Celtic Banter Archive February 17 2015

17 Feb 2015 21:35:53
Can't understand the Celtic Poll of the day question. last I heard, Steven Gerrard played for Liverpool, who cares?

The FA cup final falls on his birthday.
It's particularly generous of his team mates clubbing together to get him and his family top tickets to watch the game .

Maybe he's heading this way.

Naw he isn't heading North, he is going west for his massive pension payout .

17 Feb 2015 19:36:21
I see Collins has rated Commons as 50/50 do we need to risk him with Armstrong such an able deputy. We will need to be mobile over the whole pitch and Armstrong gives us that as well as some extra dig and pace. I say pace because we will need good pace to get in behind them to cause them problems, let them worry about us instead of us worrying about them. Our other signing GMS I would keep on bench until second half then unleash him also.

I don't think he will start Tim, a bluff from JC? Inter will know a lot more about Commons than Armstrong.

Agree with Armstrong he should get the nod rather than play a slower player who isn't 100%. Wonder if Wakaso will get a start ahead of Stokes for the LM slot

I wouldn't be at all surprise if Deila didn't play the same 11 as played in Perth . One possible change is Tonev on the left side .

Would you be happy with that chris? Wasn't long ago you were telling me how you didn't know how "any celtic fan" would want GMS or Armstrong lining up for this tie ;)

Jim, everyone needs to move with the times . Before either of these two footballers joined Celtic, I didn't foresee how good they could become when playing with good players . For more times than I can remember
players form often drops when they join a top club or better players .

Nothing remains static, in September and October Guidetti was been compared to Larsson . Now he is been compared to lesser Celtic strikers .
There were even fans on here who wanted Deila out in the first 3 months of the season, now he is rightly acclaimed as a good innovative Celtic Manager very likely to be great . Jim things change and we have to move with the changing circumstances .

I thought it was fairly certain they'd walk into our side to be honest. Think Commons should be used as a sub/cover now. Wakaso hopefully will get chances to show what he can do and if we're desperate we could bring on Forrest to try and stretch a team. Two signings can make you a hell of a lot healthier when they're the right ones. Armstrong and GMS had been playing our formation and RDs style a lot better than some of our own players. And if they're good enough to play, they're good enough to play.

17 Feb 2015 11:49:45
The Inter game will take care of itself and give us a genuine pointer as to where we are at just now. But let us look ahead to the Champions League qualifiers next season if as expected Wakaso, Tonev, Guidetti, Denayer all end their loan spells and we sell Van Dijk, so we will be 5 players down with the defence worst hit. I hope the scouting system has identified 2 centre halfs which will need to be brought in as early as possible. Up front if and when Guidetti goes we still have Stokes, Griffiths, Scepovic ( I think this is Delia's target for him get him bedded in this season) I would then sell Balde and Pukki ( we will probably take a hit fee wise but get them off the books) I would recall the young lad Fridjonsen and give him the fourth attacking jersey and see what he can do. In midfield we seem to be ok so 2 maybe 3 additions at most of good quality must be our aim. With the CL qualifiers coming so early I think we will have to go with Mulgrew and Ambrose at the back until the new defenders come in.

17 Feb 2015 14:01:06
If Ambrose is anywhere near the team for the qualifiers then we can kiss good bye to the champions league again next season! He should be the 1st to go in the summer! Can't remember a worse defender at celtic park in a long time! No surprise we went on a great run of not letting in a goal when he went out the team! Our priority should be 2 new centre halfs and a proper number 9 in the summer window! Guedetti will be off and as much as I rate wee griffiths,he's no got the class to lead the line if we do get in the champions league! If Ronny wins the treble then he's earned the right to expect some decent money to strengthen these positions!

I am not too concerned about the Europa games as I think we have enough on our plate domestically and we have to keep up the consistency every week and the momentum.
It's RD's first season and after a few shaky months I would be delighted to end up with a title and a cup(or two).

We have too many loan signings at the club, but to be honest, only Denayer has been a regular start and the others have not claimed a guaranteed starting place, for one reason or another.
Guidetti faded after a blitz and has struggled to impress and I am not so sure RD is convinced about him?
When he was warming up at Perth, he went to the fans and RD did not look impressed and put Stokes on.

I totally agree about the centre backs and it is no coincidence that we are on such a good run and keeping plenty clean sheets with VVD and Denayer as opposed to Efe, Mulgrew or even Lustig if they were the alternatives?

