Celtic banter 4

21 Apr 2024 09:45:59
Anyone one who thinks the title is a formality, should think again. This team has another slip up waiting to happen.

21 Apr 2024 10:26:21
Was thinking the same I'd be starting forrest over the 2 imposters we have. he knows what's needed at this stage of season. yang shouldn't start another game he's awful.

21 Apr 2024 13:23:31
Why can’t the coaching staff not be explicit with the “ wingers “ and TELL them they need to get to the line and get balls into the box? Tony Ralston is the only player that I can think of that hit the line on the overlap every chance he got and put the ball in early.

22 Apr 2024 14:31:46
Unless we play Idah regularly, there is no point in wingers getting to end line near corner flag and crossing to diminutive Kyogo .
I like the way Kuhn, in particular, cuts inside, and plays ball through for AJ to either pull back or cross, if we managed that often enough we would score.
We are not getting this done as often on other side and work needs done.

21 Apr 2024 09:40:59
I'm wondering if the 2nd Semi Final will be as exciting as yesterday.

It got me thinking about the 2013 Scottish Cup Semi Finals.
Hibs came from 3-0 down to Falkirk to win 4-3 AET which was inspired by a brilliant Leigh Griffiths.

Celtic then beat Dundee Utd 4-3 AET on the Sunday.
Both clubs were leading in this match before Celtic eventually won on the day.

It was my Son's first Hampden victory after 3-2 loses to both St. Mirren and Inverness.

His first 3 Hampden visits seen 17 goals.

My Daughter remains undefeated at Hampden in about a dozen visits.

21 Apr 2024 07:34:18
Today the boy Miovski showed us exactly why we SHOULD sign him, he bullied CCV all game and made clever runs and showed lots of skill.
Get talking to #aberdeen today and agree a fee.

21 Apr 2024 09:08:10
His chance of joining us has passed . kyogo has a better goal per game than him while shankland has better than both and his chance has passed also . after this seasons windows I would hope to see whoever comes in be better than those already here.

21 Apr 2024 09:16:53
If given a choice between him and Idah, who do you pick?

21 Apr 2024 09:49:16
drb in what way has his chance passed.

21 Apr 2024 10:04:42
Imo The only time I think he had a chance of joining us was the winter break when it was clear we needed another striker. the new manager keeps saying he wants quality and will be looking for better (hopefully) come the summer . that's why I think his chance has passed.

21 Apr 2024 13:43:32
During his time at Celtic Idah has a better goal/ assist per minutes than Miovski/ Shankland or Kyogo by a good margin albeit he has played a lot less games. If we get an opportunity to take Idah at a sensible fee then I would be happy with him as an alternative option.

20 Apr 2024 20:52:11
I don't know why folk are moaning about our defence now. Its been awful all season. Scales Taylor AJ need upgrading (AJ can at least cross a ball) No defensive midfielder and we are lightweight in midfield. Kyogos runs are never spotted. Maedas work rate a huge loss. Another showpiece final to look forward to at Hampden in the sun but we need to sort that defence out over the next 6 games.

{Ed007's Note - So you were happy with CCV's performance today? You're happy with the amount of games he's missed through injury for us?
It wouldn't take a great amount of money to replace either our first choice CBs, CCV is good gliding about the park and passing the ball around like Maldini when we are controlling the game but he is poor in the air, doesn't command or dominate the box at all and like CalMac he gets found out at European level.
We give the recruitment and board pelters for not making the right decisions but this summer there are BIG decisions to be made even about players some fans can see doing no wrong. The first goal today was CCV falling asleep and they tried the same move a few times and got through as well, the 2nd and 3rd goal are into an area where a dominant, physical CB would get to it, whether that's Scales or CCV it doesn't matter, they are both as culpable imo.
Would we have lost those 2 goals with Starfelt in the team?
A major problem in the Celtic team for a few years has been the powderpuff spine of the team, look at who makes up that spine.}

20 Apr 2024 21:36:59
In fairness credit to the sheep, two crisp crosses accurately and directly to the heads of the attackers to place! Lessons to learned is the key here. For once in a long time the gods were with us today.

20 Apr 2024 21:59:10
A half decent RB would have stopped the crosses for goals 2&3 getting into the box. We are lightweight all over the park. Do we have some sort of aversion to putting early balls into the box? Kuhn is so wearily predictable you know what he is going to do two days before the game. We seem constantly to want to narrow our play into over congested areas around the box and if I see another fecking short corner I’m going to squeam till I’m sick. Forget the SC, the last five league games are going to have my fingernails chewed down to my elbows!

21 Apr 2024 00:01:30
A Johnstone is playing well in most matches up until the 70th min . In. too many
matches are opponents are getting it far to easy in the closing minutes to either create or score goals from his position . There is no way on this earth that Aberdeen should have been able to produce the quality of cross that gave them their 2nd and 3rd goals . Maybe Ralston could be used as a substitute around the 70th minute.

