The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[StGallsGAA]

Rodgers has taken control of the Scottish scene and it is hard to see Aberdeen or Rangers taking over from Celtic. The danger after the first leg was that Celtic would concede the early goal which unfortunately they did. The nature of the goal conceded knocked the confidence the team had after the Glasgow performance.
I dont think Rodgers is in the game for money. He wont be hunted by the top 5 Premiership teams until he proves himself at top European level with Celtic. He wont be attracted by offers from the likes of Southampton Leicester etc.
The Europa this year was an opportunity to raise the Celtic profile and attract players who could see the potential for further advances in the Europa League and Champions League as Sevilla has done.
Zenit have drawn RB Leipzig. A beatable side and then quarter final

You can't blame Rodgers for the keeper having a howler.
Gordon would have saved at least 2 of those goals. 

[illdecide]

I know sometimes we make silly statements with a rush of blood to the head but i have to say "I could have saved two of those goals and for sure the 2nd one" and that's not talking sh1te...Holy sweet f**k.

[charlieTully]

You would think it's a sacrilege to criticise BR. surely one of the main objectives in bringing him to the club was improvement in Europe. In 2 seasons we have conceded 42 goals in Europe.  Invincible my hole.

[T Fearon]

A bigger lead should have been secured in the first leg and the abject surrender last night was unbelievable.The manager must take responsibility.

[StGallsGAA]

You would think it's a sacrilege to criticise BR. surely one of the main objectives in bringing him to the club was improvement in Europe. In 2 seasons we have conceded 42 goals in Europe.  Invincible my hole.

His objective was getting to CL group stages, which he's achieved both seasons. Anything beyond that is a plus.  Last year they were drawn in a group with Barca and Man City. This year they finished 3rd in a group containing PSG and Bayern.  Despite the loss of Griffiths, Gordon , Hayes and Roberts they were unlucky not to be 2 or 3 to the good against Zenit heading to Russia.  Without those players it was always going to be an uphill struggle expect especially with Dembele and Sinclair in poor form. 

I dunno if your  hole is invincible and don't particularly want to find out but you are certainly talking thru it!

[charlieTully]

You would think it's a sacrilege to criticise BR. surely one of the main objectives in bringing him to the club was improvement in Europe. In 2 seasons we have conceded 42 goals in Europe.  Invincible my hole.

His objective was getting to CL group stages, which he's achieved both seasons. Anything beyond that is a plus.  Last year they were drawn in a group with Barca and Man City. This year they finished 3rd in a group containing PSG and Bayern.  Despite the loss of Griffiths, Gordon , Hayes and Roberts they were unlucky not to be 2 or 3 to the good against Zenit heading to Russia.  Without those players it was always going to be an uphill struggle expect especially with Dembele and Sinclair in poor form. 

I dunno if your  hole is invincible and don't particularly want to find out but you are certainly talking thru it!

excuses excuses excuses.

[thebar]

You would think it's a sacrilege to criticise BR. surely one of the main objectives in bringing him to the club was improvement in Europe. In 2 seasons we have conceded 42 goals in Europe.  Invincible my hole.

His objective was getting to CL group stages, which he's achieved both seasons. Anything beyond that is a plus.  Last year they were drawn in a group with Barca and Man City. This year they finished 3rd in a group containing PSG and Bayern.  Despite the loss of Griffiths, Gordon , Hayes and Roberts they were unlucky not to be 2 or 3 to the good against Zenit heading to Russia.  Without those players it was always going to be an uphill struggle expect especially with Dembele and Sinclair in poor form. 

I dunno if your  hole is invincible and don't particularly want to find out but you are certainly talking thru it!

excuses excuses excuses.

Be careful what you wish for.

[charlieTully]

You would think it's a sacrilege to criticise BR. surely one of the main objectives in bringing him to the club was improvement in Europe. In 2 seasons we have conceded 42 goals in Europe.  Invincible my hole.

His objective was getting to CL group stages, which he's achieved both seasons. Anything beyond that is a plus.  Last year they were drawn in a group with Barca and Man City. This year they finished 3rd in a group containing PSG and Bayern.  Despite the loss of Griffiths, Gordon , Hayes and Roberts they were unlucky not to be 2 or 3 to the good against Zenit heading to Russia.  Without those players it was always going to be an uphill struggle expect especially with Dembele and Sinclair in poor form. 

I dunno if your  hole is invincible and don't particularly want to find out but you are certainly talking thru it!

excuses excuses excuses.

Be careful what you wish for.

A bit of backbone and tactical nous away from home is what
I wish for. Too much to ask? 

