Celtic Banter Archive August 01 2015

 

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01 Aug 2015 20:38:38
There was some was some talk in the press about the importance of set pieces in our away leg this coming Wednesday. We will need to be a lot sharper than we were today. I lost count of the corners we had in the second half, but we did not pose a threat, never mind score. Our big lads should be licking their lips in anticipation when we create all these opportunities. Do better on Wednesday please bhoys.

Believable0 Unbelievable1

01 Aug 2015 21:50:05
If you allow the Scottish media to influence your thinking re Celtic . You are likely to have a problem supporting Celtic . The press in Scotlaand are no friends of ours and I wouldn't quote any of them at any time . When we needed a goal on Wednesday, a set piece provided it . I would be surprised if Celtic or Ronny would have used today , when we are two goals up , a pre-planned move to get a goal from a corner .
We are far better hiding our strengths for now , and introduce a couple of pre- worked routines and surprising our European rivals .

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01 Aug 2015 22:18:21
Old Bhoy, it was Ronny himself who made this observation at press conference on Friday, ie we should be dominant at set play and the opposition should fear our height and power.
I was not advocating magic moves against Ross County, just exploiting our quality in a more advantageous way.
Double figure corner kicks without causing any real threat is disappointing.

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01 Aug 2015 22:21:08
Anyone ever notice when Griffiths, Stokes and Pukki were up tops we put in plenty of crosses but when Scepovic is up tops we seem to stop it.

Can't help but think there is issues there and that's why he has not been given a run in the team.

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01 Aug 2015 23:42:03
With fare less corner kicks on Wednesay night we will at least look dangerous . Today's corner kicks were just routine and were not for giving secrets away .

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02 Aug 2015 08:34:21
Kev T: As I have said before RD would have Scepovic up front if he thought he had seen enough from him in training. My thoughts from the get go was the we were a gap filler as the team he was going to the deal fell through. We never should have been back in for him.
When we get another striker he will not even be on the bench.

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01 Aug 2015 19:55:21
Not been on for over a week was on vacation in London and just got back late last night still managed to catch both games and all I can say is, oh dear.

My fears for certain players imo have been confirmed. A lot of first team regulars under Ronny so far this season are simply not good enough and yet still get selected game after game which is infuriating when time after time they keep making the same mistakes.

Cifcti still not match fit enough or fit enough in general needs to get leaner but is he really the answer and can he be relied upon? Imo no, never a natural goal-scorer.

I've said it before but seeing that front three of GMS, Armstrong and Cifcti on Wednesday night dampened my mood and I just can't help but feel dismayed and uninspired with that sort of attack and yes a lot of that is because it was Dundee Utds last season it just feels as if we have sank so low. They don't have the bottle imo and ability for that matter to take us where we want to be and play the football that we and Ronny Deila wants to see. I realise just how negative I'm coming across but this is how I feel about us atm.

This is all my opinion of course and yes I believe we can do better even with our financial contraints, a lot better.

Cifcti - Not good enough, not a natural goal-scorer which is what we need on the European stage someone we feel can step up from time to time(Even like Scott McDonald)and get goals against the harder sides like Hooper also done. Plus about half his goals for Dundee Utd I'm sure came from the penalty spot so doesn't score didn't score a lot from open play.

Armstrong - Nowhere near good enough, never a left winger and it doesn't matter how often he plays there under Ronny, him playing there smacks of Ronny trying to shoehorn him somewhere into the team because he can't get him anywhere else, also doesn't have the skill or pace to play there. His passing is generally woeful in so often results in him slowing down and breaking up our attacks giving away possession, not a goal threat either. Stokes was possibly better out there which I'd never thought I'd say and I'd like Stokes to leave. But the fact I'd maybe prefer him to Armstrong out there tells you how bad Armstrong is in that position. But tbh, I don't even rate him centrally for the glaring flaws in his game I have pointed out. Not a fan.

GMS - For all his 'trickery and pace' he doesn't half disappear at times in games, he also isn't anywhere near clinical enough to take his chances in front of goal which is what we especially need in Europe. Usually fails to beat his man and his final ball isn't great either most times and again like Armstrong often loses possession. Better than Forrest but that isn't saying much if we're being honest. Don't rate him that highly, maybe an impact sub to try something different but never a first teamer.

Johansen - Dear oh dear where to begin. For a start the fact he has become an undroppable under Ronny(Regardless of form and much like Mulgrew was under Lenny)makes me so angry and has me tearing my hair out, no player should be undropable, even the captain(I'll get to Brown later). It allows for complacency to creep in and not have certain players being kept on their toes, this is what I feel has happened to Johansen. It seemed like Ronny was always going to find some sort of role for Johansen, he wasn't quite cutting it beside Brown so moved him into another position behind the striker and whilst he has played better there he still has many flaws. His passing is by and large awful, constantly giving away possession, not ruthless enough in front of goal when the level steps up(Europe)and is seen often trying failed pass after failed pass not amounting to anything and breaking up our attack, he's not dissimilar to Armstrong in his play except he adds more goals. But we need more than that, more of an all rounder in behind the striker. Commons for me is a better option atm but I realise he isn't a Ronny type of player.