21 Apr 2024 08:29:52
If your not happy Celtic made another final maybe supporting Celtic isn't for you. 6 massive games we need to pull together.

21 Apr 2024 08:50:45
Agree with you ed, but u made a good point about not losing goals if starfelt in team, does that not highlight if we got his replacement correct then we could accept ccv’s failings, id address what we definitely know is poor which is Taylor and scales, ccv rightly shouldn’t get let off hook when he's has a bad game but he is head shoulders above the rest back 4, our inability to spot Kyogos runs and find him is my main issue, seems we look for that pass only when we are chasing a result towards end of games as yesterday we saw it played to idah several times but at start games we play our usual width based game which with players we have wide is just pretty rotten, no doubt on a day we can perform but I don’t see consistency or form in our wide players, meadas work rate aside I wouldn’t think teams are scared of our wide guys.

21 Apr 2024 10:15:42
Although Celtic usually dominate possession and create chances - even with wide men who flatter to deceive; we are very easy to play against with no ball-winners or any physical presence.
For a team that presses high up the pitch. I would argue that only maybe Maeda challenges and chases and too many are easily beaten or side-stepped then give up.
Yesterday again highlighted our lack or ariel power at both ends of the pitch. losing goals from crosses that were in the air long enough for a) the goalie to make an effort, and b) make a headed challenge. We also earn more than enough of corners in EVERY match, but rarely score directly from any or even come close and that - by the way - has been happening for far too long.
I also can't understand why runs of Kyogo and others are constantly ignored in favour of the 'safe' pass sideways or backwards.
Another thing that puzzles me is since we abandoned the @We Never Stop' philosophy of slick passing and direct running, why do most of our players tire after an hour or so? Because making 5-6 changes with half an hour to go often affects the balance and potency of the team, especially when our squad is short of real quality or the experience to control or change a game when required.
Apart from all that I do appreciate we are in a Cup Final and challenging for another title, but at the same time if we thought this season was difficult, next term will be one of the most challenging and pivotal for many years because of the decline and neglect that has been overseen by our notorious Board. H H.

20 Apr 2024 20:02:47
Take the win bhoys. That was Aberdeens final as defeat meant their season was over. We are in the final. It wasn't great but league games are totally different. Keep the faith. Hail hail.

20 Apr 2024 21:17:50
Think today was our season in a nutshell. We've shown up in spells. I'll take any win we get from now on considering the standards we've dropped to this season. Today was a tough watch but ultimately we made it to the final and we now need to concentrate on the league.

Scales and McGregor weren't to start, I think that showed. We packed control throughout but we got the job done in the end

I hope we take that as another wake up call. Nothing is a given, we need to get fit for this league and give our best until the season is done.

20 Apr 2024 22:00:10
I think that’s 17 goals Celtic have conceded in the last 10 minutes this season.
Also 8 goals from the last minute plus injury time.

It’s surprising Celtic are going for a domestic Double with poor stats like that.

20 Apr 2024 22:14:24
Following on from above posts regarding our spine and defence. To get to the level where we should be at, nevermind going to the next level, we need a full new team. Maybe more- we need-
2 GKs, replace Hart and a back up
2 FBs to compete/ replace AJ and Taylor
At least 2 CBs, Scales, Welsh, Nawrocki and LagerB ain't good enough.
2 midfielders, a Defensive sitter and a probable replacement for MOR
2 strikers as we need 3 and Oh won't do
At least 1 winger.

That's 11 new players.

22 Apr 2024 19:23:47
Like many others, especially immediately after the game I wasn’t happy with the performance of the team yesterday, our very best players and our weaker players all seemed to not reach usual standards. But then I began thinking about past semi finals won by Celtic and others and how often the general feeling afterwards was that winning semi was all that mattered and usually they were nervy affairs . True enough the English FA Cup semi final between Man Utd and lowly Championship team Coventry City produced another very poor Utd performance despite been 3 goals up they were lucky to get to penalties where they eventually came through . So maybe, Saturday was our nervy knockout game which we got through and now have 5 big SPL games to win.

20 Apr 2024 19:03:41
Going to move on from today. Plenty has been said.

Moving forward we need to pick our best players. BR must know by now that he can't trust Scales and Yang. Yang isn't just poor going forward he is a massive liability tracking back. Scales played well till Xmas. But you can clearly see he has lost all confidence.

Time for some key Decisions Brendan and you need to make these calls or the league will be in danger.

We also need a bit more cohesion in midfield. It's as if they are all playing on their own rather that a system. We don't look like a unit. We need to sharpen up. We have no dig in midfield so we need to be much more joined up.

Not sure what we can do with wide players but you need to pick 2 from Forrest, Kune and Palma.

Kyogo has lost confidence and he is taking too many touches. Ned to start Idah and bring the wee man on.

If Calmac isn't for enough we have to leave him out.


I feel if we play like that in our next league game we will be in bother.

Come on Brendan. we need to do much better.

