Celtic FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2019/2020

RoryMac · 22-08-2015 2:00pm

Decent performance from a mostly reserve team especially 1st half.

I'd prefer Janko to start RB on Tuesday but I'd be surprised if its not Efe.

Not sure any player did enough to force them into the team

eurokev · 22-08-2015 2:34pm

how did o Connell do today, he's herselfs nephew, and I didn't see the game so would like to hear an unbiased opinion

A Dub in Glasgo · 22-08-2015 2:38pm

He done well although lacks a bit of pace

eire4 · 23-08-2015 6:43pm

eurokev wrote: »

how did o Connell do today, he's herselfs nephew, and I didn't see the game so would like to hear an unbiased opinion

I thought he played very well. Was especially composed on the ball and comfortable playing out of the back. No where near as strong or as fast as Van Dijk but a good solid center back and given the number of games we play over a season we need at least 4 senior center backs at least capable of playing at the SPFL level. So for me a very solid back up center back.

TheCitizen · 23-08-2015 11:24pm

O'Connell will get opportunities. Van Dijk is likely away after Tuesday whether we qualify for the CL or go into the EL. Boyata has been average at best so far since he's arrived, his distribution hasn't been great. O'Connell looked fine v Dundee United. He looked composed. He's still only 20, could be a good one.

eire4 · 24-08-2015 5:49pm

TheCitizen wrote: »

O'Connell will get opportunities. Van Dijk is likely away after Tuesday whether we qualify for the CL or go into the EL. Boyata has been average at best so far since he's arrived, his distribution hasn't been great. O'Connell looked fine v Dundee United. He looked composed. He's still only 20, could be a good one.

Personally I think Van Dijk's status will depend on what happens tomorrow. If we win I think he will stay at least until the January window.

TheCitizen · 24-08-2015 6:15pm

eire4 wrote: »

Personally I think Van Dijk's status will depend on what happens tomorrow. If we win I think he will stay at least until the January window.

I think he'll go anyway. I've read that there's an offer of 11 million on the table for him. If we win we could demand a bit more, if we lose he'll go for 11 if that info is correct.

RoryMac · 24-08-2015 6:55pm

I'd be shocked if VVD stays no matter what the result is tomorrow, no talk from the club or player that he wants to stay, one of our scouts spoke at a seminar recently and said he was likely to go & a few players (Bitton today) hinting at it on social media.

I hope he does well where ever he goes, he's been excellent for us and its hard to begrude him a big payrise & chance to play on a bigger stage

eire4 · 25-08-2015 5:26pm

TheCitizen wrote: »

I think he'll go anyway. I've read that there's an offer of 11 million on the table for him. If we win we could demand a bit more, if we lose he'll go for 11 if that info is correct.

Well we will find out one way or another who is right in the next few days. What I hope is that regardless the decision is being made post champions league group stage qualification!

RoryMac · 25-08-2015 6:33pm

Nerves are kicking in now, I think the tie depends on us cutting out the defensive mistakes. I think we can score tonight but can also give up plenty of chances if we make stupid mistakes.

It'll be interesting to see what team Delia goes with, big decisions at RB & up front. I think he'll probably go with Ambrose & Ciftci unfortunately as I think if Malmo push forward Griffiths would be ideal to catch them on the break.

Massive game so early in the season

EDIT - shows what I know! No Ciftci or Ambrose

CELTIC v Malmo:
Gordon;
Janko, Boyata, van Dijk, Mulgrew;
Brown, Bitton;
Forrest, Johansen, Armstrong;
Griffiths.

eire4 · 25-08-2015 7:19pm

RoryMac wrote: »

Nerves are kicking in now, I think the tie depends on us cutting out the defensive mistakes. I think we can score tonight but can also give up plenty of chances if we make stupid mistakes.

It'll be interesting to see what team Delia goes with, big decisions at RB & up front. I think he'll probably go with Ambrose & Ciftci unfortunately as I think if Malmo push forward Griffiths would be ideal to catch them on the break.

Massive game so early in the season

EDIT - shows what I know! No Ciftci or Ambrose

CELTIC v Malmo:
Gordon;
Janko, Boyata, van Dijk, Mulgrew;
Brown, Bitton;
Forrest, Johansen, Armstrong;
Griffiths.

The only surprise there for me is Delia going with the attack minded Janko at right back over the more experienced Ambrose given Lustig was not fit enough to play.

RoryMac · 25-08-2015 7:26pm

eire4 wrote: »

The only surprise there for me is Delia going with the attack minded Janko at right back over the more experienced Ambrose given Lustig was not fit enough to play.

Yeah just had a feeling Ciftci would get the nod on his ability to hold up the ball.

