Backlash Bhoys?
Will we be pissed off or piss poor again, that is the question waiting to be answered come Sunday afternoon. A good side responds and responds emphatically after a stinging defeat, and Thursday certainly stung. How much of that response is down to the manager demanding better is hard to tell, but after a stinging defeat the man in charge really has one big question, give them a chance to put it behind them or ring the changes as a statement of intent. Both have merit, but the decision needs made.
I would fully understand the same starting 11, they aren’t as bad as that showing, a group shot at redemption. I would understand dropping a few after that shambolic performance, but I just don’t believe Brendan would (or can afford to be seen to) punish players who are oncourse to deliver on all targets set pre-season. For that reason alone I believe we shall see the same or almost the same line-up tomorrow. It’s the Commander In Chief’s duty to win the war, one defeat in battle should not be allowed to transform the outcome but rather focus minds, and on that front Saint Mirren are just about the best ‘victim’ possible right now.
&Good but not great all over the park, porous enough to take advantage off, attacking enough to tear apart on the counter, not only are Saint Mirren facing a wounded animal, but just days ago they bested those who bested ourselves. Sounds like a decent fixture, a decent opportunity to respond from Celtic, a decent scalp to hold aloft and show ‘that’ was a blip. We’ve done exactly the same in Europe since the German mauling, now it’s clearly time to repeat the feat domestically.
Timing wise I don’t see any issues, infact I believe the opposite. We’ve all heard the morale boosting return of a certain left back is imminent, everyone will have heard or read stinging criticism questioning their right to represent our global giant, the mystery virus will be on the way out I assume, plus we play at home infront of supporters who are in the main happy with our standing if not actual form.
3 O’ Clock Sunday offers the chance to say sorry, it offers the chance to tell all the doubters they are very wrong. January 2025 did not start well, but it doesn’t have to end that way.
Come Sunday I want to see a snarling Celtic storm out of the blocks, I want MOTM to be a very tough pick, I want Brendan to use every bit of his magic-touch to fire up the players to fire up the crowd and essentially issue a rebel yell that whilst a good punch was landed we are winning this fight and more importantly up for any title challenge, bring it on.
That must be the mentality at any global name club, for proper professionals, to show defeat was a one-off and merely a blip, not the beginning of a slump.
On that front, the blog wasn’t exactly the greatest read back ‘on the day’. I’m going to chalk it down as a bad day at the office, and remind everyone to play the ball not the man, be respectful but be yourself, and consider the many far flung readers (including myself) who come to our site for connection with our history rather than rancor. Following Celtic isn’t always easy, as this week has shown, but rather than say it’s always worthwhile, I prefer to point out there’s no other team in world football I’d rather follow, and I know you feel the same. As football is nothing without the fans (the one benefit of Covid was reinforcing that fact), a blog is nothing without posters. They say you can judge a man by his friends, well I count you all as friends at this stage and believe me I’m thankful for that, but the basis of any friendship is listening and communicating with each other. I’m no wiser, bigger, more important than any of you just because I have a set of keys to the site, but I do know we have put a hell of a lot of work into helping this site develop into what it’s become. Please help ensure Sentinel Celts is the type of blog someone would want to visit, enjoy visiting infact, and not avoid.
I look forward to this game, the possible maybe probable reaction, and all the first month of the year has to offer.
Up The Hoops!
By Mahe
Last year,our charity drives raised over £4000 for deserving causes. You are truly a wonderful collective, giving selflessly to others in need.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The bulk of the money was split fairly evenly between our two nominated causes, which were
Lanarkshire Cancer Care Trust and Blood Cancer UK.
New Year, New Cause! From 1st January till 30th June, we will switch our attentions to raising funds for another source of wonderful work on behalf of those who need it most.
MacMillan Cancer Care
Once again, the donations page has been set up for us by CHALMERSBHOY, and my grateful thanks to him for doing this and so much more.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/3x3g3-sentinel-celts?attribution_id=sl:0cefe851-42bd-443e-8cdb-345070949a04&utm_campaign=man_sharesheet_dash&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link
Please continue to give generously, which I know you will!
