Messages

I'm a bit split on things...I want Celtic to win in Europe and compete with the best but don't want Celtic to become a commercialism hobby for some rich Arab to invest heavily, the risk is someday they'll get bored and walk away and it takes away the ethos of why Celtic were formed in the first place but it does hurt like hell watching your great team getting humped 7-1. The rich getting richer is the case and UEFA could certainly take a leaf out of the NFL's book on how they ensure the big teams success in the NFL are reduced capping their spending and buying allowing the the teams finishing lower in the leagues to spend more and have their pick of the top players.

Of course you can say this should be the case domestically too but when i think back of the baron years watching the dead club winning all around them and Celtic sometimes not even finishing 2nd and going near a decade without a trophy it's certainly pay back time and i'm loving the success we're having in Scotland. I believe BR is the man to lead us but the only thing i'm not sure on is his approach when playing the big guns, I know he said last week that people don't know anything about football when criticizing his tactics but surely you have to adopt different tactics for different teams...Look don't like saying much about BR as he's doing a great job, it's just in Europe where i think we need a slightly different approach but at least you'll always get action when Celtic are involved...HH

We definitely set up slightly differently against PSG. More like a 5-4-1 or 3-6-1 if you like. Otherwise we are 3-4-3 or 4-3-3. We adapted albeit not drastically but BR mentioned he would rather have Wednesday and what happened than an ultra defensive system and still be well beaten. PSG scored 7 from 11 shots on target. Last night against Monaco they were very wasteful but could have scored 7. Wednesday was a combination of them being clinical and us being defensively poor.
Hope you enjoyed the trip otherwise. The support sounded in good spirits.

[You are either a natural or your not.]

I know people with brutal hand to eye coordination and poor at sports, and seen people capable of taking to any sport right away. Can hand to eye coordination be taught or just instinctive?

You are either a natural or your not. However, beyond that, practice and hard work are needed no matter your skill levels. You can learn to kick with your weaker foot, you can train to be able to jump higher, you can learn how to deal better with situations with experience. So I guess better hand to eye coordination can be learned. Take one good and one average sportsman, with the less skillful one putting in the hours of practice, I reckon the average player will have more success. I'm sure most of us know players within our clubs who had all the talent but did not progress as they were lazy, not dedicated or whatever. Very few make it to the top without hard graft.

i dont believe that for a minute

?
Do you believe everyone is born with the same ability?

You need the money to compete with the bigger teams, its not a fair playing field and thats just that, getting to the knockout stages is getting harder and harder every year for the likes of Celtic, the gulf between the bigger teams is widening. One off wins against a big team needs to backed up with winning the other games or drawing a few with the odd win..

PSG would not have been an issue 10 years ago, you'd have backed Celtic to beat them, not now or ever if things continue to grow at that club

This is what BR is trying to achieve. No point abandoning your philosophy to get the odd big win.

I know people with brutal hand to eye coordination and poor at sports, and seen people capable of taking to any sport right away. Can hand to eye coordination be taught or just instinctive?

You are either a natural or your not. However, beyond that, practice and hard work are needed no matter your skill levels. You can learn to kick with your weaker foot, you can train to be able to jump higher, you can learn how to deal better with situations with experience. So I guess better hand to eye coordination can be learned. Take one good and one average sportsman, with the less skillful one putting in the hours of practice, I reckon the average player will have more success. I'm sure most of us know players within our clubs who had all the talent but did not progress as they were lazy, not dedicated or whatever. Very few make it to the top without hard graft.

[but we will get there.]

Rodgers has the easiest job in football. Money for old rope. Cork City would beat the other teams in that league...

Yes and No! It is expected now for them to win everything domestically. The unbeaten run has probably added extra pressure of keeping it going. The Champions league is all about coming 3rd and maybe getting through a round or two in the Europa League depending on the luck of the draw. Scotland with a population of 5 Million of which a half a million live in Edinburgh and 1.2 Million live in Glasgow. There's just not the population for to support other Clubs outside these two cities.

Pep Guardiola or Unai Emery have much easier jobs. "Here boss, we could do with a new striker." "Will £200m be enough? ".
BR's time at Celtic will be judged on progression, of style, of players, in Europe and at home. Europe is the only question mark but we will get there.

Get where? Knockout stages?