I like the look of the team, Mulgrew gives a good option for set pieces & a bit of added height in defence. I'd say Janko will be given a bit of freedom while the other 3 stay back.

A Dub in Glasgo · 25-08-2015 7:54pm

Stupid challenge from Mulgrew, he is lucky not be get booked

Dempsey · 25-08-2015 8:12pm

Celtic struggling to get good shots on target. Not suprised that Celtic have conceded

GY A1 · 25-08-2015 8:29pm

Should been allowed.

A Dub in Glasgo · 25-08-2015 9:36pm

Another year of should have, could have and would have. A spineless performance tonight

Dempsey · 25-08-2015 9:42pm

Spineless pwrformance but the warning signs were there long before tonight. Defensive frailities were shown in domestic matches but largely unpunished. Tactics were poor and the players need a chewing also, they were poor

RoryMac · 25-08-2015 9:50pm

Awful stuff tonight, hard to know where to start.. VVD, Brown, Johansen, Mulgrew, Griffiths were all shocking.

We were completely outplayed by Malmo for fcuks sake. The lack of leadership & ideas in the team was so frustrating.

VVD will be sold in the coming days(at the moment I feel like driving him to Southampton but he's our only player with a bit of class) and will be replaced by someone a few levels below. We've lacked a decent striker since Hooper left and seem incapable of signing one.

Delia will feel the pressure in the coming weeks

Dempsey · 25-08-2015 10:40pm

VVD looked like a player wanting to go out on a high but he wasnt great himself and I dont think he helped with all his moaning and hand gestures then 10 minutes later he's getting caught in possession running the ball into midfield because he wants to make a name for himself. VVD is good but he's in for a rude awakening the EPL

Too many players didnt turn up and the lack of discipline was not good enough. Griffiths & Biton were lucky to finish the game. Mental toughness still not there.

RoryMac · 25-08-2015 10:47pm

Dempsey wrote: »

VVD looked like a player wanting to go out on a high but he wasnt great himself and I dont think he helped with all his moaning and hand gestures then 10 minutes later he's getting caught in possession running the ball into midfield because he wants to make a name for himself. VVD is good but he's in for a rude awakening the EPL

Too many players didnt turn up and the lack of discipline was not good enough. Griffiths & Biton were lucky to finish the game. Mental toughness still not there.

VVD looked like he was putting on a show, playing to the crowd rather than concentrating on doing the simple things.

You're right about the mental toughness, whatever the reason for Brown's below par performance we really missed his leadership tonight.

2 years in a row going out to teams on a fraction of our budget, for a club that proclaims to be well run that's a poor return. Hard to see it improve as we replace players leaving with Dundee Utd players.

Need to review our scouting policy, we're not going to start spending a lot of money but I think we can spend what we do have better that we are at present.

PauloMN · 26-08-2015 12:04am

Well, after last week's showing, my expectations were not very high, and Celtic yet again just proved my instincts right.

Where to start... naivety over two games, Griffiths could easily have been off and had that been a Malmo player, we'd have been screaming for it. Such a lack of discipline on a big stage. I love Brown as a player but I think as captain he sets a bad example sometimes that I think comes out in other players. Same crap was going on at the home game with Johansen.

Basic, basic defending so badly lacking. Every time they got a corner I was thinking they'd score from it. Janko and Boyata, average at best but plenty of basic mistakes being made. VVD has not had his head in the game all season, clearly wants out and the sooner the better at this stage. Caught out numerous times over these two legs not being able to do his defensive duties because he was half way up the park.

Ciftci, this guy is nowhere near the level required for Europe. Nowhere near it. I really hope we see something from him in the league because what I've seen of him in EVERY game thus far has been completely uninspiring. Bad positioning, complete lack of ability to hold the ball up, poor decision making. Awful stuff.

Well done Malmo. Completely had the measure of us and executed a perfect game plan tonight. 2 goals down after 10 mins in the first leg and they cruised through to the CL. Sad thing is they are a pretty ordinary side as I'm sure we'll see in the group games, which makes it even poorer from a Celtic perspective. We need to drill it into these players' heads that these days, we have no right to be qualifying ahead of ANY of these teams anymore. We are no better than these Nordic teams, or eastern European teams nowadays, and we need to stop taking them for granted.

Give us some players who want to play for Celtic, even if they don't have a great game from time to time. Commons, Forrest, Mulgrew could never be accused of not giving it their all even if they have a bad day. The same cannot be said for many others tonight. Johansen, Brown, VVD, Ciftci all muck tonight. Not sure what was going on with Bitton but he looked like he didn't want to be there either.

Needed a Samaras and a Hooper tonight.

