James Forrest has been carrying an injury for 10 months, which has affected the player’s effectiveness, so, irrespective of the outcome of his neurologist visit last week, I’m working on the assumption Celtic will play Adam Matthews in front of Michael Lustig on the right. This pair have speed, enormous energy, can cross and can defend. They have the making of a promising partnership.
Dirk Boerrigter has seen only 30 minutes football this season, and that was almost a month ago, but with the lack of options in the striker role, and the memory of just how effective he was during those 30 minutes, I expect we’ll see him from the start. He would also lift the atmosphere a degree or two higher.
Emilio Izaguirre will, of course, play left back. With Emilio bombing forward it is crucial we don’t leave the left flank exposed. This is a regular habit of Celtic’s which is seldom exposed in domestic football but Spartak Moscow scored their only goal at Celtic Park last season by exploiting the acres behind Emilio.
With Anthony Stokes looking unlikely, it will probably be Georgios Samaras leading the line with Kris Commons in the free role. Some of Georgios’ best performances away from home in Europe have been up front but it’s not his best position. Kris Commons I have no worries about. He knows exactly what is required tonight. In particular, expect him to win free kicks near the box and perhaps a penalty. I’ll make no comment on what to expect if we are awarded a spot kick.
Central midfield will have Scott Brown and Joe Ledley. Watch for Joe making back post runs. We can expect marking to be tight tonight, so a late run into the box could offer our best chance of a breakthrough.
I think we can be sure we’ll not see two novice (to Celtic) central defenders again. Steven Mouyokolo, new at the club after three years of little football, was singled out for criticism in some places after last week’s defeat which was particularly unfair. Defences work as a unit and the unit in Astana was dysfunctional. Steven was no guiltier than half the team.
Efe Ambrose will play, probably with Virgil van Dijk, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Charlie Mulgrew selected instead.
It will be close to 2am in Kazakhstan when the second half gets underway. Shakhter Karagandy players will be suffering from the effects of jetlag. Minds and bodies will be tired, leading to diminished concentration and rash decision making. Celtic players should be on the lookout to play on, and exploit, this.
Play to their vulnerability. Remove the lighting tubes from their changing room and have the heating on full blast. We’ve all been tired in a room that’s too warm, it’s not conducive for football preparation. This is an environmental advantage of playing at home. Use it.
Playing in front of a stimulating crowd might actually help Shakhter early on, but the adrenaline boost will fade, leaving tired limbs. The value of fresh legs is enormously underappreciated in football. Get subs on midway through the second half and work their defence off the ball. If we aim to have our players tired after 60 minutes, we’ll know we are on the right track, as they will be suffering a lot more.
It is not important to get an early goal, even conceding one would not be the end of the story. This is going to be a long night, stick with it.
We cannot afford to get a man sent off but there can be nothing cordial about this game. Shakhter’s manager, Victor Kumykov, sounded less sure of himself yesterday, perhaps filled with trepidation. Don’t let him or his players settle, be professional but make sure he knows he has been disrespectful to his guests, and that he is now out of his depth.
They are a long way from home, make sure they know this. There will be opportunities for friendly chat after the final whistle.
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As for gamesmanship, there are big stakes, I’ve not got any issue with it. In fact I’m for it.
gamriestu
The games are usually shown in Champs on the cobbled street behind the waterfront – between Philleas Fog and an Italian restaraunt. If it’s not on there (we are usually 2nd choice behind any English game and they have the league cup matches tonight) then try the Irishman, they have Sky in the bar upstairs, and will usually show the games if you ask at the bar downstairs. There are usually a couple of guys that go there, but it won’t be heaving.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Champs-Sportsbar/113369332069310
If you watch the re-run of their game against the Albanians you will see that this is a defence that doesn’t like to be turned, inside forward passes between the full back and the centre halves will hurt this team, punting the ball into the box without end will be meat and drink to them, through the channels or from the byline is how the story goes…
Kris Commons vital tonight or Sammi or Derk we need someone who can commit their players and draw fouls, their centre half Mahli(??) is a red card waiting to happen if we get in around him…
Wish I was on the Gallowgate ono…
Gamriestu,
Beverley Sports Cafe, Skagenkaien 14A (4000 Stavanger) is your best bet.
Lycka till – kom igen Celtic!
I have a dream..
