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Zenit go 4-2-2-1-1 for friendlies before Celtic

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

One week tomorrow we are in Europa League action at home to Zenit St Petersburg , the Russians first competitive game since going into winter shutdown on 11 December.

Zenit have played five friendlies in the last three weeks, conformably beating Danish, Czech and Chinese opposition, all of who were also on a winter break, before drawing 0-0 with Slovan Bratislava on Sunday. The Slovaks are two weeks away from returning to competitive action.

Zenit manager, Roberto Mancini, did very little squad rotation during his five warm-up games, clearly with an eye on getting his starting 11 ready to face Celtic. He also stuck to a narrow 4-2-2-1-1 system in each game.

Zenit use this formation semi-regularly, but its repetition in each of the friendly games suggest Mancini sees winning control of the middle of the park against Celtic as a priority. This will present Celtic with problems and opportunities. We are unlikely to control as much of the ball as you would expect at home in Europe, but our strength in the wings presents Brendan Rodgers with a clear strategy.

I don’t believe in reading too much into the results of friendly games, but I hope Celtic scouts took in the Slovan game. Zenit scored 15 goals in their three proceeding games, so how Slovan stopped their attack will be of interest.

Mancini and his players are now back in Russia having left their summer training bases. They play our old pals Maribor in St Petersburg on Saturday in their final preparation before the game in Glasgow. Brendan will be occupied with thoughts of two hugely important cup games in the coming week, but if he gets through the Partick Thistle test on Saturday, he may be glad of the competitive experience. This is a time Game Face, not friendlies.

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  1. m6bhoy on

    GARY67 on 7TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:48 PM

     

    m6bhoy on 7th February 2018 1:43 pm

     

     

    Zenit games are huge in terms of getting co-efficient points in order to be seeded in final qualifying round to get into CL next season

     

    ——————————————————————————————————————————-

     

    CL zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Wee update on next season’s CL qualifying. On current standings the playoff seeds would be PSV, PAOK, Ludogorets & Salzburg. Celtic would be the 1st unseeded team.

     

     

     

     

    Early days, need to win the league first, etc, etc, But next seasons qualifying could be far tougher than usual.

  3. Matt Stewart on

    Melbourne Mick…if you are still around at this hour…..

     

     

    In 2009 I found myself at the back end of a three month walk/drive-about traversing and camping in the Outback.

     

     

    I arrived back in Brisbane in time for what was called ‘The Gathering of the Celts’ marked by a marvelous match between two teams from across the Southern Diaspora for the “Tommy Burns Cup”, and a night with The Young Wolfe Tones and Derek Warfield in Mick O’Malley’s.

     

     

    I still look back at some of those pictures which stir fantastic memories of those who had crossed the continent from Perth, Darwin and Alice, came in from Papua New Guinea, trekked down from Cairns in the north and up from Adelaide, Sydney and of course Melbourne (and wan eejit frae Glasgow).

     

     

    I must have at least 200 pictures of that weekend, but here are just a few that perhaps capture the days and nights, mainly but not exclusively of the Melbourne contingent. You might recognise one or two.

     

     

    (I’ve obviously compressed them for the web, but if you want the originals let me know here and I’ll email them)

     

     

    http://alturl.com/6ti3e

     

     

    Hail Hail

     

     

    Matt

  4. celtic40me on

    CELTIC MAC on 7TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:57 PM

     

     

    First thing that came to mind, followed by a shiver

  5. South Of Tunis on

    GENE @ 1 54 .

     

     

    Watching it live -I thought it was out . I was surprised he didn’t walk . Replays ? I was less certain – one angle – Yes -out – another -maybe not . . ..

  8. Tontine Tim on

    BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 7TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:55 PM

     

    TONTINETIM

     

     

    Pretty sure the much-missed THEBOYJINKY became rather enamoured of THE GREEN BAY PACKERS when he lived there for a while.

     

     

    They are the third-oldest franchise in the NFL and is the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team based in the United States, which makes them more attractive to the likes of us, that and the green and gold uniforms lol

  10. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    TONTINETIM

     

     

    THEBOYJINKY is known for his discerning taste!!!

  11. timhorton on

    tontine tim

     

     

    great game last sunday.

     

     

    thought it was just your politics i disagreed with but steelers, cowboys etc wow.

  13. Philbhoy on

    I have a theory about the huge number of injuries we have at this time.

     

     

    I believe they are all at the kidding so’s they won’t be on the end of another 12-0 aggregate score.

     

     

    Aye, ah wisney playin’ that day, neither a wiz.

  14. Celtic Mac on

    Tontine Tim

     

     

    Don’t think the four down rule slowed the NFL game much in Minnesota on Sunday!

  15. soukous on

    gene

     

    Adam Gilchrist.

     

    One of my all time favourites.

     

    In the World Cup 2003 semi-final match against Sri Lanka, Gilchrist decided to walk despite being given not out by the umpire. This sparked a debate but since then Gilchrist has consistently walked. There have been a lot of controversies due to this but Gilchrist maintained the discipline. In his autobiography True Colours, he wrote that he had no support on this from his teammates and further wrote, “[I was] silently accused of betraying the team. Implicitly I was made to feel selfish, as if I was walking for the sake of my own clean image, thereby making everyone else look dishonest.”