Welcome to Celtic, Ronny. Now the pressure really will kick in. Can't see us in the CL groups now for a long time. Europa League is about our level, let's be honest.

tapfit2004 · 26-08-2015 12:20am

PauloMN wrote: »

Europa League is about our level, let's be honest.

We'll do well to get out of most Europa League groups if we play like that.

PauloMN · 26-08-2015 7:50am

tapfit2004 wrote: »

We'll do well to get out of most Europa League groups if we play like that.

Who said anything about getting out of the group? :pac:

eire4 · 26-08-2015 5:19pm

That one really hurts for me even more so then last season as we clearly are a much more settled side then the one that lost to Maribor last season. Whats even worse is we basically lost the tie on corner kicks. 3 goals given up on corners including both last night. Apart from Craig Gordon and James Forrest last night nobody comes out of that game with any great credit. What makes it all the worse is all the trash talking from their players and manager before during and now after the tie. A totally classless team and manager for whom I have no respect for whatsoever.

TheCitizen · 27-08-2015 9:04pm

PauloMN wrote: »

Welcome to Celtic, Ronny. Now the pressure really will kick in. Can't see us in the CL groups now for a long time. Europa League is about our level, let's be honest.

I think we could've expected to beat Malmo. We were seeded, they weren't. We have a much bigger budget than them. I think if we made it to the CL, we'd perhaps perform better than they will with the monkey off our backs. All of that is what makes it all the more disappointing, but we have the EL now and we should make the most of that.

I think we bottled it. I think our players bottled it and our manager bottled it. Malmo were under the same pressure - but perhaps in part due to the experience of their manager - they handled the pressure better.

If Ronny is to have another chance to get us to the CL next summer, he needs to have a strong EL campaign and he needs to do some convincing that he can really get to grips with the job.

Draw for the EL is tomorrow. He has an opportunity - one last one in my view - to dust himself and his team down and prove he is up to it with a good quality EL campaign.

RoryMac · 28-08-2015 12:09pm

TheCitizen wrote: »

I think we could've expected to beat Malmo. We were seeded, they weren't. We have a much bigger budget than them. I think if we made it to the CL, we'd perhaps perform better than they will with the monkey off our backs. All of that is what makes it all the more disappointing, but we have the EL now and we should make the most of that.

I think we bottled it. I think our players bottled it and our manager bottled it. Malmo were under the same pressure - but perhaps in part due to the experience of their manager - they handled the pressure better.

If Ronny is to have another chance to get us to the CL next summer, he needs to have a strong EL campaign and he needs to do some convincing that he can really get to grips with the job.

Draw for the EL is tomorrow. He has an opportunity - one last one in my view - to dust himself and his team down and prove he is up to it with a good quality EL campaign.

Agreed, with the prize of Champions League group stages on the line we should be beating a team like Malmo.

There will be added pressure on Delia now to get results in the EL & domestically but the key will be to attract players that can make an impact in the first team rather than projects, he probably needs to stand up to the board on that one and put pressure for investment.

If you look back at Lennon's time in charge we lost out on CL & EL qualification the 1st year and only made the EL in the 2nd year because of Sion breaking the rules but at that time we were bringing decent quality players, Forster, Wanyama, Hooper etc and the following season we came 2nd in the CL group.

So the spotlight will be on Delia in the coming months but unless there is decent baking from the board the task is near impossible. IMO we need a few seasoned pro's to come in and help the project signings

RoryMac · 28-08-2015 12:43pm

Ajax
Celtic
Fenerbahce
Molde

Gonna be tough to get out of that group

PauloMN · 28-08-2015 12:55pm

RoryMac wrote: »

Ajax
Celtic
Fenerbahce
Molde

Gonna be tough to get out of that group

At least there should be some good games to watch. That group would not be out of place in the CL.

Don't especially like having to go to Turkey, but aside from that it's good. Interesting to see how much Ronny knows about Molde. Hope it's more than he knew about Malmo!

Will be interesting to see how Spurs fare v Qarabag.

TheCitizen · 28-08-2015 1:18pm

Good Group. Play to our full potential and we could qualify. Fenerbache have some big names, van persie, Nano and others. Ajax will be a ding dong battle like the last time. Molde, Deila should know about.

Intifada · 28-08-2015 2:19pm

Wonder how many of our fans will fancy getting the shít kicked out of them by Amsterdam police again. Tie should be boycotted.

