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
Like most I’m pleased with the progress we have made in this year’s Champions League campaign. I also totally agree we have a long way to go to be able to consistently hold our own at this level.
We showed glimpses last night but let ourselves down with too many mistakes.
I think our best performance was probably in Atlanta. More of that will be needed in future.
Being a natural pessimist I worry that we may be further away than we think.
Our 3 wins were against the teams that finished 32nd, 35th and 36th in a 36 team league:
32 Leipzig, points 3, goal difference -7
35 Slovan, points 0, goal difference -20
36 Young Boys, points 0, goal difference -21
We would need to be mega lucky to get that sort of draw in future.
We’ve also known for years we need bite in midfield and improvements elsewhere, notably at left back. We seem to be happy to jog along as we are.
Frodshambhoy,
Natural pessimistic !!!
If you won the Lottery and then found out someone else also had the same numbers, you would say “ Bummer, why do I even bother “ 😂😂😂
Chill B and still on the case for a ticket,
Hope you and the good lady are well 👍👍
Average MLS franchise now valued at $721 million, with 5 over $1 billion. A 6% increase in valuations in 1 year.
In Scottish football terms, the cash that Celtic will earn from this season’s European campaign is eye watering. The question now is, on the PLC’s Monetary Policy Committee, who are the hawks and who are the doves ?
Who wants to maintain the cash buffer at the highest possible level, and who wants to loosen the purse strings and properly address the very clear weaknesses in the squad ?
No matter who we sign in the current window, we will not get past Real or Bayern, not a snowball’s chance in hell. But, next season’s CL Qualifiers should really focus boardroom minds, especially as the club will earn more money from this CL campaign that we would in the Europa League, even if we won the Europa.
Bobby,
Obviously up to each club to do what they consider best for them, I just thought this would have been concluded during this window to allow KT to come home.
Hopefully we are still to get a couple of nice surprises before the window closes.
Or slams shut! 😊
JimDom…I know you didn’t mention Brendan, but relative to your comment and for a wee bit of context, when Brendan said his first thoughts were of “pride”, here’s what the Guardian report…
“I’m just proud of how we’ve performed, Scotland gets a wee bit of stick in English football, but I think you can clearly see we’ve teams that have got courage to play – we’re nowhere near the resource levels of the teams in the Premier League but we can still be competitive,” Rodgers said. “I’ve really enjoyed this format and now we’ll get ready for the next challenge.”
Villa’s turnover in 2024 was in excess of £300million, ours was just over £120million. In terms of resources Villa’s squad is valued at roughly £600million against our £100million. It highlights the importance of recruitment, coaching and science to smaller clubs. We are a smaller club in money terms but our plc has to understand we have the capacity to be one of the best smaller clubs. At present, we are not acting like it!
Simon Burnton really needs to give IQ4 a call to learn how to watch and report on 18 simultaneous games of fitba, he’s more or less admitting he’s an amateur at this. IQ4…is your CV up to date, I might have a job you’d be interested in! 😁
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jan/30/night-watching-18-champions-league-ties
How many teams left in the CL come from countries with a smaller population than Scotland?
I’ll take a wild guess and say none.
Surely we deserve credit for even being able to compete at this level at all.
Good morning from a sad DC where dozens of bodies are being recovered from the frozen Potomac River after a Black Hawk helicopter from the Pentagon crashed into an American Airlines plane coming in to land at Reagan National. Puts many things into perspective.
I hit the sack last night not exactly in the best of moods. It wasn’t improved after reading that we are facing fines and supporter bans for pyro, a smoke bomb on the field, and irony of ironies, offensive chanting. If this is down to the Green Brigade, I think it is now high time the club identified the individuals at fault, and banned them permanently.
Back to the game. I just read the blog back after my frustrated post last night prior to donning my tutu and flouncing to the sack. Physically, I feel OK, apart from some stabbing pains which I strongly suspect originate from McCaff putting pins in a wee Voodoo doll in my likeness.😅
It was a brilliant read back with many perspicacious posts. ATOB’s took the biscuit and absolutely nailed the key moment in the game where our lack of game intelligence or just plain savvy was highlighted. Does McGinn make that same move against Atletico Madrid?
