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

rockatansky

A great result, considering how bad the condition of the pitch was.

Aberdeen in the Semis, a tricky one. Would have preferred Hearts.

A huge game on Wednesday. If we come away with a victory the league should be done.

A Dub in Glasgo

Dogged result on a terrible pitch. On reflection, it looks like a Christie goal straight from the free kick

PauloMN

Winning games ugly is as important as winning games with flair. Great result and attitude. Pitch like something out of the 70s.

eire4

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Dogged result on a terrible pitch. On reflection, it looks like a Christie goal straight from the free kick

Yes Christie's goal Jullien confirmed he did not get a touch so number 19 for the season for Christie a very impressive tally. Missed some good chances in the second half to make that one long never wracking half but fully deserved the win. We have played some games recently in really bad conditions but the weather and the pitch yesterday were so bad that really opened up the chance for St Johnstone to beat us so credit the players for grinding out the win in such conditions. Not pretty to watch but massive result and the players showed real determination and character to dig out that win.

Gretas Gonna Get Ya!

Pogue eile wrote: »

Last night was very dissapointing and I must admit I didnt see it coming. Jozo was terrible, but their centre halfs were just as bad, worse even, and we werent clinical enough to take advantage of it.

As I said last night in a vacum was dissapointing but bigger picture it was a very good campaign and getting out of that group is most definitely progress, if we can wrap up the 10 in a row while making incremental progress in Europe then I'll take that and just suck up last night, I'm also sure that losing to a side like Copenhagen/Cluj will give Lenny plenty of ammunition when he goes looking for funds in the Summer, hopefully it doesn't fall on deaf ears.

I don't think we are making incremental progress in Europe tbh. We're the same unpredictable team we've pretty much always been in Europe.

If we had gone out of the CL qualifiers and this EL campaign, to clubs that were clearly stronger than us... then yes I might be inclined to agree with you. I'd take it on the chin and mark it down as valuable experience. But we got done in two knockout ties, against teams we should be good enough to beat...

This (along with our poor old firm displays) suggests something a bit more worrying is going on with this group of players. I don't like using the word, but we seem to be bottling it a bit in big pressure games!

That's what it looks like to me... But I hope I'm wrong, and perhaps they will prove me wrong when we go to Ibrox in a couple of weeks!

RoryMac

Gretas Gonna Get Ya! wrote: »

I don't think we are making incremental progress in Europe tbh. We're the same unpredictable team we've pretty much always been in Europe.

If we had gone out of the CL qualifiers and this EL campaign, to clubs that were clearly stronger than us... then yes I might be inclined to agree with you. I'd take it on the chin and mark it down as valuable experience. But we got done in two knockout ties, against teams we should be good enough to beat...

This (along with our poor old firm displays) suggests something a bit more worrying is going on with this group of players. I don't like using the word, but we seem to be bottling it a bit in big pressure games!

That's what it looks like to me... But I hope I'm wrong, and perhaps they will prove me wrong when we go to Ibrox in a couple of weeks!

I'd agree with a lot of that, we definitely got put out by teams we should be beating. I thought our performances in the EL were a good improvement over previous seasons but both the Cluj & Copenhagen games in the knockouts were very poor.

Harsh because of the excellent job he's done this season but I think a lot of the blame for both of those games falls to Lennon, against Cluj he made some poor decisions with McGregor at LB and Johnson LW. And against Copenhagen he should've stuck with 3 at the back and 2 up front like we had been playing in the weeks leading up to it. That said in both games our defending was shocking after getting into a decent position.

TheCitizen

On this date March 4th 1994, Fergus McCann said the following;

"It would've cost less, and left the previous owners with nothing, to go into liquidation. But it would also be humiliating for Celtic. So we paid all the bills. Celtic means the same to me as it does to other fans. I identify with the club and wish to be proud of it."

rockatansky

1-1 and Edouard has just hit the post.

PauloMN

Looks like the first dropped points of the year. Livi defending doggedly, so many players in the box every time Celtic attack.

PauloMN

2-2, Rogic. Couple of mins to win it...

A Dub in Glasgo

Well deserved equaliser from Rogic

henke

Decent point to pick up considering Rangers shocking home loss. Stevie G is going to be in some humour after this. Wouldn't be surprised to see him not there much longer.

Gretas Gonna Get Ya!

RoryMac wrote: »

I'd agree with a lot of that, we definitely got put out by teams we should be beating. I thought our performances in the EL were a good improvement over previous seasons but both the Cluj & Copenhagen games in the knockouts were very poor.

Harsh because of the excellent job he's done this season but I think a lot of the blame for both of those games falls to Lennon, against Cluj he made some poor decisions with McGregor at LB and Johnson LW. And against Copenhagen he should've stuck with 3 at the back and 2 up front like we had been playing in the weeks leading up to it. That said in both games our defending was shocking after getting into a decent position.

