Zenit St Petersburg v Celtic, Live updates
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- Basic technique but elite decisions
- Promotion, relegation, shot in the arm
- CELTIC ON £5m COLLISION COURSE
- ALEX’S ANGLE: SHOCK MOVE FOR CELTIC KID – READ ALL ABOUT IT
- FORREST vs FORREST
- CELTIC LOAN FLOP IN LIMBO
- VAR FLASHPOINT: RODGERS IS SPOT ON
- £40m PRIZE GUY: CELTIC MUST BACK BRENDAN, INSISTS GOAL HERO
- HAY HAILS ‘MODEL PRO’ McGRAIN, 74 TODAY
- TITLE FEVER: DEBUTANT DEILA’S MAY DAY CELEBRATIONS
- CHEERS AND TEARS: LIONS’ LAST HURRAH
- RODGERS SNUBBED
- Celtic’s overloaded midfield
- CLANCY IN CHARGE
- REVEALED: MATT O’RILEY TRANSFER TALK BAN
- BIG JOCK AND ME, BIRTHDAY BHOY CRAIG REVEALS ALL
- TITLE FEVER: ‘HEY, LENNOX, IS IT NOT TIME YOU SCORED A GOAL?’
- TITLE FEVER: CELTIC’S SPRINT TO GLORY – 115 YEARS AGO
- ALEX’S ANGLE: CELTIC CANNOT AFFORD TO CARRY PASSENGERS
- Successful teams get the dirty jobs done
- ‘I WANT TO KEEP DOING MORE,’ INSISTS HOOPS HERO
- RODGERS HAILS FORREST ‘THE DIFFERENCE-MAKER’
- 57 YEARS AGO: BIG JOCK’S HAMPDEN MASTERPLAN
- TITLE FEVER: 5-GOAL DERBY ROMP – AND IT’S CELTIC’S 49th FLAG
- STEVIE REMEMBERED: DAVIE HAY
- STEVIE REMEMBERED: JIM CRAIG
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Goodnight philbhoy
GARY67 – you talk a lot of sense there.
I do see that Paul67 does keeps hinting – on the Paddy Roberts front – that Celtic will sign him permanently – that, for me, would be brilliant.
Bain – yes, a reaction to an unforeseen situation – an injury hot on the heels of allowing another GK to go on loan I think? Nevertheless, Dorus has now has at least three chances, and has been found out every time – definitely not the answer.
Been continuing to defend Mikael – but he did look done tonight. Saw the Zenit player coming from 40 yards out but did nothing to hinder his progress to a tap-in – really poor. Love the guy, but…
Had hoped that Jozo and Boyata would be a great partnership, but that seems to have disintegrated as an idea.
Big Ajer looks as if he could be great
Midfield; a strange situation – loads of players but some only here on loan, some permanent but approaching the get-out-clause time of their contracts, many injured, a few just coming back from injury – really difficult to see – apart from Jimmy and the Broonmeister – what our settled midfield would look like. Personally, I think we really miss a 100%-fit Stuart Armstrong, but chances are he will be off to Engurland in the summer.
Up-front – Moussa simply doesn’t look interested (and is frequently injured), Edouard might be great / might be a puddin’, Griff seems to constantly piss BR off for some reason, but he is undoubtedly our most effervescent and dangerous striker (and is also frequently injured) – an unsettling, or at least unsettled, combination.
All in all – a wee bit of a messy year, after the near perfection of last year.
Big difference, in my view, has been the volume of injuries since pre-season. Last year we were very lucky with injuries – this year has been the exact opposite.
Not having any semblance of a settled team has meant we have struggled to find a rhythm at any point in the season.
Despite that – we have a cup in the bag, are still in the Scottish cup with a very favourable draw to potentially get into the semi-finals, and we are 9 points (plus 1/2 point for mega goal difference) ahead in the league.
A slightly strange year – if we emerge from this with a league and league-cup double, I’ll be very happy – a treble would be utterly amazing.
HH
BGFC
NEGANON2
Goodnight mate!
Neg2-hear hear
JMCCORMICK
Borussia, yes, true. Actually Man City as well (though they played their reserves and were already through).
We desperately need Rogic, Paddy, and Griff back soon. Without them we lack composure and goals.
Have to go now as life goes on. Perhaps too many on here take it all a bit too far, it is so Nou football. I fear for the health of some of the angry mob on here. Everyone needs to breathe a little more , you cannot change things over which you have no control .Enjoy the things you can influence and shape.
Take care everyone. HH
I don’t slag the players or the manager very often, hardly ever the players cos they are as good as they are, they imo try and at times just arn up to it, tonight was a perfect example, were they better, by that I mean much more consistant they wouldn’t be playing for us imo, tonight I lay the blame at the coaching staff, be it obsessed with possession, be it failing to strengthen where a blind man could see where it was needed, but they may well have been hampered from on high with a spend, I don’t know, but whatever the situ it’s a bit of a joke.