Brown - Captain or not, he in the middle will forever hold us back as a club, his passing is atrocious imo, especially in Europe, you only have to compare him to what Bitton brings in the middle of the park to see how little he brings. Giving away possession constantly, not creating anything, slows and breaks up our attacks, backward passing, often gives away fouls in dangerous positions for the oposition and generally gets found out in Europe. People say he's great at winning the ball back, the fact is he more than often fouls his way to retrieve the ball back and maybe if didn't give away possession so much he wouldn't have to win it back as often. Over the years the likes of Ki, Wanyama, Kayal, Bitton and Ledley have all been better in the middle of the park than Brown.

Boyata - I'm still to be convinced, he looks cumbersome, clumsey, lazy and error prone at times. His positional sense questionable as well. Still willing to give him more time though although I wouldn't be against Ambrose playing ahead of him atm.

I'm not even going to get started on the likes of Stokes, Izaguirre, Forrest and Mulgrew as I don't see them as being first team players under Ronny this season.

The fact is that all four of our attacking players up top are not good enough, Unless Ronny grows a pair and admits he's got it wrong with a few and finds a way to bring in better players to replace them then he's dicing with his job imo. I wouldn't trust these players to take me through these qualifers so I'm not quite sure how Ronny does, if we don't progress this Wednesday then Ronny job has to be questioned but even if we do progress these players have to be replaced as they're not good enough and will see us embarassed in Europe should we somehow progress.

I'm sorry to come enough so negative which I know I am doing and I'm sorry for another lengthy post but haven't been on for over a week. We need better and fast.

Players I like are the likes of Griffiths(Domestically, not Europe), Commons, Lustig, Ambrose, Virgil Van Dijk, Gordon(Not better than Forster, but decent replacement), Baily(seems decent back up), Rogic(Promising), Janko, Fisher, Henderson. So it's not all bad lol :-).

Also before I finish this post, dare I say it, but I wouldn't fancy our current 11 to dispose of Sevco comfortably should we face them this season with our current first 11 in one of the cups. That's the most damning thing I can say about us as with where we are I should be feeling comfortable about us hammering them if ever we play them this season but currently I don't.

Believable7 Unbelievable8

01 Aug 2015 20:27:55
Do us a favour and head back to London or find a team you can support

It's becoming like Eastenders this site with constant negative comments even when we are winning.

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01 Aug 2015 20:46:35
Worse post I've ever read, I'll never get that time back again! In case you have forgotten we are 1 leaugue game into the season, the players are nowhere near up to speed yet. Without doubt we are not firing on all cylinders, but should we be at this point. I don't think so. That being said we will qualify on Wednesday and ultimately qualify for the group stages.

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01 Aug 2015 20:21:56
This had to be the worst post I've ever read! Time for another "vacation"

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01 Aug 2015 20:44:24
Deary me, think some of you guys got out of bed the wrong side this week.

It's no secret I'm no fan of Ciftci or playing 1 up front particularly at home.

The team Ronny plays are his best players! We've had the conversations season after season about this and when most of these players are dropped, we are worse and the results do not go our way.

If anyone can put forward a different starting 11 and say confidently they are better than the players Ronny picks - feel free.

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01 Aug 2015 20:54:53
Are you sure you are a celtic fan mate?? That is a very doom and gloom post we are 1 game into our season domestically and 3 games into European and won all 4 ,you can pick hole in every team in Europe but to do it after 4 games that we've won is mad c'mon mate get behind them faithful through and through 😀

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01 Aug 2015 21:15:06
This is what I was talking about earlier! People suddenly think its all doom and gloom at Celtic. I think Johansen can be slack in possession, but the work he does in closing down and winning the ball back means he gets possession more. Brown has been a class above the past 3 seasons and I think looks like he could play at a much higher level. Obviously everyone has complaints about players and opinions which I have too and have voiced.

Does anyone know why certain people (and in no way am I meaning all posters) are being so negative at this particular time? Celtic are playing ok and winning! They used to say a team that can play poorly and win is a good team.

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01 Aug 2015 21:31:23
Its very easy to criticise and many of us find fault with one or two Celts from time to time . I have rarely read any Celtic poster criticising so many of our players and manager in the one post .
I must remember never to visit London as it may have an adverse affect on my mental reasoning .

