29 Sep 2016 23:10:07
I would be interested to know "ed 's " opinion now on Brendan Rodgers . Before the appointment I was honestly thinking I would prefer moyes, just goes to show you what I know. But since the season started I have to say I couldn't be happier with the football we have been playing . I know there has been a couple of bad results along the way but everything we could have hoped for so far has been achieved. I understand that with the way we are set up now, every now and then we will get humped by better opposition but I'm generally excited about the team now and more so what the team can become after a couple of transfer windows. I'm sure I can recall ed not being overly impressed with the appointment and was interested if he has like me changed his mind?
{Ed007's Note - I was happy with Rodgers appointment and the board done brilliantly to bring him in but I had concerns after taking great delight in seeing how Liverpool fans thought of him even though he had taken them to within a baw hair of their first title in nearly 30 years - Gerrard slipping and them losing the league was a personal highlight of that particular season for me.
Rodgers has only been in the job a matter of months so no, he's not done anything to make me turn into a star-struck teenage girl over him. Two weeks ago we were slaughtered 7-0 in the worst European result in our history (I gave Neil Lennon pelters for his humiliation in the Nou Camp but gave Rodgers the benefit of the doubt, it was his first CL game with us after all) and before that we had our most embarrassing ever result in Europe losing to a team of part-timers in Gibraltar. Rodgers has addressed the GK situation - a situation that I have highlighted for the past three years - by bringing in someone that 99% of people would say is worse than Gordon, he's made Kolo Toure one of the best paid players at the Club and yet we still can't seem to keep a clean sheet.
In the cold light of day, is losing 3 goals at home in Europe really us getting back to 'Fortress Parkhead' and is throwing away the lead 3 times in the one game at home acceptable? Out of 8 European matches so far this season we have won 3 - but who cares about that, just think of all that lovely money we'll invest in the team next summer!
So one of my initial concerns was about how our defence would be set up and how it would perform and it's still there simply because the problem is still there. Are you happy with our defence?
30 Sep 2016 15:23:07
I know we conceaded 3 at home ed but we are up against a team with a 400m squad with possibly the best manager in the world at the moment who had also won there previous 10 games.
Surely br deserves a little credit.
I'm with you on the defence and the previous results against imps and hbs. The performance against hbs in particular in isreal I thought was horrendous and one of the worst I've seen us play.
Having said that i think all managers need time at any club and br at celtic isn't any different. I honestly believe we are heading in the right direction ed and so far it's a huge improvement on the last couple years.
I've said before I'm a glass half full guy tho ðŸ˜.
HH.
{Ed007's Note - I wasn't asked to give Rodgers credit though, I answered the OP's question about whether I was still had the same reservations about Rodgers appointment
How much did the Red Imps team and the Alloa team we struggled to beat cost to assemble? Or drawing 2-2 with the team bottom of the league because we couldn't defend our lead, and their squad didn't cost £400 million.
In 6 league games we haven't kept a clean sheet all season, conceding 8 goals in 6 matches, and out of a total of 16 matches so far this season we've only managed 3 clean sheets - Red Imps at home, a honking Motherwell side and League One side Alloa.}
30 Sep 2016 15:42:34
Do you remember that game where David Marshal was in goals in Barcelona, he played a blinder making x amount of great saves, or that game might have ended seven nil as well, still think if it had been Gordon in goals instead of Devries, it wouldn't have been anywhere near seven nil.
30 Sep 2016 16:22:03
Fair point ed.
Do you think there has been any improvement? The quality of players and style of play has imo.
{Ed007's Note - There's definitely been a massive improvement in the style of play, some of our attacking play is the best I've seen from a Celtic team in a long, long time and we are light years ahead of anyone in Scotland - and that's the really important stuff for me, I want us to dominate Scottish football.
You can see by the way the team are playing that they are enjoying themselves out there - Scott Brown has had an outstanding start to the season and I'll even grudgingly give Forrest some credit but he needs to keep it up over a full season, we've seen it far too many times from him before to think he's finally turned the corner, let's see what his stats are at the end of the season.
I was really excited about signing Dembele and was amazed that we actually we did, the kid is going to be a superstar and he seems to have got his head screwed on, he knows he's better off up here playing and learning rather than sitting on the bench of an EPL side.
Sinclair I had my doubts about but he's surprised me how quickly he's found his feet and more importantly his form, I thought his best days were behind him and I'm happy to be proven wrong on that one. It looks like his slump over the past few seasons might have been a confidence thing after his nightmare at City.
