{"id":9448,"date":"2016-07-28T08:42:25","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T07:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=9448"},"modified":"2016-07-28T08:42:25","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T07:42:25","slug":"celtic-diary-thursday-july-28-thats-what-happens-when-you-wear-the-hoops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=9448","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Thursday July 28: That’s What Happens When You Wear The Hoops"},"content":{"rendered":"

It really wasn’t anywhere near as difficult as we were led to believe, was it ?<\/p>\n

Not when you have players who do their job and believe in each other.<\/p>\n

Not when you have a manager who knows when and how to change things.<\/p>\n

And most importantly, when the players feel a little more comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings. By wearing the green and white hoops that tel the world who we are.<\/p>\n

A 1-1 draw in Khazakstan with the mighty-so we were told-Astana means that a full house in Glasgow next week should be able to roar Celtic on to the final play off round for this seasons Champions League.<\/p>\n

Despite falling behind to an early goal, Celtic rallied , dug in and never really looked in any trouble, save for the time or two when the players realised that they weren’t really in any trouble, and the surprise seemed to make them lose concentration for a second or two.<\/p>\n

But when that happened, Craig Gordon was on hand, or foot, to make a save. Or Eoghan O’Connell, who if he continues to improve at this rate, will save the scouts a fortune in air fares to eastern Europe, was around to clear.<\/p>\n

Sure, they could all have done a wee bit better at the goal, but the Khazaks have a neat wee trick at set pieces which caught them out a couple of times, with a floater nipping in behind forcing defenders to track him and play others onside, but we should be able to deal with that next week.<\/p>\n

In the past, Celtic would almost certainly have crumbled, but not this time, and they were well rewarded when a dogged Patrick Roberts won the ball on the by line, cut it back to Leigh Griffiths, and he finished wonderfully from just inside the box to make things a whole lot easier next week.<\/p>\n

When it did look like going a little bit awry, Nir Biton took over in midfield and reminded us that he is a player, James Forrest and Tom Rogic ran at a tiring Astana, and these three substituions showed that it truly is a fourteen man game, but only if the manager knows what he’s doing.<\/p>\n

Praise all round, and although its only half time, there’s not a single one of us who would not have settled for a 1-1 draw in this fixture \u00a0when the names came out of the hat a week or two ago.<\/p>\n

The main thing to take from this game is that Celtic are improving with every outing. We haven’t been able to say that for a long time.<\/p>\n

The agenda of the SMSM became more apparent than usual after the game, with some blatant “jammy fenian bassas ” themed reports, which can only be designed to gain some form of interaction with guilty parties. Either that or the Knob of the Week award is now genuinely a mark of distinction for them.<\/p>\n

I’m only going to cite one example, the player by player marking in the Record, which gave Patrick Roberts a six, presumably because the paper doesn’t fully understand how the concept of numbers works. Then again, they do credit “rangers” with 54 titles in four years, so we shouldn’t be too surprised.<\/p>\n

Someone who doesn’t seem to want to regain the Knob of the Week award is Keith Jackson, who gave a very fair and accurate assessment on twitter of the game;<\/p>\n

keith jackson<\/strong>\u00a0\u200f@<\/s>tedermeatballs<\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a013h<\/span>13 hours ago<\/span><\/a><\/small><\/div>\n
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Fantastic result for Celtic that in difficult circumstances. Job done. They’ll coast the second leg.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We’ll leave the papers there for now, and look more into it when we do the award tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Instead, lets look at what those who matter said, starting with Brendan Rodgers;<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an outstanding result for us. The resilience and strength, mentally, we\u2019ve built-up over the course of pre-season came into effect on an evening like that.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were disappointed with the goal, that\u2019s nothing new, but after that we showed wonderful mentality to keep fighting. In the second-half we restricted them to not so many clear chances and we end up scoring a fantastic goal. It\u2019s only half-time but it\u2019s a very important result for us.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA huge amount of credit goes to the players. We were written off before the game. The opinion was we\u2019d do well to come back with anything other than a loss but the players deserve an immense amount of credit to fight and show that spirit and passion in the game.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe gained a bit more control of the game and scored a wonderful goal by Leigh so we know the significance of the goal but we are not getting too carried away as we have another game against a very good side.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

and he had praise for a couple of the lads…among them Eoghan O’Connell<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he \u00a0was outstanding for a young player being on the fringes of the team for a few years and coming into that environment under that pressure, he made very few mistakes in the game,\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou expect him to make some as a young player but in a real difficult situation he coped and I was very proud of him.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had two 19-year-olds in Patrick Roberts on the right and young Kieran Tierney, who it\u2019s only natural for at this time of the season to get a bit of cramp in his calf but he kept fighting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYoung Eoghan is just 20, other boys are still young, and they are showing signs which are very important at a top club and it\u2019s that ability to fight and he was one of a number of young players that did very well.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Goalscorer Leigh Griffiths…<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always confident of scoring goals, no matter what level that I\u2019m playing at.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident of scoring, it\u2019s just about getting the ball in the right places at the right times.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy decision making could be better on occasions, but, thankfully, I\u2019ve scored an important away goal here and we\u2019ll look to go back to\u00a0Celtic<\/a>\u00a0Park and finish the job.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we fancy our chances.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd at home will create a lot more noise and we\u2019ll be back on grass, which will be a bonus for us and maybe not for them.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey will also have to adjust to the time difference over in Scotland.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWith the five-hour time difference, it\u2019ll be like playing at 2 in the morning for them and that can help us.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBack being on grass and moving it quickly, we can cause them problems.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHad we been better on a couple of occasions with the final pass, we could have scored more.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cComing away from home, we would have taken a 1-1 draw.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew it was going to be a hostile atmosphere with a lot of noise and that they would come at us, but apart from the goal we conceded, they didn\u2019t create a lot of chances.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew there was going to be pressure with the likes of corners and throw ins, but we knew if we could keep it tight in the second half, we\u2019d get a chance.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately for me, the ball fell at my feet and I\u2019ve managed to put it away.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe manager said from the first day that he came in that he was going to make us more compact and hard to beat.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we keep playing the way we did in the second half, we will be hard to beat.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, they didn\u2019t create much clear cut, but we had a threat.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Moussa Dembele isn’t having a great time of it in some peoples eyes, but he’s not having much luck either. Denied a penalty ealry on, he looked knackered by the time he was withdrawn, and when Griffiths scored, there were accusations that he looked a little pissed off.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Some said he looked a little sulky, others that he didn’t even applaud and one fellow even accused him of racing to the referee demanding the goal be chalked off.<\/p>\n

Lot of shite;<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He’s just knackered. Plain and simple.<\/p>\n

He’ll come good, and what he doesn’t need are comparisons with far lesser players who have come and gone over the last few years. He really isn’t in that league.<\/p>\n

Just as the team will continue to improve, albeit with occasional wee blips, and this morning not only do the group stages look a whole lot closer, but the last sixteen and beyond is no longer a complete fantasy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Okay.<\/p>\n

For now, at least.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And now on to the silly bits.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oh, come on sherlock, tell us why a midweek match wasn’t so well attended by the travelling support ?<\/p>\n

I’ll help..<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

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Glasgow<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
UK<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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