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01 Aug 2015 21:39:52
Some people imo need to wake up and smell the coffee and realise that a lot of our players are not good enough, which explains why there has been so many slack poor passes, little creativity and poor finishing. It all comes down to a few individual players not being good enough who are contributing to the poor football we are seeing. You can't just look at the results, you have to look beyond that and ask yourself if we can do better, imo yes. With better players(within our budget which are out there)we would have disposed of these teams much more comprehensively and played much better football on top of that. This team currently are not worth the money a lot of fans are shelling money out for. I've lost count about how many fans I've spoke to who are disappointed with the footall they're watching and the same players making the same mistakes game after game. I'm repeating myself now but we have an attack which started for Dundee Utd last season playing in our most important games of the season, actually let that sink in and process that for a second. We are an absolute shadow of the side we had under Lenny and that was only a few years ago.

I'm a Celtic fan but and want us to desperately succeed but I can't help but be critical with what I'm watching and that doesn't make me any less of a Celtic fan. I've already gave a list of players I quite like at the club but there are a number whom I also don't deem good enough.

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01 Aug 2015 21:44:04
For someone called celtic forever you seem to not like anything about celtic?

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01 Aug 2015 22:23:07
Hmmmmm birminghambhoy, well then you've clearly ignored the part where I've mentioned the players whom I do rate and like because it's there.

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01 Aug 2015 22:27:34
Look the reality is we don't have a Larsson finisher , a Nakamura/Moravcik creator or a top defender such as Johan Mjallby but we have a squad , a system and a quality manager that will take us forward given time.

We all know the team standards have dropped compared to the O''neill era but I believe RD will make us good just like Basel, going far in Europe working with youth and sticking to 1 system.

Played 4 , Won 4 you can't get better than that

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01 Aug 2015 23:46:27
I'm get a lot of your post but the Armstrong and johansen bits I don't get for me Armstrong is one of the best most promising young Scottish players we have signed in the last 20 years and as for you talking about brown (who may I add I am not the biggest fan of) giving the ball away and fouling that is all I see commons doing I'll get stick for saying this but most fans have the green tinted glasses on when it comes to him and brown too to some extent but brown does give us a thousand times more than commons does for me it is still looking ok and one up front is what most if not all European teams play 442 is a thing of the past and people should realise that sorry didn't mean to moan but a lot of people can't see good players because they are blinkered because they see a step over or two and a long range strike that goes in the net after every 80 they try

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01 Aug 2015 23:49:12
I am sure Ronnie expects when you integrate two or three of DunDee unit players with our good attacking players can both those that came from Dundee Utd and our own players will improve . Resulting in far better frontline attacking players than either club ptrviously had . Stay off the high horse, it's early in the season yet ,
Give Deila and his players time .

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01 Aug 2015 23:52:16
Celtic forever - I agree with some of your points about the players flaws but they aren't as poor as you made out but definitely under preforming in certian areas. We are a few games in and have won them all. Brown was rusty in the the last qualifer , I'll admit that but he isn't the reckless tackler he once was. Gms easily is one of the most technically gifted players in the squad and in my book has done enough so far to give him a bit of slack. Remember how much everyone used to winge about naka disapearing in games? He compensated with his superb ability but It still was just in flashes in some games. Armstrong yeah has looked a bit lost at times but I refuse to write him off, he just isn't in the mix just now. SJ bottles it sometimes with a simple 1on1 with the keeper but is regularly on the score sheet. Cifti looks way off match sharpness but really isn't getting enough service. Think rd has had a word in his ear about positive attitude ( he spent more time clapping his hands for poor balls in than he did getting on the end of anything)
Its far from perfect but I think the squad can and will improve with game time.

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02 Aug 2015 00:01:46
Stephenm- on the money mate

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02 Aug 2015 14:58:19
You have covered a lot of points and observations that I have made over the past two seasons and because you have lumped them all together in one post, you will get dogs abuse from many of our fellow posters and Celtic supporters.
We do have many deficiencies in the squad and there are players at the club who would have had to buy a Celtic strip like the rest of us in years gone by, but things will not change immediately under the current regime and mindset.
When before we took class players and European qualification for granted, we are now in a 'lottery' situation with early qualifiers, while we find fitness and form.
We cannot hold onto any top players and either build around them or use them to lure other top players - and we have severe financial restraints due to our location, league ranking and 'small club mentality' emanating from the Board.
There are some things I did not agree with involving Brown and Johansen; I know they have their faults/limits, but over the whole of last season, they (along with a solid back two) contributed immensely to retaining the title and they give 100% in every game whether they are on form or not - and that can't be said of too many at Celtic park these days.
RD has had a season to mould, plan and implement the team and so far we seem to have lost some momentum and definitely lack quality in certain positions, but if he fails to progress and improve the team and is not backed by the board then the fans will be very quick to express their feelings.

