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
Crystal Palace and Ipswich in for Doak,£15-16 million mentioned, I wonder if we have a sell on included?
KT — happy to have him back.
Hopefully a low key transfer with little hype and PR build up.
Along with other good players in to boost the squad.
KT is not the saviour he is just a very effective but limited LB.
The two loans coming back are much more interesting.
JK — to put a rocket up AI’s erse.
DM — to add some footballing ability to our CB roster.
I hope SW gets a loan move — he desperately needs more game time and a different footballing environment. I rate him highly but he needs to develop / mature with time on the park. Single games here and there are not what he needs to develop / 3 years of stagnation have taken their toll.
TMG
When you say no mention do you mean main stream media, SC or blogs in genera
The financial impact on other clubs being a factor in the 5WA was mentioned here a few times but not everyone bought into it.
James Forrest covered the TV angle extensively.
Had it not been for the CF leaks both those issues and many more would never have seen the light of day, buried in the dark.
The UEFA licence issue
The LNS sham.
The problem is not that they were not taken into consideration the problem was there was not enough done on the ground to do something about it.
The lack of active support from Celtic support groups being the case.
However good to see you setting out factors again to paint a clearer picture of the factors that led to the decisions taken by those governing the game.
Pebble in the pond time — any info on BR’s comment that he was going to take a step back from the day to day effort of working with the squad?
Any thoughts on this?
To me — very strange thing to say.
BR is a full hands on coach or he is nothing.
Made his name with 10/12 hour days.
Frodshambhoy
So there still a chance we could sign him in January, not sure it will happen but you never know
Auldheid I was reading something online yesterday and it had a link to a Celtic blog, (I can’t recall which one) where it was mentioned you were going through some health difficulty/ies.
I assume rightly or wrongly it was a current issue (please forgive me if I’m mistaken) and I have interpreted an older condition.
However if it in fact it is true/current can I offer my best wishes for a healthy full recovery.
HH
TMG
Ever occurred to you that your motive is being questioned especially making claims at odds with SC blog history?
Still “sore” about Thursday …
NK’s broken nose — red card and then some.
He had an opportunity after the stramash and the flying elbow was the only way he could be stopped.
Ludge MIB / Ludge VAR — did what they needed to do.
VAR still for KF’s “goal” — the one they used showed the ball leaving PB’s foot.
That is not the one before when he made contact with the ball.
They are working every angle they can find.
Auldheid
“If it ain’t broken, no need to fix it ”
This is currently a potential problem in the making, as there are cracks emerging within Rodgers approach recently, within a number of games imo?
As football management is a result business firstly and foremost, then Rodgers is currently doing a fantastic job and hope he remains in doing so.
Yet there is a performance and style requirements within our club also, and has been more relevant recently more so, than earlier within the season.
Things can change very quickly within the footballing world, and Thursday was very evident of that.
Don’t believe Rodgers done himself any favours whatsoever, in his own demeanor, before, during and after the game.
Tomorrow is all about his response, especially as he has made a rod for his own back, that needs to be removed very quickly also.
Rodgers said after he left first time around, that players only really had a shelf life of 2 years generally?
As that is not really the case at present, was he really talking about players or himself?
Problem with all the KT chat — nothing about the other players we need.
AP in his pomp would have had 4 ready to go for the 2nd.
We are not a well run club — low power execs.
Plus poor squad standards.
AULDHEID 133
Ach,it’s just friendly debate. As is the SC way.
LIT
I took BRs comments, along with the rumours about a 3 year extension, to mean that he might be moving up to a DOF role.
As a wise man on here is fond of saying…we’ll see!
MM
Jefte also gave Kühn a severe wallop on the ankle at the same time. Multi tasking indeed.
BR @ DOF — looks very Willie Waddell to me …
However stranger things have happened.
Big issue — who would replace him as coach / manager?
If JFK is anywhere near it then we are being trolled by the board.
He is another who needs time away from the club.
Overall — not a good vibe.
Johno
I agree that things in football can change quickly look at Man City, but the past is not a signpost to the same future.
The past is where we learn from to shape a different future.
Now is BR incapable of learning?
I’m back in we’ll see territory here.
There are different factors at play which will determine the direction of travel starting Sunday not just at CP but more at Easter Road.
If Rangers horse Hibs like they did us and we either win poorly, draw or lose then BR and The Board will know that we are in a competition and can no longer rely on R2ngers dropping points to opposition where the possession game produced a cushion for Celtic.
R2ngers won because of the attitude of their players compared to ours. They were more competitive on the day.
Competition is a key element in football and how do you prevent complacency if players think the competition has already been won?
