\u201cWe controlled the game, particularly in the second half. It was a positive experience. We were good as a team. But Eoghan O\u2019Connell did well, as did Liam Henderson and Callum McGregor.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The second half especially saw some great football. Crisp passing, movement, and one or two touches before finding a team mate. Its coming together, and there is a real sense of anticipation about the coming season.<\/p>\n Stand outs included Dylan McGeouch , in a central midfield role, and , of course, Teemu Pukki, recently converted to a striker. And he’s loving it;<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really pleased \u2013 it was a good game, with goals, this helps me and I just hope to keep going. The competitive games are coming soon, and hopefully I can be part of the team then and keep scoring.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThe first half we didn\u2019t play as well as we can. But we still managed to score and it was 1-1 and it was good to kick on in the second half.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe had some good passes and we just needed to put the balls in, and in the end we got a red card but continued to play well and scored more goals.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAs a striker, I have to work hard for the team and that\u2019s what helps the rest of the side, and it also makes a difference if we win the ball high up the pitch,\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Pukki has designs on taking the mantle of top scorer from Kris Commons, but whatever he dumped in his team mates shoe may have taken things a little too far..<\/p>\n Ah, almost forgot. The red card. Liam Henderson picked up a couple of yellow cards, one for running too fast and the other for dawdling. Or, at least thats what it seemed like. It’ll be interesting to see how the manager deals with what was effectively a lack of on field discipline. A quiet word, or a public flaying ? Probably the former, but there is a chance that Deila may use Henderson as a marker for toeing the line during a game.<\/p>\n Deila has a few things to sort out. Not least, he needs to take Emilio Izaguerre to one side and tell him he’s back at Celtic now, and no longer part of the Honduran Cage Fighting Squad.<\/p>\n The bad news, though, is that Scott Brown will miss the first few months of the season.. \u00a0The damage to his hamstring is severe, and he won’t be around until the nights are drawing in again.<\/p>\n Deila summed it up;<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not positive news for Scott. He will be out for two months, maybe three. That\u2019s hard for him and it\u2019s hard for us. But we can\u2019t do anything about it.\u00a0\u201cWe have to try to get him back on the pitch as quick as possible but we have good midfielders who can step up. The hamstring has been almost ripped off. Scott doesn\u2019t need an operation, which is a positive thing. However, it is quite a big injury.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Perhaps this means that Celtic will move for the Norwegian American Mikkel Diskerud, whom it appears was on Deilas radar at Stromgodset. With the players contract up in December, he would be available on the cheap, and thats the way we like ’em.<\/p>\n \u00a0Although there should be money available if we want to splash out. After watching the highly paid under achievers on show at the current World Cup, its not worth the effort. Players are rewarded too highly too early these days, and its better to look for those with the eye of the tiger, rather than those with their eye on their bank balances.<\/p>\n \u00a0Fraser Forster has been linked with a move to Benfica. Atletico Madrid, who had also been linked with the big man, just spent \u00a318m on Benficas keeper, meaning they are in the market to replace him, and according to Gavin Berry, in the Record;<\/p>\n Of course, he would know….. and he backs up his information with a quote from Neil Lennon, made while he was Celtic manager…<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cA huge club will come in and make a huge bid.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Insightful stuff.<\/p>\n There will be bids for Forster, there seems little doubt about that, but Celtic won’t be in a hurry to sell, even if the man wants to leave. And certainly not at that price. We should hire Ross McCormacks agent to negotiate our deals. That man has \u00a0truly astounding ability when it comes to getting money for players.<\/p>\n Though, to be fair, Lawwell hasn’t done too badly himself lately.<\/p>\n Its just that he has stashed the money under the bed and turned the heating off.<\/p>\n A couple of records were broken at the World cup last night. As you have no doubt noticed, Germany beat Brazil 7-1, the highest score in a semi final, and Miroslav Klose became the highest all time scorer. Brazilian legend Pele shrugged off the defeat, calling it just another disappointing semi.<\/p>\n I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Brazilian keeper. Suffering public humiliation when the commentator told everyone \u00a0he plays for Queens Park Rangers.<\/p>\n Alan Hansen, summarising for the BBC, sounded as though his dog had just died, and point blank refused to acknowledge what was an excellent team effort from the Germans. Instead , he described it as “clinical, ruthless and efficient ” , in the same way the Italians are “defensive “, the Brazilians “flamboyant ” and the English “fecking hopeless ”<\/p>\n Maybe someone after the tournament will take a look at the dross that has served as “experts ” and we’ll see a bit of a shake up next season.<\/p>\n They could use this camel, for instance.<\/p>\n Argentina play the Netherlands tonight-or Holland if you are watching on ITV- and it means that there is the possibility of the ultimate English nightmare-a Germany Argentina final. Hopefully they can find a Scottish or Irish ref.<\/p>\n While we are all happy with the way the pre season is going, its important to remember they don’t mean anything, and probably won’t be remembered in twelve months time. Proof came yesterday when no-one remembered the four defeats at this point last time. Cluj, Sevasapol, Gruener Fuerth and Union Berlin were the teams rerased from memory.<\/p>\n Two people who will never be erased from memory.<\/p>\n There is something that neither of these two players ever did whilst at Celtic. What is it ? ( Boyd mentions it in the podcast on this site )<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Teemu Pukki scored a hat trick. Yes, he did. And Brazil lost 7-1. Yes, they did. Still can’t get my head around the news from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/pukki-linz.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-1nS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5327,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5324\/revisions\/5327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Embedded](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/BsFxh7TCcAEtG_3.jpg\")
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<\/p>\nFORSTER has long been on the Portuguese giants’ wanted list and last year the Parkhead club accused Benfica of tapping up their number one – now they are set to make their move.<\/h2>\n
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