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02 Aug 2015 15:16:43
I can only assume that the OP does not watch celtic on a regular basis. Some of the descriptions of players are ridiculous, bordering on attention seeking.

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01 Aug 2015 19:15:28
Reading all the posts after today's game makes grim reading. My opinion we did enough to win game with much changed team, Celtic were obviously looking ahead to Wednesday so most players were off the pace a bit. I am of the old school in that Celtic should keep the really big performances for European games. In a way I am glad it was a so so performance today as we can only get better, in the past I have seen Celtic teams win handsomely in domestic games, days before a big game in europe then get humped in the european tie. Being superstitious, I will take a poor (ish) performace today IF we do the business on wednesday.

Believable4 Unbelievable0

01 Aug 2015 19:42:44
Got to agree with that tim too many times past have I been really hyped for midweek euro game after a big win at weekend and been let gutted by a tired and poor performance so heres hoping we get a good result plus its only our 4th competative game today so not too bothered about it the competative match sharpness will come I hope well start as we mean to go on and all that hail hail

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01 Aug 2015 20:01:21
Tim I don't pay £500 and go to games to accept players can take it easy. This was our fourth competitive game and should be further ahead than Ross county. I personally don't rate Ronny as a manager but I do respect the fact that he is honest and sums up the game like most fans would (2nd half not good enough). The only way some celtic fans will return consistently is if we play better football for 90 minutes and beat domestic teams more emphatically than we did today.

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01 Aug 2015 21:14:17
Jim , who do you rate as a Celtic manager?

Apart from Jock , Martin O and maybe Strachan RD will become one of the most successful managers we have ever had.

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01 Aug 2015 21:49:39
Kev I'm giving my opinion on Ronny and I find his tactics and team selection questionable at times he may go on to be one of the most successful managers we've had(your words) but if we don't qualify against qarabag I'd happily see him leave as I honestly think most managers out there would win the spl with our squad. Ps beating the mighty azerbijanians would only buy him time till the next round with me 😀

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01 Aug 2015 23:01:39
Fair enough Jim but Qarabag have proved last year there no mugs . Think if we get through credit is due to the team

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02 Aug 2015 00:02:23
KevT, I don't follow how you can predict with such confidence that RD will become one of the most successful managers we have ever had? at this time the jury is out on how successful he will be. What will you say if we don't qualify for CL again this season? Will you say it's down to the players? It is only his second season but he will ultimately be judged on his European success so if he is to be one of our best managers ever he needs to get us on the CL group stages at least. One issue he has is the quality of player he is working with so we may never really know how good he is but one of the greatest ever, not for me so far.

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02 Aug 2015 01:04:48
Time will tell , if he had the money O'Neill and Lenny in his first season got then we would have better players and would have had more success last year but then I am happy with his contribution thus far

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01 Aug 2015 19:06:28
Not the best performance today looked off pace but a clean sheet and 2 is a good enough start.boyata needs a lot more game time looks years behind compared to the rest of the team fitness wise and just general passing can only get better bhoys

Believable1 Unbelievable1

01 Aug 2015 16:59:03
Do the majority of people on this site always have the 'glass half empty' mentality. I think we need to look at last season properly before saying no progress had been made. i'm guessing a lot of you couldn't find Murray field when we were hammered at this stage in Europe. Although the world has not been set alight so far, you'd think we were out of Europe already and had a start to the season that had involved even a draw.

I think we will go through on Wednesday and give the playoff a good go. With the quality of team in the playoff its no disgrace if we lose depending on who we get in the draw!

This 'we are Celtic, we can sign anyone' is almost as bad as 'we are the peepell!'. Let's be realistic and look at the ridiculously inflated prices all over the world and hope we find, or have found a few good players in the transfer window.

Maybe we'll concede a goal and even lose a game and give all the doom-mongers reason to raise their 'concerns'.

Keep the Faith

Believable1 Unbelievable4

01 Aug 2015 17:37:34
Nt87 who on this forum has said we're Celtic we can sign anyone? I can't remember anybody sayin that! What has been said is that if we're a CL club as lawell has said then we should be able to bring in a higher quality of player! The fans who pay for season tickets and new strips and European match packages have a right to voice there opinions on the standard of player who gets brought in! And it's as clear as the nose on the end of your face that the quality has went down season after season! And that's not doom and gloom,it's a fact! Not one of our fans is askin for silly money to be spent! We're lucky if we've spent 500 grand this window if u take in transfer fees from Matthews and pukki! To me that's not good enough! No ones askin to go out and spend 7-8 million on a player,lawells words not ours! But this 1-2 million pound players and hoping to get in the CL Is not on! So again mate it's not doom and gloom it's just the frustration of us fans who pay our money season on season and continue to watch the standard decline while prices of season tickets and strips go up!

