21 Jul 2024 01:49:24
Been a while since I last posted basically our first priority is to acquire a left back in the mould of our right back, one on one he is not at the races and he is constantly backpassing simply because he is unaware that if he turns with the ball he has acres of space his answer to defending a corner is to wrap his arms around the attacker's waist and attempt to haul them to the ground.
21 Jul 2024 02:23:43
Mathew Anderson played tonight and I think he done really well.
21 Jul 2024 02:43:18
Roylac . Anderson indeed looked the part and he and Taylor are unlikely to let us down . Taylor has pleased 3 Celtic managers who probably know their stuff.
21 Jul 2024 07:35:38
Des I've always liked Taylor from the minute he started playing for us, even although many many fans didn't I could see he was a good player with good attitude and good attributes. Even now people saying he isn't good enough I tend to disagree, and yes while he is targeted I think he doesn't get enough help or cover from Scales.
Anderson looked very decent and possibly a bit more attacking, he is also very tenacious and possibly between the two of them and if we can sign a better LCB we will see a bit of improvement there.
21 Jul 2024 09:06:34
A henuine question; how good do you want this current Celtic team to be?
(A) are you happy staying just infront of Sevco and getting pumped in Europe before the big man comes down the chimney OR (B) would you like to see better players coming in who can move the team forward and start making ake inroads on the European stage?
If your answer is A, then Taylor, Scales, Yang and to a lesser extent Welsh, Mikey etc - they're your men because that's their level.
If your answer is B, then an upgrade on Taylor, Scales and others is a given with players like Yang, Welsh, Mikey etc sold or sent out on loan.
It's that simple.
☘️ ? ☘️.
21 Jul 2024 10:03:53
Pedro 100%. Too many fans happy to watch bang average players and stay an inch in front of sevco. i want sufficient quality in the team to win champions league games and restore our great club’s reputation in Europe. The money is there to get us on par with similar level of clubs who achieve European success.
21 Jul 2024 10:59:39
Pedro what if Anderson were to be the upgrade we require?
I want Celtic to be the best they can be and I also want that to be with as many homegrown players as possible
Did you read my post?
21 Jul 2024 11:37:26
Taylor just lacks pace and height he's a solid enough player still. Even if he does have acres of space in front of him he doesn't have the pace to run into it. I'd much rather he keeps the ball passing it back than trying to run with it and lose it.
21 Jul 2024 13:51:10
royjac73,
I did read your post and my previous submission was not a reply specific to it, more a response to the threads around Taylor, Scales and the defence in general.
Taylor's level is SPL and unless Anderson is ready now to replace him and play in Europe, logic would suggest we need an upgrade on Taylor.
Scales, IMO, is an identical scenario to Taylor. Slow as a week in the jail, milk turns quicker and position sense questionable but he can get away with that in Scotland - in Europe, particularly CL, he'll get slaughtered.
Ideally, for me, we need a better CB than CCV brought in to partner him in defence, a better LB than Taylor, which in turn would put Scales and Taylor on the bench thus strengthening the squad.
That takes Welsh out if the equation, as he's junk, Nawrocki and Lagerbielke are either injured or unfancied.
GK position looks strong but if anything happens to Johnson at RB, again, we've got an issue. As much as Iike Tony Ralston, he's SPL level and would get trounced in the CL. The Scotland game against Germany will no doubt give him PTSD.
Again, if, as a club, the powers at be just want to continue to milk the support and stay one step ahead of Sevco, we should keep what we've got but this lot ain't going to get us anywhere in Europe, the last 20 years has demonstrated that.
In terms of our youth set up, like you, I'd love othing more than us to have a first 11 full of players who've come through our academy set up - that's fantasy island material as usually they're nowhere near good enough to make it into the team and end up disappearing to Germany or England where they're usually never heard of again.
As I've said before, we don't to spend fortunes on 'good' players, that's down to successful scouting and good coaching - MOR being the best, most recent example of this.
Anyway, that's my tuppence worth, agree or disagree, it's all good ?
☘️ ? ☘️.
21 Jul 2024 14:50:35
Pedro, if the answer is no, what are you prepared to do to make up for the loss of season book tickets and attendance at Domestic games due to us been superior to our domestic rivals .
There is nothing I would like better than to have a squad of players so good that MO’R would struggle to make match squad . i would be delighted if we only won all our domestic games by 4-1 or more. We would then have confidence and ability to compete well against most European teams and remove the embarrassment sum have of losing in Europe .
By the way I don’t know how any Celtic fan could be embarrassed by Celtic result.
21 Jul 2024 16:01:47
Wee des,
not sure what the question is - 'loss of season book tickets and attendance's at domestic games'?
Domestically, our dominance has been underlined by the leagues, cups and trebles we've won for more than a decade now.
We have the largest attendance in Scottish football, more season ticket holders than any other club and a waiting list of thousands.
Financially we're light years ahead of the rest of the teams in our league with record cash reserves and more money ready to flow into the coffers as a result of CL revenue and player transactions during this window.
In European terms, other than a couple of scalps, the last 20 years has been absmyl for a club of our size.
☘️ ? ☘️.
21 Jul 2024 17:35:05
I hear what you are saying Pedro I really do, could you picture this scenario though and try and explain how we are meant to do what you requesting we do
We go for a player at 26 years old from the Croatian or Serbian league who has 25 international caps and it developing into a really good player, we make a move for him and double his wages say. He tells us he will have a think about it and get back to us ( this process takes around 2 weeks by the way ) in the meantime 1 German club, 3 French clubs, 2 Enlish and 1 Spanish all enquire about him all offering more money than us, Do you still think there is any chance he will come to Scotland?
If you were to ask me the reason we operate in the market we do is because it really has come down to the fact that these are really the only players that will come to Scotland. I mean if we were to raise our wage structure to 50k a week for players do you think that would be enough to get them here when all those other clubs are offering them that and way more?
21 Jul 2024 18:16:14
royjac73,
I take your point and the biggest difference in the game now as opposed to 10, 15, 20 years ago is the wages have gone out of control.
We have no control over the league we operate in, the 'product' is crap hence there's no money in comparison to other leagues.
At the same time youth development has virtually no structure in Scotland, as you're aware, which constricts our ability to develop enough homegrown players to be promoted to the first team.
Having said this, we must find a balance to break the cycle, so called 'smaller teams' outside the top 5 leagues, have in recent years at least competed on the big stage, FC Copenhagen and the Norwegian side (name fails me at the minute) .
Given our finances, and as much as the board drive me nuts, we're a well run club with very good commercial deals in place that generate essential revenue streams.
With this, could we increase the wage ceiling across the team or have the same for a specified number of players (say 4 or 5) in the starting 11?
That could attract better free agent players or compete with some teams for players who were out of our range previously? ?
Just some thoughts.
☘️ ? ☘️.
21 Jul 2024 19:18:07
I think the thing that has cost us more than anything is having a squad of players where the top 11 players are quite good and if we could play these matches with all these players we could do quite well but In reality it doesn't quite work like that as you have to add that there are injuries coupled with some crazy decisions by some of our players in these games has cost us dear. So if we can somehow manage to give Brendan a squad of players all roughly the same level so that injuries or substitutions or even player bans don't have the effect they have in the past then we really won't be far away. Because of our financial restrictions due to the league we play in the very best we can probably do will be determined by every single player being able to make a positive contribution in these games.
23 Jul 2024 00:19:11
Taylor doesn’t dash up the wing with the ball, because he is instructed by our Managers and coaches not to dart up wing and lose procession . If he did things like that often he wouldn’t be playing for us because Ange NL and BR have specific plans as to he can best serve Celtic.