Eventually, that is expected. At the moment I would hope for a run in the Europa League. Next year CL knockout stages would be great. That will depend on the group. If it's like the past 2 years, then EL is okay with me. If we get an easier group,  like say Liverpool or Man Utd have had this year, then CL knockout stages is the hope. If we are repeating the same performances and scorelines in the next 2 or 3 years then that would count as stagnation and no amount of success domestically will suffice.

Rodgers has the easiest job in football. Money for old rope. Cork City would beat the other teams in that league...

Yes and No! It is expected now for them to win everything domestically. The unbeaten run has probably added extra pressure of keeping it going. The Champions league is all about coming 3rd and maybe getting through a round or two in the Europa League depending on the luck of the draw. Scotland with a population of 5 Million of which a half a million live in Edinburgh and 1.2 Million live in Glasgow. There's just not the population for to support other Clubs outside these two cities.

Pep Guardiola or Unai Emery have much easier jobs. "Here boss, we could do with a new striker." "Will £200m be enough? ".
BR's time at Celtic will be judged on progression, of style, of players, in Europe and at home. Europe is the only question mark but we will get there.

Disgusting dive and red card it has to be said!!

Not a blatant penalty. The Motherwell defender still impeded Sinclair who was in control. If he hadn't tugged at him Sinclair would have gone straight through. Red was harsh but I think that is the law. Justice for his horrible tackle in first few minutes on Dembele.
First Celtic manager to win his first four competitions. BR reigns.

That game just emphasises the gap in class between an elite team and a 4th seeded team. The most important result of the night was Bayern beating Anderlecht when they had nothing but pride to play for, there was a brief moment of anxiety when Anderlecht drew level late on but was deemed to be an offside goal.

True if you go for to toe but shouldn't Celtic recognise their players are not at the level to go for to toe with psg, play defensively and counter attack?

We've played defensively before and lost heavily. Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. Our midfield and sloppy passing was the source of at least three goals. After that, clinical finishing did us.
BR has a style of play which he will only vary slightly. This got us a 5-0 at home against Astana, 3-0 away against Anderlecht and very close to a result against Bayern. We need to keep the faith. The Europa League is our benchmark at the moment. However, if this time next year we haven't shown progression and are still shipping goals as easily against better opposition, a rethink is required. That said, Neymar and Cavani will help dish out beatings to better teams this year.

Few potentially interesting ties - Saudi Arabia v Iran & the old Favourite Croatia v Serbia. The Spirit of Vukovar SC.

Saudi Arabia And Iran can only meet if they qualify for knockout stages.

Why's that?

Edit - Scrub that, presumably in same qualifying group.

It's in the original post. Teams from same confederation cant be in same group, except uefa.

Few potentially interesting ties - Saudi Arabia v Iran & the old Favourite Croatia v Serbia. The Spirit of Vukovar SC.

Saudi Arabia And Iran can only meet if they qualify for knockout stages.

Just you. We decided you weren't using it properly so have withdrawn this facility. 

I wasn't aware of the head to head rule, assumed it was straight forward goal difference. As for the goal difference miscalculation, the less saidr about that the better!

It's a stupid rule. Unlike every other  league you can be beaten already going into the last game.   Surely having something to play for even by overcoming a big GD margin id better for supporters and neutrals alike?

Maybe in a longer league set up. In a short format group stage as in CL, head to head is fairer all round. Anyway what you are saying does not hold either way. In fact, goal difference would leave them less chance. Anderlecht aren't hamstrung by being beaten by loads of goals by PSG but through us beating them 3-0 at their home. If that had been 1-0, that last game would have a lot more jeopardy.

Kane is very good no doubt but i don't think he is mobile enough to be among the real top guys at clubs of that stature.

Be interesting to see what he does at world cup.

For some one who isn't mobile he appears to have a great knack of getting to the ball before the defender or creating space when you dont think he should.

Have now run out of superlatives for Harry.Could be on the way to being the best player in the World,seriously.

He is getting there alright, great commitment off te ball and on, he is absolutely flying and seems a likeable sort.

I think TF is using a touch of hyperbole. However, he is a brilliant player. The way he seems to create space, shield the ball and beat an opponent to the ball is almost magical. His greatest asset is his accuracy. Rarely misses the target. Alli got all the plaudits but Kane is another level above.

Good performance. Just lack a wee bit in experience. They fairly closed it down in the last ten. Draw would have been fair, that said we were crap defensively for both goals and our goal was sublime.