Toure I'm not so sure about, I wouldn't say he's been a failure but he hasn't brought the strong presence to the defence I expected him to. He's still a MILLION miles better than Ambrose though. I'm looking forward to seeing Sviatchenko and Simunovic getting a run in there together. In my opinion, one of the best bits of business we did in the summer, and we had a couple, was holding onto Simunovic regardless of how it happened.}
30 Sep 2016 17:19:04
Cheers ed i would say I agree with pretty much everything you said there except toure.
I like him and think the likes of tierney and O'connell could really benefit from him being there.
Hope to God you haven't jinxed forrest lol. I've been holding off for ages not giving him too much praise in fear of getting my fingers burnt. The boy really has turned the corner but yeah let's judge him after a full season.
I would love to see us spend a couple quid on a decent keeper. I think our defenders need someone who can command there area, communicate and of course make a couple saves.
{Ed007's Note - A 'keeper must be the top priority next summer, having a strong reliable 'keeper is the basis for a confident defence. I'm not buying all this trendy en vogue pish about 'keepers being good with the ball at their feet, give me an old fashioned GK who isn't scared to come for the ball and who will throw their body in front of the ball and players first and foremost, if they could ping a pass they wouldn't be a 'keeper. Now we've got these tosser pundits sitting in TV studios talking about 'keepers having poor distribution all because Guardiola spoke about it.
And whoever came up with the 'sweeper-keeper' phrase needs their stones WELL rattled.}
30 Sep 2016 17:29:17
I am sure Celtic fans are warming very much to Brendan . Fans of other clubs can have their glass half empty but I must say that my glass is half full. Ten EPL teams have tried to take the lead against City this season but none could . The whole money rich EPL are looking up at Manchester City we are looking across .
I suppose it's only but right that the 3rd richest club in the world ( 3rd highest wages )
Should be able to match us with a wage bid 5 % of Manchester City .
Imagine we signed a 35 year old defender and still concede goals, maybe we should have signed a 40 year old and by our critics thinking we may not concede any .
30 Sep 2016 17:56:35
I had my doubts about Toure before he came but must say that on the whole I have been impressed with what I have seen of him.
In my opinion he held the defence together at the end of the Man City match and I think his experience helped us see that game out.
Don't get me wrong he does make mistakes but far less than Ambrose. I also think the other CBs will benefit playing alongside him.
30 Sep 2016 18:31:43
I was also doubtful of the Toure signing but I thin he is doing very well for us. Definitely a keeper we need. Whilst we haven't kept many clean sheets, quite a few goals we have conceded is due to the keeper not doing well enough. We are always going to give the opposition chances due to our attack minded football so need a really strong keeper not only to save more but also to organise the defence in front of him.
{Ed007's Note - Wasn't Toure supposed to be the old experienced head that would organise our defence? The only time that's a GK's responsibility is at set pieces. If a team is losing goals the defence must shoulder part of the responsibility.
We can't just accept that our style of play means the opposition can create chances, that's a fault in the tactics if the team is 'easy' to score against. Teams in Scotland will play Celtic knowing they could be onto a hiding but opposition strikers will be quietly confident of nicking a goal, and that's not all down to the GK.
I'm 100% confident that we'll win comfortably against Dundee tomorrow but I don't think we'll keep a clean sheet.
It's not a major problem against teams in Scotland but our defensive frailties have been seriously exposed in Europe and not just against Barca and Man City.}
30 Sep 2016 19:20:46
our defensive problems have been a problem for us since the Lisbon lions era, there is no difference now.
The thing that some don't take into account that since then the gulf is HUGE now between us and the top teams in Europe.
Even back to the days of Charlie Murdo etc we conceded goals in Europe.
I can't see ANY way we won't concede in Europe these days against the superstars that Barcelona Man City Bayern etc can afford even at home.
On a side note Tierney just impresses the hell out of me.
Never mind his defensive skills how many assists is he on now.
Like the Barcelona full backs he doesn't just put a cross in he picks a player out, that for me tells me he is class.
How many top full backs do u know that when when they get to the byeline fail to deliver.
30 Sep 2016 23:17:56
It shouldn't be so easy for teams in Europe to score against us rab, we've shipped a lot of goals both in qualifiers and cl. A can accept Barcelona and man city finding a way through our defence but 10 goals in 2 games is a bit frightening. Saying that, Wednesday was night and day from the Barcelona away performance.
Definitely think us fans played a massive role in the teams confidence tho, that was one of the best atmospheres I've experienced n av seen a few good ones. It was up there with juventus for me n our players fed off it in the best way possible. During the cl anthem they're players didn't know if it was new york or new year. Loved it from start to finish n had goose bumps for 2 days.