[ned]

You would think it's a sacrilege to criticise BR. surely one of the main objectives in bringing him to the club was improvement in Europe. In 2 seasons we have conceded 42 goals in Europe.  Invincible my hole.

His objective was getting to CL group stages, which he's achieved both seasons. Anything beyond that is a plus.  Last year they were drawn in a group with Barca and Man City. This year they finished 3rd in a group containing PSG and Bayern.  Despite the loss of Griffiths, Gordon , Hayes and Roberts they were unlucky not to be 2 or 3 to the good against Zenit heading to Russia.  Without those players it was always going to be an uphill struggle expect especially with Dembele and Sinclair in poor form. 

I dunno if your  hole is invincible and don't particularly want to find out but you are certainly talking thru it!

excuses excuses excuses.

You don't do facts do you? How do you measure improvement in Europe? Not by goals conceded surely? That's a factor in how well Celtic will do but not the measure. BR got us to the group stages of the CL in his first season, an improvement from the previous two years. This year we qualified and secured European football into the New year. Those are the facts and that points towards improvement to me.
The injuries are a factor whether it suits your agenda or not. All year Celtic have been hampered by injurjes at crucial times.

[stew]

How the hell else would make the CL group stages 2 years in a row, go one better the following year and make the Europa cup stages in february, win a treble in the first year, have an eight point lead in the second year and all the while the League Cup is already won and the SFA Cup is still akive, all this and absolute morons are calling for the managers head, it defies all logic, 42 goals conceded against the best in the world with a hudredth of the budget, what they hell do you expect.

I agree they should have had more heart the other night, and pride in the jersey, that is not the managers fault, that is the players fault, they need to look at themselves individually and as a group and figure this shit out, Rodgers needs to learn that now and again you need to sit back, absorb pressure and hit the great teams on the break, damage limitation and there is the chance you might steal a game or two here and there.

[charlieTully]

You would think it's a sacrilege to criticise BR. surely one of the main objectives in bringing him to the club was improvement in Europe. In 2 seasons we have conceded 42 goals in Europe.  Invincible my hole.

His objective was getting to CL group stages, which he's achieved both seasons. Anything beyond that is a plus.  Last year they were drawn in a group with Barca and Man City. This year they finished 3rd in a group containing PSG a nd Bayern.  Despite the loss of Griffiths, Gordon , Hayes and Roberts they were unlucky not to be 2 or 3 to the good against Zenit heading to Russia.  Without those players it was always going to be an uphill struggle expect especially with Dembele and Sinclair in poor form. 

I dunno if your  hole is invincible and don't particularly want to find out but you are certainly talking thru it!

excuses excuses excuses.

You don't do facts do you? How do you measure improvement in Europe? Not by goals conceded surely? That's a factor in how well Celtic will do but not the measure. BR got us to the group stages of the CL in his first season, an improvement from the previous two years. This year we qualified and secured European football into the New year. Those are the facts and that points towards improvement to me.
The injuries are a factor whether it suits your agenda or not. All year Celtic have been hampered by injurjes at crucial times.

Typing this on a phone forgive typos. No one is calling for the managers head. Last season was an amazing success domestically and is unlikely to be seen again in our lifetime. In all competitions this season, few stumbles but that's to be expected . That does not absolve BR from criticism if it's justified. Perhaps you don't believe it is. Let's examine some facts from his European record.

FACT away defeat to a part time team from Gibraltar
FACT away defeat to hapoel
FACT 7 nil away to Barca
FACT gave away the lead 3 times at home to city
FACT home defeat to monchengladbach
FACT home defeat to Barca
FACT draw at home to Rosenberg
FACT away defeat to Astana
FACT beaten 5 nil at home by psg
FACT conceded 7 away from home for second time in 2 seasons
FACT home defeat to anderlect
FACT meekly limp out to zenit

[bannside]

No one will be more acutely aware of those stats than Rodgers himself. He will already be putting the feelers out with Spurs who have been chasing him for a long time. (Not many know but he had the Spurs job in the bag just one week before he chose Liverpool instead....kinda played one off against the other and all that.)

We are comfortably  ahead in Scotland but miles behind in Europe, and BR knows he can never beat last year's highs. He got a five year mega deal extension to his contract and that means if anyone wants him they need to pay very large compensation to Celtic. So if he does go it will still be a bumper payday for Celtic...who as we all know prefer a healthy end of year set of accounts to properly challenging for European glory.

Celtic may not be worldbeaters but as a PLC they are good at making money. Peter Lawells £1m bonus starting to look good again for another year if its not already in the bag long ago with Van Dykes move to Liverpool.

