Suspicious minds CSC
Thick and fast indeed as a city rival becomes the host with the winner promised a trip (at least) to Hampden Park to wrap up proceedings hand over the first trophy of the season.
It shall begin at 12.30 pm on Sunday presumably to slim down the bevvy consumption, but this one, nor any going further will have away fans which leaves me scratching my head. If theres no away fans why stipulate 12.30 Sunday anymore?
As was said I would rather lose this game than either of the next two and maybe its just me but I’m happy they are about to be pushed into producing and finding the dig from somewhere. We lost our last knockout away tie emphatically, I assume it was drilled into the players that never happens again.
The team looks a little refreshed, rejuvenated, and that process is rarely quick. In saying that how I would love a Daizen or a Yang today, I guess there is space for others to snatch their potential limelight.
How do I see Martin approaching the game? On the counter for the first 20 then hopefully clawed our way on top giving them more problems than they give us, and we take it from there.
I don’t forsee any tactical tweak, our crazy team selection or a wildcard, I think he will go business as usual and select the strongest side he can and he believes in. Duran is a cert, I reckon Sam kept the keepers gloves, Trusty is a cert to partner CCV as Liam will be needed around 60mins to cover leftback. I believe Martin will opt for the Ox over Baur, experience and all that, then when Baur does come off the bench the noise doesn’t phase him. Hassan on the left, Duran on the right is the only possible switch I would sanction, but even still I would have tried it before. I think it will be Tonetki left and Hassan right with Duran through the middle, then Hogh gets started midweek as Europe might suit his game better.
The real suspicion starts and ends with the refs and VAR, overcome them and we win.
Up The Hoops!
By Mahe
sentinelcelts@gmail.com
I’ll say it now, Hogh will be our Flo. You can take that to the bank. Sutton or Hartson he ain’t. Touch of an elephant, most of his wee flicks end up in no mans land. Oh aye and he is weak as bambi
Pitiful selection and display by our team and management today. Absolutely no way should Tounektihave been on from the start never mind a possible sub. FFS it’s at Ibrox.. you need heart , determination and ability to knuckle down and stick to the task! He’s got naene of them!!!
MoN to blame for that line up
Also Sinisalo hasn’t really done so poorly that a goalie that’s just arrived takes his place! Absolute shite. Criticism the he fails to save shots from distance may be true but Johnson was even poorer than that at his effort.
Gutted at the result but just means no treble this year.
Just catching up, not in the least surprised today- in fact I predicted it during the week. We’ve played two average teams this season and shipped 8 goals. We’ve learnt nothing from LASK and we’ll learn nothing from today either.
This season has total Covid vibes about it.
1 90 minute win in past 11 now v Huns, stretching into three seasons.
Upside. It’s only the League Cup.
Do we ever think to change things tactically to give opponents something different to think about? I feel we are lazy all over this club and have been for years.
Jimtim
Then Martin should have told then its the players i want in my time scale or i am off. He didn’t just another noddy dug.
Waydown
i think Hogh is a decent player, but he’s not an ‘off the cuff, give me the ball, I’ll do it myself’ type of player. He is one of those players who can shine with proper support and a system, which he obviously had at Bodo. The guy that has come in to replace him at BG is playing well. Because, they are part of a team, where everyone works together, and know what is expected of them and their teammates.
Bodo pick players that fit their system, and coach a system. Celtic buy decent players but primarily they buy players for resale – players they think they can resell, and then tell them ‘go out and show how good you are’; Celtic arent looking first and foremost at building a team; rather they. Buy decent players who are good enough to win the SPL, which will increase their value, so they can be resold at a profit.
the team doesnt come first at Celtic. Individual players do. That is why Calmac is the first name on the team sheet every week. Everyone can see Celtic need a number 6 – and Calmac for all his qualities as an attacking mid, might be the worst number 6 i have ever seen – but the player gets prioritized over what is right for the team.
Celtic are the anti-Bodo. No team spirit, no team strategy. That is why ‘maverick’ type players like Duran or Nygren tend to fare better than a ‘team first’ type like Hogh.
No surprise, Huns draw Aberdeen in the semifinal.
Mike in Toronto
Great post mate. You have hit everything thats wrong with our club bang on.
MO’N havering. Got to learn. Learn what?
People saying it will be different next week. How exactly? Will we change the system? No chance. Will we do anything different? No chance. 2 defeats coming this week.
