Celtic FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014/15 Mod Warning post #6011

Is this Kjartan Finbogasson who was with us a few years ago as a youth? I did like the look of him quite a lot. Whats he at now? Who was the other Icelandic lad the midfielder Teddy something? Where or how is Kjartan and Teddy developing now?

Dempsey wrote: »

Kjartan is back playing in Iceland. Fridjonsson described it as "just a hobby there almost." Bjarnason is playing for Randers FC. Both supposedly had potential alright but didnt amount to much afterwards.

We are talking about Alfred Finnbogason of Heerenveen, a far superior Icelandic talent

Ah right. Damn icelandic same names haha my bad.

Ledley a big miss?

Any surprises with that team?

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Ledley a big miss?

Any surprises with that team?

I'd rate Ledley as our best midfield player, good at breaking up attacks and calm on the ball. Won't do anything spectacular but solid.

Apart from that I'm a little surprised Stokes isn't starting up front in place of Boerrigter with Samaras moving out wide.

IMO we're going to struggle to create chances with that team, best chance will be Commons shooting from distance

I see. Wouldn't be overly familiar with Celtic's style of play or who's the main outlets up top. Ledley and Brown out can only be a plus for Milan though.

XI Milan | Abbiati; Abate, Zapata, Bonera, Emanuelson; De Jong, Montolivo, Poli, Birsa, Káka; Balotelli.

We're weak in defence. Would epect yous to get a lot down our left side so whoever usually drifts wide right for yous should get time and space.

Birsa starting is a bonus for Celtic unless he plays out of his skin which I don't expect to happen, he's a cut below CL standard.

Kaká is in flying form but Balotelli isn't. I'd expect Kaká to be our main orchestrator going forward so if yous can silence him and frustrate Balotelli early on, it'll be a struggle!

Shocking defending at the set piece there. Everyone leaving responsibility to each other

Well European football gone for this season, very disappointing through the whole campaign. Lacking quality up front and it has cost us.

Following on from Paolo's post in the match thread I have to agree the effect of playing in the SPL is been highlighted in these performances. We failed to get players in of the same or better quality than the ones who left and I think that is due to how hard it is to persuade decent players to play SPL football unless we throw money at them(which we rightly won't do)

The is no attraction to established players in signing for us, we play in a one horse league and have 3 rounds to qualify for the CL, the money on offer isn't great and even the weather is against us.

I think we're in for a long few months now as truing to get guys like Ledley to sign now will be even harder

Lennonist wrote: »

For the rest of this season the League is a given and a Scottish Cup would be good as well.

Outwith that and going forward, Celtic will have to think outside the box a bit.

A league and Cup double would be good but it's not going to help attract decent players when there only competition is our own complacency.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25114259

"We've competed again tonight but just that quality at the top end of the pitch has caught up with us," he said.

"Some of the players have covered themselves in glory but it's mainly in the defensive end of the pitch that we're talking about here."

"Tonight has been symptomatic of our campaign," said Lennon. "We've missed good chances.

"The Virgil [van Dijk] chance was a great chance and at 1-1 the game could've gone either way.

"Then we go and concede again from a corner and that's been the most disappointing aspect, as has the opportunities we missed.

"I'm really disappointed with the two goals we've conceded from corners because we take a lot of pride in that. We lost our concentration.

"Big moments in the game changed the course of the game. Milan took their chances when they came along, albeit we were contributors to our own downfall.

"When our opportunities arose; [Beram] Kayal, [Charlie] Mulgrew, Van Dijk, [James] Forrest; we snatched at them and that was the difference in the game."

"We have had a very heavy start to the season and injuries and suspensions do catch up on you," said Lennon.

"We lost some big players; [Adam] Matthews, Scott Brown, [Nir] Biton and then losing Kayal tonight as well. That's three midfield players out of five.

"When the squad's not as big as some other squads it does tend to bite you.

"Realistically, getting into the Champions league was fantastic for us. When the draw was made we knew how difficult it was going to be."

"We're going well domestically and we've got a big game on Sunday and that's a good one to get our teeth into after tonight.

"If we're going to look to the future and continue to play in the Champions League, we have to improve with the squad we have now and we have to improve on recruitment as well for next year."

A fair assessment by Lennon but he stopped short of shouldering some of the blame himself. I'm optimistic about the bolded, a subtle hint back to the mistakes made in the transfer window. At least its acknowledged and the club can look to improve how they do their business.

Lennonist wrote: »

Celtic's problem remains the same as it has been for many decades. The demise of Rangers has only meant that we don't have competition for getting first bite at European competition every season.

Yeah we miss the old firm derbies, but on balance they haven't ever been as good as the European nights.

Celtic need the advent of a proper European league, like a lot of other big clubs around Europe that don't play in the "big money" leagues.

There will be change sometime soon.

I think the gulf between the SPL and the bigger European leagues has grown over the last 10 years and has left us with a massive disadvantage when it comes to attracting players. When you look back to our team under MON & Rangers team around the same time and they were far stronger than we have at present. There is no sign of that changing any time soon and we still don't seem to be in a position to develop our own players to a level required even though there has even massive investment in that by the club.

When you look at the money we spent in the summer it was a decent outlay for us but we need to take risks on signings due to the budget available. That worked wonders in the last few years but this season seems to have been less successful with Pukki & Balde not performing so far but there's not going to be a big change in that policy in the short term.

Not only are we easily priced out of the market for decent players but we also face an uphill struggle to attract them to the club due to the poor standard of football.

I don't believe the issues with Rangers have a major impact on that because the the downward spiral began way before their issues came to the fore, the simple facts are we are not an attractive option for players, they can get far more money at a host of other clubs and can play in more attractive leagues which give them a better shop window for a move to bigger clubs than we can offer them.

We don't have a history of transferring players to top clubs like Ajax, Porto etc so it is far more tempting for a player to join a mid table EPL club than to join us.

I think at this stage the talk of a European league is just pie in the sky, there are no solid moves on this and it is at least 10 years off.

Be under no allusions there will be no change in signing policy, no star signing in the short term but there are still hidden gems like Hooper, Wanyama, Van Dijk out there. The hope is we can get a few to click together like we did 2 years ago.

PauloMN wrote: »

Is that the only effect you reckon it's had though, seriously? I'm asking that as a genuine question btw, not meaning to sound smart-arsed. I honestly think the absence of Rangers is playing a much bigger part in our European performances. It's about fighting for every point in every match of the league. We don't have to do that these days, and it's starting to show when we meet better opposition. Life is too easy in the league these days.

Life in the league was easier last year if you consider we had better squad of player yet we struggled and werent prepared the best for league matches before and after UCL games.

The difference between this year and last year is that we prepare better for league matches, we got a tougher group and we were missing a goalscorer & we have a weakened midfield for every game. Brown & Ledley are massive players for us even before considering the sale of Wanyama. We've had great chances before the opposition scored in every single UCL game this season. The composure & finishing by Celtic players in the final 3rd of the field has been a huge disappointment and this is also clearly evident in domestic matches this season aswell lets not forget.

Under MON we knocked 7 shades out of most SPL competition with the gulf in quality of players and never made it past the group stages of the UCL. If UCL progression is the benchmark that we are striving for, since its the pinnacle of club football then and now, we arent a million miles away from what MON achieved.

Also, what MON achieved wasnt sustainable, what Lennon is doing is sustainable and we should be able to improve how we implement the model. The likes of Ajax & Porto have been at this business model for much longer than Celtic so they have an level of expertise on the business side we dont.