The Glasgow Celtic Way
Morning,all.
I’ll write this article in the assumption that most of you watched the game. If you didn’t, I recommend the highlights on BBC iPlayer. It is well worth watching, even if we did finally go down 4-2. Gave us a proud Scottish goal difference of 13-14 though!
Going into it, I didn’t really think we would get much from this match, given our selection problems-many of them self-inflicted. A look at the bare scoreline suggests I was right. But that doesn’t even scratch the surface, no sirree. For starters, we were two down in five minutes! Our old defensive frailties of losing a cheap goal, followed by another while we are still trying to figure out how the first one came about. At that stage, I’m quite sure that one or two tellies got switched off-I got a phone call from a mate who said he was for off at half time-but those who did so missed a rousing comeback.
Followed by another heroic failure…
After five minutes, we truly looked in for a helluva doing. And little changed over the next twenty minutes either. Sure, we started to get our foot on the ball. Yes, we stopped getting cut open quite so easily, even if we were having kittens every time Villa got on the ball. But we started to create chances of our own.
Hatate shot tamely at Martinez when he was clean through, and I admit I thought we had probably blown our chance. Villa would tighten up, aware that we were still kicking. Then, with ten minutes remaining in the first half, we clicked. Hatate, looking really up for this, fed a delicious ball to the overlapping Taylor to cut back into the six yard box, the Villa defence got in a fankle, and Idah hooked the loose ball into the net.
Cue pandemonium in Celtic-supporting houses and venues everywhere!
I’d hardly settled back into my seat when we equalised, this time a cute reverse pass from Engels feeding AJ on the right of the box. His pass inside to the onrushing Idah was perfection, and suddenly the tie was even. That ever-so generous 1/2 on offer for Villa at the start of the game wasn’t looking like such a nailed-on certainty now, and there must have been a few hun mortgages in serious danger of not getting paid on Friday.
Two goals apiece at half time, a scoreline which reflected the effort that we had put in over the period just to get back on terms after a dismal start. Surely we wouldn’t repeat the errors in the second half?
Well, we didn’t. We just found new ways to make them happen. Even Schmeichel was guilty of giving them a free shot at goal, though he redeeemed himself with a wonderful save. He made a few of them on the night, I should add. We weathered the initial storm but weren’t really creating much of our own, then Villa pounced on our old pal frailty.
Scales lost a battle in the Villa half, Engels lost his on the halfway line-both players needed to be much stronger, I might add-and they were two on one against Trusty. The easy pass inside Trusty to Watkins left our keeper with no chance. A goal down, but this time we were looking tired, worn out by a relentless counterattacking side who looked threatening at every turn.
Even so, the manager waited longer than is customary to introduce his subs. Bernardo and Palma on 73 minutes with Cummings for the hat-trick seeking Idah on 79 minutes.
Another youngster given a chance on the night was Murray as a replacement for Scales. I confess these weren’t substitutions I thought to be wise while we were still in with a shout at 3-2. And even if it was a poor piece of play from Murray which gifted Villa the clinching fourth goal in added time-the hat trick for Rogers-I can’t place any blame on either. Both ran their heart out, gave their best. As did every player on the night. I was proud of them all, even as I was gutted at the final result. We didn’t quite stand on the shoulders of giants on the night, but I think they gave us a good punty-up!
The knockout stages await, with a battle in two and three weeks to see who goes through to the last sixteen. At the moment, the table and the format suggest either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Both of whom are well clear in their domestic leagues.
Such is life when you are playing in the top club tournament in world football. They say that you have to beat the best to win it. Well, it certainly looks as though we will have to do just that. It’s The Glasgow Celtic Way. You never know, we might just have our first-choice centre-back available.
<><><><><>
Above article by BMCUWP
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
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POTY Competition
sencelpoty@gmail.com
The Glasgow Celtic way
I always loved Glasgow
you know the only thing that annoyed me about Glasgow?
the cunts that live there
wee joke there
Mags
Anybody can contribute anytime they wish when they have the funds to do so.