Or at least last night I had a dream..
Although it was a bit fuzzy, and constantly interrupted by inexplicable cameo appearances by scantily clad ex girlfriends, the upshot was that the Celts progressed on an aggregate score of 6-3 despite falling behind to an early Shaktyor goal..
Get yer money down folks!
We see packed defences every week on the same park…we have problems breaking teams down. Fast passing, clever football is what’s required…min the hoops.we can do this.
Paul67 –
What we don’t have is an adequate replacement for Gary Hooper.
What we do have is a team full of players who can score goals – with the exception of Forster and Izaguirre … and an intimidating atmosphere that is second to none on European nights.
Celtic to go through. I don’t care how we do it.
RIEPERMAN
Having met you,I suspect your ex-burds are worth at least comparing notes over.
I canny even remember the names of most of mine,and those that I do remember,I wish I didnae!
Tell you what-I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours…..
A wee Dylan line for JIMBO67 and ZIMMERMAN,that.
Off to Bath on Saturday for the match,erm,etc. you available?
I’ll go for the DBBIA approved 5-0.
EC67
Paul67
“Play to their vulnerability. Remove the lighting tubes from their changing room and have the heating on full blast. We’ve all been tired in a room that’s too warm, it’s not conducive for football preparation. ”
Why don’t we throw a Tear Gas cannister in there as well at Half Time if its not going our way ? :-)
Marti
St Etienne……Sporting Lisbon…….Cologne
Let’s evoke the spirit of glorious Euro comebacks under the lights of Paradise tonight.
We have a massive part to play tonight…..as Tommy Burns, God rest him, famously said….
“They’re there and they’re always there”
We will be there tonight TB – God bless ye.
I love ye my Celtic – go and do it.
Sorry for the repetitive postings Bhoys, don’t know what’s happening..
I am want to know who kicked the jack out from under the car I was working on.The suspension is killing me
We must keep 2 up front at all times,we can’t let them settle and play their way in to the game.A high tempo pressing game required IMO .Matthews and Sammi on the flanks,Balde and Stokes/Watt thru the middle with Commons behind them.Brown and Ledley taking up the slack.
Can we pipe, these boots are made for walking into their changing room?
I think back 3 shud be enough with brown and ledley in midfield aswel.
FF
–lustig Virgil mulgrew–
Matthews Brown Ledley Derk
Commons sammi
Stokes(balde)
Hit them early celtic.. Get men in box, last week when we had ball there was no one in box , was unbelievable at times, .
There keepe looked weak last weak, scare the hell outta him early with crosses shots corners.
This is our city
These are our colours
Nothing wrong with taking out their guy with the long throw,it’s part of the game.
Given my mighty 6 points gained on the ole Predictor this weekend. I have no opinion as to the result.
RIEPERMAN
“I HAVE A DREAM!”
One of the most famous speeches ever,and it nearly didnae happen.
MLK was reading his prepared text to a large but restless audience, realising things weren’t going too well,Mahalia Jackson,a well-known Gospel singer (SOUTH OF TUNIS or DBBIA could tell you more) leaned over the podium and said
“Tell them about the dream,Martin,tell them about the dream”
MLK put down his prepared text,spoke from the heart.
A “wings of a butterfly” moment in history,all because of a single sentence of advice.
It’d be Balde for me with Samaras and Watt in reserve for their tired legs or to change it …..although its refreshing to hear Sammi showing a bit of “hurt” and emotion for a change and that might be worth harnessing.
Chinese burns and hot dressing rooms aside (and tear gas, Marti) ……..get through that striker of theirs in the first minute and get a man on their flappin’ keeper at corners.
Had a recent business trip to Kaza recently – -they are a very very long way from home – geographically and culturally…..make them feel it and get right intae them Celtic.
Hail Hail
weeron
12:27
You are 100% right. We are the ones who have been unprofessional and unprepared. They’ve played mind games and continue to do and we’re biting. All this talk of being confident then saying they’re happy with Europa is designed to take the players minds off the game and become rash.
If we lose a goal we are doomed.
They will sit in deep knowing it will take something special to score and all they need to do is counter at key times.
