Thankfully, Celtic are back in action today , with a visit to Edinburgh to face Hearts in the Scottish cup fourth round. Which should please those of us who enjoy the atmosphere at Tynecastle.
More importantly, it’ll give Ronny Deila something else to talk about.
He’s been going on a bit about life at Celtic, and how it differs from his time in Norway. Which appears to have surprised him a little.
“In Norway we have 35 games. Here we have 60. So it’s quite different and you have to prepare very well for the short term for the next game but also think in the long perspective, but it’s about taking smaller steps.”
That surely couldn’t have been that much of a surprise ? Though , to be fair, he did do his best to cut down on that total with his early European selections and tactics.
“I think I’ve adapted quite well. It was tough in the beginning but as I said in my first press conference I’m a quick learner and I stand by my words. I’ve learned a lot and there’s more to come.
“I’ve talked about being a top athlete but you need to have that as a coach as well. You need to prepare and be aware of your energy and use it at the right moments.
“You always have to be focused and be ahead. There are hundreds of things you can do but you have to find the thing to improve the team for the next game.
Alarmingly,its becoming obvious he wasn’t ready for the step up, which he’s now realised. Thats not a bad thing, because maybe now he has realised that the expectation levels are a wee bit higher in Glasgow than he’s used to. At Stromgodset he was given time, and took quite a while to get results. He could still deliver a very successful season, as he does seem to carry a lot of luck which has covered any initial doubts.
Four trophies are still in his sights and one of them begins today.
Hearts, by their own standards, are having a great season. Robbie Neilsen has got them playing for each other in a way that as yet is beyond Celtic. It won’t be easy today, and Celtic are still missing influential players such as Mikael Lustig , one of only a few who make a significant difference to the side when they are playing.
Deila paid his usual, non committal respect to the opposition;
“Going to Tynecastle will be as tough as going to any Premiership ground.
“They had a good match here in the League Cup and we know the atmosphere will be exciting and we’re looking forward to it.”
With Kris commons and James Forrest offering options up front, as well as a resurgent Leigh Griffiths there should be a rollover for any CSCs again who do the” put a pound in and name the team ” to pass the time on the bus.
Craig Gordon didn’t have his best game since signing in the summer against Salzburg, but thats simply because he’s set such high standards . will he be rested, giving Lukasz Zaluska a start ? Actually, to see the Pole line up would give us all a start, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he rested Gordon.
Adam Matthews hasn’t been at his best either, suffering perhaps in the knowledge that he isn’t first choice, and with his pal Ledley already away, and Kris commons likely to follow, the Welshman could just be marking time until January.
Darnell Fisher has yet to feature under the new regime, so Matthews is a cert to start, and we need a big game from him.
Emilio Izaguerre has no competition for his shirt, and he is a candidate for player of the season at this stage, even adding goalscoring to his game recently. He’ll play, as will Virgil van dijk and if fit Jason Denaayer. Efe Ambrose will fill in for Denaayer if he doesn;t make it, and van Dijk if he hasn’t come out of the trance he’s been in this term,.
Scott Brown and Stefan Johansen could have any three of about half a dozen in front of them, with Charlie Mulgrew a doubt, maybe Beram Kayal can put himself in the shop window, or even Nir Biton, the other Israeli who has contributed little since Deila took over.
More likely we’ll see Calum McGregor, because we always do, Kris Commons , because Ronny says he likes him, and probably the hard working Anthony Stokes, with James Forrest likely to be on the bench, as his commendable and careful return to full fitness is continued. Which is a bit of a kick in the teeth for Leigh Griffiths, who hates Hearts and deserves a run out after his efforts in midweek.
John Guidetti will be back, and from stories going round you’d think he’d already signed up for good with the hoops. Not quite. He’s still considering other options. Personally, I hope Southampton go into liquidation or they sack Ronald Koeman before the window opens, because thats the only other option he’s chewing over.
So, that gives us Zaluska, Matthews, Izaguerre, van Dijk, Denaayer, Brown , Johansen, Commons, McGregor, Stokes Guidetti
Expect a high scoring game, maybe 3-2 or 4-3 to Celtic. Whatever, it will be a little more exciting than most games, hopefully for the right reasons, and delivering the right result.