We need a blend of youth and old heads, said it for years, we don’t have that, we are still fixated on buying cheap and hoping they turn out to be a diamond that we can sell for squillions, I have no idea what the strike rate is but it’s no very good, we are wasting millions trying, buy the old heads, feck a sell on fee, qualifying for the CL is the sell on fee, we must be one of the only clubs that are in europe who stick to this policy of not having journeymen in the team…..maybes Ajax as an after thought, I wonder how they are doing…..Mmmm, Oh, even worse than us it seems.
As an aside, it’s always those who are the happy clappers who start with the insults against those who are the true mineshafters, quite sad really.
Gary67
It was more of a similar feeling from then and now, not statistically accurate, basically I have no expectations in Europe, classic home wins vs real, barca, AC Milan etc make us pine to compete but that time will never come
Excellent performances like last week I fear will become scarcer, we do have a young team but they won’t blossom together as the good ones will move on to progress
I’m not mad at losing tonight nor do I feel like giving the board my ire, more of a reflection on our place on the football map
NEGANON2 on 22ND FEBRUARY 2018 9:30 PM
Still £50m in the bank. Isn’t that just great?
Brilliant, especially considering it was £30m at the end of December.
I think we need:
1 x New Keeper
1 x replacement for Lustig (who is absolutely done)
1 x replacement for Jozo (doesn’t want to be here)
1 x replacement for Armstrong (who also doesn’t want to be here)
1 x replacement for Dembele (who looks like he can’t be bothered).
I also think we should be looking to sign a few more experienced players to bolster the team.
God knows what we’ll do when Brown retires (poor though he was tonight).
@ITALIABHOY on 22ND FEBRUARY 2018 9:34 PM
I agree Paddy and Griff could have made a difference tonight but the problem in European terms, at least, is in defence.
I also don’t see Rogic as that important. I’m trying to think of a European game where he has been pivotal or even excelled? He is good at spl level but in Europe he lacks pace and stamina.
BIG GEORGES FAN CLUB – HAIL, HAIL, WEE OSCAR, you better stop talkin sense mate or ill call in my mates ,phillbhoy fairhill bhoy sftb bmcuw and last but not least, mit with his new puppy.hh.
Has sftb’ s answer been clipped:-)))
CELTICFAN1961
You said Butcher only headed to his team mates.
Complete pish.
Admit it.
And I know you are beat because you are accusing me of taking alcohol during Lent.
You don’t know anything about me or football, by the sounds of it.
opossision plyee well tonihghhtwe we bewten fair and wqure
The hands can’t hit
Anderlecht are the top team in a league superior to ours with regular competition to actually win their domestic league and a strong stream of imported talent to pick from.
Celtic best them this season which was actually a very good performance.
Zenit play in a much higher level league. Unlike Scotland Russia still have 4 teams in Europe so they have serious domestic competition and serious money to attract top players.
Celtic has to punch above its weight to compete with this standard of competition.
At least in a logical world it does. Our pathetic domestic environment which you speak of with no competition is as much a problem as anything. Whether recruiting or developing players. It gets worse each season.
Ach well no excuses now from Brendan and the bhoys to win the treble .
LOVE
SFTB 8.35
We need to replace the Dembele of last season also.
We have no track record of significant spending on quality players since the MON era.
But I agree with your summation.
TT
The exiled Tim
Good point re Ajax. And any Dutch team actually.
Gary67 now then you are not paying attention.
Celtic accounts say “net cash at bank” of £31m. Now net cash at bank is not an accounting term, just a made up nonsense. What it means is that we have, after all debt is taken into account £31m. Celtic have at least £20m to the Clydesdale bank of £20m (it might be more – but it’s a long term finance deal on great terms. Ergo we have £50 m in the bank but Celtic invented net cash at bank to disguise the errr cash at bank figure.
Still we are all criminal racists so what the hell do we know?
I hope now that European football is over that we can now focus on securing the domestic trophies and hopefully return to some entertaining football and maybe even play 2 strikers.It could still be a historic season although we seem to be having 2nd album syndrome.
Sorry, forgot to add earlier. I was chatting to our Dutch distributor last month and he now s a huge Ajax fan, season ticket holder for 25 years. We were comparing Football poverty notes and he tells me that the decline in Ajax has accelerated in the last 5 years due to the agents rushing great young players away to Germany, England and Italy before they are ready. In the previous times the players would stay with Ajax, PSV etc until 23-25 years of age. This does not happen any more as a hey are flogged off at 19-21 years of age, before they are ready,
This also deprives the Dutch teams from building a team around a core of similar age players for a few seasons. The Ajax fans he drinks with are resigned to this fact now.