MM
Not a good vibe.
===
A Happy New Year song for you. 🙂
https://youtu.be/apBWI6xrbLY?si=GrpQhAsoloMT7Mt0
BBC news angle / 2nd — Clive Myrie reading what is put in front of him.
Late news — SPFL angle and CM is giving it large about Govan FC’s result / performance.
Over the top effusive stuff written by BBC Shortbread that he just mouthed.
EPL game — comment would have been made first about AE getting hit on the head with a coin.
That would have been the big news not the second largest club in Natland beating the biggest club in Natland at home.
We need to work the media down south much more aggressively.
We seem to have given up or the Burton’s Commandos in the GB are now an issue.
Saturday acca.
Aston Villa
Sheffield Wednesday
Birmingham
Wycombe
Salford
Barrow
Around 50/1 so be lucky!
🤞
AFTERNOON ALL AND JIM AND MAGUA still no sign of magua, if your lurking hope you are well👍👍🙏
FRODSHAMBHOY bob thanks for leaving your front door key under your blue bin had a lovely day yesterday👍 emptied your fridge of Guinness ,so you will have to go to morrisons to stock up😎😎❤🍾 BTW get some decent whisky in yer hoose, I drunk those 2 bottles of highland earl, but come on, you can do better than that😎❤🍺
AH,
You state:
“The past is where we learn from to shape a different future.”
You do not really believe that, do you?
You state it as if it is a universal truth, but it isn’t, is it?
We can learn from the past but it does not necessarily mean we get or wish for a different future, does it?
Beware of generalisations….such as the front end of this sentence!
Happy New Year to you and your family,
Rebus
big packy
should’ve looked in the garage 🤣🤣🤣
Frodshambhoy drat and double drat😎😎 Btw where is the the switch for your central heating wee Joan is freezing here 😎😎
Thanks for the feedback on KT and Jota, guess we’ll have to wait and see what plays out.
Christie outstanding for Bournemouth
LIT,
I do not recall BR saying he was taking a step back. I think he’s always left a lot of the coaching to his lieutenants. Funnily enough, before you mentioned this I was thinking this might be part of the problem but was loathe to mention it. I hate to think id fall into the one defeat, John Kennedy is shite camp. He can’t be great for two defeats in a calendar year and all of a sudden he needs the boot. Rather my thoughts were in relation to Sir Alex Ferguson and how he changed his number 2 frequently as this brought fresh ideas. John Kennedy can maybe coach what BR asks him but he won’t bring him anything new. How could he, he’s never set foot outside Lennoxtown. I am aware that BR brought a coach from Leicester mid season last year and he may have had a lot of input but I do think there is merit in thinking along the Fergie lines.
Here is a question. Do players have insurance policies against injury? Who pays for it…club or player? Anyone know?
On a philosophical (psychological?) point, do we enjoy football so much because it is riddled with gambles?
Buying a player..a gamble!
Hiring a manager/coaches…gambles!
Choosing a playing format, 433, 4321 etc…A gamble!
Playing one player over another…a gamble!
Leaving early to avoid traffic….a gamble!
Committing to buy a whole season of games…a gamble!
The result of any game….a gamble!
And so on. We are gambling junkies!
Bringing back KT is…..just another gamble!
Rebus
Greetings Hoops Fans from a Baltic Washington DC.🥶
There has been some discussion on here about various formations since our abject capitulation at the Bigotdome. Out of curiosity, I looked at the starting formations for all the SPL teams that day, using as a source the Online BBC Sports Page. It was a bit of a surprise.
Sheep, Hertz, St. Johnstone, Arabs, Sevco: 4-2-3-1
Buddies, Motherwell: 3-4-2-1
Hibs, Dundee: 3-4-1-2
Ross County: 3-5-1-1
Kilmarnock: 4-4-2
Celtic: 4-3-3
Yesterday, I watched a fascinating game between Valencia and the team led by possibly the world’s best existing manager, Ancelotti. Valencia were strong underdogs and started and finished 4-4-2. The Galacticos started out in the same formation as Sevco
( 4-2-3-1 ), with Ceballos and Valverde the defensive midfielders, and Rodrygo, Bellingham and Vinicius Jr. in front of them, and Mbappe the point man. Madrid started out on the front foot, ending up with 62% possession.
Things got interesting when Valencia scored after 27 minutes. Madrid upped the pace and tempo of the game ( and it wasn’t as if they were slouching to start with! )
Then Vinicius was sent off in the 79th minute. Ancelotti’s reaction was immediate, and why he is a world class coach. He took off the defensive minded Ceballos, and put on Modric, who immediately started attacking the middle of the Valencia defence with Bellingham and Mbappe. The pace of passing, pressing, tackling, movement increased to bewildering speed. It looked almost like a 4-5 formation. Valencia could not withstand the pressure, and both Modric and Bellingham scored.
