Celtic Banter Archive October 03 2014

03 Oct 2014 21:34:43
Just caught a snippet of Ronny's on the bbc. Thought his remarks about Gordon were spot on: his experience is somewhat unique, but its all part of the training: he's back, and he wants it, not for the money or the acclaim, but because he's a goalie and want to play.

Big news from Donegal tonight .
Jim McGuinness has resigned from managing Donegal. This will probably lead to him working full time with Celtic

04 Oct 2014 00:57:04
He got promoted recently to the celtic first team, the change in the donegal senior team over the last few years has been unbelieveable, he's all into science and pyscholgy.

04 Oct 2014 08:56:22
Jim Mc Guinness is guilty of turning our national game into some sort of hybrid rugby league version which to be honest is unfortunately unwatchable.
He won't be out of place in Delias set up where the actual individualism of the game is sacrificed to produce a cloned team of shredded wheat eating robots.

I don't think anyone at Celtic has any desire to produce a team of shredded wheat eating robots . What Ronnie, Jim and others are speaking is a fast fit quick passing team . I think most of us would like if we could do all that and win with style .

05 Oct 2014 08:18:15
I've yet to see evidence of the said, only talk about players and fans buying into his philosophy.

03 Oct 2014 14:08:53
Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on Johansen. I liked him at first but hasn't done much this season. Plus how many 1 on 1s can one guy miss? Blew it last night and in 2 other European matches this season. Cost us in the other games but luckily not last night.

Strangely, Johanson seemed better under Lennon that his former and now current gaffer .

I was talking about him in an earlier post mate. I don't rate him. His work rate is fantastic and he will hustle and bustle all day which Ronny likes, but he doesn't have much else going for him and his distribution is terrible. I would love Henderson to be given game time beside brown but Ronny doesn't seem to rate him, but failing that I think kayal still has more to offer. Markiebhoy.

03 Oct 2014 14:52:27
I see the attendance at last nights game being highlighted in one of today's papers.had a look at all 24 attendances at last nights games, only 2 had a higher crowd than celtic, feyenoord 42,000, inter 70,000, which may be over the top according to a friend who watched the highlights and said there was nowhere near the afore said attendance .is it the tournament itself or do people not have the finance just a thought.killy.

03 Oct 2014 15:04:25
Doubt Inter even had 70,000 when they were playing barca in the semi final of the cl few years ago lol their stadium always looks half empty no chance they had 70 last night usual rags. Bet they didn't mention sevco's attendance against hibs on monday tho

The press are obsessed with Celtic's crowds, they seem more interested in the size of the crowd than the match going on on the pitch.

03 Oct 2014 21:57:28
Don't won't to be a glass half empty kind of guy but if that was a champions league team wee played last night that would have been a miserable defeat the chances they had and still can't believe three of our players got sucked into the ball and all the lad hadty do was dink it over the three of them and they where right through on goal needs sortin still a good result though bt that's schoolbhoy stuff at the back again mistakes have to be at a very few in Europe because better teams will punish us

03 Oct 2014 11:44:26
I'd send Tonev back to Villa right now. He has done not one good thing in all the minutes he has had so far and never tracks back. Doesn't look like he cares and not good enough to wear the hoops. For a man who is massive on fitness I can't understand why Ronny would ever play him. What is everyone's thoughts?

I agree he's not been great and I always heard of his shoot on sight policy and now I see it. But you've got to give him time to settle.

03 Oct 2014 15:05:24
I mentioned him in a post earlier aswel I don't rate the guy at all and seriously hope we don't try and sign him permanantly

The players brought in on loan need time to settle. My big worry with the signings is Scepovic, this £2 million bracket striker we constantly sign has let us down time and time again and I don't think I have seen this guy even have a shot on target.

Obviously game time and settling in for some players takes time, some longer than others, Guidetti so far has impressed more and its typical he is only on loan.

Had a thought the other day, our board like to feed us nonsense in relation to how much we would spend on a player ie £6 million being the figure quoted, can anyone tell me a £6 million rated player that would earn £25k per week? Maybe this is the reason why we are always signing £2 million rated players as they fall into that £25k per week wage bracket.