Well done Colby Donovan was up for the battle and only player i would give pass marks to.
Pity about the rest of team , full of cowards .
As for the manager and coaching team.
They don’t have a clue
M.I.T
well said
CGAF ! HH
Said we should have played 3-5-2.
Not changing it at HT gave them the game.
Said I wasn’t sure of Hogh 45mins into his Celtic career.
How many times do we look vulnerable playing this 4-3-3.
And for the millionth time – We don’t need a no6, eh? A fucking blind man can see our biggest problem.
Only Scales, CCV and Baur turned up.
Callum spent the day passing responsibility.
Bad day at the office ..it happens.
Learn lessons and move on quickly.
KTF.
Apart from StMirren lying down to them in the Cup that was easily their best performance of the season. That’s how shite we are.
Sorry,
Young Colby battled all day.
Mike in Toronto
Hogh is at present an £11 mill indulgence. For that sum at Celtic i’d be looking for far more than the occasional goal. I’ll stick by my assertion that he is our ‘ Flo’ purchase. Overpriced and overrated. Of course, time will tell who is right.
Donovan is a poor football player, FACT
Way
i am not necessarily disagreeing with you (i get with my long rambling posts, sometimes my point gets lost 😆)
I agree with you that I am not sure Hogh will succeed AT CELTIC. But that is because the team isnt set up for his style of player to succeed. But I think there is a decent player there. If he plays, he will score a decent number in the SPL, but that is more a function of how poor the SPL is, rather than Celtic getting the best out of him.
looking back, its not enough to have good players and coaches. The players also have to fit into the coaching system. BR had a very good eye for a player. But his system didnt bring out the best in the players he had.
I think the only recent time the recruitment matched the playing style was under Ange.
No 1 priority was a defensive midfielder, didn’t get one,and McGregor is suffering because of it
Celtic need a strong Rangers
DD
Mike in Toronto
September 13, 2026 2:31 pm
‘the team doesnt come first at Celtic.’
##
All very true, but the fundamental issue is that success doesn’t come first at Celtic. Success has to be kept in check for long term strategic, business reasons, based on the assumption that Celtic are part of a duopoly and that no other approach is possible.
So within that framework the player trading model makes sense.
https://www.andymuirhead.com/p/celtics-ibrox-humiliation-exposes
I never watch these games. I know it is irrational but I dislike seeing the hate involved.
Let us not let our disappointment cloud judgement. Some of the dire forecasts about Hogh and the coaching team might turn out to be true, but this is only one game, played in hostile circumstances. Disappointing, Yes, but just one game.
We all still support the better club,
Rebus
Rebus
it is only one game, true. but it is the same issues game after game that simply arent being addressed. It is not today’s result that is the concern. It is the reasons why and how it happened – and the fact that Celtic seem oblivious to them, and as such are unlikely to address them – that are the real concern.
Any inclination to put KT into the number 6 role this week? He would provide some cover against balls through the middle, and has some game intelligence. Not ideal, and certainly not a long term solution, but something needs to be done. Or the next two games will be a repeat of today.
MIT
I think our admittedly poor coaching staff do know the issue but are taking orders from above.
This week it was said by a defensive mids agent that MON wanted player but others at Celtic blocked move.
I have been a critic of Calmac since BR moved him to defensive position and believe he has got worse over said period.
Personally think Despot and Lackeys have him earmarked for future coaching position and if our decline continues we may well have a perfect candidate who can’t tackle or read game but what does that matter?
ernie lynch
September 13, 2026 3:09 pm
.Success has to be kept in check for long term strategic, business reasons, based on the assumption that Celtic are part of a duopoly and that no other approach is possible.
——-
Give it 2 or 3 years and the duopoly will be Huns and Mini Huns.
Bloom won’t stop and we are leaving the door wide open.
No way the Huns will go out of their way to help us like we have accommodated them at every turn.
Major rethink required asap. Not sure we have the right people for that job.
Real change at Celtic is unlikely, so there is comfort in speculation. Let’s speculate. There are lessons to be learned from teams that punch above their weight. In the past(Stein), Celtic learned from clubs like AC Milan and Real Madrid. We could realistically aspire to be at their level. Money or TV has changed that, together with incompetencies at Celtic.
Celtic is a club that punches below its weight, see Europe as a reference.
