Celtic Banter Archive July 13 2016

13 Jul 2016 22:13:45
Last night's disaster game reminded us just how fallible the Celtic Football club can be . We all know just how dire we were .
It also shows that the football Authorities have no respect for the Champions of Scotland . For us cold blooded Celts to have in our close season to play a team in mid - season in almost 40 degrees on a rubber pellet base pitch . Everything last night was set- up for a night- mare and by God we got one .
There is no way the Champions of England or Germany would have to play on a pitch like last night in their close season in a competitive game . It appears that if we are going to have a champions League we are going to find it tougher and tougher playing in it.

13 Jul 2016 22:44:08
I'll leave the points you made to your opinion. One point I'll further is the pitch. Both teams played on it and we lost. I was told that it doesn't pass standards for the full CL and wouldn't be allowed in anything but qualifiers. If true then we shouldn't of played on it.

13 Jul 2016 23:07:32
Had a wee dig online and yeah it is, just. They made a few upgrades to pass bare minimum requirements. So back to my op, same shocking pitch and they won.

13 Jul 2016 23:16:05
Excuses, excuses, what we are seeing is Ronnies legacy, why is BR playing the midfield that Ronnie done to death?, Forrest, Biton, Brown, Johansen (ok he wasnt playing, but if fit he eud be playing) , BR has to give Henderson, Allan. Roberts and Rogic, the midfield positions, and oldbhoy, seeing how you were a Ronnie worshipper almost to zhe end, are you now joining the church of BR and praise him, praise him.

13 Jul 2016 23:42:15
RD used the same midfield that he inherited. BR inherited the same. We haven't spent anything there for years. And we haven't done anything for years.

13 Jul 2016 23:47:18
They play because they are the best players. Sad but true. 3managers that have watched them all still pick them. Even if you add pressure from above to play certain players we should of been better with what we have resource wise. To think this crop can make a dent with anyone leading them is deluded. We need new.

14 Jul 2016 00:06:20
Oldbhoy that pitch and I'm not joking I've seen my kid play on something similar the ball runs away from ya unless u put check on it it bounces too high it pops up when u try and control it and that's without 37 degrees heat this Lincoln imps team deserve their win but I feel sorry for them in the 2nd leg could be over 10.

14 Jul 2016 15:21:16
Still going with that one aindoh? Good man.

13 Jul 2016 20:39:55
Colin . Rodger's never wanted Balotelli at Liverpool can't see him wanting him, plus the fact his ego and wages are on another planet.

13 Jul 2016 22:01:45
Ballotelli at Celtic not a chance, if there is a rumour, it has been started by someone with a queer sense of humour.

13 Jul 2016 18:33:48
A HEARTFELT APOLOGY

I just wanted to apologise to everyone on here for the outcome of last night's CL qualifier in Gibraltar.
I NEVER place money on Celtic (superstition) yet last night I foolishly entrusted Mr W Hill with copious amounts of money on Griffiths, Dembele scoring and -2 Celtic (yes I actually placed that bet)
The gambling Gods and I have this arrangement that I stay clear of ANY Celtic bets and because I broke my promise they punished me.
I am truly sorry and I promise to NEVER place my money on Celtic again this season.

13 Jul 2016 19:25:46
Tim

Do me a favour. If you always lose on Celtic related bets can you please stick a tenner on Ambrose being at Celtic when the transfer window closes?

13 Jul 2016 20:16:12
NEVER again this season? Haha

13 Jul 2016 22:04:14
Why apologize Tim? Lol it's no your fault we were embarrassed again ( of a significant scale this time)
At least you mean well. The players that done nothing should have a good wee think and maybe do the same, it wouldn't stretch far but it's a start.
We should have been able to play them on an old red ash pitch and still win, excuses suit when it suits best!

I'm the same, my da always said never bet for or against your team (he's St Mirren) and last night was my first bet on my team, dembele anytime and Celtic win, Even money but sounded too good, I'm never confident these days but last night was the lowest, never again.

