morning. Fortunately for Celtic, Craig is grounded in solid earth.
He’s overcome greater challenges than his recent loss of form. Great to have you back, Craig.
Credit is due right across the back line, as well as to the goalkeeper, despite the loss of three goals. City have some of the finest attacking players currently plying their trade in Europe. A victory last night would have rewritten record books for English football clubs, but time and again Erik Sviatchenko and Kolo Toure timed runs, blocks and tackles perfectly.
I’m having trouble figuring out how Mikael Lustig can still put that kind of performance in. His fitness levels seemed to be inextricably heading south last season, but he’s back as good as ever. Kieran Tierney is that rare property, a left back with pace and endurance, who can defend and cross. He’ll continue to improve.
Tom Rogic was totally in control of what was an incredibly difficult area of the field to play football. Our performance levels followed the fuel in his tank. When he faded, we faded.
Brown and Bitton did very well too. Scott forced his influence onto the game in the first minute, which set the tempo.
I know Nir Bitton looks like he lacks urgency. In his own penalty area. With City players bearing down on him. On nights like this the easiest thing in the world is to play it long when under pressure. The hardest thing to do is to hold the ball, draw pressure but try to create space for others. It’s what the very top midfield players at the very top clubs do. You’ll remember seeing the same from Nir in the second half.
Hands up if you thought James Forrest had this level of performance in him? His timed run from deep at the opening goal was straight from the training ground, but executed perfectly. We didn’t get him into the game often enough, but his work off the ball created space for Dembele.
Scott Sinclair was another who put in a brave performance; brave in the sense that he held the ball often under intense pressure. He looks like he’s enjoying life in Glasgow.
And what of Moussa? I doubt any of us knew the calibre of player we recruited. It was a gamble for the club and for the player, but it’s paid off for both, and how. His first goal was fortuitous – no bad thing in a striker. His second belied his age. It was utterly gallus. No other word for it.
Well done Brendan. I thought you got it wrong in Barcelona but you went toe-to-toe against the top manager in the world, who travelled home with plenty to think about.
What a great phenomenon this whole Champions League business is. Even Newco earned around £500 from selling stadium tours to visiting fans. Happy to help, guys. High-fives all-round the city.
Thanks for the fantastic support for the Foundation ahead of the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon on Sunday. I’m now carb-loading for the first time in my life. It’s as much fun as it sounds. Any more help greatly appreciated.
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WEEMINGER on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2016 9:32 AM
£75 to see Kraftwerk at the Concert Hall puts the cost of our CL package into perspective.
75 quid for a drum machine and a USB stick?:)
Kev J- i get the impression Black has never been liked at any club, hope you are well HH
BHOYJOEBELFAST on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2016 9:42 AM
Heather on radio Scottie making good point re sevco fans,jardine reminds her,there are clubs blah blah blah.
Jardine wishes he had never started this now…..Jabba will be on the blower to him…
weeminger on 30th September 2016 9:32 am
£75 to see Kraftwerk at the Concert Hall puts the cost of our CL package into perspective.
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Aye, it’s expensive now. Just paid £170 for 2 tickets for the Stone Roses at Hampden next June.
Wis gonnae say £33 to see 11 Mancs V £85 to see 4 mancs, but there wur nae Mancs playing on Wednesday!
FAC the Act
KTF
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
___________________________________________________
Hail Hail fella.
Bobby, I seen yer post yesterday inviting me to the session the morra.
Thanks Bobby, but I have to decline.
I’ve an arms length list of reasons, issues, worries, concerns, facts, figures, hallucinations, bad-dreams, recurring nightmares, pre-traumatic stress disorder, ripped tight issues etc…..;-(
Sorry old pal but, I know that it’s me who is losing.
Our paths will cross one day….it says so in the Celtic rune stones!
I hope that you all have a great day and, most important of all, stay safe.
You’ll Never Walk Alone in the….Jungle.
Bless.
!!BADA BING!!
_______________
Hail Hail fella.