Since the new charity began we have had 3 donations, I know, as we all do that January is a tough month especially after Christmas after all our expenditure.
Well tonight our charity got a boost with leggy’s treble coming up trumps.(£40)
Everyone is welcome to have a go to win some funds for charity,
Ps
We are needing new scapegoats!
Hopefully leggy’s win will put us on a winning streak as we are badly needing it.
Well done Leggy 👏👏👏☘️🍀
Mags
Aye,the huns!
Chalmersbhoy
ok mate
i get you
wait
Mags
Or your reflection 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Chalmersbhoy
yes that’s true !
I hate being a Celtic supporter faithful through and through
a disease
maybe you can splainit to me
Mags
Unfortunately I can’t as I have the same disease.
You are older n wiser, I thought that you knew the answer so you can splainit to me.
Chalmersbhoy
understand
probably something to do with blatant cheating hunnery in the Scottish hinterland.
my turn to buy you a pint
best of luck mate
Mags
Ah sure, the cheating has gone on for decades but we always prevail.
Look forward to meeting you at a bar for that pint !
KTF.
UTLR.
Goodnight all,bedtime now as work calls in 6 hrs.
Bassa!
Aye
BMCUWP
First class lead article, as per. It strikes a very positive note.
I just watched Brendan’s various pressers and came away a bit baffled. I really wish I was one of the journalists asking the questions.
Just to be clear – like many on here, I have witnessed decades of Celtic’s glorious failures. I am just getting a wee bit fed up of them, particularly if many of the underlying reasons are self inflicted. I thought the end result was simply depressing, and ominously so for the next tie.
Brendan’s said his first reaction was ‘Pride’. I thought, “Whit? We just got beat 4-2 going on 8-2, but for Schmeichel, and they missed a penalty, hit the post, and had one cleared off the line.” He also said, “We can make it difficult for Real or Bayern.”
Erm…….. “How?”
Let’s look at some random facts. We entered the game missing a quarter of our registered players ( 6 out of 25 ). We can’t do anything about injuries, but Kyogo, Valle and Maeda are down to us. I have seen no reasonable explanation why the first 2 were unavailable without the club having an alternative.
Scales and Taylor played, yet we have known for years that neither is good enough for the Champions League. They were both bad enough at the Bigotdome recently. Taylor was rag dolled by Bailey all night, and Scales was ludicrously out of position for their third goal. In passing, I did not see one Celtic player win a single one on one physical challenge all night. We couldn’t even cope with McGinn’s ass.
Contrast how hard Rogers hit his first 2 shots at goal with how weak Hatate’s and Engel’s efforts were. We don’t seem to be working on this technique in training.
Anyone who thinks Yang can cope with this level of play is dreaming. He was worse than a man down. We brought 2 guys on from Lowland League level for their first game. Brendan was not asked why the club was in such a desperate position that we had to resort to that. Then we lose possession from our own throw in, something we do on a regular basis. Why we can’t cure this is beyond me.
Lastly, Villa ran through our midfield at will, like a Ben Hur chariot race, ending up with several one on ones with Schmeichel, who saved us from a doing. If we draw Madrid on Friday, the inescapable conclusion is that we will get a severe mauling. We have lost 17 goals in our last 4 games to the Madrid clubs, including 9 to Real Madrid. And guess what? Madrid have strengthened their side with Bellingham and Mbappe.
It will be interesting to see in the next 4 days if Celtic do anything to strengthen the squad to reduce the chances of severe humiliation. God knows if Jota will be match fit in time, but we still have a slim chance of getting KT on loan and another striker. But what will we do if Arsenal say no dice? Will we see Dane Murray vs Mbappe and Cummings vs Rudiger at the Bernabeu?
HH
Iniquitous IV😊
What does success look like for a Scottish club trying to compete with these financially inflated European heavyweights.
I think you could argue we have probably already achieved our aim for THIS season? it’ll be interesting to see the size of our ambition now we have laid one large building block.