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01 Aug 2015 18:07:47
The majority of Celtic fans don't have a "glass half empty" mentality, but they do set their sites way above mediocrity and I ,personally, don't consider giving it a go and going out of Europe at the play-off round to be anywhere good enough. Also, the quality of some of the teams in the play offs (some of whom will come from lesser leagues than ours), will be because they have improved, can we say the same. I do not think we have a God given right to win any football match, but if we see ourselves as a big club with potential, then we need to start bloody well showing it. I have been to many great European nights at Parkhead from the sixties onward,against many perceived better teams than us, but we never felt inferior. This is why accepting going out of the CL at the play offs is pathetic. As Kenny Dalgleish once said, show me someone happy to lose and I,lol show you a loser.

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01 Aug 2015 18:23:07
Nt87 was "murray field"(murrayfield) your first game mate, "no disgrace if we lose"? That right there is small club thinking pal. probably the worst post ever

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01 Aug 2015 19:37:04
RyderBrown, it's a certain kind of person who picks up on a mistake made on a phone with predictive text. It pretty much means you had no opinion so why write anything at all? Is going out to Basel or Salzburg a disgrace. Also I think that saying teams are from a lesser league is a sweeping statement, they might be from leagues which Celtic could win, but most definitely not worse than the SPL! The results from St J, Motherwell, ICT in past years show how bad Scottish football is.

I posted that as I think a lot of people pick negative after negative without considering any positives. It's a forum for discussion, so I'm not trying to offend anyone and I appreciate other fans doing the same in reply so cheers folks.

Ryder Brown there are a couple of good sites you could go on if you want to bring your punctuation up to the same high standard as your spelling. BBC Bitesize and stuff ;-)

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01 Aug 2015 20:32:10
We can't get either of the teams u mention! And how is it your fones fault for u writing it's no disgrace going out in the playoff rounds! Ryders spot on,that is small team thinking! I'll guarantee that no club we can meet in the playoff round are anywhere near the size of club we are! So although we have no divine right to be in the CL! We should be going into these games more than confident of our chances to progress!

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01 Aug 2015 20:53:14
NT the point I was making about teams from lesser leagues was actually a compliment to them for the improvements they made and a note that we have gone backwards at the rate they came forward. Over the last four years we should have been out of sight from the rest of Scottish football and making at least some advances on Europe, we have done neither. And what you see as negatives, others see as reality. On a final point, if you think that Celtic FC should settle for being inferior to the likes of Salzburg and Basle then I think It proves the point on the lack of ambition and how far backwards we have gone.

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02 Aug 2015 17:25:21
I think it would be very difficult for Celtic to have made significant progress in the last 4 years. With no challenge in the league and a half full stadium it's too hard to attract players. Could anyone clear up the teams we can play as I've asked a couple of times and heard different stuff. I still don't think it's a disgrace going out in the playoff if its against a decent team. I can't understand why people would jump on that comment.

Chasaboy did you not think that last season Salzburg were a very exciting team to watch with some players Celtic fans would love to sign? Also Basel have been a solid champions league team since they beat us a good while back. If Celtic were playing at that standard fans would be on here raving about them!

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01 Aug 2015 15:00:29
Van Dijk would not have got back to the ball when Jackson Irvine got round Gordon as he would have struck it at 50mph.

The only way he would get back the 22 yards in time is if he was on a Yamaha 500 and he's no.

Well done neil McCann you talk as much p!$4 as that was coming down on that brolly that was protecting you ya wee niaf.

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01 Aug 2015 18:23:58
How fast was the ball moving frew?

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01 Aug 2015 19:36:24
If was a red card all day long , stupid pass from Boyata and silly play from Gordon

If it was at the other end then we would all be asking for red and I think McCann was spot on with analysis

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01 Aug 2015 20:19:45
Exactly Kev, no doubt he was hurting though lol which was fun to listen to but some people really need to take the green specs off at times. If this same incident happens to us on Wednesday and their keeper got only booked for that we would all be furious. It was a red card and we got away with it, we move on.

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01 Aug 2015 15:03:29
Some fine points made already

Im not seeing a lot of PROGRESS from last year. Too many slack passes. Some of the running off the ball today was a little better but we have few players who can deliver the right weight of pass.

Great players can make the right pass with the right pace on the ball. Good players can do it every so often. The same goes for crosses. Great players deliver a pinpoint ball to a team mate; good players deliver it to a teammate sometimes but more often than not simply deliver in to a "space" and hope for the best if they can move the ball beyond the 1st defender.

Celtic are a team full of average and good players. Probably 4 to 5 good players with the remainder distinctly average. This means that we will witness poor delivery, poor passing, the wrong choice of pass etc.

Can we also keep in mind that at one point today we had a "squad player" starting at right back, a left back who was totally untried at 18 yrs old, no Bitton, a withdrawn Johanssen, Armstrong playing in his favoured position (albeit untested with CFC), a very poor Forrest and a 3rd string striker playing for 70 minutes with very limited game time. What exactly did we expect?