13 Jul 2016 22:54:01
Tim I'll draw out a salt pentagram, fashion a tinfoil hat and credit your betting account to the tune of £100 for you to bet against celtic reaching the final :)

13 Jul 2016 23:33:35
Just noticed there its the longest one of your post has been up without a disagree! 👍.

13 Jul 2016 17:58:09
just been readingsome nonsense linking us with Balotelli.

13 Jul 2016 15:49:56
been hearing wild stories linking us with Balotellli.

13 Jul 2016 16:16:07
Not likely
He slaughtered Rogers in the press not long ago
Seems they don't get on.

13 Jul 2016 13:28:06
gordon
janko lustic eric teirney

armstrong brown christie

rogic

dembele griffiths

That would be my team for wed, imo the players we have would be more suited to this than 433, one things for sure we better up our game or the honeymoons over.

13 Jul 2016 13:59:42
No Roberts really.

13 Jul 2016 14:05:36
not match fit i think rg.

13 Jul 2016 14:40:34
Gordon
Janko Lustig Erik Tierney
Armstrong
Roberts rogic christie
Griffiths dembele

13 Jul 2016 15:26:35
Gordon

Lustig
Shevvy
Ajer
Tierney


Henderson
Mgregor
Armstrong

Rogic

Dembele
Griff.

13 Jul 2016 15:51:11
Gordon

Janko Lustig Sviatchenko Tierney

Roberts Henderson Rogic
Armstrong

Griffiths Dembele.

13 Jul 2016 16:05:37
Do you think that would give us enough width DRB?

13 Jul 2016 17:50:28
C. Gordon.
K. Tierney. E. Sviatchenko. M. Lustig
E. Izaguirre N. Bitton. T. Rogic. S. Brown.
P. Roberts.
K. Commons. L. Griffiths.

13 Jul 2016 17:55:01
Think so kev lustig and tierney like to bomb on and if mgregor sits deepest henderson and Armstrong have the energy and mobility to go wide with the full backs coming into cover
. it also gives rogic a free role between mid and forward that let's those four overlap him left and right. also has players all in their natural positions ecxept ajer but he strolled pre season at cb.

13 Jul 2016 19:24:12
So a diamond then?

13 Jul 2016 22:32:40
IM O it would be dangerous to try a different formation for first time in such a must win game . I would also be worried about playing Lustig in the centre of our defence
He has rarely played there and we cannot be sure he wouldn't do an Efe . Play O'Connell or MacCart or Ajer .
If Roberts is not match fit what is he doing putting him on bench . Surely it can't be difficult for Griffiths to be in the centre oftener, he shouldn't be tied to the wing .

13 Jul 2016 12:29:01
Last night for me should be a wake up call for me we need to loose the following players quickly ambrose biton forest brown? Ciftci gms commons boyata
Once these go we need a new CB rb acm lm and a proven striker. I'm not jumping the gun here this is what a load of us have been saying for over a year now. Let me ko W what you all think hail hail. I just hope that if we beat Lincoln convincingly next week we don't stick with what we have or it could be another long season.

13 Jul 2016 11:54:23
So typical we slate the manager, I can't believe that no one seen this coming.


The heat and the pitch is a leveller. Next week will prove the difference in class.

I would say that BR will know that a few players such as Efe, Christie are not good enough.

Bitton and Rogic clearly struggled with ball control hence why Roberts was not on.

Leigh Griffiths IMO is a good player but we need to realise that he does score a lot of goals cutting in from the right. Dembele needs game time with the squad so I think they 2 will play well together.

I would like to see 2 players a LW and RB, Janko/ Fisher are not good enough I would like to see Lustig with Erik in the middle.

13 Jul 2016 14:23:55
He's the manager who puts these duds on the park so who else is to blame? And all this crap about blaming pitches and the heat is just nonsense as the late great Jock Stein said a decent player can play on any surface and in any weather conditions.

13 Jul 2016 14:12:03
Nothing should have been a leveler to that extent. We were rank rotten and an embarrassment.
No panic and we will still go through but doesn't detract from the joke that we were unfortunately.
Brown and Efe time for a taxi.