We cant – and will never – compete with teams like Real while still fielding 5 and 6 £2m players ..99 times out of 100 we will lose to teams filled with £80m to £100m players ..obviously!
For a Scottish club we are cash rich, but being a consistent top 24 champions league team most season’s would allow us to at least try and bridge the gap to the real elites of Europe.
So, for a team from such a small nation, are we already hitting our head off our own glass ceiling??
Maybe a wee bit more realism and perspective of where we stand in the grand scheme of things?
If we keep replacing our £2m players with players like Jota and Tierney, we at least are heading in the right direction.
We might not win that trophy again any time soon, but there is nothing to stop us becoming a very frequent visitor to the group stage and then, like this year, we can give it everything to progress a little each season.
For a Scottish club I feel we have done not too badly! It’s now super important we back the managers attempts to establish us within this new format …it’s a fantastic opportunity for the club to be more than just the winner of a one team league!
Our rightful place? 😊
Good morning, friends. It was some game to be emotionally involved in! Overall, a pretty decent campaign. We met our target of top 24. SENCELPOTY@GMAIL.COM
MOTM
Idah
Kasper
Reo.
Was anyone else getting Deja vu last night watching that.
Almost exactly 10 years ago, in Ronnie Deila’s time. 2 down early doors to a rampaging inter Milan. Unexpectedly 2 equalising goals in 2 mins from Stewart Armstrong (if memory serves). In first half.
Then we lose a 3rd. We bring on youngster Liam Henderson who has a wonderful assist for Guidettis equaliser at the death.
When Cummings came on I thought it couldn’t be could it? Sadly it wasn’t.
” he brought two boys on from the lowland league “ where exactly was his replacement RB from the premier league I.e. Tony Ralston.?
The step up from SPFL to top 10 EPL, is a step too far, especially away from home. The gap can only be narrowed, even modestly, by exceptionally good recruitment.
For the likes of Scales, Taylor, and Yang, there is no further development to be had, they are what they are. Trusty’s brain appears to be consistently out of sync with his feet.
McGregor and Hatate are probably now at their peak, so no further development there either. Only time will tell how much improvement there is in Engels, Bernardo, and Idah.
Those who run the club will regard Europe as job done for another season. The play-off round will just be for kerching purposes only. Our opponent will regard the tie as a bye into the last 16.
What will the PLC suits do with the fabled, even increasing, cash “buffer” ? Stick or twist ?
Jimdom
I doubt the play off round, given the opponents, will have any bearing on any remaining transfer business this window.
However, next seasons playoffs absolutely should have enough bearing for us to considerably strengthen now.
Esp given that we may lose a couple of first picks in the summer
Bobby
The overall performance after 8 CL games W3 D3 L2 GD-1 12pts.
Definitely positive & Improving, probably above par…upwards trajectory and looking forward to next round and 25/26.
Never going to chastise any player mid-season as feel it’s counter-productive…but it’s clear where improvements have to be made.
Let’s see CSC
Hoop Hoop Hooray! – absolutely thinking that.. Inter & Barca too 👍
https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1884843991348224509
I’ve just remembered something. 2 or 3 games ago somebody asked me (privately) whether I could regularly incorporate our list of goalscorers for the season in each MOTM results post. I have that data ready to hand. I presume it’s just a goalscorers table showing each player’s total that was requested although if you want a complete list of our 30-odd games to date I have that too.
I can’t remember who it was that made the request but I’ll keep checking on these pages during the day for any response. Or the person can email me at sencelpoty@gmail.com
NoJobTooSmallCSC
INIQUITOUS @ 02.03
Great summary of last night and where we are at present
For me the disappointing bit of the champions league so far is the fact that we have lost 11 goals in 2 away matches. We seem stuck on the fact that we need wingers when it is blatantly obvious we need defenders. Is KT the answer. Only partly if he can stay fit. Last night shows again how poor we are in this area. We have Nawrocki a guy we paid a few million for but he never gets a game. We prefer to play a left sided CB on the right and then bring on a young guy from our B team (who deserved a chance btw) in a game like this . We let Welsh go who at least has experience albeit limited at this level. We definitely missed Maeda tracking back to assist against Bailey destroying Taylor almost every time he received the ball. If we want to make further progress in Europe lets get back to building a defence.