A Dub in Glasgo · 28-08-2015 3:55pm

The police in Scotland let the Ajax fans run amok in Glasgow City Centre last time whilst the police in Amsderdam battered feck out of any Celtic fan, I think there will be away ticket ban for these games

Intifada · 28-08-2015 6:26pm

Don't worry about no longer being a Champions League club lads, we're buying Ryan Christie for 500k

RoryMac · 28-08-2015 6:49pm

Intifada wrote: »

Don't worry about no longer being a Champions League club lads, we're buying Ryan Christie for 500k

I've been impressed by him a few times when I've seen him play..but he's miles from what we need at the minute.

We'll have half the midfield players in Scotland before the window closes while we're crying out for a LB, CB & striker a level above what we already have.

RoryMac · 28-08-2015 8:11pm

Talk on twitter of Tyler Blackett from Man Utd on loan with option to buy. Haven't seen much of him but at 21 doesn't add any much needed experience to the team

Dempsey · 28-08-2015 8:59pm

Intifada wrote: »

Don't worry about no longer being a Champions League club lads, we're buying Ryan Christie for 500k

Better than Tiesto! Is he still on our books??

eire4 · 28-08-2015 9:30pm

TheCitizen wrote: »

Good Group. Play to our full potential and we could qualify. Fenerbache have some big names, van persie, Nano and others. Ajax will be a ding dong battle like the last time. Molde, Deila should know about.

Tough draw there. We will be doing very well to qualify from that group. Definietly a tougher group then last year. Some great games to look forward to though. Delighted to get Ajax. Would love to see us get the better of them over the 2 games against them after the disgusting behaviour of their fans in both games last time out.

TheCitizen · 28-08-2015 10:58pm

Dempsey wrote: »

Better than Tiesto! Is he still on our books??

Tiesto? Who's that.

Dempsey · 28-08-2015 11:01pm

TheCitizen wrote: »

Tiesto? Who's that.

Derk Boerrigter, we paid €3.5m for that waster!

TheCitizen · 28-08-2015 11:06pm

Dempsey wrote: »

Derk Boerrigter, we paid €3.5m for that waster!

Haven't forgotten him, didn't know who Tiesto was, 'til now. Last I heard Willem 11 might take him.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/13626840.Boerrigter_nears_Celtic_exit_door/?ref=mr&lp=4

A Dub in Glasgo · 29-08-2015 3:36pm

Griffiths equalises after an own goal from Boyata

glued · 29-08-2015 3:43pm

RoryMac wrote: »

Talk on twitter of Tyler Blackett from Man Utd on loan with option to buy. Haven't seen much of him but at 21 doesn't add any much needed experience to the team

He's a good defender. Really comfortable on the ball and will be a great CB in the SPL.

A Dub in Glasgo · 29-08-2015 3:52pm

Great goal from Rogic makes it 2-1

[

A Dub in Glasgo · 29-08-2015 4:34pm

Mulgrew makes it 3-1

A Dub in Glasgo · 29-08-2015 4:56pm

Finished 3-1 and Hearts lost 3-2 so Celtic back top

Achtung! Bono · 29-08-2015 5:01pm

That was one hell of a double save at the end from Gordon. If that was in the EPL, they'd be raving about it no end.

Maybe a dub in Glasgow has a gif of it?

A Dub in Glasgo · 29-08-2015 5:52pm

Not yet, I get them off the huddleboard so may not be available until the highlights

On another note, the GB biting the hand that feeds?

Intifada · 29-08-2015 7:24pm

Biting the hand that feeds them what? They are entirely spot on and speak for any Celtic fan with half a brain

A Dub in Glasgo · 29-08-2015 7:35pm

Intifada wrote: »

Biting the hand that feeds them what? They are entirely spot on and speak for any Celtic fan with half a brain

Must have been loads of half brain Celtic fans at the game today when the booing starting for the banner

RoryMac · 29-08-2015 8:03pm

Intifada wrote: »

Biting the hand that feeds them what? They are entirely spot on and speak for any Celtic fan with half a brain

It's a bit over the top for me, there may well be truth in it but a bit harsh on the players. Supposed to be there to support the team not kick them when they're down.

Dempsey · 29-08-2015 8:09pm

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Must have been loads of half brain Celtic fans at the game today when the booing starting for the banner

The club deserves criticism for crashing out to Malmo, from the players to the management to the boardroom. Fans booing the banner are quite simply, sheeple. Do they actually think the club done all it could?? They fell short and badly at that. When Deila took on the job, Celtic were qualifying for UCL and he's taken the club backwards because he wanted to do his own thing quickly. Fair enough, I can accept that for 1 season but it will be his 3rd season before he can get us back to the level Lennon had the club before he took over.

The club might take the stance that its biting the hand that feeds it but then they'd be making another mistake if they continue to insulate themselves from valid criticism and failures on the pitch. If they cant acknowledge their own failures then the club is truly on the path to nowhere.

Celtic FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2019/2020

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