Celtic banter 9

26 Aug 2026 11:10:14
They can shove their Europa league package right up their arse, not a penny more, if they'd signed a cdm we'd still be in, every fecking signing takes an age.

26 Aug 2026 11:38:33
It's easy in hindsight but I think we should have set up in a 3-4-1-2 formation last night with a view to surprising and hopefully stifling them.

CCV is too small to play against a big strong CF.

Murray, Trusty, (misnoma) Scales
CD CM MB KT
Nygren
Duran Hogh

This would have given us more height and legs, with FBs supporting midfielders in battle for the middle of the park and 3x CBs to counter their 2 up top.

I've been saying for years, we're too predictable and what we can get away with in Scotland we don't in Europe. Hell even our kick offs are the same every time, pass back to CM then left to KT. It's embarrassing how one dimensional we are!

26 Aug 2026 11:58:59
Tbh i worry about us defensively virtually all over the pitch. We know CalMac isn't a CDM above domestic level. Combine him with Baur and Nygren and it's a powderpuff midfield really at CL level. Then Duran is a forward and Yang is again lightweight. AND we seem to be going into yet another season not bringing in the required quality at CB.

Relatively happy with our business so far but we need some muscle in this side still, something I thought MO'N would have been straight after. Going off his commwnts and what Ed was saying we might not even get Gineitis now.

26 Aug 2026 13:44:48
Defo agree, midfield has nothing in terms of winning the ball, calmac can be a great footballer but when backs to wall he looks all to exposed, our entire back four was rank, they can dictate tempo, they can be confident and take ball, play a simple pass out of pressure, all to often it was clearance after clearance, how we ended up dead on our feet 65 mins in and taking a pounding of crosses and shots on goal was a joke, Nygren basically had a Nygren, something we saw many a time last season leaving baur who I’d rather not criticise an Callum badly outnumbered and exposed, our front three where poor the entire night but with a disjointed team that expected,

I worry our teams coaching into to scratch ( said this before ) is sm and foz creating a style of play and identity, not sure,

However, this is all reactive right now, perhaps if we did qualify and bring in the players expected we may have resembled a cl team, facts are current squad doesn’t, this squad was still good enough to qualify so players and mgt team need to do a bit of self reflecting here, but then fell short, personally
I don’t get excited about getting pumped several times in Europe with off win but nonetheless understand the benefits the money and stature the comp brings,

It’s done, I for one will reflect more end window and regardless look forward to this season.

26 Aug 2026 14:42:16
Last night was a sore one Jaa. But there's still a lot to look forward to right enough 👍.

26 Aug 2026 10:35:42
Dire need of a fast commanding CB, can anyone tell me what's the problem with Hassan, av heard its doen to fitness but how can that be he's judt played a WC and signed cpl wks ago.

26 Aug 2026 10:56:33
He must be poor if tounetki gets on before him.

26 Aug 2026 09:26:10
Was a shocking display last night Martin said he's to blame no he's not the board are, they took the gamble not signing enough players on time they wanted to wait on the money again, before signing more quality in midfield and defenders, we will still need more quality even for in the Europa League.

26 Aug 2026 10:36:23
Everyone associated with Celtic were to blame for last night. Board, management and players.
A collective failure.

26 Aug 2026 10:52:39
Part of me is glad we went out last night and no fluke about it, over the two legs LASK were by far the better team. We simply cannot defend competently and the warning signs have been there for ages. We would have been destroyed in the CL.

Their defenders bullied out strikers, their midfield bullied ours and their strikers bullied our defenders. I honestly believe Murray and Scales are our two best CDs and should be given a run in the team together.

Sinisalo, not blameless but adequate. CCV looks done, Trusty is a drama queen. We have no defensive midfielders at the club and are struggling for cover at FB, (shocking lack of recruitment) . Tounetki is a coward.

All this coupled with a management team who do nothing to surprise us or the opposition and play square pegs in round holes rather than change formation, pathetic!

But as I said a while back, the BoD have again gambled and lost, it is them who should shoulder the most blame. Even after last year's transfer fiascos, they have again banked the money instead of properly investing in the team. Charlatans!

26 Aug 2026 11:03:36
Agree bigrab but the players don't buy themselves so if not good enough it's down to the board and recruitment team. m. o. n substitutions where terrible but who else did he have? so again board / recruitment team at fault. pattern emerging 🤔🤔.

26 Aug 2026 09:20:09
Last nights performance has left me angry and embarrassed. There are many failings at board level but 4-0 up with 65 to play this defeat rests with the players and the manager.