Apart from these 2 games in 6 other games we lost 3 goals. When was the last time we can say that in Europe.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24895792.saint-tommy-burns-group-launches-bid-canonise-celtic-legend/
At the start of the CL campaign qualification to the next round was the target.Achieved, with a game to spare. That’s progress and success. The decision to let Kyogo bit us on the arse, big time but I doubt we’d have coped with Villa even with him, Idah was sensational imagine.
The Valle situation? If Barca recalled that’s out of our hands, if we sent him back, and I doubt that, well he’ll mend us! CCV out through injury…naebody’s fault. Trusty can be an absolute bombscare at times but can cover a lot of ground fast when he needs to. Scales…well out of position for their 3rd and cost us big time. Taylor ragdolled? I didn’t think so, I thought he got a hard time but can’t remember too many times Bailey managed to get inside him like Kuhn did at the other end!
I thought AJ had a great game in bits, very very strong but caught our of position too many times to leave Trusty one on one. Engels showed his improvements again, it’s obvious he’s not fully au fait with how he’s having to play in this team but when he does he’s such a lovely player to watch. Yang, again, is about the worst player on the park…until Palma arrives! Calmac played the role as we know he can – or can’t, unfortunately neither Reo, decent enough on the night, I thought, nor Engels offer any defensive support. I’d really like to know why Murray came on instead of Rocki! I don’t think it would’ve changed much but it seemed like throwing him into the lions den and yo be fair he made a very basic error! Cummings, an understandable change but then that takes us right back to why was Kyogo permitted to leave days before the game!
St Tam’s…another one of my Gang of 4! 😉🤣🤣🤣
Morning all
Missed some of game as joiner turned up to measure repairs to windows caused by the storm before last. Saw we were 2 down after a handful of minutes and would have settled for keeping score to single figures. As it was, on what I saw of the game 4-2 probably flattered us a bit although on the ball we are quite a good team
Had the Kyogo situation not unfolded as it did and CCV been fit then I think the game would have played differently- but we’d have still lost. Villa has a better team than us and had a juicier carrot in front of them in terms of qualification so we were on a pretty sticky wicket.
Overall, 12 points is probably 2 more than I thought we were capable of at the time the draw was made-and 9 more than I thought was likely in the immediate aftermath of Dortmund. So well done
Should we knockout Real or Bayern it’ll be our greatest European result since Leeds in 1970 – but unlike then none of the smarter money will be on us. Raith Rovers probably has a better chance of knocking us out on the 8th than we have of playing in the Champions’ League last 16. But you never know
It’s more than an opinion to say losing one striker- one we knew wished to leave- whilst having no replacement lined up is not well played by Celtic. Whether that situation is anybody’s fault is not known – if Rennes played their cards as late as last week then we have been unlucky but irrespective of that possibility our lack of evident pro-active moves to sign a new striker is a bit too much like how things have often been with us. What is, is.
Mon the Hoops
Jimbo
INQU IV
Pride certainly wouldn’t have been the word, I would have used to sum up our display last night.
Relief would have been more appropriate, as you pointed out, it could easily have been another very sore one to take last night.
As a match it was very entertaining made far easier as the result didn’t have no real bearing upon ourselves.
The big positive was getting back into a game, where we were second best in every aspect of the overall game.
That wasn’t of any real surprise, especially when we were always going to struggle, with the individual match ups all over the pitch.
So great praise will go to our players, for effort and hanging in there, and even producing great moments of quality with the goals scored.
However, I was taken by surprise at just how open we were, with trying to take such an attacking approach?
Was also surprised that last night was Rodgers 50th match at CL level.
With who we are going to face in the knockout phase, I don’t understand what we were trying to achieve last night, when to many of our players were nothing more than sacrificial lambs, with such a tactical approach taken imo?