The club should have a better idea about who is leaving and hopefully have identified more than suitable replacements for all positions?
I say hopefully!.

17 Feb 2015 14:34:59
Think ambrose must be related to oliver tebily, cut from the same bomb scare mould!

General pointer? Top of the league by 3 points with game in hand and in ALL cup competitions. Compared to last seasons absolutely abysmal performance, i'd say that is a dam good pointer as to where we are! i'd put money on you blaming deila if we get beat off Inter

I wondered if we may use Van Dijk in the Champions league qualifiers.
I was quite surprised we didn't buy a centre hall in the January window. But if Van Dijk is not going to a top 4 club in England, then we could play him in the qualifiers, as the window doesn't close till the end of August.

DN30. You seem to think it is some sort of triumph to be 3 points ahead with a game in hand.
Last season's abysmal effort saw us win the league in March. We got 99 points, scored over a 100 goals, finished 29 points ahead of Motherwell, and only lost one match.
For good measure we qualified for the Champions league.
As abysmal seasons go, I've known worse.

I do Gerryc think its a triumph. Last season winning the league by a huge points difference is expected, when by january you are only in league competition with no other games whatsoever to compete.

Only good thing about CL group qualification was the extra revenue because we were absolutely shocking and we were very lucky to get there. Could of been a very different story if forrest had not scored on 90minutes to make it 3-2 against Karagandy. A team a lot worse than Maribor.

17 Feb 2015 17:32:28
Gerry C thanks for the back up but I am used to this DN30 disagreeing with all my posts ( he sits at home click clicking disagree 100 times a day this is his life maybe he will get out and meet a nice girl lol) my point which you and any intelligent Celtic fan knows is that Inter will show us how far we have come THIS season as well under Delia after the early debacles of Legia and Maribor, the team look to have improved and certainly look much fitter and better prepared for this euro tilt as opposed to the CL qualifiers when Delia tried to change team and system to quickly without the players to do so. Players like Johansen, Biton and maybe even Armstrong look better adjusted to the european style.

{Ed007's Note - I thought the agree/disagree buttons had been sorted so that you only get one click per person? I might be wrong though, it's not something I pay any attention to, but I'm sure Ed001 or Ed033 said that.}

Tim I agree with all you said But I dearly hope you are wrong about
Mulgrew and Ambrose at the back until the new defenders come in. I would not let them near a Subutio game let alone first team football with us if any or both of them are in the team for CL qualifiers we will not qualify I truly be leave that . We need 2 CBs in as soon as the window opens if not wave goodbye to qualifying

17 Feb 2015 17:58:49
ED007 all I know is that nobody gets more "disagrees" than me (must be something I said lol and if they keep it up I will retaliate with my jokes again ha ha) at least characters like DN30 occasionally express an opinion rather than anonymously clicking, I am used to it and can handle it but guys be brave and post YOUR opinions lol and maybe I will click disagree ha ha

{Ed007's Note - It's just childish trolling. I wanted it so that you could see who agreed and disagreed, that would sort it out if you could call someone out on why they disagreed with you - and spark some debate.}

@DN this thread has nothing to do with NL but you will take any opportunity to have a go at him. You may not have mentioned him but the word "abysmal" is aimed only at 1 person. You are obsessed with him lol. Question, if winning the league by a mile is (how did you put it) oh expected then why are you not having a go at RD, in your eyes he has not lived up to your expectations. Also we are not in ALL competitions there is a certain competition on tonight we got knocked out of. I assume all celtic supporters would be aware of the CL.On another note I no great fan of Ambrose but I am sure he is part of the defence that has the best clean sheet record in the history of Scottish football.

Dry your eyes Timalloy and stop using deflective tactics to avoid question. ANY intelligent celtic fan knows we have improved a hell of a lot under Deila and to use Maribor game as a benchmark is not a realistic comparison to Inter.

So if Celtic win every game from here to the end Deila ends up pretty close to last years total league points!!

So remind me of the validity of your points. Unless your blind Aberdeen thus far have far surpassed last yesrs efforts, even if we win all our games Aberdeen could still potentially be in single digits behind us.