Re: Dylan and folk music. Folk music arose from an informal oral tradition and has not always been documented and copyrighted. Dylan followed in that tradition. Taking a tune and putting your own words to it is part and parcel of folk music. Dylan has stated this in his own biography and acknowledges both Irish and Scottish folk music as being a major influence on him. We’re very good at it ourselves. “Fenian Record Player” is not an original tune. Neither is “The Celtic Song”. :-)))
Weeminger
Kraftwerk apollo june 15 81
Seen their ‘danced up’ return
Greenfields 96 with fifty thousand
2 great gigs
Had freeby in O2 few years back and have to agree with BB the usb sticks were prominent.
:-)
HH
BMCUWP @ 9:44 AM,
Well ridiculous but that doesn’t surprise me…
Not that I mind them deluding the deluded. It destroyed them before… it’s not going to be any better this time round.
It’s the rest of Scottish Football I worry for.
Is it Jealousy, bigotry, apathy!?
I really don’t know… think we have two players in the Scotland U21 Squad.
Still… we’re happy Tims sooo…
Onwards and upwards!!
Hail Hail
Hasn’t taken the hacks long to get started on the old ‘unsettle Dembele’ routine.
Suppose we should be used to it by now.
KEVJ
Someday,oneday,pal. No problem here.
You look after yourself,getting fighting fit and we can meet up for a glass of your choice.
VFR800A8 on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2016 9:52
“Aye, it’s expensive now. Just paid £170 for 2 tickets for the Stone Roses at Hampden next June.”
●□●□●□●□●□●
That’s an absolute disgrace.I’m a Roses diehard but they’re just at it now,no different to Genesis,Coldplay or any other corporate whores.Looks like my days of watching the Roses are over.
Hope you enjoy it regardless mhate,just needed to get that off my chest.
Making football clubs liable for the actions of others (ie fans) is not strict liability, it’s vicarious liability.
BMCUW – 30TH SEPTEMBER 2016 10:06 AM
______________________________________________
Yeah, we will that, take care fella.
HH
….off-oot…..
WHAT IS THE STARS
I don’t want to bore people with my political posts in the morning. It will be probably enough to tell, that we people from Central or Eastern Europe see things in different colours, have different views on history. One of the examples. The majority in the West says the USSR liberated Europe from the German Nazis. People in Poland know very well that Germany invided Poland on September 1, 1939 and 17 days after Germany Russia invided Poland from the other side. Both Nazi Germany and Communist USSR murdered people until Gemany atacked USSR in June 1941. Both were like a twin brothers.
As for the things that happened in Prague.
Again, I’ll give you Poland as an example. Few years ago we were the hosts to about 80 000 people from Chechnya. Now we have about 1 million people from Ukraine working in here. I have never ever heard a word against those people. They work hard, pay the taxes etc. On the other hand we have thousands of the people who have Polish roots living in Kazakhstan or in Ukraine wishing to find their place in the land of their ancestors. They would need money for the starter, roof under their heads and hopes for the better future. The country still has no enough funds to bring back these people to Poland. There is in Poland limited perspective for many young people who want to have their own family, I mean flats and work possibilities. You could say :but you get money from the EU, don’t you? You could be right, but the money does not go Mr.Kowalski pocked who lives in a small village Siemianowka.
Were those in Prague the Nazis? I don’t know, or to be more honest, I doubt they were. They were against Merkel policy.
If the conjunction was that simple ?
I remember Toyah Willcox fought against the asylum seekers.I don’t think she was a Nazi. If she was a Nazi I would not listen her husband’s King Crimson :-)
Chairboy 9.39
Great read…….My worry is that as we all know Sevco are probably gonna have some kind of insolvency event again in the not too distant future. If a club or anything for that matter continually spends more than it brings in, it goes bust . Not rocket science !! The PR pish will be ramped up even more dragging scottish football with it , is this gonna be a continuing cycle . Our clubs need to be in a positive environment that encourages all teams to grow and prosper. Never in a million years will we have that under the SFA . Ok things are looking rosy for Celtic just now but we HAVE to get out of here , With no sevco or a badly wounded sevco limping along the SFA , media puppets etc will continually talk down Celtic and scottish football. Dont think we will ever be part of the EPL. We must engage ( maybe we already are, Paul ?? ) with other teams from the smaller countrys who were once Euro giants who have big fan bases etc and come up with an attractive league or something, if not the SFA and all its brothers will hold us back ……..What about a genuine Financial Fair play set up with strict rules on what is and what is nt allowed i.e Live by your means and all clubs accounts out in the open . And not just for Celtic , but for well run scottish clubs as well …there must be enough teams to maybe have 2 leagues anything would be better than the domestic situation we are in. I know a lot of people will laugh and say but what about the champions league … But surely if we could be part of a proper league ( top teams from holland, portugal , scandinavia etc ) there would be decent TV money and sponsorship which would maybe get us away from the lottery that is the champions league qualifers . Tin hat on here but if we do continually qualify for champions league yes we will be financially in a great place but we are never gonna be scaling the heights of Barca , Bayern or for that matter your Financially doped Man Citys of the world and domestically no one will be able to touch us…..leading to boredom. We must find an escape from here , we are being held back big time
Roddybhoy
“Forgot to add that I am now off to aforementioned Fun Day”
JJ,
Seniors?? You must be caddying you whippersnapper ;)
HH
Roddybhoy 10.23
We may have to tunnel our way out ?
If we did, we would be the Celtic Underground ? Lol.
VFR800A8 on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2016 8:52 AM
Must agree, great review from a City perspective .
If anybody has the time, the video is well worth watching. Must admit I have a slightly different opinion of Manchester City and their fans after Wednesday. I’m sure they will remember their day in Paradise and Glasgow in general. Of course there is good and bad everywhere.
HH.
PS : All the talk earlier about skinheads made me observe. Some amount of skins and baldies among the City supporters. Hopefully the Glesga barbers did a roaring trade.
Big Jimmy
lol at the moment that would seem our best hope
Looking forward to watching the Celts tmorra v Dundee
4-0 to the Hoops !
Haven’t a Scooby about what team BR will play,but I suspect it may not involve any more than 2 changes from Wednesday, with the international break coming up, and also IF it was my decision ( fat chance !), I would pick the strongest team possible, tell them to get the job done as quickly as possible ( by half time ?), and then make 3 substitutions andcoast home avoiding any injuries etc.
Simples !
As for the Germans BMG, they MUST be shaking in their boots after watching the Celts on Wednesday v City dreading being anywhere near Celtic Park ?
Hopefully by kick off, they will be so severely traumatised facing the Celts and the Celtic support, that they’ll even forget which way their supposed to be shooting ? Lol.
RODDYBHOY @ 10:23 AM,
Yes, excellent points…
We know it’s not the whole picture but when you see us beating Newco 5-1 then later the same week getting trounced 0-7 by Barca then the gap we are astride looks like a chasm.
With a foot in each, we are certainly in an uncomfortable position.
We are currently in a good place, a top Manager and renewed Boardroom ambition has seen a marked improvment but much of the last decade has been painful… even all that jelly & ice cream had it’s side effects:)
I’ve never been sure of our way forward (above and beyond the must for UCL or UEL Football)…
But now I’m sure you are right. Some sort of Altlantic League format is a must. The big Leagues are flexing their Muscles… Football for the first time in many, many years is a profitable business.
“How do you amass a small fortune… you take a large fortune and buy a Football Team”… no longer applies.
Modern Football Clubs bring – money, fame, prestige and wealth indivduals and Corporates are now investing in a huge way.
They are not interested in provincial or grass roots Football and want as big a slice of the pie as they can get.
To be a top Club in Europe going forward we need a much better platform to play our “weekly” Football in…
The top Clubs from the small Leagues must combine to make a sizable, captivating and competitive League structure…
Hail Hail
I hardly heard the Green Brigade on Wednesday night. ;)
That is what Celtic Park should be all about.
The LLU is a Brilliant place to be.
Zadok the Priest was always a big highlight, I never heard that either. ;))
Celtic will struggle a bit tomorrow IMO, the Effort put in by Celtic was Monumental against Peps team.
Time to unleash those on the fringes. Celtic 3 goals to the good by Half Time. :))
PETEC
Get the ringtone!
ZBYSZEK on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2016 10:17 AM
‘The majority in the West says the USSR liberated Europe from the German Nazis’
##
I’m not sure if the majority of people think that, I very much doubt it, but the consensus of informed opinion is certainly that the USSR played a decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany, and that the outcome of the war would have been different if it wasn’t for the efforts and sacrifice of their population.
In doing so the USSR was acting in its own interests, just like every other country that took part in the war was doing.
What I want to know is, can the corruption being exposed by the Torygraph be used to help Celtic gain entry to the EPL?
BOBBY,
I wish you were there. The Wee Man (and he is a quiet wee Laddie) was going mental at each goal – I loved it.
That is the only Stage for Celtic now. Big Time Underdogs.
Rack them Titles up in the process. ;))
Chairbhoy on 30th September 2016 11:12 am
RODDYBHOY @ 10:23 AM,
Yes, excellent points…
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To be honest if there is a “breakaway” type league I would see the bigger clubs wanting Celtic included. Apart from the experience enjoyed by Barca, Bayern, Man United, Juventus etc. at Celtic Park; and having our fans at their stadiums, they are also well aware of our global TV audience (esp. USA).
UCL now has a global reach and the top clubs want that audience. That would give us a much bigger slice of the pie and allow us to attract the best players available; therefore we would be in a position to compete at their level.
Just an opinion.
FAC the Act
KTF
I’ve been reading about those Royal navy submariners wrecking the cinema and bar at Faslane ( must be Huns ?)
Anyway it put me in mind of an old maritime song called,
” what will we do with the drunken sailor” ! LOL
RODDYBHOY on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2016 10:23 AM
Good post.
We have three years to contemplate our future before the CL changes format. IMO the CL changes will make the games more boring and grounds and TV audiences will dwindle.
It could be argued that the CL actually needs teams like us to generate interest.
I had friends in England saying they watched our game in their club and were totally blown away. No doubt the decision makers of European football observed that too.
I understand money is God to the organisers, but when domestic league places are of greater importance and prestige to the big 4 then interest will wane. We already see trends like that in England.
There is no doubt that familiarity breeds contempt, especially when all teams have approximately equal wealth and resources.
All competitions need underdogs. European football itself is in danger if they virtually exclude us and teams of the same irk.
The cries won’t just be boring, boring Arsenal, but substitute Arsenal for any game.
Planning for our future I hope is already well underway, but there is no doubt big decisions lie ahead.
HH.
Petec 11.19
You never heard the Green Brigade on Wednesday, maybe you should take the mute button aff your TV remote mate ?
Big Jimmy,
You were not to know I’m practically deaf in my right ear, does not do me any favours when playing Counterstrike, I tell you.
;)
BIG JIMMY on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2016 11:36 AM
I think you’ve misunderstood his point.
PAUL67,
I enjoyed the BMRTV video, but I suspect those City fans were relived to get out of Celtic Park with a point IMO, but probably didn’t wish to admit as much?
Whilst their team performed well ( which made Celtic’s performance even better,) they quickly knew that they were on deadly ground, foreign soil…in other words Paradise !
IMO, those City made looked to be blown away with Celtic and our fans,I think we shook then up quite a bit ?
HH
Well lots of rubbish being written in the MSM about big clubs lineing up to buy Dembele but Brendan handling it well by talking about 15 million for his big toe.I know if the bhoy continues to improve we will not be able to hang on to him but when the time comes we need to get the maximum fee we can extract from these big clubs the money can be used to continue building the team.I have to be honest I was never a big Brendan fan but since he has come to Celtic I have been really impressed by him.Tomorrow brings a different challenge we are away from home but faveroutes for the 3 points but we must not be complacent Dundee will be up for the game I think Brendan will freshen the team up a bit after Wednesdays exertions.H.H.
Petec& Ernie,
Sorry about your Hearing condition, but I suffer the same in one ear. In your post you didn’t mention anything about your Hearing condition ?
Apologies.
Ernie, sorry mate but I fail to see the point in Petecs post that I supposedly missed ?
HH
Ah the cheats/sfa schizophrenia.
It happened.The breakdown.
LIQUIDATION DAY ON 14TH 2012
Poor wee soul will never be the same again.
HH
HH