We asked a coule of players if they were worried about facing the first division leaders ;
Elsewhere, manager Ronny Deila has vowed to fight for aleksandr Tonev when his appeal against the wingers seven match ban, handed out by the SFA when they decided he might well have called Shay Logan of Aberdeen names.
“Balance of Probability” was the term given by the powers that be to describe how they arrived at their decision.meaning he probably said it so he must be guilty.
Could we get togther a case that says the SFA are a corrupt and self serving entity who are not working for the good of the game in Scotland ?
On the balance of probability, I think the hearing will only last about twenty minutes.
Comedian John Bishop has decided to quit the social media site Twitter for a while, after he posted a picture of himself pretending to take a press conference at Celtic Park and predictably received a number of replies which seemed to eminate from supporters of a now defunct Glasgow club which cast doubt on his parentage and a number of other things. I’m not reprinting the here, but suffice to say they weren’t very nice. Bishop is a friendly and likeable enough guy, who is enjoying his new found fame and wealth, and has the look of someone who expects for it to disappear as quickly as it came. Good luck to him.
Oh, and he has never stolen anyones jokes when he was drinking in the Red Admiral in Runcorn many years ago.
On a Tuesday i think it was. Or it would have been if he had. But he didn’t.
You know that feeling you get when you’ve made an arse of something, and hope no-ones noticed ?
Or perhaps a foul or obnoxious emission has entered the atmosphere from one of the orifices in your body ?
He does. And there are probably going to be a few more emissions today, when the under pressure funster takes his unique style of football into the Scottish cup as well. Second Rangers, who are not having the best of times at the moment, host Kilmarnock today, and with another shortfall in the accounts he’ll be hoping for a big crowd.
About 120,000 should do it.
The BBC coverd Dundees win over Aberdeen yesterday, but a crisis was averted when Sky Sports stepped in to show the Ibrox clash, and before the 9pm watershed as well.
Defeat for McCoist will push him closer to the end of his management career, which would be a shame, as he seems to have mastered the art of standing with his arms folded, leaving only tactics, man management , scouting, purchasing players and dealing with the media for him to cover.
Hers hoping Kilmarnock do the business. I really don’t want to play them twice in one season. I would like the Scottish League Cup game to stand as a one off clash between the two clubs before they hurtle off into oblivion in the customary way that teams playing out of ibrox tend to do.
Dundee Supporters Association chairman Kenny Ross has a gripe. Actually , he’s got quite a few of them. And they seem reasonable enough, as well.
“I have been inundated by emails and phone calls from DSA secretaries telling me about a disappointing experience last weekend and I am going to ask Celtic to comment,”
“Why were Dundee FC only given 300 unrestricted view seats when there were 20,000 empty seats at the game.
“Could the Dundee support not have been accommodated in an area with an unrestricted view? They could have easily sat behind the goal just along from where they were housed or in the section in the top tier where the flags were.
“Why is the large screen TV that used to be attached to the huge view restricting pillar in the away end been removed when there are still screens on which the match can clearly be seen in the home ends? In some seats almost half the pitch cannot be seen and the large TV screen that used to be attached to the pillar used to help a bit.
“Why were some Dundee fans sold unrestricted view seats for an extra £3 only to find when they turned up that stewards told fans to sit where they want.
“Why did one of my members arrive at his seat only to find there wasn’t actually one there. How can Celtic sell a seat for a space where the seat is no longer there?”
Thankfully, he never tried the food.
He’s sending his complaints into the SPFL.
In fact, theres a number of complaints starting to surface about the treatment of supporters-home and away -at Celtic. Reports of stewards not doing their jobs. One diary reply, from regular reader Una highlighted an incident against Salzburg;
Just back home from salzburg game, i am seriously considering not returning because of a couple of drunken morons who i was sitting beside during the first hal,f who on my return to my seat after going out to get a coffee had took both mine and my partners seats when asked to move over so we could sit back down they ignored us and wouldn’t move just to clarify, i was sitting in the lower north stand T6-T13 Janfield Street West, Area 143 Row B Seat 9, so thugs if your reading this you would need to wise up and maybe find a bar to watch the match.