Not a chance!
Some miscellaneous comments:
Firstly, I was absolutely delighted for Adam idah. Hopefully, this gives him a lot of confidence to kick on.
Bluegrass Celt asked why Taylor still takes throw ins, when we persistently lose the ball from them. The answer is that, under Rodgers, no Celtic player is allowed to take throw ins, other than the full backs. Remember, under Ange, when we were in hurry up mode, the player nearest to the ball took it immediately? Doesn’t happen any more. Now, even while pressing and in the ascendency, we have to wait for Taylor or AJ to reach the ball, even although they may be 40 yards away. It is simply ridiculous.
In one of Bernardo’s first games for us, he grabbed the ball and was about to toss it to an open player, and Callum shooed him off, gesturing for him to leave it to Taylor. I remember Paulo’s frustrated expression at the time.
I did my badges nearly 50 years ago, under Roxburgh and Brown. They drummed into us several easy ways to hold onto possession at throw ins. I passed them on to every team I coached. They were simple and effective, and easily grasped by the players ( and for the most part, these were amateur players! ) With possession so critical in Europe, it really burns me up at the number of times we needlessly cough it up by piss poor technique.
BMCUWP made the point that we threw away 4 points against Brugge and Zagreb.
Exactimundo! If we had made even marginal improvements to the team in the summer, and augmented where we were weak, there was every chance we could recover the money spent on transfers with additional CL income. Instead, we end up with an absolute travesty of ill preparedness for our final qualifier. One has to ask – if you have zero intention of giving Nawrocki 5 or 6 minutes, what is the point of sacrificing a registration place for him?
Now we have to get ready for Bayern or the Galacticos, and for the qualifiers in the summer. Defence is a huge issue. We allowed Sevco 24 shots recently and Villa 20 shots last night.
That is not sustainable. Think about this for a minute – we lost 7 our last German trip. We lost 6 each of our last 2 Madrid trips, and 9 on aggregate to Real. We drew 0-0 with a Zagreb team depleted by many injuries. Bayern earlier took 9 off them. Unless we tighten up at the back and in midfield, we will get scudded really badly. I’m already getting nightmares of Vinicius, Mbappe and Rodrygo all running full pace at us. We all know that our normal game can’t possibly cope with that, so we have to address it somehow to avoid a catastrophic loss. First priority is a defensive Wanyama type midfielder sitting in front of our centerbacks.
If we get KT and a striker in, it’s too late for the Bayern/Real games, but we need this for the summer, so if the opportunity presents itself now, let’s go for it.
Do I have any confidence that the Board will expend funds for such, or that Brendan would even consider it? Of course I don’t.
Before I forget, we lost 14 goals in 8 games. Inter Milan, who according to Opta, had a much tougher schedule, lost a grand total of 1. Different mindset.
HH
Iniquitous IV😊
BAD…off the top of my head I’d say Croatia have a smaller population than us. Just a guess though! How many teams with a smaller turnover and transfer budget than us would be a more relevant angle to come from though as that would surely give us a better idea of how to improve on scouting, recruitment and, my favourite, DEVELOPMENT!!!
McCaff,
Good shout! Croatia has a population just under 4m.
And I was sure I was making a very good point there!! 😂
HH.
AFTERNOON ALL AND JIM AND MAGUA, INIQUITOUS post at 2.03 this morning should be read by everyone, do I want to see my team who ive supported for 61 years get horsed by real Madrid, no feckin chance, but thats what will happen. ive said on here umpteen times we are not a champions league team, we are a europa league team at best ,just stick to a league or competition that we have a chance of progressing in FFS, we did get to a Europa league final under martin o.Neil we will never ever win the champions league, now let that sink in, we might just might have a chance of winning the Europa, but that depends on that charlatan lawwell getting to feck out of parkhead, we live in hope,another true story🙏
McCaff
January 30, 2025 2:51 pm
Simon Burnton really needs to give IQ4 a call to learn how to watch and report on 18 simultaneous games of fitba, he’s more or less admitting he’s an amateur at this. IQ4…is your CV up to date, I might have a job you’d be interested in!