[ned]

You would think it's a sacrilege to criticise BR. surely one of the main objectives in bringing him to the club was improvement in Europe. In 2 seasons we have conceded 42 goals in Europe.  Invincible my hole.

His objective was getting to CL group stages, which he's achieved both seasons. Anything beyond that is a plus.  Last year they were drawn in a group with Barca and Man City. This year they finished 3rd in a group containing PSG a nd Bayern.  Despite the loss of Griffiths, Gordon , Hayes and Roberts they were unlucky not to be 2 or 3 to the good against Zenit heading to Russia.  Without those players it was always going to be an uphill struggle expect especially with Dembele and Sinclair in poor form. 

I dunno if your  hole is invincible and don't particularly want to find out but you are certainly talking thru it!

excuses excuses excuses.

You don't do facts do you? How do you measure improvement in Europe? Not by goals conceded surely? That's a factor in how well Celtic will do but not the measure. BR got us to the group stages of the CL in his first season, an improvement from the previous two years. This year we qualified and secured European football into the New year. Those are the facts and that points towards improvement to me.
The injuries are a factor whether it suits your agenda or not. All year Celtic have been hampered by injurjes at crucial times.

Typing this on a phone forgive typos. No one is calling for the managers head. Last season was an amazing success domestically and is unlikely to be seen again in our lifetime. In all competitions this season, few stumbles but that's to be expected . That does not absolve BR from criticism if it's justified. Perhaps you don't believe it is. Let's examine some facts from his European record.

FACT away defeat to a part time team from Gibraltar
FACT away defeat to hapoel
FACT 7 nil away to Barca
FACT gave away the lead 3 times at home to city
FACT home defeat to monchengladbach
FACT home defeat to Barca
FACT draw at home to Rosenberg
FACT away defeat to Astana
FACT beaten 5 nil at home by psg
FACT conceded 7 away from home for second time in 2 seasons
FACT home defeat to anderlect
FACT meekly limp out to zenit

I can't be bothered copying and pasting on my phone BUT off the top of my head;

Two very good draws with Man City
Excellent performances against Astana, Bayern and Zenit in Europe
Undefeated last year, record goals scored and points tally
Treble secured in first season
Treble still on this season
European football in the New Year
Players like Forrest, Armstrong, Griffiths improved under BR.

Yes, performances are below par this year and I was gutted with the result and performance on Thursday but what you are highlighting is individual instances of poor performances a lot of which weren't of consequence except Monchengladbach, Anderlecht and Zenit. We could have done better this year but I still see progress.

[under the bar]

You would think it's a sacrilege to criticise BR. surely one of the main objectives in bringing him to the club was improvement in Europe. In 2 seasons we have conceded 42 goals in Europe.  Invincible my hole.

His objective was getting to CL group stages, which he's achieved both seasons. Anything beyond that is a plus.  Last year they were drawn in a group with Barca and Man City. This year they finished 3rd in a group containing PSG a nd Bayern.  Despite the loss of Griffiths, Gordon , Hayes and Roberts they were unlucky not to be 2 or 3 to the good against Zenit heading to Russia.  Without those players it was always going to be an uphill struggle expect especially with Dembele and Sinclair in poor form. 

I dunno if your  hole is invincible and don't particularly want to find out but you are certainly talking thru it!

excuses excuses excuses.

You don't do facts do you? How do you measure improvement in Europe? Not by goals conceded surely? That's a factor in how well Celtic will do but not the measure. BR got us to the group stages of the CL in his first season, an improvement from the previous two years. This year we qualified and secured European football into the New year. Those are the facts and that points towards improvement to me.
The injuries are a factor whether it suits your agenda or not. All year Celtic have been hampered by injurjes at crucial times.

Typing this on a phone forgive typos. No one is calling for the managers head. Last season was an amazing success domestically and is unlikely to be seen again in our lifetime. In all competitions this season, few stumbles but that's to be expected . That does not absolve BR from criticism if it's justified. Perhaps you don't believe it is. Let's examine some facts from his European record.

FACT away defeat to a part time team from Gibraltar
FACT away defeat to hapoel
FACT 7 nil away to Barca
FACT gave away the lead 3 times at home to city
FACT home defeat to monchengladbach
FACT home defeat to Barca
FACT draw at home to Rosenberg
FACT away defeat to Astana
FACT beaten 5 nil at home by psg
FACT conceded 7 away from home for second time in 2 seasons
FACT home defeat to anderlect
FACT meekly limp out to zenit

"Home defeat to Barca" lol
Does your mum still make your lunch by any chance? 