MO knew we had no physicality in the midfield and started with Nygren away from home. He offers nothing when defending or tracking back. When we lost the ball he never sprinted back once. To add to his inadequacy he blindly passes back to concede the first goal.

All night we played long balls from the keeper to Hogh and couldn’t win a second ball if our lives depended on it. Giving away any control within the game and inviting Constant pressure. 40 shots against us caused by this horrible tactic. Where were the players around Hogh to pick up the second balls? Was the plan to have the flimsy Nygren to win the second balls? The guy couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag.

Bringing on Tounetki was a terrible substitution. He offered nothing in attack or defence and constantly lost ball when in the attacking 3rd. Hassan should have been brought on for an out ball with Duran playing centrally to support Hogh. Durans work rate would have made a difference in the middle of the park.

The gaps between defence and midfield and midfield and upfront were criminal. We looked like a Sunday league team. A whole uninterrupted week to drill the team but no sign of it on the night. The front 3 were pressing high with no connectivity of midfield and defence.

Tounetki, McCown and Ralston are not good enough to play for our club. They need replaced immediately. To come on with fresh legs and to give the ball away the way they did was Criminal and should never get the honour of wearing a Celtic shirt again.

26 Aug 2026 10:34:21
How can he add physicallity when there is none in the squad?

26 Aug 2026 10:39:04
I swear if I could've jumped through the telly last night I would have grabbed Tounetki and balled him out on his laziness.
So, why did our manager not do it?

26 Aug 2026 10:54:30
Duran was as bad if not worse.

26 Aug 2026 11:01:01
DRB he cannot add a player he does not have but he can solidify the midfield with the options available.

How many times were Nygren and Baur in the final 3rd during transitions? It was like playing with 2 x CAM with McGregor isolated. Zero discipline in the middle of the park. Adjustments should have been made at half time and if they were they were they were not carried out by the team.

We can talk all day about the players available. The shape and set up are down to the manager and the team executing his instructions. When physicality is missing compactness is required. The gaps between the lines were abhorrent.

26 Aug 2026 11:38:48
How many times have we seen this now. Beaten by a competent, big, strong, physical, hard working team. We have a midfield that has been screaming out for a strong physical midfielder for years. Technically nice and tidy on the ball but not good enough to make up for their lack of physicality and legs in midfield, every one the same, that's our midfield.

We ended up with Ralston, Scales, Murray, Mccowan, Hatate and Tounetki on the field trying to win us a Champions League qualifier. When you look at those players, what realistic chance do you have. Nobody played well on the night and that has to be a mentality issue as well as a lack of genuine quality.

26 Aug 2026 08:56:40
Felt that coming when it went to 1-1 last night.

Far to easy to criticise the defenders. You have to get through the midfield to get to the defenders, and frankly, we don't have a midfield. Haven't had for years.

In midfield, we have ballwatchers with little positional sense, unware of where the opposition is, and do not track runs.

Attacking midfielders are fine, but you cannot have a team full of them. McGregor is the worst, because he thinks he's doing a good job. (I've been saying that for years - too easy to bypass)

Frankly, I'm fine with the Europa as I don't really want to see us getting a hiding in the CL. We'd have to get lucky with the draw as we did 2 years ago.

26 Aug 2026 10:35:10
It's a pity we didn't cancel the weekends fixture to come up with a gameplan to see us through the tie. oh wait. What did they do with that time off? Sit playing Fifa? They didn't have a clue what to do other than continuously pump it up the pitch and give them possession back.

26 Aug 2026 10:55:50
I always think it's a bad idea to cancel the weekend game, gives the team too much time to think about it, football.

26 Aug 2026 08:47:23
On a plus, if any of our new signings had add ons for CL qualification, our board have saved a few bob. But that’s the problem with this board, they would rather save a few million £ and lose £40million than the other way round. We all get it that MON and the players are responsible, but, this board always seem to hamstring any true progress from being made.

So looks like it’s back to the ‘sack the board’ protests because even after MON, any new manager is going to have the same issues ‘ad infinitum’. And just to remind any board apologists, NO LESSONS HAVE BEEN LEARNED.

26 Aug 2026 10:19:24
Our board suffer from a “self fulfilling prophecy”. They say that the financial prudence they operate under is to protect the club from any future issues, yet in doing so they are creating the precise issues which the club subsequently suffer from. At what point do they realise where the problem lies.

26 Aug 2026 08:37:39
If Big Roy was playing instead of McGregor we'd be through. If NL was playing instead of McGregor we'd be through. If Scott Brown was playing instead of McGregor we'd be through.