————————
Hi McCaff:
Thanks for the job reference! I had 3 games up, including Real Madrid, who were on UniMas, plus the Golazo show on Paramount. But here’s the thing, when Celtic are playing, my eyes are glued to that screen, and the rest is almost background, interrupted by occasional screams of GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL from the Latino commentators.
Today, will be different. Much more relaxing, as I really don’t care who wins any of the 18 games. Hoping USG can do the business, but think it unlikely, given Walsh has already sabotaged them.
HH
Iniquitous IV😊
Good afternoon, friends. I could really do with another couple of dozen emails coming in before the 9pm deadline. I appreciate we lost. But unlike our only 2 other losses this season, this time quite a few players performed well. In my opinion. Your support is appreciated, you know 😉 SENCELPOTY@GMAIL.COM
Bad
St tams
You would be correct in claiming that I wouldn’t have much time for Rodgers on a character and personality basis.
To much of a bullshitter and egomaniac, for my liking, and wouldn’t be buying into just how good he thinks he is either.
But this isn’t a character assassination, it’s about the job he is actually doing for ourselves, and can respect him for that side of things.
Yet, I still believe that a combination of what Rodgers vision as ourselves as a team, isn’t on the same page as to what our coaching staff are capable of delivering imo.
So the alternative is having to buy the players to try and get the required standard of players, to fit into how Rodgers is hoping to get our team to?
At present, that number of players required is still way to high for ourselves to actually fulfil a squad, which is worrying, especially if players should start wanting to leave the club, as they can’t and won’t get to the required standards of the manager.
Scales was possibly the best example on show last night, even if we were spoilt for choice.
Scales has never been, nor ever be a high pressing CB, along with not enough speed or passing ability, to ever suit a Rodgers style of play imo.
Jury remains out upon whether Trusty will either, as he may be better in some aspects ahead of scales, but lacks in the physical battles moreso than scales at times within the SPFL.
So therefore do we actually need 2 more CBs to fulfill the position to get to the required standard of Rodgers?
Yet scales didn’t look to happy getting subbed off last night, and where would that leave ourselves if he’s had enough of being asked to do a job he’s incapable of delivering, and devaluing his own worth in the process?
Certainly don’t believe JK can improve the situation with the 2 available options in the position at present imo?
Such examples exist throughout our squad.
10 minutes for McCowan in the last 2 CL matches, is telling another story, that doesn’t sit well.
Bad, you mentioned the glass ceiling earlier, and I do agree that we may well be very close to the point of that ceiling actually breaking, especially with the amount of cracks currently within it at present, regarding performance levels being delivered.
Still believe that at some time, the best chance for progression at the higher level, is with a manager and his own coaching staff in place, and players can be bought into the club accordingly.
When you see what Bournemouth and Brentford are capable of doing within the EPL, with far less resources available to themselves.
Then don’t believe that we can’t achieve the likes even at CL level.
That time isn’t for now, but should be something to be considered for within the future imo.
That of course, if we have any intentions of becoming a regular CL knockout team, or accepting this is how high we can actually go as a club at CL level?
McCaff
Hi McCaff:
I forgot to mention that I was interested to read about all the pundits in the Grauniad
( Private Eye spelling😅) article. Really glad I don’t have to suffer McCoist over here.
The Paramount Golazo show hosts are different for the Europa and CL. The Europa has a heavy emphasis on Latino hosts, but I suspect the CL show may also be shown in the UK, although the Grauniad didn’t mention them. The usual suspects are ‘Hand of God’ cheat Thierry Henry, Micah Richards and Carragher. They mostly talk a lot of crap, and have egos the size of Jupiter. The saving grace is the main host, Kate Scott ( previously Abdo ). She also talks a lot of nonsense, but she is absolutely stunning to look at, so I’ll call it a draw.🤣
HH
Iniquitous IV😊
BAD
Agreed that, in terms of national population and likely TV deal revenue (I haven’t looked at the TV deals across Europe in some time, and cant recall the numbers off the top of my head), Celtic are punching above their weight.