03 Oct 2014 10:39:04
I remember when WGS took over from MON and he had a very difficult start (especially the Artmedia game) and it was a culture shock for fans and players alike. He was not the most popular choice and the European exit was a horrendous baptism.
He had his own ideas and a blueprint for how he would do the job - without the vast amounts of cash that his predecessor was given - reducing the wage bill and economising on calibre/cost of player frugally, while maintaining the expected levels of success (with the added pressures of a serious rival to contend with).

There were players whose face did not fit or who basically saw their future elsewhere and Strachan went about building a new team, with a different approach and strategy as new ideas were introduced. He managed to turn things around fairly quickly - apart from the Scottish Cup shock at Clyde
- and went on to win the first of his three-in-a-row.

The difference today is the new manager is no closer to convincing me (or the players it seems) that he has what it takes to reach the standards that we expect and deserve - and we are into October.
We are unpredictable domestically and very mediocre in Europe and that is not good enough for Celtic.
I have been impressed with the new managers ideas and theories, but it is taking so long to put into practice and watching Celtic under him is depressing.
Every week I hope that somehow the team clicks into place and we start to play and entertain - Maybe against Hamilton on Sunday, maybe not?

If any players doesn't buy into his ideas let them go, obviously the board do, he is trying to change the philosophy of the club doesn't happen in a couple o months, I agree we have been dull in some games but if Ronny wins the treble he will be a hero something lennon couldn't do

You tend to find that if several players don't buy into the managers ideas, it will be the manager that goes.

The board of football clubs generally find it easier to replace 1 manager rather than 5 or 6 players, especially if the players are under contract.

One thing I thought about last night was that most if not all the players were pushing themselves to their limit for the manager . We are becoming a better team, determined not to concede and maybe when we get some of our many injured players back we may even be better .

03 Oct 2014 07:04:35
Happy with the 3 points from last night, edge of seat stuff and good to see the team have a bit of fight in them!

Craig Gordon was fantastic and Scott Brown has definitely matured from last season, he's made all the difference.

03 Oct 2014 00:06:52
So, the aftermath .

A win. 3 points. Joint top. Big rival already played away from home and 2 up and coming games where 6 points (big ask!) could take us to the brink. It would be a good accomplishment if we emerge from this 4 team Group whatever way you skin it!

In terms of the match, I have the following observations (merely as a personal point of opinion)

Oh and before I get started, I at least got half of the score correct. I went for 1-3 and so quite happy with my prediction.

The highlight for me was the 2 centre backs, both in possession and tracking, heading, tackling and generally being in the right place. The gilt edged chance first half from the cross from their right (our left) left Denayer in the box (marking one) with another making a late run (Tonev and Efe were static) so the young belgian cannot be blamed for that.

Our goalie was good again; one of those matches where it was going to take a right good effort to beat him and that's okay (IE conceding so long as you make yourself a big target!) Gordon was a big target tonight.

I thought Brown was super but for me, he is still being expected to do too much. Over eagerness to release and pass the ball TOO QUICKLY resulted in cheap possession. We gave it away far too often. RD it is okay to receive a pass, get your head up and run in to space or opt to pass but for me (at least) there were too many players passing with their first touch and spinning in to no man's land .a bit of patience!

Our exploitation of counter attacked when we are man for man or one man up (in terms of numbers) is very poor and I wonder if that is basically a quality thing, IE great players play intelligently and make the pass at the right time to the right player but CFC don't look terribly clever in that area (only my opinion)

set pieces tonight were abysmal and when you don't keep the ball or counter attack effectively, YOU NEED TO MAKE THE VERY MOST of corners and free kicks because I reiterate that this CFC team (based on this system with these players) DO NOT have goals in them .fact

The goal itself was a thing of beauty and congratulations to KC and AS for a super piece of teamwork. If it was Ronaldo and Bale or Messi and Neymar they would have been drooling so hats of to the two buoys!