Idiots like that are always around, but thats why we have stewards. I’ve been in T^ a couple of times myself this season-by the half way line and come to think of it, the stewards seem to congregate in the passageways.
Now Unas case may be isolated, it may not be the norm, but once is too often, and there should be someone there to sort it out for her.
Finally, theres evidence that Craig Whyte just might have had an agenda after all, on the balance of probabilities that is…
Poor Craig, who desrves a song or a cheer today, was dismayed to be brought back to Scotland, having spent so much on a disguise;
Radges? We don’ need no steenkin’ radges!
Ralph
That was like a diary of old. You must be seeing something that cheers you. Maybe it’s your Deila intake having positive effects. Don’t give up. I think there are a few more surprises in there before the season ends. By the way, your player summation was spot on but guessing what the line-up will be is like looking for a performer on X factor – is that still the one?
Looking forward to the Craig bhoy’s defence. Still, he is in a better place than Tonev.
Off to offer up some prayers for this afternoon. I find I can rely on them more than the team 🙂
H H
Stewards? Saw a fist fight not long ago between two Tims at Celtic Park. One lights up a fag, the man in the seat next to him calmly objects. The smoker goes radge, punches the objector in the face then the objector’s drunken mate steps between them, taking punches from both. A friend of mine goes down for “help” and the stewards break off their own extended love-in but only look up nervously. One finally waddled up but did nothing. Didn’t want to know. It was sorted by fellow Tims but with the smoker still going mental. The “stewards” were just too feart (were they NO voters?) to do anything at all, even fetch the polis. Anyroad. No quite Paradise. I trust 99.9% of my fellow Celtic supporters but there’s a few nutters amongst us. We pay our scarce money to watch the bhoys. We are not paid to police or steward the crowd.
By the way, why am I so nervous about today, playing a team from the lower divisions?
Could it be that you are one of those accused on here the other day of being too ready to hark back to cup defeats at the hand of the likes of St. Mirren, Killie and Morton?
Izzy POTY!!! I nearly spat oot on ma Jelly and Ice Cream, guys a liability at times ie when we play anyone that have actual effective wingers.
Still, it’s all about opinions as RD would no doubt say. On that subject anyone else wish he would knock back an occasional interview ? he’s never done saying no much but taking a page to do it. like flooring yir motor when its out of gear. Brevity RD Brevity
Ronny should shake them up,”with a little less conversation…and a bit more action” (see what I did their ?)
Can somebody at the club tell Ronny to stop running away at the mouth.Dreaming of Trebles,and probably a white Christmas
too ! Don’t give the laptop loyal ammunition.Also Tonev,I have sympathy,send him back to Villa,let them do his fighting for him,we don’t need this.
Ralph,” hard working Stokes ” He is meant to be a striker,who
has reinvented himself(by Deila)as a left-winger,like Sammy was.
5 goals is a poor return.6 at this point last year.It wasn’t until Griffiths came in January,and they played as a partnership,that the goals then flowed,and he ended up with 20.
Griffiths should start with Guidetti.Close them down high up the park,and they will make mistakes.3-0 if the ‘Thumb’ starts.However,he won’t,so 2-1 to the Hoops.
Craigy Craigy Whyte,na,na,na,na……….
Fed up watching our players run themselves* ragged every game chasing the ball, diving in… how many times do you see our players with the outstretched leg as the ball is 1-2’d around them leaving them way out of position, causing a breach in the line and leaving us mis-shaped and giving acres of space to the opposition? The amount of times we see our defenders outnumbered or man for man? That’s just a sample – there are so many fundamental tactical and strategic things totally lacking and these things don’t operate in isolation but affect other parts of our game. In fact, most success in our play (what there has been) that i see has come down to individual decisions by players (throwing themselves in front of the ball, deciding to overlap or cut inside, whether to cross or pass, whatever, ability of our keeper to pull off top notch saves, etc) rather than how the team is set up or what tactics we employ.
There are players in this team who are good enough and are proven quality, but a real team is always greater than it’s 11 (plus squad) individual parts – that only really comes from effective coaching and management which i’m sorry, it’s as clear as day that’s just not present right now.