The repertoire above accounts for 3 players in the first 11 who wouldn't normally be there and 2 playing out of position, further adversely impacted by LG exiting and SS coming on. Add to that Janko making a debut and you can see why there was always going to be a rustiness and unpredictability (lack of fluidity) in our play.

On to James Forrest. You cannot even claim these days that he is a speed merchant. His confidence must be incredibly low. No point slagging him off. He is at a very low point in his career and beyond showing him the door, I don't know how we can transform this player. It hasn't worked for him at CFC and the chances of a turnaround are incredibly low with a player whose confidence and assuredness is miserably low.

Positives? GMS in a central role was actually quite effective. Far more influential than when out on the left. One interesting observation. He tries to find GMS 80% of the time. Is that sensible or is that he too rates Forrest poorly? Young Tierney for first 30 minutes did very well and settled quickly and so he should be proud of his efforts. Commons made a great impact albeit the game was wide open.

May we live in interesting times.

Surgery still required .

Celtic without VVD doesn't bear thinking about. in a class of his own as far as current 11 is concerned .

Believable1 Unbelievable3

01 Aug 2015 16:18:37
I meant Armstrong in Central role

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01 Aug 2015 16:44:42
The problem is that we are being asked to keep the faith in the hope that things will be better in a couple of years. This may or may not come to fruition, and even if it happens , we would inevitably lose these players to anyone with a bit of cash. To put things in context, I tried to explain to this old chap, Celtic,s plan was to develope youth and players with potential. He said that if he wanted to grow his own vegtables, he would not go without until they were ready, he would buy some in the meantime. Says it all. We seem to be putting all our eggs in a potential basket and going slowly downhill. We have been a very ordinary team for a very long time and any to be honest, nothing looks like changing. I also don't think a new stiker would make that much difference, as Henrik Larsson would struggle in the present set up. We are too slow, too predictable and by the time we get to 30 yards out, the opposition have every one back and we just run out of ideas. Would like to be more positive, but the current squad have reached their collective limit and I don't see where things can improve that much.

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01 Aug 2015 20:46:45
I agree with mostly all you say Paradise, our team by and large is full of mediocre/average/poor players which is contributing to the poor football we are witnessing especially in the final third. Poor passing, shooting and creativity. It's no coincidence this is all accompanied by poor players in our team. Doesn't matter how fit they are yeah it helps but no amount of fitness is going to turn the likes of Johansen, Armstrong, Stokes, Forrest etc etc into top class players. We need to buy them and because these players can't play Ronny's system no matter how long Ronny persists with them for. It's going to be a long season if we don't see a complete overhaul in our attacking four.

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01 Aug 2015 21:49:46
Maybe the poor passing,poor ball control,lack of creativity is down to the wrong training,too much emphasis being put on honing your fitness rather than honing your football skills too much emphasis on sticking rigidly to a system which is curtailing any creativity that the team might have.

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01 Aug 2015 14:53:26
Totally agree with your post about commons once he came on looked a lot more threatening and getting shots away and in the wee pocket putting balls threw has to start in wed

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01 Aug 2015 15:02:09
I think/ hope he gets the nod on Wed,we are really short on creative effort when he is not on the park,he take more responsibility than the rest of them put together

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01 Aug 2015 20:32:08
Commons has probably got the wrong BMI for RD to play him regularly.

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01 Aug 2015 21:00:33
He came on at 2 0 with 30 to play. The game was open. He was bound to shine. It's all about " context" so keep that in mind when shouting for commons. I think he is good but a starter at the moment? Jury's out

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02 Aug 2015 00:11:49
I would start Commons,Paradise,just can't fathom the reason not to start him,same way Griffiths does'nt start every game,completely illogical to me,I was very pro RD when he was appointed,but now I think he is the best manager we have ever had at dealing with the media,but one of the worst on the footballing side.

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02 Aug 2015 14:18:45
Aindoh. I am " neutral " on RD. Some puzzling team selections and still believe that he hasn't done the business in BIG GAMES.

We lost to red bull and got horsed away to Zagreb and ultimately failed against inter. We lost to Maribor and got chased by Legia.

Victory on Wednesday ( ie qualification) would be progress in a European context and that is pivotal to my developing a more favourable opinion of him.