I thought Johansen came on to a game but could have strangled him in the 70th minute when he (for whatever obscure reason) was magnetised to a Zagreb winger when Brown and Izzy had him covered. His willingness to gang up on the left side left the man unmarked in the middle; it was like watching 7 and 8 year olds play in the local park ALL CHASING THE BALL. that left me extremely concerned. I mean how do you explain that or excuse it? It was a total and complete embarrassment to watch 3 senior pros chase down a player 9and the ball) leaving an unmarked player in the box 15 yards away. some would say comical! I didn't find it funny. Weirdly, we had an extra man when they broke from our corner but somehow managed to throw away that apparent advantage with amateurish decision making.

I know it is early, but for me Tonev and Wakuso were generally ineffective. Commons was slow and lethargic looking (great goal) but still lacking in all areas of his play and really sloppy in possession.

I have ran out of words for Efe and so we will leave that there.

Controversially, I am going to say that I SAW LITTLE PROGRESS THIS EVENING (there I have said it). Perhaps (perhaps. perhaps) we looked a little bit more solid in terms of the 2 centre backs and the 2 midfielders (Brown and Johansen) and Stokes lead the line reasonably well but beyond that I was underwhelmed.

We won the match tonight because we scored a great goal and had a goalie who made 1 big save and 3 to 4 reasonable ones. But I maintain that this is a very poor starting eleven, considerably improved if we can solve the right back issue (Lustig), Stokes back out left for Wakuso and Guidetti back in with Commons finding better form.

I think we are getting closer to a 1st eleven subject to fitness with Gordon (GK), Lustig (RB who knows how to actually defend and press), Mulgrew (left back but used for delivery / set pieces), Denayer, VVD, Johansen (defensive midfielder), Brown (orthodox middle of the park), Stokes (left with potential to move inside and supplement lone striker especially from right side deliveries into box) ), Forrest (right and pace), Commons (bit of guile) and Guidetti (powerful, enthusiastic penalty box striker)

Not sure if my eleven is fast enough for ronny but I think it represents the best eleven given what we have witnessed so far in terms of player strengths and team deficiencies all in my opinion

Zagreb where a very decent outfit and CFC were fortunate to win, but we'll take it but I cannot put it down to RD tactics/system or tangible progress that nullified Zagreb .it was a "lottery" match, IE one that some would scratch their heads trying to interpret the score having watched the match

Happy to win. very happy to win .but!

03 Oct 2014 01:20:09
Good result bhoys, didn't c match 2 nite,from match report Gordon made 3 saves,(bbc) Ed,do u not think your being a bit harsh on Gordon, for someone who cost us nothing,its looking like deal of the decade ( maybe iam wrong )

{Ed007's Note - No, he made one exceptional save, I would expect any GK to make every other save he made, there was nothing difficult about them, it's what they get paid for. There's no maybe about it, you're wrong.}

Paradise, sorry I disagree with your assessment of Yohanson, I thought he did what he does best for most of the match and that is give the ball straight back to the opposition, and often in dangerous areas.I mentioned this to my son before the game and we foullowed him closely, it wasn't long before he turned round and said 'I see what you mean dad' we both think kayal despite not being half the player he was in his first season is still a better option to play beside Brown. I agree with the Gordon likers, I think he's a great goalkeeper, as well as being a good shot stopes he isn't scared to come of his line and claim cross balls (something foster was scared to do). Great result tonight I think and yes issues to still be sorted, but that will hopefully give Ronny breathing space to kick on domestically. Markiebhoy

Not sure what DBhoyBhoy is wrong about?

03 Oct 2014 09:28:42
Mrs E, as I said,to ed its looking like a great piece of buisness, forever wotever reason ed just doesn't like Gordon,as for the 3 saves,i can't comment further till I see the match high lights,i was commenting on match reports
HH

03 Oct 2014 10:09:30
I have got to agree with ed. I'm still far from convinced about Gordon. I hope I'm wrong bit I'm just waiting for this to go tits up.

I agree with your starting 11 although I'd maybe have Kayal or Biton instead of Johansen who I think is fit (worryingly a RD player) but lacks any real quality on the ball.

@ DaBhoy I think Ed is just getting old and grumpy, when I was reading your question I knew you hadn’t seen the game.

Darren – see i’m not waiting on any player or Manager going up **** up, I’m waiting to see how they improve.

Gordon is a better keeper than forster, but the thing that worries me is if his injury flairs up again cause I dread the thought of relying on zaluska