Sorry if this appears harsh, it’s the way i (and several others, not just Celtic people) see it. I want what’s best for us and this management team is not it. Not even their fault, the root of the problem is the strategy of ‘our’ board but doesn’t mean we should have to suffer these ‘likeable’ guys who are just not up to the job.
After that utter pish on Thu to come out and say we can get to final? Bizzarro. Remember how drawing at home with Hamilton was ‘progress’? What he says and what is being served is so vastly different it’s almost a different sport! And please don’t point at the odd game or part of a game (e.g Salzberg could have went up a gear, don’t kid yourself) as evidence of progress or Ronny’s ‘ability’ – they have been the exception rather than the rule, that’s now a fact. If it was another team we’d be saying ‘fluke’. We’re not going in the right direction. I’d love us to be but we’re not. Any team is capable of scoring against us, we’re easy to attack and about as easy to defend against. No-one fears us, no-one. That’s not where any Celtic side should be, and there is no sign – none – that this will change.
*When i say themselves, they have clearly been instructed / coached in this way. said before, i’m starting to think the bigger problem is not that the players are NOT following Deila’s instructions, methods, tactics, etc… but that they ARE!
Hail hail, pull out a result bhoys, a good performance too would be nice.
Watched craig whyte leaving court the other day with all of the shouting and swearing then noticed it was all journalists and camera men I didn’t see many hun fans around, surley it was not the media that were so upset with him?
It’s a good thing that Celtic is a club for all. Judging by the replies on here, we have all sorts of idiots following us .
Do you wish to qualify your statement,or, do you just like the sound of your own voice?
Idiots aside, let’s try some cliches about today’s game:
Funny old game
A game of two halves
There’s only one Willie Colum
How can we pass so badly, squander so many chances yet win 4-0 to a team that hasn’t lost at home all year?
Remember how that now defunct team (1872-2012)used to get nothing but home draws against nothing but minnows whilst we played
Hearts, Aberdeen, Dundee United, etc away.
I wonder if the same thing works for that new club Sevco? Tomorrow will tell. No Fenian conspiracies when they draw for the Cup.
Today was still a good day at the office and some of the bhoys today made up in passion what they lacked in ball skills. I’m still a fan of Griffiths and think he should partner Guidetti in “two up front” ffs!
Devoy,
Collum is no friend of Celtic’s.Yes,never a penalty,but Commons
‘goal’ ?You tell me.
Playing against 10 men,should have been easier,than we made
it.Big Virgil should have had a hat-trick.So,get it right up you,Scott McDermott,the Zombie who writes for the Sunday
Mail,with his attempts today,on a character assasination of big Virgil.Oh,how the laptop loyal are hurting,trying to make controversy,out of a NON-STORY !!
Great touch from Ronny,taking the team to the fans,to show their appreciation,at the end.
Thought we looked a better team with big Biton in midfield and Mulgrew not in the side, for me Mulgrew should be cover for centre half or left back as he is never a midfielder, to slow poor first touch. Would still like to see 2 strikers when we’re playing domestic football. How many times do we see crosses into the box and not a Celtic player in sight, maybe I’m just old school.
Totally agree on all points!
What is that wee prick McCann all about ?Trying to get Guidetti
done for diving.No penalty.No contact.No claim by Guidetti.
Played it over and over again.His left foot digs up a divet,which unbalances him,and he subsequently slips.
Yet the bitter wee Zombie says,” he conned the ref ” FFS !
Just because,his family in Port Glasgow,disowned him,when he signed for THEM,his anti-Celtic rhetoric,knows no bounds.
SHITE-STIRRER PERSONIFIED !!
Is the wee fence jumper McCann some sort of self-appointed SFA compliance officer. Maybe the real one should look at the Sportscene clip of him being restrained by police at the end of his own team’s game on Saturday. I’m all in favour of pundits expressing opinions instead of bland rubbish but this odious wee toad takes bias to a whole new level.
McCann’s wee pal at The Beeb was at it tonight too , they also tried to get VVD done a couple of weeks ago. This trial by television has to stop. PL needs to have a word at the top level at BBC and Sky