Can’t recall any huge results for Rodgers within his 50 CL matches, but can recall to many sore ones, so maybe them fortunes might change in the next phase, but confidence remains low, that they will actually change?
Personally struggling to understand how we can expect to bring our SPFL game, into CL level, especially away from home?
Our current team set up and style of play will involve ourselves getting caught up in way too many individual battles, that we continue to lose, especially with our ball retention at a good enough level for the higher level of CL football.
We tend to be able to get away with such an approach at SPFL level, even if some worrying signs have developed recently.
At CL level, we will get punished more so, especially against better quality.
So even though I wouldn’t rate our chances to highly in the next round, even with a stronger team set up in place.
Mainly because we haven’t got the tactical know how in place, the lack of footballing intelligence either, and without the resources available to be able to buy the likes either, to adapt to the current tactical approach in operation for ourselves.
Unfortunately I can’t see to many changes happening all the while we have the current coaching structure in place for ourselves imo?
“Kyogo’s move from Celtic to Rennes looks to have got off to a complicated start, with the French side sacking their manager.”
Now that’s barking mad, why would you allow the manager to buy and sell players worth £18m, then sack him.
If we held onto Kyogo for last night then he would be going nowhere. The new manager would , I assume , hold onto Jota to assess him too.
MCCAFF
All three of Trusty’s defensive “partners” were repeatedly caught on their heels or out of position. Left the big fella with an impossible and thankless task.
IQ4
Im a bit confused as to your statement on Kyogo -Valle and Maeda. Do you think they would have prevented us losing last night.
I believe Idah had his best game for us in a long time maybe even this season. Scores both goals and the guy runs his heart out for his whole time on the park. Would Kyogo have done any better against the big guys of their defence.
Valle was on loan and Barca recalled him as they were entitled to. Arsenal and their EBT manager are playing hard ball with KT which they are entitled to do also. Should we have extra back up left backs as we have lost 2 recently. How many then. As for Maeda it was him who got himself sent off for a stupid retaliation. Yes there is an arguement to say he was fouled but not against his action thereafter.
Are you saying we should have appealed it and by not doing so it was the club to blame for his red. Surely not. He was missed big time against Bailey of that there is no doubt.
Our hand was forced to an extent on who we did play. Jota -ineligible – Kenny same – CCV injured – Forrest – injured so Cummings get a chance. At the back yes it the club at fault imho.
A desperate first 5 mins followed by a fearful next 20 odd as we fought our way back into the game. We hung on and battled brilliantly to take the game to a rattled Villa.
But in the end our obvious frailties in physical strength, combativeness, naivety, composure when confronted with good opportunities, and inexperience resulted in the defeat that was always in it.
The positive take is our overall CL performance where we competed very well home and away versus serious opponents Leipzig and Atalanta. Our best results, giving an indication of what is possible against top 5 league teams.
As a minnow we bettered a host of teams above us in pots 2 and 3.
Our target must be to establish ourselves as a top pot 3( above Zagreb, Sporting)/ lower pot 2 (Brugge,Shakhtar) team.
Hitting high 50’s into 60’s in coefficient numbers.
As someone mentioned this achievement is a building block, and hopefully our learning curve isn’t built on sand.
We can invest with some serious intent … if we see progress next season as a target.
For example we have the qualifying bonus and final league position award of c€5m for finishing 21st, €5m from the unexpected Bernabei sale and €2m surplus (I think) for the Kyogo/ Jota swop.
€12m clear investment monies for immediate release.
Let’s see if this profits the team or the Plc bank balance.
Doubles all round in the boardroom, I fear.
I think we’ve improved slightly in Europe, not massively as the Atalanta result appears to be a one off and we failed to take maximum points on a couple of drawn games.
Away from home the same naive unenforced errors we’ve witnessed for decades persist, as does the losing of goals in quick succession.
Overall 6/10.
SAN LUIS
I keep going back to the draws with Zagreb and Bruges. Definitely four points dropped,in my opinion.