13 Jul 2016 22:42:16
Imo the passes to Janko from Brown to Janko were to Janko's feet . He was stationary and the first thing he did was looked at defender, he fiddled around and lost the ball. If Janko has a strength it is running down the wing like the hammers of hell and hope to get some type of a cross in . To do that the ball needs to be played behind defender giving Janko a chance to stretch his legs.

13 Jul 2016 10:44:18
The most disappointing aspect of that horror show last night for myself at least was Rodgers after match comments, instead of excuses he should have tore every single one of those so called Celtic players a new one, over the last 2 games Maribor and imps the team has been awful to watch, no shape, no workable system, players out of position, it has just carried on from last season, these players have had 2 years to improve and at best only KT and LG have the rest have gone the other way and if lawwell turned down 6 mill for Bitton he needs kicked up and down the gallowgate, needs to get on the phone NOW to Spain and to turkey about SJ . Take the bloody money on offer for both, the feel good factor that Rodgers appointment generated, will deflate like a burst ball with another shocker like last night. Time for Rodgers to shit or get of the pot some of his selections so far are absurd. I know it's far to early to judge but I have this horrible horrible feeling we are about to have a Paul le guen experience.

13 Jul 2016 10:52:53
That result last night might be the best thing that has happened to us for years. BR will now know half the team aren't up to it and will go to the board and say "what the feck do you expect me to do with this pile of rubbish" I see another 5 or 6 players leaving fairly shortly and I expect we will see 3 or 4 new faces in the squad before the next qualifying round.
We will rip that team apart in the return leg.

13 Jul 2016 11:35:58
It could well be a good thing! Also if we can't beat them by a good few goals next week then we don't deserve to be there! He's only worked with them for 3 weeks, he had to at least have a look at the players to see what he could work with because unfortunately no-one is just going to come in and give us a few quid for them all. Last night will have told him more about their character than anything else! I agree about playing players out of position but Griffiths isn't supposed to be playing as a right winger - in a front 3 they should be closer together, and for eg last night Teirney and Janko should have been almost playing like wingers with Biton dropping into defence as cover! There's never an excuse when you lose a game, as we know you make your own luck. For many reasons though a pitch like last night shouldn't be allowed in the champions league. It's the worst I've seen in over 30 years. It was also dangerous, there was sh1t flying up every time a tackle went in, in was bare in patches, the ball bobbled with every pass and the bounce was impossible to judge! Killy's pitch was like Leicester's compared to it.

13 Jul 2016 11:40:04
Big hartson made a good point after the game, he said Brendan would learn more from that game than if we'd strolled it 5 nil! Because if any game highlighted the importers in that squad then it was that one last nite! Bitton I'd take money for straight away, talk of 10 million, I'd accept half that! So one paced its frightening! The lack of fight and heart in that team really does fill me with dread for the upcoming season! From the so called captain all the way through it! Not enough men in that team for me! A team full of lost little boys who's arse collapses as soon as they go behind! And as for ambrose, u know I don't even blame him now do u know that! It's the manager and the ones before him who havnt got rid of this clown that take the blame! A blind man could tell u ambrose is a sorry exuse for a footballer! Big changes need to Happen and kwikly and the first one is a commanding centre half to play next to Erik! Yes we probably will beat them by a few next week but that won't disguise the fact that the current squad is badly lacking quality and leadership! We can recover from this, but it's going to take money and the balls to see that your bitton and Browns have had there chance!

{Ed007's Note - I thought Hartson was talking his usual garbage last night and that was one of the most idiotic things I've heard from him. If that had been a RD side what do you think he would have been saying? Then there's Chris Sutton, he was banging on about the pitch last night yet he crucified RD for a 10 man Celtic who missed a penalty and and ended up only drawing with Accies on a freezing cold February night - on a plastic pitch.
It's outrageous to think our manager needed last night to realise LG can't play out wide. The double standards from the previous 2 seasons has already started and we've only played one match - our single worst result ever in Europe.}

13 Jul 2016 12:36:50
I respect your opinion ED and it is without doubt a disgrace of a result but i'd say the bratislava game was just as bad, Agree with griffiths not being a wide player, would hope this square pegs in round holes scenario would stop but dosent seem to look like it atm,

{Ed007's Note - That team last night was mostly part time players playing at a level similar to EK Thistle, that's what makes it worse for me. Rodgers does like to experiment so I expect further bizarre decisions will be made as the season goes on. Don't you remember Liverpool going to play Real Madrid in 2014 and he played mostly reserves?}

13 Jul 2016 13:22:21
The most worrying thing for me is that i'm remembering all the crap results over the last few yrs but i'm struggling to think of a decent result where we were on form.