However, in terms of revenue from support/ticket sales, Celtic have to be at the upper echelon. Also, for more than a decade, Celtic had basically no competition in the national league, and were pretty much guaranteed the title, which gave them access to Europe that most teams would have loved (albeit not well supported by Scottish teams, outwith Sevco). Did Celtic take advantage of that opportunity by developing a program to strike out and improve in Europe? For too many seasons, I didn’t see anything close to seizing the opportunities that presented themselves. Too often people would say ‘Celtic cant compete in Europe as there is too big of a gap coming from the SPL. Celtic this season, and Sevco for the past several years, have shown that not to be the case.’
I dont expect Celtic to be winning the CL, but, when I balance both sides, I do think they could have and should have been more competitive in Europe than they have been.
I appreciate that Celtic can only play and beat who they are drawn against, but, as someone pointed out, the draw year ended up quite well for Celtic (some teams that were ranked higher crapped out). Not sure that Celtic can expect the same good fortune next season, so, while this years performance and results were a definite improvement from last year, I think there is a good chance that their performance will have to improve even more next season to even match this years results.
What i find sort of interesting is that I think at times Celtic looked much improved in Europe in BR MarkII’s second season, at least in Europe. However, domestically, I think the style of football has regressed (more stodgy side to side stuff), sort of like happened in BR Mark1 where I think the quality / style of football dropped in each successive season. I do find it hard to explain, much like I find it hard to explain why the zombies can look good in Europe (I am not one who buys that they have been lucky every game in Europe. They have played well in Europe, and have a good home record this season in the SPL, but then look like amateurs in away SPL games. Hard to really explain.
New faces are needed, and new ideas are needed, as we saw both the strengths of playing the same system week in / week out (possible exception of Atalanta away, which looked a bit different), as players knew what was expected of them. But we also saw clearly the limitations of that system, and BR’s unwillingness or inability to deviate from it. Yesterday was an obvious example. Kyogo and Maeda have been the best at pressing from the front, which is clearly a bit part of BR’s preferred system. But when those two were missing, it took a lot of the sting out of how Celtic played. But it didn’t seem like the system changed. Rather it looked like players were simply put into the same spot/system, and expected to replicate the same results even though they have different skill sets. I actually thought Idah did a good bit of work, but was isolated, and Yang simply doesnt match Maeda’s work rate. Without those, Villa were able to pick apart the mid too easily when turning defence into attack.
A few days in this window, and then the summer, to see how willing/able Celtic are to make the move to the next level. Not saying it will be easy, but I do think it is possible…. if Celtic are prepared to make some changes/get out their comfort zone.
Some reasonable points in there, Mike. But, what do you think the next level is? For this season it was the knockout stages – well, that’s where are and the usual moans and groans have started about us being too shite to cope with Real or Bayern!!
Hi Jobo
I asked you on here recently if you could include our list of scorers. You did it about a month ago and it was good to see it. I had assumed it was a new addition to the great work.you already do but you never repeated it.
It was great to have an at-a-glance view of how our season is unfolding and trying to find the info on the official Celtic site is like being a contestant on the Krypton Factor!
Johnno
Agree with much of what you wrote. I am not a huge BR fan, but cant argue with the results in Europe this season. But, as I said earlier, I think there is room for improvement. But, as much as the squad and some players need to improve to take Celtic to the next level, I also think BR needs to improve as a coach if the teams is to improve with him.
I think upgrades are needed at numbetr 6 and left back. If those are addressed (even with players already at club – swap Bernardo for Calmac, and everyone around him .. left back, CB’s will all improve). For me, Bernardo is the most complete midfielder at the moment, and should be the foundation. IF they bring someone else in (even a defensive mid), revisit, but until then, that is the change I think would make the most impact
As for Scales last night, I actually thought he had picked up an injury before he was subbed off, which limited his mobility towards the end of his shift. I didnt’ see him angry when he was taken off, but if so, I would have put that down to the frustration of being injured and having to go off, as opposed to being taken off itself.
https://x.com/TMuk_news/status/1884753025652216016?t=l1KHlRUncG2Mc1jCJIg2hg&s=08
A different measurement of how well we have done
B A D
We are by far the smallest country left in the tournament.
The top 5 dominate as per. 18 teams.
Two Dutch, two Portuguese and a Belgian team are there- all superior leagues to ours.
I’d say that’s a remarkable achievement.
Frodsham Bhoy
Whilst we may have been lucky with the draw in respect of a poor Leipzig we had the outstanding team in pot 4 to make up for it and two recent Euro finalists in Dortmund and Atalanta. These teams finished 8th, 9th and 10th.
Zagreb just missed out in 25th, on 11 points.
All told we did extremely well to finish top 24, and had we won instead of drawn v Brugge or Zagreb would be 15th.
A great achievement for a team ranked 27 out of 36.
Lots of improvements needed but the basis of a solid structure is there.
It’s up to our custodians to develop this opportunity.
Bmcuw
Point taken re KT contract.
Johnno,
Our manager is a bullshitter and an egomaniac?
Mmmm!
Is he?
Nice way to describe our manager.
Just sayin,
I thought so, buddy 👍
McCaff
I would hope that Celtic wont get battered by Real or Madrid … even if they go out and get beat, and not embarassed, I think BR and the team would be well entitled to be very proud of the work they did this season ….would not like it to end on a humping, as I think that could undo a fair bit of the good will their work has earned them this season.
I think ‘the next level’ would be the same level… by which I mean qualifying for the group stages and maybe through them for a few seasons in a row…. I would be okay to see group qualification for a few season in a row (or the new equivalent)… build up resources, and spend a bit more each season ….. Celtic have shown they can save money, and build a good base financially, but now they have to show they can grow it to compete in Europe …. qualifying for the group stage consistently would, for me, be the next logical step …..and if they manage to get out of the groups like they did this season, that would be icing on the cake …..If Celtic did that it would be a good base for maybe moving to the next stage (qualifying for the next round consistently) starting in a few seasons from now ….
that kind of improvement is iceberg stuff … big things dont happen quickly and sometimes movement is hard to see, even if it is actually happening …
McCaff
I realize qualifying is getting harder as country co-efficient isn’t great, and neither Celtic nor Sevco get much help from other clubs in Scotland …it gets hard to predict beyond a season or two in the future
but, as other say, that is the road Celtic have to hoe, so they just have to accept that and largely do it on their own… I havent sat down and looked at country co-efficients to see how this is likely to impact Celtic’s qualifications, but have sort of just assumed that if Celtic can continue to qualify for the ‘group stage’ each of the next few seasons, they and Scotland’s co-efficient will get a bump from that, and that bump will more than offset the impact of the diminution of the Scottish co-efficient brought about by the failure of the balance of the SPL teams in Europe.
Just Sayin
Frodsham Bhoy
Whilst we may have been lucky with the draw in respect of a poor Leipzig we had the outstanding team in pot 4 to make up for it and two recent Euro finalists in Dortmund and Atalanta. These teams finished 8th, 9th and 10th
————
We took 1 point from them. Not saying that’s too bad as the point was vital.
We did get lucky with the draw overall.
With proper initiative we should be able to compete with “middle level” teams.
Our lack of activity in this transfer window makes me doubt our initiative.
Still time to be proved wrong 🙏🙏🤞🤞
MIKE luv ya to bits, as you well know ,but in the grand scheme of things, we are not a champions league team, europa at best, luv to you and Seamus ❤❤❤
Improvement at this high octane level is incremental.
Planning and strategy to aspire to top 8 in 2/3 years.
Next season we have to ensure we qualify first.
Improvement, based on sensible parameters, would be more points than 12, and a positive goal difference to finish 9-16th.
Therefore, we would theoretically have an easier draw.
Who is to say a knockout game v say, a Feyenoord, Sporting or Brugge would be beyond us?
McCaff
January 30, 2025 4:05 pm
Some reasonable points in there, Mike. But, what do you think the next level is? For this season it was the knockout stages – well, that’s where are and the usual moans and groans have started about us being too shite to cope with Real or Bayern!
—————————-
Fie! McCaff! Heaven forfend! A tad unfair, methinks. Let’s be realistic – the overall vibe on here is that we did very well, we over performed, we are on an upward trajectory, and did creditably well, despite being ridiculously ill prepared for the final game. Take another peek at Bada’s chart below. All we are asking for is that we, as a Club, do everything possible to ensure we are at the CL table, earning dosh, every year. Is that too much to ask for? Look at what Lille and Brest have achieved below. If we had a wee bit more ambition, we could have had 16 points.
Oh! And before I forget, we ARE too shite to cope with Madrid or Bayern.🤣 Just look at last night’s subs bench. If we can’t do better than that, something is very badly awry. Anything better than losing 9 over 2 legs to Real will be an improvement, but we have some work to do in the next 3 days to achieve that.
https://x.com/TMuk_news/status/1884753025652216016?t=l1KHlRUncG2Mc1jCJIg2hg&s=08
b p
Sorry buddy but that’s nonsense.
We are already there. It’s a learning curve.
So we educate ourselves.
Something very much in our cultural heritage.
EL is for second best.
Just saying we are already where
Johnno
Scales was injured.
Pulled his hamstring
Other than that , it sounds personal with you and Brendan.
We all know that we have plenty of room for improvement and what areas need improved on.
But to qualify for the next stage , is a great achievement with this squad against the 8 opponents we faced.
Delighted for big Adam last night who stepped up with a great performance.
I predicted that he would be our no 1 striker by the end of the season, which looks like he will.
Frodshambhoy
1 point more than I expected, three tough away games! -what did you expect?
Balanced with three easier ones.
Leipzig unexpectedly so.
YB and Slovan were home games.
The “lucky” draw narrative needs balancing.
The nature of the draw makes the competition more compelling.
b p
In the CL.
Why would we want to compete in the EL where the rewards are one third of those available in the major competition?
Would you rather the Huns had access to this?
KT staying with Arsenal until the summer.
Now what do we do? We’ve backed ourselves into a corner.
https://x.com/mcgrathmike/status/1885004894739841203
Iniquitous
Pay Hearts ransom money for a decent but hardly exceptional back up?
Seems to be our MO.
just sayin ,because in the Europa league we wont get horsed 7-0 8-0 9-0, those teams in the champions league have players more valuable than the whole SPL celtic and rangers included, we need to find our level and the champions league is not it❤❤🙏🙏
IQ,
Where are you hearing that about KT. I’d hoped he would make the move to us now but if he doesn’t it’s Taylor and Scales though I see St Tams saying scales pulled his hamstring last night. I was too caught up in the game and didn’t notice. We are very short, Montgomery next in line?
Agree Idah had a good game last night, not just the goals but I thought he was a physical match for the Villa defenders.
BP,
Enough of the nonsense about the Europa league. We may have to accept that as a consolation lorises but we’d be raging.
b p
I guess it’s all about expectation levels.
To progress we have to take a few knocks.
We have exceeded expectations with a limited squad.
Improve that and incremental progress should make us more competitive.
The bi product being Huns second best forever more.
The gap is already huge but not quite unbridgeable yet if they have a resurgence.
What’s not to like?
I’m not Brendan Rodgers greatest fan either. His one dimensional view on how we play ( no plan B) frustrates the shit out of me.
He does have a lot of knowledge in the game however and is respected by many.
Maybe a new right hand man is required.
Id love to see us spend money on good coaching staff from abroad. Ones that can get more out of our youngster cause the common denominators for me ( Kennedy, Strachan jnr, McManus, O’Dea etc ) are, imho, past their sell by dates.
Seems to me that long gone are the days when we could introduce up and coming talent who would gradually gel in with the big boys. Now we are just wasting money on shite like the likes of Yang, Palm, Rocki etc hoping we get lucky
ATOB\ hope you enjoyed your trip to brum ❤❤ to you and just sayin, im only being realistic, we cant compete with the top teams in the champions league, to me the europa league is where we could make an impact ,but im an old fuddy duddy 72 on Wednesday, dont forget the birthday presents😎👍😎
IQ4…i know we’re too shite for Real and Bayern. My point was and is that reaching this stage, and its commensurate rewards, was the target. Having now reached it the naysayers, you included as Naysayer-In-Chief 🤪, are already bemoaning our ill-preparedness. So, while I get it, we have already achieved what we set out to do. Any ideas of reaching the NEXT stage, ie the Last 16, hasn’t and never was on our radar. But rather than be satisfied that we’ve got where we hoped we would be the moans have started. That’s all! 😉😆
Big Jim Packy…we did compete in the Champion’s League and gor through to the knockout stages. Can you go and get Wee Joan for me, she said she’d hidden the drinks cabinet key from yesterday!! 🤣🤣🤣
ATOB
I posted a link to the Telegraph. It’s also all over KDS.
Can’t figure out why our links to this guy are so persistent, given our managers denial of his existence. Maybe because Palma is going, Yang is hopeless, and Forrest is injured?
https://x.com/mhendry92/status/1884974302153318511
In other news, Palma is apparently in Athens. Kvistgaarden started and scored in a Brondby 3-2 win over FC Dallas in a friendly in Portugal.
At the moment we have Jota in, and unknown when he will be match fit. We have punted Kyogo, Welsh, Holm, Bernabei, Valle and now Palma. We have no problem getting players out.
We now have an indisputably weaker squad. Kyogo last minute exit and predictable Arsenal intransigence leaves us up a creek sans paddle for 2 critical positions with a little over 72 hours left. It is beyond comprehension why we repeatedly find ourselves in this position. One sadly lacking left back for the rest of the season.
Utter ineptitude among the recruitment office tumbleweed.
HH
Iniquitous IV😊
b p
I’d rather compete with the best and be as competitive as we can.
Otherwise we stagnate in EL mediocrity with the Man U’s and Spuds of this world.
The CL is where proper footballers want to be, so playing in the Premier competition makes us attractive to rising stars.
McCaff
Nay, Nay, thrice Nay!🤣
Take a peek at my last post. We are now not in great shape for the SPL and Scottish Cup.
That is the very definition of not being prepared.
You think we have enough now in the squad to win a treble?
A few rabbits needed out of hats by Monday. And we have one again placed ourselves squarely behind the eight ball for negotiations. It is mismanagement, inefficiency and ineptitude writ large.
I just skimmed a few other Celtic blogs. Fabs are “shocked, shocked I tell you” that KT is not coming this window. Beats me how they expected anything else.
And don’t say ‘Neigh.’😂
zombies are celebrating ….
formerly, the zombies 2022/23 CL campaign was the worst ever with a 0-6 record, and a goal difference of -20.
Now, this year’s Young Boys team went 0-8 with a goal difference of -21.
Now, I guess 8 losses is worse than 6 losses, and 21 goals against is worse than 20….but zombies’ goals per game allowed was worse …
do we let them claim they are no longer the worse ever? or do we say 0 points is still 0 points regardless of the games, and on goals allowed per game, they were and still are the worst?
McCaff
“Any ideas of reaching the NEXT stage, ie the Last 16, hasn’t and never was on our radar”
————————-
I believe you, but as big Chris Sutton said, “why put a ceiling on your ambition?”
We should always strive to get to the next level.
Them’s my 2 cents.😊