We can’t keep going into these games trying to play passes across our back four until we have the players who can play that way. The ones we have, just can’t.
Whats wrong with hitting long diagonals out of play 10 yards from the oppositions by line? It would at least give the defence some rest bite.
Rodgers insists on this game plan every time , Trusty and Scales are not of the standard of playing that way.
Taylor going forward actually had a good game ( I’m not his biggest fan) but is easily brushed aside when he eventually comes back to defend. Don’t get me started on his thrown ins. Why does he still take them?
Last night was a great game for the neutrals but as a Celtic fan, watching the defensive frailties continue can be soul destroying.
A bit of money spent on a decent defence and a really good defence coach we’d have a fighters chance of getting something from these games.
Johnno,
What changes would you make to the current coaching structure?
Bobby….re Trusty, yeah his defensive teammates did leave him exposed, never more so than at the third goal, but his decision making and unforced errors are a concern for me. He has good recovery pace and can play, things that are vital in the modern game but the rest of his game, especially decision making and concentration require a load of work. In his defence it was a difficult game and he was playing on his wrong foot.
Johnno
You’re not a fan of Brendan are you.
Who would you replace him with ?
Our frailties outweigh our strengths.
We need to continually grow and replace the weaknesses as we go.
Prepare for qualification next season now.
A centre half, left back, physical midfielder, another striker.
We may get one or two this window, but between now and July need to improve a limited squad.
I wonder KT’s thoughts on having to remain in London for 6 more months as a bit-part player, as opposed to playing Real or Bayern in the CL and possibly helping complete another treble.
Hope we can work something out in the last few days of the window.
BAD
Allowing KT to leave now would save Arsenal over £3m on wages and NI,etc. Keeping him and barely-if at all-playing him is spiteful and petty.
Doubt very much KT leaving would save Arse over £3m.
4 months remaining- can’t be on £750k salary/NI combined?
Not that it matters that much but nearer £2m?
What KT will have accepted is a significant drop in income , to about a third? of what he currently earns.
Lots of valid chat on here this morning but I am mostly aligned with those thinking we are what we are and where we are. Yes we could do better and buy better players but we are in a poor league where we play 80% of our games. We have to be realistic. We lost last night and it could have been worse but if we look at the goals we lost especially second half it was two
mistakes. The 4th goal was a mistake by Murray in waiting for the ball but I’m not going to hang him out to dry, he was playing in the Scottish championship a fortnight ago. He’ll improve and we’ll have a really good player in the future if he’s willing to knuckle down. It was the 3rd goal that annoyed me more. Scales tracks his opponent way back to 10 yards outside their box and they play the ball into the space he’s left. Now Engles see this and tracks McGinn but instead of just fouling him he gambles he can win the ball and McGinn plays the ball into the 40 yards Scales has left. Ffs, see the game son. Just foul him and we regroup. We had seven players the wrong side of the ball. Now whether that is the wrong tactics is up for debate but Engles needs to show more nous there. McGinn took him to school.
A t o b
That goal encapsulates a couple of the most worrying deficiencies in this team.
Scales- what was he doing? totally naive.
Engels – not robust enough.
JS,
There are plenty of deficiencies. We just have to trust BR can address them.
I would like to congratulate AJ for last nights performance. He had an horrendous first ten minutes but I assume after giving himself a good punch in the mouth he came on to a game. He gets a bit of a free pass at times because a lot of the support concentrate on GT’s faults but AJ is not without failings.
Anyway great time in Birmingham but on the road again after a charge up. Electric cars are ok in theory but in practice…
Afternoon all,
Hope nobody bumps into INIQUITOUS
today !!!!!!!
A Vesuvius moment methinks 😂😂😂😂
Go on C, give them laldy .
Ps
My 3 for Jobo are
Idah
Kasper
Hatate
HH 🍀🍀🍀🍀
JUST SAYIN
Contracts run till 30th June,so five months. Apparently on £120k a week. Add in NI etc,and I reckon my figure is close enough.