I think he is popular but the 2nd season will tell us just how far we have come from double low of Legia and Maribor

Anyone that says he is useless or clueless or a managerial messiah are taking things to extremes to early in the RD journey IMVHO

Hail hail

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01 Aug 2015 14:51:26
Aw that wee mccann what a wee rotter he is out with the rule book about Gordon challenge on Irvine cany go him even though its was debatable the yellow card. All in all take the 2.0 win and move onto champ league on Wednesday hail hail

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01 Aug 2015 14:43:47
Oh and I forgot to mention the passing,the only word I can think of is woeful! Boyata brown and ambrose! And I'm not Talkin about passes under pressure either! I'm talkin passing when a ball 10 yards when there's nobody near u! Awful! Ambrose Forrest scepovic shouldn't be near a Celtic top! New season same pish as far as I'm concerned! on Wednesday I'm telling u!!

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01 Aug 2015 15:01:18
Dh88 I'm willing to bet you £100 that Celtic go through on Wednesday. Put your money where your mouth is my man. No kidding let's be having you?

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01 Aug 2015 15:24:21
Sound like the norwich chairwomen lol

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01 Aug 2015 15:26:39
I've already been on here sayin I would never bet against us! Can u honestly say after watchn that your confident we'll go threw on Wednesday? Listnin I hope I'm wrong and would love nothin more than for them to ram the doubts I have down my throat! Just think that our play is far to slow and our passing is far to slack!! And up front we're lacking quality! There's no way I could sit and watch us on Wednesday knowing I've bet money,be it a fiver or 100 on us not to win!! I'm just raising my concerns mate!

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01 Aug 2015 16:14:54
Dh88 you have every right to be worried as our team is likely to give up cheap goals at the blink of an eye. Our away record in Europe is abysmal and total concentration will be required from everyone. Hopefully we get an away goal early doors and take the nerves out of the importance of the match

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01 Aug 2015 19:08:07
@Sacktheboard I thought gambling was a mugs game and gamblers never won? Betting £100 I am ashamed of you.

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01 Aug 2015 14:41:00
How long before Celtic actually go out and BUY a good and proven ST! Sick of all the duds bought the last few seasons! Never ever replaced Gary Hooper.

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01 Aug 2015 14:30:52
Just left the game there.another dull affair in my eyes! Griffiths of injured and we've signed a strikers who's suspended for the 1st 6 games of the season! Just about sums it up really.scepovic clearly isn't the answer and stokes has been told he can leave! Still think we're far to predictable and one paced,need sum creativity in that final 3rd! And anyone who can come on here and say they don't rate commons hasn't got a clue about football! He done more in ten min on the park than the whole team did in the 1st hour! He's the only one that can create something out of nothing,and he had more shots than the rest of the forward players put together! I'm seriously worried about Wednesday by the way! And I know u'll get some comin on here and sayin its only the start of the season,but for me the problems are the same as last season! No top class centre forward and far to slow in our play!

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01 Aug 2015 14:52:19
After that game, the last thing on my mind is the Champions League. Can anyone honestly say we are anywhere near the level expected to play - never mind compete - in the group stages. Even today we had all those corners and failed to score from any against a very ordinary team.
We are pedestrian and predictable and surrender too much possession to even the most average opponent.
What happened to the high-tempo pressing and passing game RD was trying to instil last season?
We have too many that can't pass, tackle and take too long to make a decision and we are too one paced and lack flair.
I think we will concede on Wednesday, as we usually do away from home in Europe and we need Griffiths fit and on form, with ample support to have any chance?

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01 Aug 2015 15:16:36
What you need to remember is that we play different tactics against SPFL teams, especially at home. I am not as condemning of today's performance as you both are. I thought we dominated possession and created loads of chances. We also played the game high up the pitch and put County under a lot of pressure.

Yes, we got hit on the break a few times and yes we could have done more with our chances but overall I thought it was a decent performance, especially considering it is early in the season and the players are still getting fitness levels up and finding their touch.

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01 Aug 2015 16:24:00
It's not the tactics I'm worried about - although this persistence with one striker (in any competition) is naff.
The worrying facts are our passing is not as potent and crisp as it needs to be and we miss far too many of the chances we create because we do not have enough quality in attack.
The possession is never a problem, but the tempo is too slow.
Forrest and Scepovic were atrocious and GMS missed a few too.

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01 Aug 2015 14:23:23
Once again Ambrose and Forrest utter shite. How much longer can they get a game FFS?

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01 Aug 2015 13:48:27
Predictable pretty much sums up the first half;
Griffiths scores again - predictable
We dominate possession - predictable
Forrest is invisible - predictable
Johansen provides a good goal when we become predictable - predictable.

Seriously though we really need a decent striker and right winger as Forrest and Scepovic are rotten.
Gordon and Boyata are a wee bit too casual at times too, although,
young Tierney has not let anybody down and looks very comfortable.
Armstrong and GMS are working hard. Brown & VVD are superb as usual.

Step up the pace and sharpen the passing in the second half and we should end up with 4 or 5.