Be interesting to see who BR picks for Sunday. A lot will depend on tiredness and knocks but surely De Vries and Lustig will be dropped, sorry rotated. I would imagine Sinclair or Musonda will start along with Rogic given his record against the Dons
Bedtime:-))
Tiny Tim
Hope all good with you apart from the Celtic tonight ?
The truth is in the MON era we were spending more than we earned. In fact the 6th biggest wage bill in the UK at the time.
Not we can’t even afford to be the 26th.
No prospect of any long term exit from our domestic cesspit. We all know the argument.
Top teams in Germany. Spain. England. Russia. France. Italy all light years ahead of our potential budgets.
Negannon
Who would you spend it on who might actually come to play at celtic then ?
Burnley67 what a great excuse not to even try and leave lots of money in the bank.
All this Moussa cant be bothered nonsense.
Hes a young guy in a foreign country who has had a number of injuries and is struggling to regain his form.
Why on earth would he “not be bothered”? Its illogical .
The next fortnight or so is crucial 3 league games and Morton in the cup…win them all and the feel good factor will return
Jist gie Stevie Clarke the keys ae the dug oot the noo
or, Murty’ll stoap seven in a row! lol
Nurse, nurse, where’s the rest ae ma meds ?
Tumbleweed town is a looming!
……..oot.
Deep fried skwer
Just when we thought the blog couldn’t any more contentious this evening.
https://cities.scotsman.com/this-glasgow-chippy-is-serving-up-the-ultimate-deep-fried-delight-and-its-going-down-a-treat/
Oh burnley don’t we pay lots of people lots of money to do that job?
I am pretty sure though if they were worth their salt we wouldn’t be buying Hendry and morgan( though to be fair we have overseen Lewis buying a nose hair trimmer).
Celtic aren’t even trying. They spent the week before the first leg against zenit telling us we had no chance and that they were a champions league team. It was bolloks. Zenit are nothing special.
THE HAND OF GOD
We are 3 games away from making genuine domestic History, for the second season in a row!
JMCCORMICK on 22ND FEBRUARY 2018 9:45 PM
Met a (young but former) Ajax fan while in Munich. He was there to watch us play Munich. He’d completely given up on Dutch Football. How shoite is that….
HH jamesgang
Philbboy we are kicking from the same foot
we,ll have our disgreemenb and so will many Celtic fourmms tonight.
The MSN will slughter us of course but it it be said we were nervous.and apprenhisive tonihgt,for me too many back and side psasse ruin our team but cerate little
JMCCORMICK on 22ND FEBRUARY 2018 9:45 PM
Dutch mate in the village has twin boys, one of them when he was 14-15 was a great prospect, on PSV’s books, his bro was a bit of a waster, much preferred getting stoned, his Da was telling me this btw, anyways, the prospect, the day he turns 16 gets punted to a German second div team, I can’t recall who, the bro who is the waster isny happy, he is also on PSV’s books and decides to up his game, within six months of upping his game he gets punted to Hamburg, hates the place and decides to get stoned again, the prospect tries and tries but isny wanted after a couple of years and he gives it up, sad really.
They both now run a surfing holiday teaching thing for tourists down Mijas way, the stoner isny as much as he was, his prospect bro has taken over that role, they are really good level headed boys from what I have seen of them.
HH
@BURNLEY78 on 22ND FEBRUARY 2018 9:39 PM
So now Anderlecht are being revered as a quality team above our level? The Belgian league is better than the Scottish but it’s hardly a quality league. We are continually dumbing down our expectations and I don’t understand why.
I would make a bet that there is no team in Belgium with circa £50m in the bank. I would also wager that we have a larger turnover than Anderlecht or any other team in Belgium. We should easily be competing with and expecting to get results against them.
Agreed Zenit play in a stronger league, but what level are we sinking to in our expectations? The Russian league is the 8th best in Europe. It’s not one of the super leagues. We also beat them at home, so it is evident we can compete at this level. We are lacking quality in certain areas; that quality could be attained if we showed some ambition and utilised some of our resources.
Also, the following teams made the quarter finals of last year’s Europa League: Ajax, Celta Vigo, Anderlecht and Genk. Are these teams in a different stratosphere to us? I don’t think so and yet we are continually told of Celtic’s inability to compete outwith Scotland.
THE EXILED TIM
Good post.
Our coaching and tactics have been worrying all season.
I know our injury list has been horrendous this year but our tactics and possession obsession have created most of our problems.
Watching Zenit press high with three or four players showing no fear of being caught out shows how ineffective and impotent our tactics are viewed.
I think we have better players than even our own supporters think but they have not been coached or used well this season.
In the modern game technology allows your system to be dissected and neutralized and it has been done to good effect by Scottish teams of limited ability.The better European teams expect to rag doll us.
Our one dimensional purposeless possession approach needs to be addressed.
Of the 16 unseeded teams in the Rd of 32 Europa league ties 13 were eliminated and only only 3 went through – Dortmund, Marseille and Lyon.