POTY competition sencelpoty@gmail.com
Link to our SATURDAY NAPS Competition. If you haven’t signed up yet,please do so now.
Although it is free to enter,the prize money,50% provided by the site and 50% by 16 ROADS,is well worth it!
https://sentinelcelts.com/2024/10/06/saturday-naps-competition
Link to the CHALMERSBHOY Beat The Bookie Challenge
https://sentinelcelts.com/2024/11/15/beat-the-bookie-part-two/comment-page-3/#comments
In addition to the nominated treble (see above) there is also a weekly 6-team acca. Each of us is looking for a nailed on certainty,but there’s no such thing! But we only make one selection each,and all we ask is…
If yer daft enough to follow our advice,put a quid on each for the nominated charity as well! We are still well ahead against a level stake,so it could well be worth it.
Go on,folks. A quid? What are you waiting for?
Usually I do not read article on blogs however I would like to say that this writeup very compelled me to take a look at and do so Your writing taste has been amazed me Thanks quite nice post
Agreed Mahe.
It’s unfortunate but every setback for Celtic on or off the field of play is open season for the same divisive behaviour.
Selective presentation of the facts between 2008 and 2012. No acknowledgement of the crisis that emerged after the collapse of Setanta and the £125m deal over 4 years.
The fact that many clubs had bought players and negotiated contracts on the strength of that deal. Never mentioned.
No mention too of how Sky exploited the situation by presenting a replacement , take it or leave it deal of £80m over 5 years.
The financial woes at Ibrox saw further exploitation by Sky and a reduced deal of £63m over 5 years.
This deal was unsigned prior to the resolution of where Sevco would play.
Broadcast income is vital to the modern game. Without it clubs go to the wall.
No mention of the dateline and how close we came to a situation where Premier League football wouldn’t be have been able to start the season. No mention of the possible ramifications with UEFA and season book holders.
No mention of the impact of the greatest financial crisis since the 1920s. No mention of the disappearance of credit lines at banks.
No mention of the rising costs of transfer fees and salaries despite the Great Recession.
No mention of Charlotte Fakes and how Craig Whyte’s recordings were conveniently hacked and leaked.
No mention of the abject failure of the Scottish establishment, the Police, Prosecution Service, media.
No mention of how Celtic remained solvent throughout despite the onslaught from the media and bloggers.
Little mention of the achievements of our executives through the ECA via substantive change in terms of FSR, the league system, improved cash payments through prize money and Solidarity Payments.
No mention of the fact that without certain people at Celtic taking the heat, our club would not be in the financial position it’s in today.
Brendan Rodgers certainly would not have funds at his disposal previous managers could only dream of.
Every reversal sees the same selective presentation of material.
It really makes me question the motive.
For every 180 scored during the tournament, Paddy Power donated £1000 to Prostate Cancer UK.
There was over 900 hit.
Also for every 9 darter they donated £50k.
There was two 9 darters hit.
Total raised for the charity was over £1million.
You’ve got to love the darts! 🎯
16 ROADS
Not kidding. Incredible amount. I hope PP had their bets covered by insurance.
(I hate insurance companies more than the bookies. At least the bookies usually pay out.)
Well said Mahe.
Even the Lions lost games like that occasionally.
MON’s team lost 5-1 at Ibrox in the game following the 6-2 win.
We all laugh at the Huns supremacist attitudes. We should be better than that.
It’s nice and highly amusing to dip into their sites when they are in meltdown. How would we like our posts being banded round their WhatsApp groups for their own hilarity and giving them even more enjoyment. Don’t feed them.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
January 4, 2025 9:10 am
16 ROADS
Not kidding. Incredible amount. I hope PP had their bets covered by insurance.
(I hate insurance companies more than the bookies. At least the bookies usually pay out.)
——————————————–
Never a truer word spoken! 😂👍
Mahe
I read somewhere recently that Jock’s overall win record v Old Rangers was 42% – tbf in those days they had some decent players, and even aside from the usual ‘help’, generally made a ‘game’ of it.
As others have said…there is a pattern developing now in these games and it’s a bit of a concern.
That must be addressed quickly. No better time for Brendan to bring in the type of player he wants ….IE this month.
Definitely in the Kieran camp…at 27 years it’s good. If he’d waited until 30 years I’d be less inclined…ideally we get 3 or 4 years service it’s a huge win!
Maybe Brendan should have told the boys to come out kicking and snarling before the last game !
Maybe he did !
The Gombeen Man
January 4, 2025 7:54 am
‘It really makes me question the motive.’
###
Good to know you are capable of questioning anything.
Just don’t overdo it. You’ll get a nose bleed.
MAHE
“Will we be pissed off or piss poor again?”
Good line. Good question. Nothing against St Mirren,without whom that result on Thursday would have hurt a lot more,but we need to thrash them. And then carry that type of form and attitude right through January,and dare I say March.
16 roads I was going to change my online bookie as odds are usually bit lower than others but after that brilliant donation to something which unfortunately is close to me I will supporting them even more.
Very interesting article about fraudulent sales of Matchday tickets for Anfield (if you can get behind a paywall.)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6031174/2025/01/03/liverpool-tickets-touts-crime/
Particularly this bit,which might be the root cause of it…
“Liverpool have 28,000 season ticket holders and a further 11,000 tickets per game are hospitality seats. Visiting teams receive around 3,000 tickets, with the rest sold to members (who pay an annual fee of between £37 and £46) via a ballot.”
Ridiculously low number of season tickets for a stadium that size.
Will BR finally relax and let the players express themselves?
We are rigidly over coached with little creative expression.
Turn the midfield and wide men forward when receiving a pass!
Allow creative moments even if they are a higher risk.!
FAN
Damn right. Too much safety first,hence the side to side passing which pisses us all off.
The same 11 cannot start tomorrow. You cannot reward failure, a defeat can happen anytime, anywhere, but the manner of that defeat is totally unacceptable.
Morning all and belated New Year best wishes too.
Circumstances- mainly the hosts for the day slamming the set off fairly early on- meant I did not see all the game on the 2nd but I did see enough to see we were ‘ridd rotten’. I had thought that Brendan Rodgers had seemed a bit flippant towards Rankers since the final so a slap-down defeat did not surprise me although 0-3 did.
Will it make much difference? Well it might. 11 points of a lead is handy but there were past seasons in the old 2 points for a win era when we tossed 7-8 point leads quickly. 50 years ago today we went to Ibrox with a 2 point lead, lost 3-0 and went on to win only 4 more league games that season finishing 13 behind Rangers. That margin of defeat 2 days ago might wake us up – but it could knock our confidence. Other teams may think we are far more ‘vincible’ now. A break to recharge and regroup a la the Januaries of 2019 and 20 when we also lost the festive derby after anodyne displays would have helped. I am less confident than 72 houra ago and the game with Young Boys looms much more menacingly too.
Rodgers has many virtues as a manager and coach and at times we have been ( apologies in advance) ‘a thing of beauty’ to behold this season. But we are too tactically rigid for my liking especially during games and I do not like that our manager would seem to prefer us to do without a prolific striker. Kyogo, like Griffiths before him, has become an onfield irrelevance. Kyogo was our best striker since Hartson left under Ange Postecoglou. Now he is not and by a long way too.
Tierney and/or Jota to return? Not sure I am too keen on either. The former, fully fit, is classes ahead of Taylor but the matter of his fitness is questionable. The original departure of the latter left a bitter taste in my mouth that still lingers and, more pragmatically, I wonder if his confidence will be shattered after a bad couple of seasons. It’s a guarded ‘yes’ for Tierney and a definite ‘no’ for Jota from me. The mostly indifferent form of Nicholas, Maloney and , I was told, Willie Fernie on their returns is hard to ignore but should be.
Anyway I have work now.
Cin! Cin!
Jimbo
Morning all…side to side, backwards, side to side again! His style hasn’t changed since Day 1…but the pace has dropped off. Lift the pace and the direction of the passes changes with the better, quicker movement offering options across the team and pitch.
Anyhoo…its apparently my turn for the Acca but I’m unsure what the T&Cs are so I’ve stuck a tenner @odds of 35/1 on:
Villa
Blackburn
Man City
Brentford
Bristol
Bournemouth
Why are those who are rightly annoyed with the team and managements performance at Ibroke and who chose to voice their discontent at that abject performance now being compared by some to the Hun supports ‘entitlement’ and ‘god given right to win every game’ attitude? I’d say in the main most of what i have read on SC has been consider critical appraisal with little in the way of hyperbole. However criticism of dissenting voices is a very Hun like characteristic- imho of course😉
PS shirely Brendan will not start with the same 11 on Sunday😮I’d be shocked of forehead if either Scales or Reo made the starting 11. Also i really think we need to start looking for a new left sided CB as that is now an area of concern. Both Trusty and Scales are too prone to WTF moments. Continually swapping them in the starting 11 after one of them makes an inevitable costly mistake ain’t going to work.
Does anyone know if our newly appointed football Doctor had anything to do with the signing of Trusty, Idah & Engels.🤔
It isn’t the passing.
its the speed of passing and speed of thought.
and, in those games, controlled, constant aggression.
If was as easy as getting it forward quickly everyone would do it.
This absolute mince about Brendan being ‘found out ‘… dearie me, get a grip of yourselves.
MCCAFF
Apologies for my belated mail response to you. Phone was accepting new stuff but not loading them to let me read them!
Anyway,it’s a treble only with minimum odds of 5/1.
And which Bristol? City or Rovers?!!!
Oglach…I was annoyed at the performance and lack of ambition shown by Brendan and the team. The chat on here afterwards when personal insults were bandied about hasn’t, generally speaking, been a feature of this blog. For what it’s worth the decency on here is a factor that makes it much more appealing than other sites.
So, difference of opinion about tactics and playing styles is one thing. Throwing shit around another thing completely!
Bristol City (v Derby)
Kieran Tierney’s injury record isn’t as bad as you think it is.
It’s worse.
259 days out over the last two years.
There’s only 2 seasons in the last 7 where he’s not missed less than 10 games. He normally misses in the high teens. (Below).
Liverpool and Leicester supporters went through the same painful process while trying to fathom Brendan’s tactics.
It took Klopp 2 years to turn Liverpool around. Brendan sacked his coaching team at Liverpool shortly before he got “emptied”. Leicester went down and narrowly escaped an FA sanction on a technicality, for FFP breaches.
Player recruitment at both clubs was disappointing and hugely costly. This has been highlighted at length here previously.
Among a number of comments I recall being called a ‘West Brit’ for pointing these facts out…
During Brendan’s first term he appeared to be at the cutting edge. This time it’s a little bit surprising to hear him downplay Sports Science and data.
Today’s players are driven by this type of thing.
Alistair Johnson talking about his injection recently brought back memories of Kieran Tierney’s interview a couple of years ago.
A fit KT is a 100% yes.
Arsenal have not tested his fitness in any meaningful way. In his return against Crystal Palace Arteta told us Kieran had suffered cramp.
That seems reasonable.
Arsenal’s website initially stated that he was injured before being changed.
Good luck to Kieran if he signs. We could really use him, playing most weeks.
Anyway,
Young Boys squad is valued at less than half the value of our squad.YB €67m/ Celtic €139m.
They’ve spent all whopping €1.6m this season. Raised €1m in sales.
Last season spend of €5.35m.
Sales of €37m.
Kieran Tierney – Injury history (Detailed view) | Transfermarkt
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/kieran-tierney/verletzungen/spieler/300716/plus/1
Morning all,
The abuse on the site after Thursday was somewhat telling.
An absolute shower, and everyone associated with the vile comments needs to have a right good look at yourself.
I know I’ve never been a Saint, but fuck me.
I would hope tomorrow would be a day for reflection and apologies on this site.
It’s a game, entertainment, and a money printing operation. Nothing more, nothing less. So keep that in mind and don’t get sucked into what they want.
Hail hail and out
MCCAFF
Gotcha. 39/1 for me. £2 for MacMillan if it stoats.
THEGOMBEENMAN
“Player recruitment at both clubs was disappointing and hugely costly. This has been highlighted at length here previously.”
Yep. And others pointed out that you forgot to include certain big figure fees brought in at the same time.
An alternative acca…Swansea, Preston and Leeds @6/1.
£5 charity Bet placed alongside my earlier tenner bet!
PITYMEVIN
As I explained to BAD yesterday,I let Thursday night go as we were all hurting. I’m like a bear with a sore head after losing to them,don’t talk to me,etc.
Whether that was the right call or not,it was on me. Seems from the feedback that I got it wrong,for which I apologise again.
Post
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Conversation
Anthony Joseph
@AnthonyRJoseph
UPDATE: Genoa & Olympiacos have expressed an interest in Celtic winger Luis Palma.
It’s understood Celtic are not keen to let the Honduras international leave at this stage, with James Forrest still out injured for a while.
Celtic are in the market for a winger this month.
Anthony Joseph
@AnthonyRJoseph
·
Bobby you run the site, but can’t be held responsible for the mindset or every comment.
Not your bag.
Without the downs, you can’t experience the ups.
I would hope that the majority see through the divide and conquer process that makes anyone think we are any different.
Same same only different.
The only post that counted on Thursday was Gordon when he told us of 7 babies died due to hypothermia in Gaza, and nothing not one reply. The same way not one European news outlet has reported it.
Gordon cap doffed.
If Brendan starts with the same 11 , he has lost the plot.
Taylor, Scales, Hatate, Maeda and Kyogo,
should all be dropped.
PAX EXCUBIAE (or is it Vigilla?)
McCaff
I can see where some my be a little ‘miffed’ at those very few posts that resorted to personal insult but in the main there were few that the content could be considered to be filled with invective. IMHO Bobby & Mahe were correct to let them pass without further comment rather than become involved in a heated, likely booze addled, spat between a couple of posters who probably now regret what they had posted.
Afternoon all,
Couple of transfer questions if anyone has the answers? If KT returns does he still qualify as a home grown player? If there is anything at all to the Jota stories is their not a time period for paying tax if you’ve previously been in the country?
St Tams
Why just those 5.?
With only Schmeichel and CCV getting pass marks what did the other 4 do to merit you not adding their names to the 5 ?
BMCUWPS,
What big figure fee?
Bobby
I didn’t get involved in the drama on here after the game. I switched off at FT and avoided social media for over 24 hours such was my disgust at such a disgraceful and humiliating performance.
I caught up later and for what its worth I think you did the right thing. Onwards and (hopefully) upwards.
I still think the performance merits far more transparency from BR but we’re not going to get it.
Hopefully, it’s a shockingly low water mark that will never be repeated. I’ll be very interested to compare it to our performance at Aston Villa in a few weeks time.
A similar performance v YB would obviously be disastrous and lead to a major inquest.
I was on the site after Thursday’s game – didn’t notice anything untoward.
Haven’t read back however nobody died as far as I’m aware
All much ado about nothing CSC. 🍀
Tomorrow is all about our response to such a shocking display.
Thankfully we can look forward, instead of back, even if the wounds are still very fresh, for many of ourselves still?
Rodgers has put himself under a bit of pressure now, and would say patience football will be in very short supply tomorrow, within many of our support imo?
Also hope Rodgers has repaired a few bridges between his players, as would have thought some of his decision making, wouldn’t have sat well with a few of our players?
Possibly facing our most interesting team selection of the season to date.
Would say the majority, will be expecting Trusty to start ahead of scales.
Also starting Hatate, may well raise a few eyebrows Also.
The reaction of Taylor with getting subbed off, was understanding, but was also on of questioning Rodgers decision making also imo, so interesting to see how Rodgers handles that one also, to who he chooses?
After such a poor performance, where we showed no interest or fight for second balls, will be interesting to see our approach taken tomorrow, especially with st mirren having a battering ram, up front and through the centre?
Also believe that a fairly high level of complacency had crept into ourselves, myself included.
So possibly best not to take tomorrow for granted, as all victories for ourselves have to be earned.
Course we all want to see a fluent free flowing football on show, with plenty of goals in our favour, still don’t think it will be just as straightforward as that?
Fan
You are correct that we could replace 9 players from Thursdays team .
I don’t think we have enough suitable players to do that.
The Celts take to Paradise for the first time in 2025 for a clash against St Mirren this Sunday, Jan 5, and if you can’t make it along in person you can still watch all the action LIVE with Celtic TV’s pay-per-view service.
Celtic TV will be live from 2:30pm on the day, and the match is available to buy now.
Simply go to celticfc.tv and register your details before selecting your pay-per-view purchase.
The match is available for all supporters in the UK and Ireland – you don’t have to be a Celtic TV subscriber. So enjoy all the build-up, live action, half-time and full-time analysis for just £12.99.
Celtic TV subscribers in the UK and Ireland will receive a special discounted price of £9.99, which will be automatically applied at checkout.
Reading back I keep seeing our 3 Japanese guys have run their race. Yes like most players they have off days and like everyone Thursday was one . But come on guys dont start them – sell this one and that one. We have played 29 games this season scoring 79 goals and these 3 have contributed with goals and assists to 40 of them.
How can we possibly consider that to be poor performance .
THEGOMBEENMAN
I’ll settle for two examples at each club. Sterling and Suarez. Chilwell and Fofana.
Maccargo
The story with Jota apparently is if he signs before the start of new tax year he’ll be subject to a shed load of tax, well that’s the line I keep reading online, as for Tierney not sure if he’d be classed as homegrown.
Johnno
January 3, 2025 10:36 pm
Some very interesting views regarding Rodgers and his tactical approach?
Very hard to condemn his approach taken, when we have had such a successful first have to the season.
However it hasn’t been achieved by being perfect either, and numerous concerning issues have risen there ugly head at times, no more so than yesterday.
What is staggering at present, and has been in existence for some time now also, is that the baldy Belgium waffler is still regarding as no more than a clown?
Yet a fair few would like to regard Rodgers as an elite manager (maybe at Scottish football levels imo)
So how does a clown manager, still outdo a so called elite manager tactically, in 3 out of the past 4 meetings 7/8 months?
=========
Perhaps his record against other clubs, especially away is a reason.
I would not call 1 home league win, I LC loss, I Home dead rubber draw, I league loss away to Celtic and 1 SC loss as “outdoing”, although I think he is a manager who will gradually get more wins against clubs away from home than he has managed so far this season. (the result/performance v Hibs might be an indicator) that will reduce the points gap if remaining two league games see points shared and other clubs start taking motre points of us than they have managed to date.
As regards two formation approaches, until now what BR has achieved comes into “if it ain’t broke” category based on the players at his disposal.
I said until now because yesterday suggests he will at least match Celtic in points from games we play each other which makes results against other clubs of greater significance than they currently are.
I think it would easier to recruit a bit differently to cover the weaker areas we all see than try and adjust the formation for 4 games only given practice makes perfect, but either way it would be foolish to ignore that Clements is no mug.
He is clearly following R2ngers Board policy of a reducing wage bill and has their long term backing so Celtic need to look long terms too which is perhaps why it looks like BR is going to remain another 3 years trusting and backing BR.
The only reason the Board would not is not down to personal issues but to retain an element of competitiveness that football depends on to attract paying customers in person or via streaming services.
Last edited 12 hours ago by Auldheid
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
January 4, 2025 10:42 am
FAN
Damn right. Too much safety first,hence the side to side passing which pisses us all off.
—-
Safety first?????
Apart from Dortmund we haven’t conceded too many goals this season.
Does anyone know how many were as a result of our “safe” short passing being pressed. I reckon it will be a decent percentage.
Craig 76, re Jota.
If he comes back before 5 April he won’t his UK residency status which means all his earnings since he left will be subject to UK tax, less credit for any foreign tax paid.
Earnings will be massive and foreign tax credit, if any, won’t be a lot.