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01 Aug 2015 13:44:35
Wit a wee bellend that mccann looks lyk wi his wee refs book. av never seen anything worse from a pundit tryna get sumwan sent aff!! Ah bet he's ragin! Well neil. wait till ah pass the dunfermline high skool when your ther lol

HH

Chris1888

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01 Aug 2015 13:55:17
You would have thought that after his Ranting last season ,Sly would have told him to water it down or put a sock in it

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01 Aug 2015 14:42:43
It took the wee phud 30 seconds to ask Mulgrew about 'Rangers' at Celtic Park on flag day - the last thing we are thinking about about is Sevco and I wish Mulgrew or even Walker had just told him straight.

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01 Aug 2015 14:55:47
Is maggot offensive to a maggot ED when u conpare nell mcann to 1?. His love for the hoops show so much he shid be oan the dole!! I wonder how much $ he sells his umbrella for in Govan

HH.

Chris188i

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01 Aug 2015 13:38:38
Ed is there a problem with scepovic and the other players cause he's made a few decent runs and he's just being overlooked for the pass maybe I'm reading too much into it

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01 Aug 2015 14:32:34
I think his touches and off the ball work have been great,not sure about bother with team mates, maybe just a different style than what we play, he wants to be close in and more like a Michael Owen type in the box,I saw him loads in Spain 2 seasons ago and he was scoring for fun, but nearly all with feet inside the 6yrrd box

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01 Aug 2015 13:22:52
Hope it is nothing serious with LG,now we are exposed, the league is our bread and butter,new striker banned,top man limped off, misfiring Scepo holding the fort,and we are dumping Stokes,a Proven Cf who we have played out of position for the whole of last season

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01 Aug 2015 13:27:02
Stokes only contribution to Celtic is controversy in my opinion. The quicker we get shot of him the better.

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01 Aug 2015 13:50:52
Just talking about the football,nothing else

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01 Aug 2015 14:11:22
Yes Stokes has proven himself to be sh*te at cf and most other positions.

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01 Aug 2015 13:17:09
Boyata's distribution in this game has been the worst I've seen from a Celtic player in a long time!

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01 Aug 2015 13:45:24
Efe ambrose 2??

HH

Chris1888

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01 Aug 2015 13:52:30
Boyata looks Slow or Lazy, his positional sense leaves a lot to be desired and 3 horrible give aways

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01 Aug 2015 13:07:04
if the rumours are true regarding Michael Kramer I can't understand why we just don't bid the money. We were told that targets were identified early and if he was one of them why do we always wait before the bid. 1.5 million isn't a great deal of money , we drag our feet and now feyenoord are after him. The lad is a feyenoord fan so if it comes to them or us I'd presume he would go to them. We have been linked with various forwards over the last few windows and with is dragging our feet the price goes up and we become priced out. Even this season we were linked with the Argentinian and now Palermo r linked with a massive multi million bid. Surely once these players are scouted get the bid in before others are tempted. On top of this we have only spent about 1/2 a million so far this window is our budget purely spend what we bring in now . ( I always seem to come on here moaning but I just think we are becoming a big club with small ambition, and as loyal fans we deserve a bit more )

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03 Aug 2015 00:27:03
Do we know if Celtic are after Kramer and that Feyenoord are also interested .
Could easily be an agent trying to attract competition for his bhoy .

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01 Aug 2015 11:59:28
Time for lustig to go I think personally, I agree great player when playing but again not in squad today? Overall looking at team today, nothing to be excited about apart from the 1 new signing and the usual Brown. sick fed up

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01 Aug 2015 00:55:54
Just seen Izzy is suspended for the game today with mulgrew out who does everyone think will start lb lustig or efe?

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01 Aug 2015 06:53:59
Adam Matthews, LOL. That would be a conundrum for sure. Think you got to look to Darnell or the new lad from United to come in, probably in their favoured side. Or perhaps Effe on the right and Lustig on the left? I don't think I've ever heard of Lustig playing there. Henderson?

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01 Aug 2015 09:00:58
I was thinking efe on the right and lustig on the left aswell but I'm with you on janko on the right and lustig left.I don't see henderson playing cava

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01 Aug 2015 09:56:54
We've been crying out for a LB for years now but have still not even addressed the situation . I wouldn't take many chances on players with niggles today as I think we've got enough quality to see off County . I would like to see Deila even try 3 at the back today as I don't think they will be all out attacking us and we must really play 2 up front in home games but I don't think it will happen

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01 Aug 2015 11:00:26
This is the perfect example of why we need another left back brought in! Think it's really poor that the management team havnt done that! Izzys poor form alone should have seen a left back being a priority signing!

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01 Aug 2015 11:36:17
What about the young lad Tierney?

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01 Aug 2015 11:42:12
Kieran Tierney

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03 Aug 2015 00:29:55
It will almost certainly be izzy left and either efe or Lustug on the right .
Next Wednesday night is no night to try out either youngster

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