13 Jul 2016 14:17:22
Sorry Ed, Cannot agree with you there mate Legia and Bratislava were both irretrievable after the first leg IMO and were a lost cause

I accept your angle about the part timers but we will overcome them next week @ CP no probs they already worried about our big grass PITCH (y)

{Ed007's Note - Lincoln Red Imps are playing in a country that only joined UEFA 3 years ago. They beat us in their 5th ever European tie which is only their second home win, their first was in the previous round. We couldn't even keep a clean sheet.
Legia Warsaw have won the Polish League umpteen times and have finished in the top 3 for the last 30 odd years, they've been in semi-finals and quarter finals of European competitions, they're one of the top teams in Poland who have claimed a few European scalps over the years and have loads of European experience as a club, they even got to the Last 32 of the EL 2 years ago. There's probably players at Warsaw that would get into our team especially at CB, you can't say that about last night opponents. To compare Legia Warsaw to Lincoln Red Imps is ridiculous mate.
Our previous manager was slaughtered because we only drew with Accies on a 4G pitch, we were down to 10 men and missed a penalty that night as well and nobody blamed the pitch. Blaming the pitch is not an acceptable excuse for last night's defeat - there are no excuses, the Gibraltar players were playing on the same surface and struggling as much as our players were. It's like blaming the weather for a defeat, does snow or driving rain only affect Celtic players?}

13 Jul 2016 15:37:02
Hartson and sutton have a vicious vendetta aganist Deila. They have shown this once again when they think its okay to get beat off a team of plumbers/ joiners etc. Brendan Rodgers is not the answer and if we fail to qualify, Peter Lawwell has failed to deliver CL football 3 seasons in a row.

{Ed007's Note - The bar that was set so high for RD to fail is already slipping to help Rodgers cause, RD would have had the players better prepared for the conditions in Gibraltar and that's where Rodgers failed. Nobody could possibly say that team was well prepared for the match, we were all over the place from the kick-off and that was nothing to do with the pitch either.
We can't continually call ourselves a big club and accept results like last night - big clubs don't accept getting beaten by part time opponents, on any surface.
And then for the manager to come out say it's not embarrassing when only a couple of weeks ago he was telling us how much of a fan he was - well he must be the only Celtic fan on the planet who isn't embarrassed by last night's result. Why even come out with (swear) like that?
Celtic are a laughing stock this morning and Rodgers must shoulder the responsibility for that and although I still expect us to qualify for the next round this result will live long in my memory.}

13 Jul 2016 15:46:02
As ever Ed you will argue your stance with good stats but they hit the target twice amid there goal being a sclaff via a slip!

Maybe it's because the tie is not over or feel we were turned over in the above fixtures (y)

{Ed007's Note - But the only important stat is the result and they scored and we didn't. I know some of the Red Imp players were working yesterday before the match but I wonder if they had to do their shift this morning?}

13 Jul 2016 17:26:48
I think everyone needs to calm down a bit. everyone knows there was major problems with the squad, far too many of them downed tools last season and should be punted. BR will get it right when he clears the squad of all the dross. WGS had a worse result in his first cl game.

13 Jul 2016 22:45:58
I just think B Rodgers was right to say he wasn't embarrassed in public .
I hope he was different in the dressing room.

13 Jul 2016 08:55:24
BR said he would assess the squad before he made changes. I hope he has now seen enough to know there is atleast another 3 or 4 that can be shipped out asap.