For me, both those knockout games but a real damper on my assessment of us in europe this season. I was prepared to forget the Cluj disaster, if we did well in the Europa... but that Copenhagen performance was every bit as shambolic as the Cluj game!

There is a difference between knockout football and league format... and I do think it's a mental thing with regards to the pressure of knockout ties. We seem to have handled the group stages well mentally, but there is a huge question mark over our approach to knockout ties. You can talk about individual errors from Lenny or the players, but I think this would be slightly ignoring the bigger picture. Pressure can cause people to make bad decisions and poor mistakes... for me that's what it looks like. I wouldn't single out Lenny or the players individually - I think it's a collective issue. We need a better mental approach to these big games - the Old Firm games too.

Gretas Gonna Get Ya!

Is it too soon to get the beach balls out for the trip to castle greyskull next week?

Probably a bit too soon! :pac:

Slippy looks ready to throw in the towel, and I think some of his players already have! :P

SomethingElse

henke wrote: »

Decent point to pick up considering Rangers shocking home loss. Stevie G is going to be in some humour after this. Wouldn't be surprised to see him not there much longer.

11 points taken from the last 24 would suggest he's not up to the task, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a parting of ways sooner rather than later.

eire4

SomethingElse wrote: »

11 points taken from the last 24 would suggest he's not up to the task, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a parting of ways sooner rather than later.

Doubt they can afford to fire him so he would have to want to go himself and resign.

SomethingElse

eire4 wrote: »

Doubt they can afford to fire him so he would have to want to go himself and resign.

I'd say the only thing keeping him there is the Europa League, once they take a hiding in that he's gone.

Dempsey

Gerrard is doing a great job, leave him be! :pac:

eire4

SomethingElse wrote: »

I'd say the only thing keeping him there is the Europa League, once they take a hiding in that he's gone.

That is if they can afford to pay him off which I doubt they can.

rockatansky

Last game before we head into well earned 8 days of recovery therefore hopefully Lennon goes all out for this one.

Other than the Europa league exit, which I'm over at this stage, we can't really have much complaints. Hopefully this time tomorrow night we'll be 16 points clear at the top.

Would love to see Edouard get 2 or 3, he seems to be going through a bumpy patch at the minute, his head looks a bit down at times. Hopefully Griff starts and normal service can resume.

Dempsey

Lennon is walking on water tbh

Goes out of europe, still cranks up the pressure!

Eddy on a new contract while he's bossing it would be nice

eire4

rockatansky wrote: »

Last game before we head into well earned 8 days of recovery therefore hopefully Lennon goes all out for this one.

Other than the Europa league exit, which I'm over at this stage, we can't really have much complaints. Hopefully this time tomorrow night we'll be 16 points clear at the top.

Would love to see Edouard get 2 or 3, he seems to be going through a bumpy patch at the minute, his head looks a bit down at times. Hopefully Griff starts and normal service can resume.

It is a big opportunity tomorrow no question about it to crank up the pressure or at the very least get ourselves one game closer to closing out the league.

rockatansky

Rogic in for Christie.

RoryMac

F**k Leigh Griffiths he won't be playing football any more!!

A Dub in Glasgo

5-0 today with a hat-trick for Griffiths

1-0 Griffiths
https://streamable.com/ah23s

2-0 Griffiths
https://streamable.com/9f4hz

3-0 Edouard
https://streamable.com/bfkgx

4-0 Griffiths
https://streamable.com/buh88

5-0 McGregor
https://streamable.com/lej2k

eire4

Real statement from Celtic today totally dominant. I was especially happy to see Griffiths get his hat trick in the second half that really has to set his confidence levels flying now for the run in. Nice cameo from El Hemed as well towards the end great to see him back for the run in as well.

RoryMac

So what's gonna happen if the league is cancelled at this stage? Not sure of any precedent for this before.

Ragnar Lothbrok

RoryMac wrote: »

So what's gonna happen if the league is cancelled at this stage? Not sure of any precedent for this before.

Weren't leagues cancelled at the start of World War II? As far as I know, the season was just written off, and a new season started after the end of the war.

Not quite the same situation, but similar depending on how long the virus hangs around.

eire4

RoryMac wrote: »

So what's gonna happen if the league is cancelled at this stage? Not sure of any precedent for this before.

I would say what is more likely is we will see games being played behind closed doors maybe even by this Sunday. In reality it should be happened starting with this weekends games.

RoryMac

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

Weren't leagues cancelled at the start of World War II? As far as I know, the season was just written off, and a new season started after the end of the war.

Not quite the same situation, but similar depending on how long the virus hangs around.

Don't know mate, I wasn't around then!

I read on Twitter that the league was cancelled at the start of WW1 with Hearts losing out on a title because of it but not sure on the details.

I wonder will the decision be made by the SFA or do FIFA/UEFA have a say

RoryMac

eire4 wrote: »

I would say what is more likely is we will see games being played behind closed doors maybe even by this Sunday. In reality it should be happened starting with this weekends games.