So what do I conclude from this? Firstly, I don’t think the nominal formation is as important as the talent and flexibility of the players, plus their individual and team speed, together with the response of the manager to changed circumstances. Apart from our front 3, we are sadly lacking in team speed. We are also rigidly inflexible, and far too predictable. Brendan seems wedded to 4-3-3, and compounds that by making like for like subs. We really do not have to play the same formation against St. Johnstone at home as we do against Aston Villa away, because the opposition are worlds apart in ability. ( This point was made by a poster on this blog earlier ).
When Valencia scored against Real, it was like poking a sleeping tiger with a stick. Compare that to our response to Scales’ goof on Thursday. There was absolutely none, by either the team or Brendan, which was just inexplicable, and frankly inexcusable. I remember Brendan putting on the game changing Edouard in response to going down to 10 men at the Bigotdome, so his frozen inertia on the touchline was baffling. Down 3-0, and watching our the slow, plodding sideways passing at the back as we labored to ‘progress’ the ball provoked one guy in the pub to say, “Maybe we’re trying to bore them to death?”
St. Mirren only had 3 at the back at Rugby Park, but packed the middle of the park with 6 players with the speedy Olusanya up front. It didn’t work out for them. Tomorrow, I expect them to revert to 5-4-1 or 4-5-1. Either will be virtually indistinguishable on the park if we press them hard. So do we need more than 3 at the back tomorrow? I don’t think so.
As for personnel, I would really not start Scales or Hatate. Can you imagine the reaction from the stands at the first misplaced pass?
Them’s my 2 cents. Expect incoming from McCaff, BAD et al.🤣
HH
Iniquitous IV😊
ATOB @ 3.48
BR taking a step back — came from him after the SLCF.
To me — very strange as he is a hands on coach or he is nothing.
Adam Sadler — he is now seemingly the main coaching guy / doing the L/town graft.
Been in post for 6 months — I thought we have shown signs of improvement.
However we still have a lazy squad that does not do corners / free kicks / throw ins.
Paul Tisdale — Ex Exeter bloke now in charge of Football Operations.
Talked about at the time as a strategic role to get us to the next level.
Spoke very well to the point that he could start a religion / sell sand to the Eskimos.
Harder to sell sand / snow as the Eskimo’s / Arabs as they know what it is.
BR then announces out of the blue that he is taking a back seat / less involved role.
All this happening with JFK and BR now seen regularly in conflab mode.
Consequently lots of change happening when we have been honking since the last NT break in November.
Next up a glacial Jan transfer window.
After a very low energy one in the summer.
We would appear not to be a well oiled machine behind the scenes.
Thursday was a shock but not a surprise.
4 great performances in 6 months …
Not good.
I see R2ngers have a 12pm KO at Easter Rd whilst we have a 3pm KO.
If the opportunity to put pressure on us to reduce the gap is not taken I’ll be surprised if R2ngers do not enter the game with same attitude as Thursday.
Much will depend on how Hibs set out to counter that we did not.
It will be interesting to see Celtic’s response v St Mirren.
Anxiety over gloating?
LIT
ATOB @ 3.48
BR taking a step back — came from him after the SLCF.
To me — very strange as he is a hands on coach or he is nothing.
===
You judge BR based on what insight?
He is nothing?
Really?
BMCUWPS,
Brendan didn’t recruit Suarez or Sterling for Liverpool.
Sterling had a very fractious relationship with Brendan, as his move approached. He believed that information was being leaked.
Suarez issued a complimentary message on leaving.
Brendan’s side never recovered from the loss of Suarez.
Chilwell was a youth player at Leicester.
Fofana was signed by Brendan and made a healthy profit for the club on leaving.
He too issued remarks stating that there had been leaks from the club prior to his departure.
The losses at Liverpool & Leicester that I published here previously, still stand, as far as publicly available information permits.
I thought you might be referring to Coutino?
His sale put a better perspective on the cost of Brendan’s recruitment efforts at Liverpool.
The issue a couple of months ago was the claim by other employees on the Liverpool recruitment staff at that time. They claimed Brendan wanted Tom Ince from Blackpool but Blackpool changed the terms and Liverpool backed out.
Yes, Liverpool in that era might have had a different attitude to net spend. The problem was the quality went backwards considerably.
Enjoy your afternoon.
No need to respond if busy. Watching football here.
Auldheid,
The Setanta and revised Sky deals were all published at the relevant times.
They are absolutely central to this.
So too is the fact that no deal was arrived at until a couple of days before the league was due to start and hence the belated 5WA.
Your case would be better made if it acknowledged the adverse financial circumstances many clubs faced at the time.
Look at the press when Setanta failed. Read the reaction of Clubs.
£125m over 4 years reduced to £63m over 5 after the Ibrox collapse.
Broadcasters hold many of the purse strings.
I have that example from the SFSA you mentioned the other day.
I’ll post and discuss it at a later stage.
Inq4 @ 4.03
BR / 2016 was 4 – 2 – 3 – 1.
NL / 2019 was a fart in a trance.
AP / 2021 was 4 – 3 – 3 as in Aus NT tactics from 2014.
BR / 2023 was AP and little else.
Have memories of some chat from BR about the MF 3 being variable.
Two and a one vs a one and a two.
We are currently playing like Morecombe and Wise — right players but in the wrong positions.
CMcG had 4 great games last season — all against Govan FC.
This season he has been generally poor and sometimes abysmal.
No attempt at a fix from BR — really poor show in a season where we have made sporadic progress.
My thoughts on BR come from watching his teams on a regular basis / listening to what he says / hearing the views of his players and the inferences that can be drawn from all three.
So to me BR is a coach or he is nothing.
In contrast AP is a manager.
Indeed MON was a manager.
While WGS was a coach.
Talking of Eskimo restaurants.
BR is a front rank coach.
BR is not a front rank manager.
Evidence — Jan transfer windows / AP vs BR.
AULDHEID ill do the jokes from now on😎👍
Pebble in the pond time — recent results in the SPFL …
Do we have a lot of happy bookies at the moment?
What is the difference between bad repeat bad and diabolical?
Recent performances — SLCF vs SPFL?
AH,
You state:
“The past is where we learn from to shape a different future.”
You do not really believe that, do you?
You state it as if it is a universal truth, but it isn’t, is it?
Beware of generalisations….such as the front end of this sentence!
Happy New Year to you and your family,
Rebus
==/
Sorry I was speaking for self but the risk when I do that is I get ego judgements.
So to clarify of course I believe it, I’ve lived it and benefitted from the learning.
Should I not share it for those whose curiosity it might arouse?
Was Churchill or Santayana guilty of generalisation?
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” is a quote often attributed to British statesman Winston Churchill. However, the original version of the saying is credited to Spanish philosopher George Santayana, who wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
Nugget of the day — Spurs wages to T/O ratio is below 50%.
Seemingly the lowest in the EPL and enough to bring a tear to PL’s glass eye.
Just tuned in to Bournemouth vs Everton in time to see a glorious volley from David Brooks for a 1-0 lead for the home team. Brilliant finish.
as regards kieran and jota coming back. tin hat on, kieran great player but too injury prone we would be paying a helluva lot of money even with discounting his money at arsenal, he would be the highest paid player at parkhead ,every horrible hun would be out to get him, and would be on the treatment table quite a lot, we cant afford to do that,,as regards Jota id take in a heartbeat knows how to beat a man as jinky did👍👍
KT on the bench for Arsenal
Everton manager playing not to lose as always.
Totally counter productive.
They are in trouble with that clown at the helm.
TMG
I made and continue to make the case, but you seem to have missed it, that the financial state of other football clubs was a prime factor in the direction of the 5WA.
To bring in personal knowledge I got that from a Celtic official at the time during a conversation on another matter.
He is a man I trusted and when looking into the TV deal James Forrest pursued and I spoke to him about that reinforced what I’d been told I spoke to it but there was not enough ears that wanted to accept it.
So are you trying to misrepresent me as you have tried before or are you wanting to open me up to judgement from others?
What is your motive?
BIGPACKY 315
You are Dick Dastardly and I claim my five pounds!
BOBBY if you remember dick dastardly your nearly as old as frodshambhoy 😎😎😎😎😎😎
ATOB
Thanks for your good wishes.
It is a current and ongoing health issue that I shared with others whom I asked to keep private knowing they would. One very close to your home.
It got out on Twitter by accident by a reply to one confidant I shared with I thought was via Direct Messenger but was public.
The only difference the health issue makes is that it I’m a bit more sensitive to ill informed judgements and that can affect my tone, but I find that in mindfulness terms SC is a great therapy centre.
It keeps my mind busy.
Auldheid you know we are with you 👍👍🙏
Auldheid I wasn’t going to reply to this but feel I must in case you think a relative of Atob has broken your confidence, you have got your posters mixed up, it was me who said that earlier, and not Atob.
My apologies if I have made this somewhat more public, than you wished .
HH