13 Jul 2016 09:09:41
need a whole new spine imo stan.

13 Jul 2016 08:15:19
There were a few well founded excuses, the Heat was unbelievable, the Pitch was so bad, a 2 foot pass was bobbling, not watered, which was their right to decide, it was their World Cup final, the preseason camp hype from us was too much and increased our expectations 10 fold,
But this was still the worst display ever, nobody put themselves out there, Effe had a howler, and I expect him to be told he is no longer part of any plan and to move on adap. The biggest shirker of all was Bitton, he downed tools after 10 mins and every time they had a chance it was because he lost the ball and did not challenge or fall back to cover, he needs a rocket fired at him, the rest were just a mixture from garbage to underperforming, the strikers get a small exemption as the rest could not provide any service.

13 Jul 2016 08:31:47
thing is mal, we seem to be playing the excuse card a lot mate, for me there is no excuse, team turned up thinking it was a walk in the park, no fight, no desire, players used in alien positions due to a system, no character ( brendan will be raging ) , every man and his dog can see that 433 will not work as we don't have the players yet, imo needs 442 or 4312, play to the strengths till you have the players for the system you want, the only diff from last season is about 38 grand that the manager is trousering over RD.

13 Jul 2016 08:41:48
I'm afraid Ambrose and Forrest on the park has sent a chill. Rogers needs to get fecking real. If he can't see they are a pair of useless cants he will crash and burn.

13 Jul 2016 10:17:32
With the player we have i would agree with 442 or 4312 . all though I think we will still win the second leg by a decent amount . hopefully rodgers now realise what the fans have known for a while now we need a few quality players brought in .

13 Jul 2016 21:52:05
It seems Magicpole that the presence of Ambrose and Rodgers didn't send enough of a cool, as our players looked over heated and under interested.

13 Jul 2016 07:17:08
That was absolutely shocking. When Rodgers was appointed I said, in much stronger terms, that I thought it was a dreadful appointment. He lived off Suarez, IMO, and then squandered money right left and centre at Liverpool. His team selection last night was baffling: playing Griffiths wide right, playing Brown, Bitton and Rogic together made no sense to me against a team of that ilk, and leaving out Roberts and then compounding it by not even bringing him on left me flabbergasted. It was a horrendous performance, but I said to a fellow Celtic supporter that I hoped Rodgers would not attempt to put a positive spin on proceedings, as he always seemed to at Liverpool even after shocking resukts. I had not even contemplated a comment like "no embarrassment", and now, like many other fans, I am lost for words. I think Celtic will win the league at a canter, but I would have thought that even if they had kept Deila as manager. To hail Rodgers as some kind of Messiah is beyond me, and I do of course, hope that he gets things right, but my god he has a hell of a way to go to make up for this start. As someone has already said, the result has become part of our history and to say it is not embarrassing just makes the whole situation even more so.

13 Jul 2016 07:50:24
Now I'm not defending last nights result. It was shocking. Simple as! But get a grip, it was Rodgers first competitive game on a rubbish pitch, in mental conditions. He's worked with the dross players for 3 weeks! at least now he'll know who he can trust and hopefully he realised efe can't be trusted and brown and bitton can't be played together.

13 Jul 2016 08:10:17
Rodgers couldn't have said it was an embarrassment, the Lincoln players worked probably harder than ever to win last night, and although Celtic were awful it would be totally disrespectful towards the other team if he then said it was an embarrassment. It's fine for him to think it but he can't say it in an interview.

13 Jul 2016 10:37:52
cmcbhoy - "get a grip"? Are you serious? It could easily have been 2-0 minutes after their goal when they missed by literally inches, and that was against a bunch of players who had worked during, whilst we had players out there on tens of thousands of pounds a week, and when outrage is opined you say to "get a grip"? Of what exactly? Or is that kind of result and performance acceptable to you? It certainly isn't to me! And neither is the ridiculous deployment of players such as Griffiths in unfamiliar positions!

13 Jul 2016 10:58:22
Andymac. It's still just the first competitive game. And my get a grip was aimed at the skating of Rodgers.