20 Apr 2024 20:31:26
Unreservedly so but Scales gives me the fear anytime he has the ball I don't know why because he hasn't done that much wrong but he slows the game down to much for me. Yang he has had his chance IMO there is a player there but hasn't shown it in any quantity I think a lot of players should leave this summer and sadly we need a few good ones brought in.

21 Apr 2024 00:12:06
I thought Scales was our best defender for about an hour . As he may have tired having been out for a few weeks Celtic and a previously very good AJ allowed too much time and space to the Dons to put in very good quality crosses between back 4 and Hart . Unless we stop this flow of crosses and shots the final mins, we will need to be 2/ 3 goals in front towards end. It wouldn’t matter who was playing left sided cb if we allow quality crosses.

20 Apr 2024 18:56:16
Start at 40 million for O'Reilly.

20 Apr 2024 21:29:10
Nobody is paying 40 mil for O'Riley, he was really poor again today along with the other two boys in midfield. That's the most uncomfortable i've seen CCV in a domestic game and i've said it all season Scales is not anywhere near our level. The best team lost today and we should take that as a huge let off.

20 Apr 2024 22:15:57
Hes hardly kicked a ball for most of the season. 40 mil for what?

20 Apr 2024 18:51:55
I managed to get a last minute ticket and what an exciting match.

All season long Celtic have struggled to see out certain games and it happened another couple of times today.

Celtic only had Ralston, Nawrocki and Kelly as our outfield players to pick from for our 6th sub which wasn't ideal.

Before Celtic went 3-2 ahead,
I felt the 5 more forward players in the team would take our penalties.

But then I couldn't believe we took off one of our certain penalty takers, if the worst case scenario happened, which off course it did.

It was constant drama but I always had a feeling Celtic would still make the Final.

Sometimes when your down like Aberdeen have been for a number of years, the luck isn't on your side.

And you get the luck when you've been on top for mega years and that's how it played out today.

Getting to the Final was the main thing but Celtic will need to improve, especially at game management.

20 Apr 2024 23:07:31
Well seen you don't go to Celtic 's matches, to describe as "what an exciting match" is fair comment from a neutral, fortunate not to be out on our ronson, the entire team were well off it and more than a couple not fit to wear a celtic jersey, hopefully recruitment improves vastly with Baby Lawell and his cronies gone and us season ticket holders and European packages etc get a decent return for our money.

21 Apr 2024 09:06:40
That’s a poor first post from yourself, somebody is upset.

I’ve been going to Celtic matches since 1980,
So I know a good and exciting match when I see one.

Yesterday Aberdeen deserved credit because it was their Cup Final after a poor season.

Aberdeen have showed recently they are hard to beat at Hampden.
Aberdeen lost a Semi Final after Extra Time last season and a Final 1-0 this season.

You should be happy Celtic have Qualified for another Final because that’s what Semi Finals are all about.

Or are you still RAGING 😂🍀.

20 Apr 2024 18:48:38
Going to have a bit of a rant so I apologise in advance.
Now although I think Hart has had a good season and saved us a few times, I would like to know when we are going to sign a Goalkeeper that commands his box.
Why can't we sign a keeper that will come out at corners or when teams are crossing into the box from freekicks, how many times have we lost goals from balls that a good keeper could have came out for? For so long we have signed big keepers who can't or won't come out and catch a cross ball
Also, why are players never booked for diving? every game we see players diving/ playacting when a player is hardly touched and they scream and roll about like they have a broken leg, only to then jump to there feet and sprint away if they get the freekick or if they didn't win the freekick and the opposition team are breaking. Why if a VAR check is done to see if a penalty is going to be given and the pictures show that the player clearly dived is no yellow card given
And since players don't seem to get booked for timewasting, I would also love to see Celtic deal out some of the oppositions own medicine, when we were winning the game with 5 mins to go, we should be timewasting as much as possible.
We lost a goal today when I think we only had a couple of minutes left and we tried to break but gave the ball away.
Finally I think the only way to stop the playacting/ timewasting is to bring in a rule that if a player goes down and the physio comes on then that player must then stay off the park for the same amount of time as it took for hin to get treatment (you could call it Recovery time)
I know some players are genually injured and need treatment but I think it would cut a lot of the cheating/ timewasting.
I can't remember who it was we were playing but it was a European game and I think we were getting beat by 1 goal, one of the the opposition players went down like he had been shot and 2 physio's came on and he was treated for about 5 mins, the physio's then had him by each arm and were basically carrying him to the sideline as it looked like he couldn't put his foot down, as soon as he got to the sideline he bent down, pulled the heal of his boot back on then waved to the ref and sprinted straight back on.
It's stuff like that that makes me hate watching football.

20 Apr 2024 18:37:50
Watched all 3 Aberdeen goals back, CCV to slow on the turn for number 1, Scales at fault for2 and 3 both time either misjudged the flight of the ball or in wrong position in all instances not good enough Time to waken up because play like that for the remaining games and the league is gone regardless how others play because we will lose all the games.

20 Apr 2024 22:55:37
Also noticed that Taylor was missing for both goals, he should have been tracking anyone behind scales.