What next, oh that's right we had a clean sheet record, whoop de woo

Dn I know your a reg poster and I've got a lot of time for your different views on things but your anti Lennon thing is getting old mate. Lennon was a european and league success. He was a popular figure because he was a fantastic servant as a player and as a manager. He deserves respect. Ronnie is doing well I love the way he is embracing the job and we are embracing him. Hopefully he can go on to be a great celtic manager. It's doesn't always have to be That your a lenny fan or a deila fan. You can appreciate both of them and you certainly don't have to criticise lenny every time you want to prove a point. Come on mate a bit of respect where it's due.

@rayman we never qualified for CL group stages, therefore we were never in that competition. We qualified for Europa league group stages, therefore we are still in all competitions. I never mentioned Neil Lennons name once. Just for you rayman, we will take NL out the equation. Say he was not manager last season, someone else was ( il even let you pick who) last season was still absymal and no jumped up clean sheet record or extra revenue from CL will ever change that. This season has been to this point a far better campaign and the only way is up.

@Garybhoy1888 sorry where did I once mention NL? Yes he was a great player and your right that's his get out of jail free card for poor performance as manager

@DN I never sad last season was great, but it certainly wasn't abysmal.See Garybhoys post to realise this. The thread was about the inter game and the forthcoming CL yet you decide to have a go about last year. Why why why would you do that? It has no bearing whatsover.Also we wernt in the CL?? Mmmm I wonder if I dreamt Legia and Maribor put us out then. Maybe we still in it lol.Dont try to worm you way out because you didn't mention NL we all new what you were up to.

Think your being a bit too pedantic, DN30, I think we will find out on thursday if Celtic have improved, I want RD to be a success, but he has still got a lot to prove, being superfit is one thing, but the football side of things should come first.

Come on dn you referred to last season as you often do and who was manager last year and you just said you think his performance as manager was poor. Ok remove the nber 18 side. He still done wonderful things for the club as manager and that should be respected. You continually mention how late the winning goal was against shaktar, fact is we are given 180 mins to get through and we used every single one of those. Did you no celebrate Forrests goal as much as the rest of us. Fact is he got us there mate. and that's not a dig at ronnie, I just don't like to see Lennon being slated at every turn. And you seem intent on doing that. The fact you use how late the goal that got us into the cl kind of proves that. It's getting old mate.

DN30. We didn't qualify for the Europa league last season, because we qualified for the Champions leaguecompetition they would rather qialified for the Europa league this season by twice getting knocked out of the Champions league, it's hardly an achievement.
At the start of the Champions league qualifiers in July, if you were to ask every Celtic supporter, which competition they would rather be in, Champions league or Europa league, I bet you are the only one who would say Europa league.

Someone should start a thread about the length of the grass on the pitch and see how long it takes DN to blame Lennon lol.

Gerryc that is a ridicolous statement. Of course everyone wants their team playing in CL, but more importantly they want their team to perform domestically in a climate where they should be dominating.

Timalloy I will apologise to you if you feel victimised, but I can't understand why? If you have a look at threads you will see I debate with a lot of posters not just yourself. If you can't handle me disagreeing with you, then I will refrain from commenting

I think we have enough to worry about and excite ourselves over the rest of this season without worrying about Champions League qualifiers in 6 months time ( if we are lucky ) .
I hope our managers are fully concerning ourselves with winning the SPL and all other domestic competitions, if we don't win the SPL we won't have Champions League Qualifications to worry about.
I trust Deila to look after next season after this season has been taken care of .

Rayman you probably have a poster of Neil Lennon up on your wall alongside Take That poster. As previously stated remove lennon from equation totally and take your pick of any manager, no matter who was in charge it was absymal.

Wouldnt be surprised if you turned your back on celtic and became a bolton supporter

{Ed007's Note - Wouldn't it be a Neil Lennon calendar?}

@10 - Tim, I get disagrees regardless of anything I post. If I just wished everyone a good day, someone would disagree. (watch the disagrees for this post lol)

Dn for celtic to win the league any year is a success mate. Come on man champ league and winning the league and that's abysmil. what is a success then. The performances in cl weren't what we are used to but we've been spoiled with the teams we've beaten in the past now it's just expected. You can remove nl if you want but you obviously have a prob with the man. I had issues with the way he conducted himself at times. And I believe he should have won more trophies than he did. But I still believe his time was a success. I would just like to know from you as I've given you some of my nl negatives do you have anything positive to say about nl as a manager.