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXYbWIi8u7E

  16. gene on

    SOUKOUS

     

    Almost unique in this day and age – I umpired for a number of years in local cricket and even the under 13s don’t walk.

     

    I gave up – too much hassle and no help from the players.

     

     

    thespiritofcricketCSC

  18. cathedral view on

    I heard BBC radio sports news this morning invent a new league position.

     

     

     

    Almost second appears to be the new third place.

  19. Gary67 on

    Jozo fit to play on Saturday, Compper back in training, Boyata and Ajer having scans, will know more in a couple of days.

  20. South Of Tunis on

    Zenit ?

     

     

    Good enough to be serious contenders for the SPL title . Not good enough to be title contenders in England / France /Italy / Spain and Germany . I think that a big % of this year’s CL last 16 would fancy their chances v Zenit .Same could be said for @ 12 of this year’s Europa League last 32 . .

  21. 31003 on

    Formations formations.

     

    Against Kokkola in the European Cup Big Jock decided to try out an unheard of 1-3-3-3 formation.

     

    He could afford to try this simply because Kokkola were diddies. None of this “we have to show them respect” rubbish. Anyway, if my memory serves me right the new formation was abandoned after 5 minutes and we reverted to our usual 2-3-5 formation, (aye, you read that right) and we won 9-0.

     

     

    The way every true Celtic supporter rhymes of the Lisbon Lions team is actually the formation we used to play.

     

     

    Respect? Rubij

  24. thomthethim for Oscar OK on

    With a fully fit and performing squad, the Zenit game would be a tough ask.

     

    With a squad that will be missing virtually all it’s creative, attacking players, it becomes a mountain.

     

     

    Whatever about Jozo, there is no way that Roberts, Rogic, Armstrong and Griffiths will be match fit, especially for the first game.

     

     

    In case anyone thinks that I am indulging in expectation management… they will be right, I am, only I call it realism.

     

     

    Another thing.

     

    I think the rash of muscular injuries, which are unusually high, is ,in part, due to the amount of matches in a contracted period of time.

     

     

    Muscles, etc., haven’t had enough time to recover between games, thereby putting extra strain on them.

     

     

    Something had to give.

  25. KINGLUBO on

    South of Tunis

     

    Yeah, The Poets. Saw them a few times, very good. Do you remember a Glasgow band around the same time, called The Stoics, always thought they had great potential.

     

     

    KINGLuBO

  27. TerryK on

    Kinglibo / SOT

     

     

    I remember the Stoics.

     

     

    Two of the band went to school with me – Lourdes.

     

     

    Jimmy Doris & Shug McKenna.

     

     

    Pretty sure that Frankie Miller joined the band at one stage.

     

     

    Don’t know about Shug now however I think Jimmy died in an accident in London.

     

     

    Good band!

     

     

    TK

  29. Shuggiebhoy67 on

    KINGLUBO,

     

    Frankie Miller was the singer for the Stoics for a short time early seventies.

     

    HH

  30. John51 on

    Why do we call voting districts that are deliberately drawn so as to be unrepresentative of the voters intent

     

    “gerrymandering”?

     

     

    The US constitution allows for the redrawing of congressional districts in every state.

     

    US political parties to this day, redraw distrcit boundaries so as to give their party the best chance of winning seats and running states

     

     

    In 1812 the Governor of Massachusetts, Eldridge Gerry, redrew one area to ensure his party won, but the Boston Gazette newspaper noticed that the redrawn district looked like the outline of a salamander.

     

    From this they coined the term “gerrymander” using the governors last name joined to “mander”.

     

     

    Apparently, a new word created like this is called a portmanteau.

     

     

    I think there’s a few blog names on here making good use of the old portmanteau.

     

     

    HH

  31. South Of Tunis on

    KING LUBO

     

     

    The Stoics ? .

     

     

    Yes — regulars at Club Picasso . Providing the musical backdrop to that Glasgow Team Ya Bass crap .

     

    Keyboards man (name escapes me)went on to play with Alex Harvey . Frankie Miller was the singer for a wee while .. I have a 45 -Earth and Fire . Singer on that is not Frankie Miller.. It’s crap (IMO ) . Bought in an Oxfam shop in Hastings -for no other reason than a Glasgow musical history thing

  35. KINGLUBO on

    Re The Stoics. I thought it was Frankie Miller, he was exceptional. Thanks ghuys.

     

    Another, more recent guy I thought had tones of talent is Andrew Strong from The Commitments. Great version of Mustang Sally and Try a Little Tenderness, wonder what happened to him.

     

    Thanks again

     

     

    KINGLuBO

  37. jamesgang on

    Adam Gilchrist. World class cricketer. Even better sportsman.

     

     

    JJ – when you want to quit Scoddish fitba, the game’s kinda a bogey.

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  41. Greenpinata on

    M6Bhoy

     

     

    Gary 67 @ 13.48hrs answered your question perfectly why the Zenit games are Huge.

     

     

    Incidentally, do you think we can attract players of the calibre that BR wishes without European football.

     

     

    HH.

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