If a week is a long time in football, last August seems lifetimes away. Context to August Derby The first Derby of the season was Postecoglou’s 11th match in charge. This was also the trickiest part of his reign so far. Immediate exit from the Champions League and a first match SPFL loss at Heart … [continue reading]
Match Preview
Hearts in the Right Place
Celtic’s “catch up” to Christmas continues tonight with a “must win” game against Hearts as they face a run of ties after their main rival plays. A 7-point gap already seems daunting, and worse, Hearts could take second spot with a win tonight. For a fuller discussion on this game check out the latest Huddle … [continue reading]
Wobbling Hibernian Next for Controlling Celts
Celtic’s opening SPFL fixture round concludes away to a Hibernian. They are a 4th side that would likely form the top 6 come next Spring. Which probably makes the post-split fixture shenanigans more, err, shenanigany. Unbeaten until 3 matches ago, the Edinburgh side sit 5th, 4 points behind Celtic. An impressive start to the campaign … [continue reading]
A Tough Nut Next for Celtic
The top two sides in Scotland over the last decade clash at Celtic Park on Saturday. Celtic’s 8th 3pm kick off of the season see’s Cup Kings St Johnstone in town. Following gallant defeat to Galatasaray in Europe, the Saints have only got two league wins over the hapless pair of Aberdeen and Dundee. The … [continue reading]
Livingston Preview
Livingston have had success against Celtic at home in recent times. Martindale has adopted a very basic style of long ball, combative football, maximising the resources at his disposal as is wise. Owen J Brown does a nice job describing how Livingston have adapted their approach this season. The West Lothian side are bottom of … [continue reading]
The AZ Win In Perspective
How to put Celtic’s 2-0 first leg victory over AZ Alkmaar into context? Qualitatively we know they finished 1 point behind PSV Eindhoven last season. Celtic are 50th in the UEFA Coefficient rankings and AZ 89th. That’s very much an historical view. AZ are 74 on the ELO ratings (1642) compared to Celtic who are … [continue reading]
The Welsh / Bitton Partnership
As highlighted yesterday and evidenced in preseason, defensive options are limited for Celtic ahead of tonight’s Champions League qualifier against Danes FC Midtjylland. The continuing absence of Jullien is a huge blow and his partnership with the soon to be transferred Ajer was the bedrock of the highly successful 19/20 season. Without endlessly debating the … [continue reading]
Ange’s Choice
The Preston North End friendly showcased the paucity of resources Postecoglou has to work with. The line-up was (perhaps) as near as injuries permit, to that to face Midtjylland. The Ghost of Disasters Past In thinking about context for this piece I looked back on the starting XI’s for each of the disasters to befall … [continue reading]
Copenhagen: The Battle of Midfield
By James Dailey As I have made clear in prior pieces, I believe Celtic could field one of the best midfields among the remaining Europa League teams. However, this piece will focus upon what “is” rather than what could be. I will compare our likely central midfield three versus a comparable sample from the other … [continue reading]
Copenhagen: Dream to Reality
By James Dailey Recency bias is the human tendency to mentally overweight memories from the recent pass more so than those from longer ago. Odsonne Edouard has been absolutely brilliant since the winter break, and I documented how brilliant in the recent piece I wrote with an early look at the effectiveness of the 3-5-2 … [continue reading]