To hear McGregor saying after the game the players were passive and scared, well it's dead easy Callum, you're on the pitch, you're the captain - ream them. Get them interested. Get them playing.

Don't wait until after the game to start bitching and pointing fingers.

26 Aug 2026 10:15:23
Mgregor was our best player last night. nygren was very poor. baur ran out of steam. harate has chucked it leaving calmac trying to hold the midfield on his own again. kt can't last a full game hogh and Duran where totally crap. yang tried. tounetki well need i even say anything. if he can come on and Duran last whole game then the Egyptian bhoy must be useless.

two cbs don't play as a unit and trusty turns his back on everything. oneills substitutions tactics where poor but so was the bench. we need a lb a cb or two a right back two mids a lw and another striker. but they have to be better than those already here. and yes I know that won't happen just wishful thinking.

26 Aug 2026 10:58:21
Jesus wept, our best player, he was atrocious and that’s as kind as I can be.

Our best players where the ones that didn’t get on the park.

Don’t know what it is with some fans McGregor has stunk out Celtic for over 2 years now and needs to be dropped.

26 Aug 2026 11:02:01
Aye its awe mcgregors fault, nonsense what about baur drifting all over the park and nygren running at half pace and giving away the goal that killed the tie imo, we get to half time we're through.

26 Aug 2026 07:48:28
If last night wasn't an advert for a cdm I don't know what is, oh and a decent commanding cb, but that'll be the spending by, fail to prepare prepare to fail, same old sorry story,3 qualifiers next year that'll be that.

26 Aug 2026 11:08:08
Unfortunately although badly needed a cdm alone isn't enough we lack quality in all areas. and if we buy using penny pinching a 4th or 5th choice is it worth it?

26 Aug 2026 07:43:13
Cant believe what I witnessed last night!
2nd best all over the pitch, knocked off the ball like schoolboys, out thought, out muscled and given a lesson in attacking football.
One thing is crystal to anyone (apart from board)
Tounekti ain't doing it, mcowan is no where near it and Yangs never going to have it.

Passengers all over the team last night apart from calmac and sinisalo.

26 Aug 2026 07:27:30
That must be one of the worst if not the worst 45 minutes in Celtic history as far as the game goes. I can't blame one person for this it goes far above that. But Celtic as a club surely can't overlook what happened last night and pretended nothing is wrong or nothing needs fixing. I couldn't believe the amount of mistakes could be made in so little time (45 minutes) .

Sadly as far as quality goes trying to convince them to come to Celtic after that performance will be really hard to do. Speechless and angry sums me up just now Is it a Scotland thing that we F up what seams to be easy?

26 Aug 2026 06:41:29
Last night was a very tough one to take, but from the moment their second goal went in most of us watching could sense danger.

The fact we have a squad of lightweight players doesn't help, when you consider many of our options to battle a game out are Baur, Mcgregor, Hetate, Nygren, Tounekti, Forrest, Yang, McCowan, Chamberlain, Balikwisha, it doesn't give any defence confidence, that includes our two starting CBs tonight, who often get bullied and when they do they are kicking fresh air and getting bundled over.

Majority of that is the spine of the team, i'm not going to say they are all rubbish because that is nonsense, however we need physical upgrades.

We all have our opinions but Dane Murray is a big strong lad, and his progress is stifled because we have a pair of fairies at the back, of which one I think is absolute garbage, and shouldve been loaned out or given more opportunities.

The captain is never a CDM, however he is put their not out of his choice, but by the lack of options the board have given managers over the past few years, we actually need 2 in this position.

Why the likes of Tounekti and McCowan have more chance of a jersey rather than say McArdle and Hatton says everything about the clubs previous transfer activity, i'd rather those lads who are desperate to prove a point, would be given an opportunity, i'm glad they are/ have been loaned out to gain experience, but still there's pathway should be there when we have dross available on the bench.

Not signing someone like Ferry is a big mistake, he would've been perfect cover, not waiting on some Chelsea youth player that is never going to play for us in the future, we have money and are a big club, we shouldn't have to rely on loans its pathetic.

Stripping it back to the LASK games, the first leg was very enjoyable, good game by both sides, and our first half performance tonight was decent, but poor subs, lack of quality options from board being tight has left us where we are.

I hope we actually act like a big club, look at the major weaknesses within the squad, options for positions plus physicality, and get bodies in, and get rid of the ones who clearly have no future, because fringe players again might as well be academy graduates that have a pathway, I mean fringe players here by the way, which I put McCowan, Tounekti in that bracket.