That should be the case immediately but even in that case and then a player at any club tests positive and players need to be isolated that will throw everything back up in the air. The UK seem to be a little behind the rest of Europe in taking action and that could seriously backfire

eire4

RoryMac wrote: »

That should be the case immediately but even in that case and then a player at any club tests positive and players need to be isolated that will throw everything back up in the air. The UK seem to be a little behind the rest of Europe in taking action and that could seriously backfire

Totally agree it should be the case that all games are played behind closed doors immediately. The fact that has not happened already really is shockingly bad judgement IMHO.

TheCitizen

eire4 wrote: »

Totally agree it should be the case that all games are played behind closed doors immediately. The fact that has not happened already really is shockingly bad judgement IMHO.

Poor judgement seems par for the course with the UK lately

CrabRevolution

RoryMac wrote: »

Don't know mate, I wasn't around then!

I read on Twitter that the league was cancelled at the start of WW1 with Hearts losing out on a title because of it but not sure on the details.

I wonder will the decision be made by the SFA or do FIFA/UEFA have a say

Are you sure it wasn't WW2? The league continued in Scotland during WW1.

Even then, WW2 started in September so I don't think anyone can have been very far ahead of the rest by that stage.

rockatansky

And it's done.

Can't really argue with the decision. Was surprised Rangers game went ahead yesterday.

Even behind closed doors doesn't stop fans turning up outside the stadiums.

On a positive note, 5 year deal signed with Adidas as kit manufacturer. That's a big boost for us. Looking forward to seeing the stripes on the hoops!

PauloMN

rockatansky wrote: »

And it's done.

Can't really argue with the decision. Was surprised Rangers game went ahead yesterday.

Even behind closed doors doesn't stop fans turning up outside the stadiums.

On a positive note, 5 year deal signed with Adidas as kit manufacturer. That's a big boost for us. Looking forward to seeing the stripes on the hoops!

Gutted, but agree 100% with the decision. Games going ahead the past couple of days was nuts.

eire4

Anybody hear how much the Adidas deal is worth. All I saw was it was a new record and I think the New Balance one 6m per year over the 5 year year deal.

DavidLyons_

Hearts players and staff asked to take a 50% pay cut or will be offered contract termination. Celtic are probably the only club in Scotland with the adequate cash reserves to ride this out.

Tick tock.

RoryMac

DavidLyons_ wrote: »

Hearts players and staff asked to take a 50% pay cut or will be offered contract termination. Celtic are probably the only club in Scotland with the adequate cash reserves to ride this out.

Tick tock.

Not really something to get excited about, Scottish football could well be decimated if this continues for months

DavidLyons_

RoryMac wrote: »

Not really something to get excited about, Scottish football could well be decimated if this continues for months

Oh I agree with that. Wouldn’t even want to see Hearts go under.

From what I can gather Hamilton and one other notoriously badly run club are hanging on by their fingertips.

Hopefully most of the clubs can come out the other side...... with one exception.

rockatansky

DavidLyons_ wrote: »

Oh I agree with that. Wouldn’t even want to see Hearts go under.

From what I can gather Hamilton and one other notoriously badly run club are hanging on by their fingertips.

Hopefully most of the clubs can come out the other side...... with one exception.

Won't somebody please think of the face painters.

US2

Haven't renewed my season tick in 5 years, just wondering anyone with one, what the story? Any word from the club? I'm in line for one an
20/21 on sale the last few weeks I imagine they are struggling.

The_Fitz

Eddy linked with Newcastle in the rags today.

Some step up that would be

eire4

This would be the same Newcastle that had to furlough employees, not seeing it IMHO. Personally this whole crisis is going to mean very little movement of players for big fees I think in the short term at least so I would say that one silver lining for us is that I think Edouard is more likely to sign a contract extension and stay at least through the summer of 2021.

Irishmale0399

The_Fitz wrote: »

Eddy linked with Newcastle in the rags today.

Some step up that would be

Arab money incoming.....takeover rumours coming out again.

US2

Henriks final game at paradise is being shown in full on BBC Scotland friday night at 7pm.

RoryMac

US2 wrote: »

Henriks final game at paradise is being shown in full on BBC Scotland friday night at 7pm.

I better stock up on the tissues, i think i'll have something in my eye watching that again

rockatansky

Great to see the Corona Virus hasn't impacted the absolute sh*t show that is off the field Scottish Football.

All out Statement Conflit has broken out between SPFL and our friendly city neighbours.

RoryMac

I honestly haven't a clue about what's going on with this, between the SPFL being run in the background by Celtic and claims that Rangers are desperate for the prize money to be paid out it's hard to know the true story behind this.

Dempsey

Id believe any story where Rangers are looking for payments and their schedules because their next stop is back to division 3, do not pass go. Slippy G finishes at another club in spectacular style :pac: