This morning we have the luxury of being concerned at the volume of chances Motherwell passed by before briefly pegging Celtic back in yesterday’s encounter at Fir Park. Before kick-off, all that mattered were the three points that necessary to keep our title challenge on track. We got what we wanted.
Virtuoso performances by Mohamed Elyounoussi and, to a lesser extent, Tom Rogic, meant the win was eventually secured in some style. Motherwell threatened repeatedly from halftime until they eventually scored on 72 minutes, better teams would have done more with the chances, but stout defending, by Diego Laxalt in particular, kept them at bay.
Elyounoussi’s potent ability to time his arrival into the danger perfectly brought his first hat-trick as a Celtic player. He described the first, a rebound from Albian Ajeti shot off the post, as lucky, but he was the fastest ‘lucky’ player to make the follow-in run. His second, from Rogic’s cutback, made the most of tight space inside the Motherwell area. The salmon leap-like header for the third goal was a delight. On this form, Mohamed will have a big influence on the season.
Shane Duffy and Odsonne Edouard were rested, with the returning Kristoffer Ajer and Ajeti preferred. Both did well. Ajer’s early retirement through a recurrence of his groin injury is a concern, I don’t think we will see the best from Celtic until he and Christopher Jullien are paired together at the back.
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Have a good day Celts
ILJASB who do you love? – moniker :-)
contrary to the rtb and st tams.asking yi bout being a hun didnae have any malice.they can interpret it their way.thats the freedom the blog gives as it is mine to say sssh yir havering.:-)enjoy the best Celtic blog.
:-)
HH
Trump removed from EXIT ROW SEAT, for refusing to help in an emergency.
AN TEARMANN
LETS ALL DO THE HUDDLE
Good guesses about the nom de blogger but nowhere near. I’ll just keep it a secret less it becomes a distraction.
AN TEARMANN
No malice felt sir. We’re good to go.
Less = lest
MELBOURNE MICK on 10TH NOVEMBER 2020 1:10 AM
RIP ALEX BYRNE
Good player I had the privilege of watching back in the day, don’t think
he had a fair chance at the club and sometimes a victim of the boo boys.
As per I suppose.
Interesting he came to Oz to live, anybody know where?
H.H. Mick
_______
I knew his son, when they lived in the east end of Greenock. Never knew they mixed to Australia.
Moved to Australia.
Nobody has been on the moon – just saying like!
Alex Byrne RIP. I remember watching him in the reserves. He looked a world beater.
Sid
But someone has – just clarifying 😉
Frimpong is fine with me,he isn’t a defender,a winger for sure ,he is a trier ,and Lenny should start with Ajeti,Elyonoussa,and Barkas back in goal,and Big Julien might not be the greatest Centre Half but he definitely is better than big Duffy,so instead of me criticising some Celtic Players let’s all rally round them hopefully it all goes well on the field of play and put a bit of pressure on the team above us.
The question was asked recently about what was happening with young Karamoko , I was told that a deal had been set up for him to go on loan to Ayr Utd for rest of season but he refused to go to Ayr because he wants to go to Ajax instead, anybody else heard anything?
.
TESTING
Where is everyone?
Coventry quick news?
ILJASB on 10TH NOVEMBER 2020 6:58 AM
Numerous difficult choices for the manager:
Bain or Barkas? I think the latter is probably a better goalie but has not played particularly well. There are of course mitigating factors: new country/team; poor defense; Covid uncertainty. I’d stick with Barkas but work on defense a priority.
Brown or Soro: I think I’d play Brown for 60 minutes then play Soro and see what happens
Frimpong or Elhamed? I’d go with El Hamed. Frimpong is not a defender and has been sussed out. Easily contained by Rangers, Aberdeen and Motherwell defenses. I really don’t know what to do with him as he has limitations as a winger too.
Calmac or Turnbull: Calmac 60 minutes then Turnbull and see what happens.
Ajeti, Griffith, Eddie, Klimala? I’d start Eddie and Ajeti and replace one of them (whoever is playing less well) with Griffith. Sorry I don’t see much of a role for Klimala at the moment, despite his brilliant goal not so long ago.
Must this 60/30 sharing be bad for the team or the individual players? Any thoughts on this particular point?
—-
We’ve a hectic schedule once we’re back which will see us playing a lot of games despite being effectively out of Europe.
So all the players will get their chance through injuries, suspensions or fatigue.
For me;
Bain or Barkas – Barkas, all day long.
Brown or Soro – Brown, simply because I haven’t see anywhere near enough of Soro to put him in the team.
Frimpong or ElHamed – El Hamed, better defensively, stronger and puts in a better cross.
CalMac or Turnbull – CalMac, all day long. However, unlike Soro, we’ve seen Turnbull do it in the league and it’s a bit of mystery why he’s not getting more game time at the minute.
Ajeti Or Eddie – It’s Ajeti at the minute. Eddie isn’t worthy of a starting place in current form. That could change very quickly.
Forrest and MJ to come back will provide more options.
For Hibs, I’d go 4-2-3-1 because that’s the formation that gets the best out of Moi and he’s currently our best player.
Barkas, El Hamed, Jullien, Ajer, Laxalt, Brown, CalMac, Christie, Tam, Moi and Ajeti.
We’ve Ntcham, Bitton, Eddie, Griff, Turnbull, Taylor, Frimpong, Duffy and Bain on the bench.
We’ve ridiculous strength and depth with Forrest and MJ still to return. Getting a place on our bench will soon be a task.
I’ve heard the suggestion of playing Bitton in midfield ahead of Brown and I certainly think that could be an option.
It’s great to have such a squad but I’d really like us to get a settled team and formation over the next few weeks as Ibrox appears on the horizon.
There’s no excuses for us not kicking on with the squad we have.
We need to be making a statement at Easter Road and going on a double digit win run.
Greenpinata
“It’s amazing just how many conspiracy theories have turned out to be true. ”
Well. if the CIA was inventing them, they’d make damn sure they came true. 😋
Seriously, you would need to define what you are including in the term.
My belief is that conspiracies are carried out all the time by the rich against hte poor, in plain sight. Any deviation into Lizard Peole, NWO, the Jews, the Liberal Elite, Bill Gates, George Soros or the Catholic Church is a distraction away from that truism.
When the Champions who are chosen to fight those dieviating conspiracies turn out to be the egomaniacal son of a slum landlord and grandson of a brothel owner, or an Old Etonian who thinks Racists are ok so long as they don’t make a song and dance about it, or an agent of the state who lives in a £1m house in Bedfordshire without ever having had any job outside being a Nazi agitator, or a Russian ex-KGB killer, then I am doubly unconvinced.
The Moon Landings “hoax” seems to me to be the most uninteresting hoax of all to justify. If it was a hoax- why do it? What advantage do you gain? The US win the Space Race, temporarily, but it does not bring them political or economic advantage? How do you silence all the people who worked on the projects before and after the first alleged landing?
When people say they have researched it, I take it they have read around on the subject but too often they have read only the sceptic wing of the argument and not read the rebuttals or successfully answered the rebuttals. Even if they can, why is it that there is no strength of support amongst the highly educated and informed worlds of engineering and science, for the conspiracy version but there is strong support amongst the population that claims to have been abducted and anally probed?
Among the many conspiracy theories out there- Moon Landing, JFK, NWO, Pizzagate, Twin Towers etc; there may be one or two where doubts and questions linger. Yet, even then, not being proven to be correct in all assertions cannot ever translate into being seen as disproven. The bar is much higher than that.
In the end a theory is a statement that best fits the proven facts. A theory is never proven; the best we can state is that it is yet to be disproven and replaced by a more accurate assertion that fits more of the now-known facts.
It is good that people ask questions of official events and approved versions. It is not so good when a low bar is accepted as proof that an official version is wrong.
Will Julien be back for Hibs?
Geebee
No but I hope he’s back for Celtic 🤭
SPIRITOF67
Thank you for the info re-Alex Byrne.
Hope some Bhoys from the Celtic club over their arrange
a tribute of some sort.
ZIGGYDOC
When I watched him he looked the part, but another like Charlie
Gallacher who took the wrath of the numpties in our support
because he didn’t crunch into tackles.
H.H. Mick
Last season Bain, was 3rd choice and Bitton was sitting in the stand most games. We then supposedly had a great transfer window and these 2 are now playing.
Should be Barkas in goal, he has done nothing wrong.
Elhammed Julien Ajer Laxalt
Park road
We are a club supposedly full of young talent and projects who never seem to break through – lack of chances, not showing in training may be the reasons – but it’s strange that none of Neil’s recent acquisitions are in the first xi
Excludes loanees
I assume that Turnbull was signed as a replacement for Rogic or possibly Ntcham.
However at Celtic signed off on the Rogic sale for 3 or 4 million needs chased.
*whoever
On the football front- some of the players who have been discounted are being ditched too early and some of the replacements being touted are being promoted beyond theur relative ability or their commitment to the cause.