[illdecide]

CELTIC MUST PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS

Leading 1-0 from the first leg at Parkhead, it took just seven minutes to shatter Celtic hopes of a famous European night. Having equalised, Zenit St Petersburg added two further goals to underline their superiority and end the Bhoys' European hopes for the season.

From the offset it was clear that Brendan Rodgers had got his starting XI wrong and that the squad's limitation were beginning to show. The Celtic manager opted for the tried and tested route of an identical 4-5-1-1 formation from the previous leg on the night.

But within a few minutes it became apparent that not only were the Scottish champions facing a different Zenit side, but individuals within their own team simply weren't up to the task of matching the performance they had put on back in Glasgow.

The most obvious example of this was Dorus de Vries. Tasked with keeping things composed at the back, the Dutch goalkeeper defined his momentary cover for injured first-choice Craig Gordon with a horrendous mistake in the 27th minute; Daler Kuzyaev's relatively straightforward shot down the middle of the Celtic goal somehow dumbfounding the back-up goalkeeper.

As the gifted goal – and it was entirely that – fizzled past De Vries, the jubilant celebrations from Zenit's home support was most likely met by colourful language from the travelling Celtic fans that had feared as much on their long trip to Russia. How the club had come to rely upon such an untested stopper despite the proneness to injury that had dogged Gordon's career is anyone's guess. But it certainly doesn't excuse some notable oversight on the club's behalf.

Another example of individuals struggling on the night came in the form of central midfielder Eboue Kouassi. Although the 20-year old thrived under pressure in the first leg, the Ivorian looked troubled and out of place in the St Petersburg Arena. After offering very little in terms of impetus going forward or being able to keep a hold of possession, the Celtic manager opted to swap him for Tom Rogic at half time.

However, the Australian international hadn't yet returned to full fitness after a long-term injury and alongside the continued absence of Stuart Armstrong there was a notable gulf in Celtic's central attacking intent.

Despite the best efforts of Rogic, Callum McGregor and Olivier Ntcham there was no doubt the Scottish champions missed their fair-haired No.10 and the back-up options simply weren't working. Yet Kouassi wasn't the only player to show up Celtic's lack of depth at this stage in the competition.

Although he may have stayed on the pitch for the duration of the game, Mikael Lustig spent much of Thursday night chasing shadows. Either from a makeshift central defensive position or his more routine right back role, the Swedish international looked slow, clumsy and out of his depth. And if any evidence was needed to showcase such a poor performance, we need only watch the tardy manner in which Lustig failed to mark Aleksandr Kokorin when he tapped home a cross from Branislav Ivanović in the 61st minute to all but confirm the tie was done and dusted.


Indeed, if any moment underlined Celtic's lack of pragmatic action in the previous transfer window, it was when the ageing, out-of-form full-back struggled allowed Zenit's top-class striker to leap on a goalscoring opportunity. Despite calls for such a player for the best part of 12 months, if the Scottish champions had ever needed a competent, senior central defender it was in that fleeting moment.

Paltry efforts to save Celtic's European campaign were on show in the manner in which Moussa Dembélé once again attempted to huff and puff across the pitch with little success over the course of the match. As Celtic fans had already seen in the first leg and on countless occasions in the Champions League this season, the once-heralded striker often looked more like a passenger in Rodgers' front line rather than the forward that had routinely turned games on their head last season.   

Where the Frenchman had once been the diamond in Celtic's crown, Dembélé now looked like a tired and worn-out embodiment of the club's attempts to flog their latest talent to the highest bidder. Rodgers may not be willing to admit it, but most fans would have perhaps rather seen the quicker, sharper Odsonne Edouard at some point in the night and would undoubtedly have preferred Leigh Griffiths leading the line from the first minute of the match had he not been injured.

Yet perhaps the most potent example of Celtic's struggling depth came in the form of Charly Musonda's introduction in the 71st minute. Although the Chelsea loanee had proved vital in creating the only goal of the first leg, asking the 21-year old to make up a two-goal advantage with around 20 minutes left to play not only showcased Rodgers' lack of options on the bench but some pretty abundant desperation.

For a club that regularly defines itself by its participation in European football and recently boasted of having bank reserves of just under £31 million, each and every one of these examples simply highlights a lack of action from Celtic's hierarchy and a reluctance to put the club's money where its mouth is. 

In the end, Celtic were well beaten by a club that had spent far in amassing their impressive side, yet it was a match that proved quite pivotal in underlining where the faults like in Rodgers' team.

The Scottish champions may go onto another domestic treble. Yet when the summer off season comes they'd do well to remember this night and take note. These shortcomings are the difference between stagnation and reaching the next level in European football and must be fixed if they intend to improve under Rodgers.