13 Jul 2016 11:13:57
I said that he - along with Owen Coyle - was giving me sleepless nights when being linked with the Celtic job - I don't think he has done anything at all to merit getting the job, far less in the wages he is on and I truly believe there were much better options. Just to be clear, I hope he succeeds and brings Celtic a plethora of trophies and makes inroads into Europe - I would LOVE to be proved wrong. However, it is my opinion that this was a really poor appointment, especially considering the wages and apparent budget that is suddenly available: I don't understand why Lennon and Deila were given such a comparatively tiny amount with which to work (if reports of £15 million are true, though it doesn't exactly look that way yet! ) . But I reckon that Dot Cotton could have dragged a better performance out of the team last night and I also maintain that putting a guy who has scored 40 goals the season before out on the right wing is an act of absolute idiocy. So I'm not very happy and seriously not impressed with Rodgers - and I don't think it would have been disrespectful to admit that the performance was an embarrassment, but I can see the point made by NT87, but to actually come out and say it was NOT an embarrassment, is embarrassing! He should have just side stepped it if his thinking was along those lines. I might have a bit of respect for him then.

13 Jul 2016 00:35:46
One of the worst if not the worst performances from a Celtic team I have ever seen. When you consider that every player should be burstin a gut to impress the new manager and trying to ensure that their performances make it impossible for the manager to drop them this performance is totally incomprehensible. In my opinion we knew how they would line up and we would need some creativity in the middle of the park I cannot believe that Scott Allan did not start. Patrick Roberts who almost single handedly made sure we won the league (apart from all LG's goals) did not even feature and the MUPPET that is Efe Ambrose gets a start and to make matters worse James Forrest comes on (he should never again be given the chance to pull on the hoops again IMHO) We should do a swap with Ayr Utd for his brother who is a better player. As for Bitton he obviously thinks he'S a better player than he is, Brown had a nightmare and I think he has to play in central midfield if he has to play at all. Griffiths must be played centrally and Janko looked short of ideas in the forward areas. First and foremost I want our defenders to DEFEND. For me this was a totally unacceptable performance and it doesn't matter if we beat them 7-1 at Celtic Park the result is a part of our history now and the players should be reminded of that in no uncertain terms. To make matters worse Rodgers said they had trained and planned for the game the same as if we were playing Barcelona or Real Madrid well if we play like that we will never get to play Barcelona or R Madrid again. Anyway rant over but any thoughts appreciated one way or another whether you agree or disagree with my humble opinion. HH.

{Ed007's Note - Patrick Roberts would have been absolutely useless playing on that surface where even their players were struggling to control the ball, how could he have picked up the ball and ran at their defenders on that surface?
Scott Allan? He struggles to play on grass never mind out there tonight, what the hell has he done to warrant starting for Celtic? At least Johansen would have brought some urgency and energy to the side. This is typical Rodgers football btw, pass, pass, pass, look around, pass, pass pass. Get used to it.}

13 Jul 2016 01:30:17
Lets sort this Scott Allan thing out for once and all, give a decent run of games and see whi's right as to wether he can supply the creativity the teams been lacking for the last two seasons or whether the eds right and he can't play at sll.

{Ed007's Note - I'll be amazed and my gob will be well and truly smacked if Scott Allan is still at Celtic when this window closes. We have better youth players than the nearly 25 year old and done hee haw in his career Scott Allan.}

13 Jul 2016 02:27:52
Hey, not posted in a while but still using and reading the site from time to time.

I'm basically speechless after that result, honestly have no words. It's nice to see you again Ed007, hope you're keeping well.

{Ed007's Note - I'm good thanks mate and it's nice to hear from you again. Don't be a stranger.}

13 Jul 2016 10:23:02
@ Ed 007
If Roberts couldn't control the ball and take on defenders how the f&%K was James Forrest expected to do it. We got more out of Roberts in six games last season than we have in six seasons from Forrest (who is more interested in how his hair is sitting than working back or putting in a tackle) as for Allan my point about him is that he is creative and has vision which is something which is completely lacking in our midfield.

{Ed007's Note - I never mentioned James Forrest. Do you watch a lot of lower league football, is there any other player down there that is creative and has vision who could play for Celtic? I'lll say this, there's some amount of Celtic fans watched Hibs matches in the Championship 2 years ago.}