Barkas and Duffy are victims of our poor run of performances where we were trying to knit together a defence after a fore-shortened pre-season. Duffy’ s performances merited dropping but he is far from a wasted recruit and he will be valuable to us in future because he is committed; he fought to come here and he wants to prove his worth. If paired with the faster Ajer and allowed to build up an understanding, he will come good. I still don’t fancy him and Julien as a CB pairing against decent teams though.
Barkas has done nothing wrong and is a decent level keeper. Bain, replacing him, was a shot to nothing. Bain has been an adequate replacement, nothing more, though he deserves credit for his penalty save. He is a confident guy and a strong personality but not quite as good as our previous goalies, Gordon and Forster. I expect Barkas will regain the jersey and will do fine.
Frimpong too is being written off against the evidence. Yes, his forays upfield do leave the back door open and, yes, he ahd a bad time stopping crosses early on. However, we are discounting him as both an attacking force and as a recovery defender- think of hte pressure he applied to Tony Watt last week (you know Elhamed would not have got close). Look at the match day voting in Jobo’s comp and you’ll see his effectiveness. He is being judged through the James Forrest telescope where we see all his faults and weaknesses (He is, after all, 19 and in his second senior season still) but overlook all his strengths. Best outcome is if we can strengthen the defence and still use Frimpong as the RWB, at least, until Forrest is back.
The ones that worry me are Julienne and Griff.
Griff’s form, when on the field, has been good enough to merit more of a game. He adds a lot to us, not least relieving hte excellent Christie from the dead ball duties which detract from his overall performance. So why is Griff NOT getting more of a game? Some explain it away as Neil’s intransigence and spite but this is a manager who has backed Griff in the past and that argument does not convince me. I believe Neil wants to play Griff to help the team but Griff is not doing enough during the week to help the manager justify this.
In Julienne’s case, I should take the big man’s word that he has back problems and is unfit for selection. God knows, it is an area of medical mystery generally and it is a plausible account for why he is out. But the suspicious side of me hears stories about him wanting the central position that Duffy occupie (s) (d) and the suspicious side sees him using his own personal trainer. I have no inside info but I wonder if itchy feet are more of an issue for Chris than a bad back. However, in his defence, Christie and AJer want away and Laxalt has not committed to stay, and none of this trio can be faulted for effort to the cause. On balance , I’ll give Chris one more chance to silence my doubts if he gets back quickly.
Edouard, I am inclined to give that benefit of the doubt.
He is not on last season’s form but I don’t see a player who has lost interest. he was always a low key vharacter who tended to play down celebrations and see enthusiasm as uncool. I see a player who is off form, maybe relying too much on trickery and over-doing it but has still been increasingly capable of holding off defenders and playing in support runners.
So, in trying to patch in a team of triers and in-form players over the next month, I am not writing off 3:5:2 with
Barkas or Bain
Julien Duffy Ajer
Frimpong Brown McGregor Elyounoussi Laxalt
Ajeti Edouard
Use Elhamed as a back 3 replacement
Christie or Taylor as WB replacements
Soro as DM replacement
Christie or Rogic as attacking mid replacements
& Griff as the atacking replacement
If we stay as 4:2:3:1
I would have
Barkas/Bain
Elhamed Jullien/Duffy Ajer Laxalt
McGregor Brown
Christie/Frimpong Rogic Elyounoussi
Ajeti (until Eddie is up to full speed)
This would allow subs which could see Welsh and Turnbull being bled into the team, otherwise they will have to wait for injury/suspension to gran a chance.
“gran a chance” is a cross between grab and gain.
fell between two stools again csc
new article posted.
setting free the bears
Among the many conspiracy theories out there- Moon Landing, JFK, NWO, Pizzagate, Twin Towers etc; there may be one or two where doubts and questions linger. Yet, even then, not being proven to be correct in all assertions cannot ever translate into being seen as disproven. The bar is much higher than that.
ah but,ah but,alfie,his mrs and the caur lol
some things best avoided ha.
hh
AN DÚN on 10TH NOVEMBER 2020 11:10 AM
Good call. I can agree but would definitely give substitutes more than cameos. 30 minutes for a SB replacement, probably Soro and 30 minutes for a Rogic replacement, probably Turnbull and 30 minutes for a replacement for Ajeti if not playing well, probably Griffith at the moment – still think Eddie not fully recovered from Covid.
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 10TH NOVEMBER 2020 11:53 AM
“Christie and AJer want away”
Another conspiracy theory