Nir Bitton

Brilliant. Wish more players would do the same...

 

Thought he was excellent today..

He's proving himself an important player this season.

 

Played well today, credit where it's Jew.

 

That pass early on over the top was fantastic. Not some lump up the pitch-pinpoint pass to Griffiths putting him in behind the defence. Fantastic.

Proving a * of a lot of people wrong.

 

He's not the long term answer though he's never getting back into the midfield so this was his last chance to save his career here

 

And every one of them given to white folk.

* racialist scumbags...

 

He did play well today. Hibs put us under no pressure at all for an hour but he tidied up well. He's obviously not the answer

 

NIR BITTON says the drive that's taken Celtic crashing through the 60-game unbeaten barrier is the burning desire to 'be the best'.

You need to go back to May last year for the last domestic defeat for the Parkhead club, and the Israeli has offered an insight into the mindset behind the momentous run.

He said: “it’s just being the best.

“To reach that level is difficult, but to stay there is even more difficult. That’s what we want to show everyone, it’s not finished. We want to keep going, keep winning and stretch that unbeaten run.

“You never know. We will lose at some point. We’ll take every game with 100 per cent concentration and try to play our game.

“People need to understand we have a busy schedule. Most of the guys played on Wednesday, came home late. People didn’t sleep.

“The most important thing is we won, we go to the final and we’ll keep pushing."

Celtic's next test is a trip to high-flying Aberdeen on Wednesday night, the side who they are currently tied with at the top of the Premiership. Is there a chance the run will stop at 60 at Pittodrie?

“If you look at the results and the table over the last few seasons you’ll see they finished second, but every game is big for us," said Bitton, who played at centre-half in Saturday's 4-2 Betfred Cup win over Hibernian.

“Everyone wants to beat us. Everyone wants to give 100 per cent against us, and every team wants to be the one to end this unbeaten run.

“We don’t want it to happen but we’ll try our best on Wednesday."

With Aberdeen leading the charge of Celtic's competition, it begs the question is the upcoming fixture even bigger than facing Rangers.

“Every game is big for us," said the ever diplomatic Bitton.

“Rangers is of course a big game for the fans, for the newspapers, for the guys outside. But for us it’s the same. You go out on the pitch and you try to win.

“At the end of the day it’s a game of football, and every game is the same game.”

Bitton has found game time in the Celtic midfield hard to come by in recent months with a fair chunk of his minutes coming as a makeshift centre-half.

This was the case again in Saturday's 4-2 victory.

It wasn't a flawless performance with him getting caught square on for Oliver Shaw to grab Hibs' second to make it 3-2, but the Israeli admits he's keen to learn and develop into the role.

He said: "I’m trying to do my best. I played most of the games this season at centre-back so I try and learn the position, try to do my best. As long as we are winning I don’t care.

“It’s not my preferred role but as I say I’ve played most of my games there. I’m trying to learn from Dedryck [Boyata] and Jozo [Simunovic] or whoever I play with. I’m just trying to do my best and I’m happy with the win.

“To be honest, centre-back is just about being smart. It’s another position. Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it’s more difficult.

“Maybe the second goal against Hibs I could do better but during the game it sometimes happens quickly and you lose the striker, but I’ll learn."

 

This thread is like a * see-saw.

 

Probably not the answer to our long term CB position, but he offers a level of composure rarely seen at the back. It's useful, especially domestically when a large part of our CB's game is based on ball retention. The fact he stands at 6'5 is an added bonus, he's built for it and can only improve with the more experience he gets in the position.

Hate to say it, but I actually like seeing him in there for home games against the weaker domestic sides. Sometimes he * it in the heart of the midfield, defos think he suits having the whole game in front of him.

Thought he was done here, but he's clearly a very useful squad player who Brendan trusts. Another in the long list of salvaged Celtic careers from Rodgers.

 

Maybe I'm being overcritical, but felt like he was horrible at cb on the weekend, against better opposition and he'd have cost us goals.

The way players were able to get by him or just break away from him because he's busy watching the ball rather then the area around him for runners was schoolboy.

You could see the difference between a born and raised CB in boyata compared to a converted one in Bitton, alot of the time Boyata was reading the the game well and sticking in well timed tackles (never a pen).

Never a CB.

 

Definitely being over-critical. Big guy being played out of position repeatedly, yet he's busting a gut to put in good performances, has actually kept several cleansheets and helps the overall style of the team. Deserves nothing but credit for his performances this season.

 

Never been his biggest fan but I also thought he was good on Sat, showed a lot of calmness and composure on the ball which is a massive bonus at the back for a team like us. Also thought he complemented Boyata quite well

 

He's good on the ball from the back when we're coasting and under no pressure from forwards but once we do start being put under pressure and team's have a go, he get's found out..

As much as I don't like him, I don't blame him here. He's just never a centre back..

 

Never a centre half but a very talented player and pleased to have him on board. His passing at times is an absolute joy to watch, Pirlo-esque when he's on song.

 

Sums it up perfectly ya erudite bassa

 

Never knew you were fluent in Spanish mate..