P.S. They ARE happy with Europa, that doesn’t mean they won’t be treating this as the biggest games of their lives. Can’t see them tiring within 90 minutes, they have no reason to chase the game or the ball, in fact it would be counter-productive. We on the other hands…
Jonny the Tim supporting wee Oscar
11:56 on 28 August, 2013
I agree wholeheartedly with your selection Gerry, but then again, any team without Sammi gets my vote!
Sorry Sammi-lovers, but the big man just doesn’t do it for me!
=======================================
Too right, mate.
With his abysmal CL record it’s beyond me why Lenny perseveres with him…
Rieperman
12:38 on 28 August, 2013
Sorry for the repetitive postings Bhoys, don’t know what’s happening..
……………………………………………………………………………..
must be wot they call repeatin dreams, eh
over an over……
gamriestu
12:16 on
28 August, 2013
Hi Bhoys,
Can anyone suggest any bars in Stavanger, Norway where I might catch the game tonight?
Stuck here for an extra day :( Nae happy.
==
Try the Irishman (centre of town) they may have it on. There are the sports bars at harbour adjacent to the city centre. They show games but not sure if Celtic v SK would come high on the Norgies list of games to watch.
I have a dream …………………..
RIP Dr Martin Luther King: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs
I spent a day at the Dr Martin Luther King Museum in Atlanta a few years back, a very humbling experience.
I too have a dream, that we win 3-0 tonight, come on you bhoys in green.
BMCUWP,
It’s true that a few of those burds were worthy of note. In a few cases, their looks were their only redeeming quality. My current darling is a devoted academic and, although I love her to bits, I am increasingly of the view that the less cerebral the woman the easier life is.
Or in other words, the less likely they are to see right through my bulls*%t
I’m afraid I won’t be able to make Bath. I’m off to Clonakilty next week for an old pal’s wedding shindig so working all the hours God sends up to then.
Hope you enjoy yerself, although I very much doubt there is any question about that!
kikinthenakas
I like your team selection. Hope you’ve a great night.
Árd Macha
Nir Biton is an anagram of NI Briton hmmm. :-)
It should not be forgotten that the black American civil rights movement was a heavy influencer on how the Northern Irish civil rights movement fought Orange and British aggression and unfairness in jobs and housing.
Desertbhoy,
:) If the approved 6-1 scoreline comes to fruition then it can repeat itself as often as it wants.
Never one to ignore an omen, I’ve lumped a cheeky fiver on that score at 50s
BMCUWP
Thanks for the Bob ref a few posts back.
I never heard that about Mahalia Jackson’s intervention on the day of MLK’s speech . I do know something of her though – she sings 3 numbers at the end of the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day and is well worth the wait. Not that sitting through the likes of Jimmy Giuffre, Sonny Stitt, Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan, Chuck Berry and Satchmo is too much of a strain. And , reputedly, she had something of a ‘thing’ with Marxist Companion of Honour and now late Eric Hobsbawm. Before he was late obviously.
Hail! Hail!
Jimbo67 supporting Oscar Knox
I am dis-appointed and surprised we have not sold out the Stadium for an important must win CL tie,yet the Stilian Petrov game,albeit for an excellent cause, is considered a sell out.
One is a competitive match, the other a nostalgic look at the way we were,which leads me to believe we have 3 levels of support.
1 The committed away support.
2.The home support who fluctuate although having Season Tickets.
3.The MA,PA and the Bairns plus the contributers to good causes.
I just don’t understand why we have not sold out, perhaps the Players and Board could also ponder why a bunch of past players and celebs are more exciting than their efforts in a live match.
Excarhedra.
We don’t have a bhoy band member playing tonight…
One thing we definitely can do at their long throws is to have our weest ghuys take up an attacking position. They would only get in the road at the back and Shakhter Karagandy will need to depopulate our box a bit to cover. Plus, we might hit a goal on the break.
How would they like them apples?
Thunder Road,
Deepest sympathy on the loss of your dad. No words will ease your grief.
His choice of favourite players shows that he knew his football.
May he rest in peace.
________________
Like every other Celtic man I am as nervous as a kitten about this evening. That said,
I have never made any demands of my team & will be no more or no less passionate about them tomorrow, no matter what happens. I only ask that they give it everything they have. None of us can do more than that & none of us should expect more than that.
I still think we are favourite to win this tie, but we have no divine right to do so.
Good Luck, Celtic.
Goodold oldtim
He phoned to say he remembered his medication but forgot the needles. ..