@ed your probably right about calander lol

Garybhoy1888 mate if you think winning the league (which is a certainty), getting anilated in CL group stages and a very poor performance in Domestic cups is a great season, I would hate to think what you would think is a bad season

Dn I think it's a massive success for us to even be there. We didn't perform well that's for sure. But to describe a season where we are in it as abysmal is a massive over reaction. I'd say a tony Mowbray season or a john Barnes season is abysmal. Not a cl season with a league title. And surely if the league was a formality last year then it should be one this year. Again not a dig at Ronnie, I just think your nl thing is personal.

Garybhoy1888 clearly you are part of the culture where no one is permitted to say anything critical of NL. If you read my prior posts, you will see I clearly stated no matter who was in charge last season, whether it was Lennon, Deila, SAF or whoever it was absymal

Dn I've criticised him
Myself within this thread. So that's nonsense. Listen mate it's nothing personal just a bit of debate. We will leave it for another day as I'm sure it will come up again. Just worry bout our current manager and inter just now. But I have to admit your total stubborness has made me chuckle. And you still haven't answered me did you cheer when Forrest scored against shaktar or was there to much rage inside you at the time it took to do it ha ha

A stupid argument about N L. doesn't add anything to our current needs . NL is gone and very unlikely to be back, we cannot change the past and, we won't change the minds of those who don't want to be changed.
Ambrose is a different case and could be playing first team football at any time . ( just one bad tackle on either Virgil and Denayer ) and that is why the stupid nonsensical remarks about him are so dangerous. Celtic fans should be supporting their players, all of them
I don't know how making Ambrose out to be some type of idiotic figure completely incapable of playing foootball. I appreciate Efe does make mistakes, who doesn't . If he is so useless why when he was a regular under Lennon was he not only part of a record breaking clean sheet keeping, but he always man marked the biggest threat . The same has happened under Deila .
I would have no more worries with Ambrose than any other c.b. However the man can read and his friends can read and they reading the rubbish ridiculing of him can't help Ambrose's confidence .

Chris it wasn't a stupid argument mate it was just differing opinions. You have yours opinion and You mention the past a lot. In fact you just have mentioning last seasons clean sheet run. It was just a topic of discussion mate. But like a said to dn it's for another day and tomorrow its a United front. No previous manager could be further from my mind regarding tomorrow.

Garybhoy1888 what are you on about? Did I cheer when forrest scored? Of course I did! You have not presented one argument that is valid to suggest last season was not absymal even with NL out the equation, who by the way I never even mentioned untill yourself and rayman brought his name up.

Sorry dn but last season was on reflection bear minimum pass due to winning league routinely and gaining cl group stage, let's save abysmal for trophy less seasons. Everyone is probably coming to the same conclusion about your bitterness towards NL as even when asked to name one positive about his time you couldn't or should I say wouldn't.

Dn if you cheered forrests last min strike why do you use that point as a constant negative. You have asked for reasons why last year wasn't abysmal, I have stated 4 or 5 times now that I see winning the league and cl qualification is a positive for me I don't know how many ways I can say it. Mate you clearly weren't happy with last season so I will agree to disagree with you on this one.

Garry bhoy, of course I mentioned last season's clean sheet record because it was relevent to one of our first team squad member, Ambrose.
No person on these threads had any more regard for N Lennon than myself and to me he will always be a Celtic great . But he has moved on and so should we .
Discus what is relevent .

Chris there a number of different threads on here people are free to discuss whatever they wish. At the same time as this I am offering my opinion on tomorrow but bypassing other threads. If it's a conversation I don't want to join I won't tell others to stop having it. I agree tomorrow is massive but people can talk about whatever they wish mate.

@DN I take it you hate take that as well. Is it because they had an abysml year last year and only won 1 major award? though they did manage to get a major European tour in which they sold out stadiums wherever they went and made millions in the process lol.

17 Feb 2015 09:29:26
What if we were linked withthe top scorer in the Championship, what if we could afford his wages, what if he would jump at the chance to sign for us, what if I told ye he was Daryl Murphy, sorry;(;(;(;(

Hahahaha I realise this but still can't believe it!

Good luck to the guy it's all about having the right tactics and confidence from manager(big mick)and he's having a great season. Imagine you could sign a lad who scored about 25 goals in spanish-b league for 2 million would just sign him or would you ask your manager if you could fit him into your team? Why o why did we sign scepovic?