There are a host of clubs that punch above their weight or their history. Bodo and Brighton are two, but you could throw in Bournemouth as another. IMHO these are our benchmarks. The English clubs have the key advantage of playing in the EPL but they have to survive in that environment year after year, on budgets much less than their competitors. Players leave, they are replaced, the club continues to do well. So one reason for their success is managing churn. Off the top of my head, they tend to employ young managers who are on the way up. Their senior management is flexible and innovative. Does the Bodo manager receive a share of transfers? The other clubs are data driven in recruitment. There is a formula for success to be found by studying such clubs.
Of course, the counter argument is where will such clubs be in 10-15 years? Consider, the Wigans, Portsmouths, Blackburns and Astanas. Their millionaire ownerships moved on and their declines were rapid!
I wonder does any of that kind of thinking happen in the Celtic Board room? Is it initiated by the CEO as it should be? It seems that the opposite occurs. Sell the top players and then look for cheaper replacements. Hire a retired manager for short spells at a time. Hire a supporting coaching team that have either failed at management or who little experience outside Celtic. Ignore the value of successful communications to promote the interests of tge club.
The last laugh is that it is usually enough to offer domestic success 🤷♂️
Rebus
REBUS67
Excellent comment. Thanks, saves me making similar comments but in a more slapdash scattergun way!
Rebus
Great post and very articulate. Says everything about our club and where we are at the bottom of the European pecking order sad to say 😞
Rebus67
September 13, 2026 4:07 pm
So Celtic start to punch above their weight again, the CL group stage becomes a regular feature, success breeds success, ambitious players want to join and then generate further income when they get their big transfer, the cash rolls in, what happens to the domestic competition?
What exactly has Sinisalo done to be dropped for a reserve player who has hardly played?
Decided to get the match review out of the way instead of waiting till tomorrow.
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/09/13/gutless/
What on earth is happening at Celtic? MON, who has zero history of having an eye for a keeper, gives an utterly irrational justification for dropping Sinisalo, “Johnstone has never played an OF game before.” 🤔. I mean, WTAF?
We have holes in the team you can see from space. Most posters on here see that. We repeatedly yield huge numbers of shots from the same position – outside the D. LASK had 40 shots, Dundee Utd had 19 and hit woodwork 5 times, St. Mirren had 15. WTF are MON and Maloney doing? If I saw that happening during ONE game, I would do something about it, yet they see it EVERY game and do diddly squat. MON stood befuddled like a confused, doddering old man on the sideline and did NOTHING to address the main problem – McInnes was clogging the center of the park, outnumbering us, fighting for second balls, and completely dominating. Out coached by McKlopp, FFS!
Fielding Tounekti and Nygren was a huge mistake. In a team full of gutless cowards, every man and his dog just knew they would disappear without trace.
McGregor’s day is done. But our inept coaching duo are accelerating that process by giving him zero support. At least get some numbers in there. Play 3 at the back, 5 in the middle and 2 up top. If we don’t address it, we will lose to Ferencvaros, the Hun again, and we will concede 6 or 7 in Lisbon.
I would love to know what the plan was when we signed Hogh and Duran.
Because, for the life of me , I can’t see what it is.
There are still loads of players available out of contract, obviously the wage would be higher than normal.
In certain circumstances needs must, none of our midfielders can tackle, and can’t remember the last time I seen a Celtic midfield player come out on top in a 50/50 tackle.
Very poor today !
tactically inept!
poor in the tackle!
toothless upfront!
seen no fight apart from Scales and Donavan.
its going to be a long cold winter.
in saying all that, we are ok on the FSR front and must have over £100 million in the bank now.
Every penny is reinvest back into the team, and don’t forget it! Then ask why Tounetki is anywhere near a Celtic shirt.
FFS
Total shambles of a team, lucky it wasn’t 7 ,absolutely nothing to take away from that shite,said as most of us have, Tounekti is a total shitebag, and shouldn’t be near a jersey, embarrassing performance
shambles and embarrassing from start to finish we all knew we needed a defensive MF, didn’t happen with, £70 million plus in the bank,they’re shite and we let them boss us the whole game. We need a drastic change of formation IMO, 3-5-2,Hogh and Duran through the middle, 5 in MF won’t let us ger outnumbered again, seriously worrying stuff
The manager and his coaching team should have been emptied after the Lask game, let’s see how long it takes to get rid.