On course for our 2nd best season in 15 years and probably one of our top 5 ever.

I think the context of the domestic game and the competition has changed. At no point in the last 50 did celtic have more money in its bank account that every team in scotland combined many times over. We spent more on Ntcham than every other teams combined spending. So while it is true to point out that what we are achieving is historic, it feels like the actual achievement of creating a monopoly already happened. Watching a club sustain that is still fun, it just isnt as euphoric as watching it be created.

In Europe, teams like Celtic have been left behind through no fault of their own. I think it has become tough to get excited about the 'glamour ties' now because we can no longer compete. Getting 20 mil to turn up and get bent over by teams like PSG doesnt have the same romance to it as competing like we did in the past. Money has just runined the game in my eyes.

That said, I think if we were to get past Zenit a lot of that genuine excitement would come back very quickly.

 

After Hearts at home. We'd won but Broony was screaming at him after the game. I do agree that it probably is nothing but throwing it in amongst the rest..

I didn't say Dembele looks moody, just that his whole saga wouldn't of had a positive impact in the dressing room. Especially seeing as Brendan kept contradicting his self. There's no doubt the likes of Simunovic have looked huffy as *..

Sinclair has been dropped plenty lately. Rodgers said it's because of feeling tight but then he'll be in next game and benched the game after..

 

Do you genuinely believe there's as much unity in the squad this season as there was last?

 

Aye it’s nothing. Could be saying anything, Brown shouts at the players often during games.

I know you didn’t say about Dembele but people in here have. I don’t think Simunovic has smiled on a football pitch in his life. (Waiting on someone posting a picture now).

Sinclair isn’t miserable. People are looking into it way too much. I’m not worried at all. Watch the title celebrations at the end of the season and tell me there’s disharmony.

 

I have no reason to believe there’s any less harmony. The players are fine, everyone is freaking out because a couple of the players look frustrated. It’s madness.

 

I'll be honest mate. I'm probably over thinking thing's that aren't maybe there because of the way we've been playing..

Like many of us, just struggling of understand why we've been so pedestrian for quite a while now on the whole..

 

It’s easy done. Basically what the thread is about, things don’t feel as good as last year so people worry.

Last season was probably once in a life time, we’d be spoiled if we had it that good again.

 

Zenit could be a massive game for us, if we win it will give the team that burst of confidence as well as the fans and we could finish the season in style, if not then it could be a struggle to get the treble done

 

Last season was more swashbuckling we did it in style nearly every game , but sometimes that is not always possible high level of performances.
We are on course with victories to achieve something quite special.

 

Back to Back trebles would be an amazing achievement, it will be better than last season in some ways. Overcoming Zenit would be amazing too, we are capable of it..

Last season the lift BR gave the whole squad was startling the players response to him was unbelievable, like others I unfairly expected the BR effect continue to propel us to a different level. Maybe we expected too much and it does seem we’ve plateaued a little. Some of the players maybe have peaked at their level and are incapable of going on to that next level especially in Europe.

It’s not an excuse but injuries have really hampered our momentum, especially to our forward players. Griffiths, Dembele, Rogic, Roberts all have been out for long periods that’s a * of a lot of attacking quality to be without.

Also Ntcham, he’s got such class in everything he does but we’ve struggled at times to make best use of him. The balance to our midfield hasn’t looked right at times.

Performances haven’t kicked on the way we thought they would and we’ve looked lacklustre at times but when you look at the facts. Two CL Qualification campaigns, Qualification for EL, 4/4 Domestic trophies and 6/6 a real possibility.

The season is already a success imho, assuming we win the league. Securing the back to back trebles will make it the most successful in most of our lifetimes.

 

We've not been as good or entertaining as last season.

But if you compare any season ever to last season its going to be dissapointing.

I think aside from the Anderlecht result at home....and the 0-0 draw with Sevco.....I've not been too dissapointed this season. You've got to be realistic. The 5-0 game against Astana had me over the moon. And I still think we've yet to hit top form this season......its coming......so when it does we'll kick into top gear and starting hammering teams.

I remember the bad times. This is a brilliant season trust me

 

Even when off form as a collective team , we still have matchwinners all over middle to front.

 

Gordon, lustig, boyata, jozo, Erik, Armstrong, McGregor, bitton.

In the deila second season all deemed not good enough at some point.
Many more players, Griffiths, Forrest, brown, rogic, Roberts, have all came on since then, but 3 of them have suffered injuries all season.


Think about that a little, we are still carrying a large portion of that same squad, yet still on for a historic season.

 

Was talking to the father in law and talking about the form and he said to me look how many games from December to February last year we won by 1 goal and it was a fair few games btw he made a good point about form at this time of year and also the dip in form came with Rogic out the difference was we played with a better style!

 

You see lulls in form in football, all if not most teams go through them. Then you get to points in the season like the winter break and knowing that the team has been in competitive action since July you see it as a necessity, obviously we had the league cup in the bag before the winter break , it gives everyone a real lift for the rest of the season. We're only in February and I guess whilst the games do come in thick and fast around this time of the year , we've got to look at the league position and the cup involvement as major positives with Thursday night still to come. Hope we can kick on anyway as we go into the spring and beyond.

 

I agree with your original point, something just doesn't seem quite right at the moment. No idea what it is but we have not been firing consistently at all this season. Thats not just a simple matter of form as we should have eventually hit our stride. Could be the constant transfer stories of a few of our players, injuries, lack of rest but i don't think the harmony is like it was last season. No Motherwell comeback when we were 2-0 down and were literally unbeatable there just isn't that same response. Last year going one down against Killie and we would not have lost that game, but when we went a goal down i knew we weren't coming back.

 

Aye it's hard to put your finger on just 1 thing as I genuinely think there could be a number of issues at the moment..

We're clearly not right and at it at the minute..

Be interesting to see what kinda performance we come up with Thursday. If we win it maybe hints to player's maybe struggling to reach 100 during domestic game's..

I also had that feeling as soon as they scored that we wouldn't even get a draw. Last year we'd probably still of won that game, nevermind drawn..

 

the injuries have been a factor but we are so predictable in formation and slow build up from the back and teams have got wise to that .
we need to be more flexible in our tactics and formation so over to you Brendan Rogers .

 

is a treble better than last 16 of champions league and a double? something lennon and strachan both managed. performance wise it hasnt been our second best season in that time, and achievement wise well it depends on what is valued more domestic trophies v european progress, i think nowadays Europe is something fans regard as more significant than the the domestic cups, winning the league a necessity so it almost doesn't come into the equation

 

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that a lot uf us aren't 100% happy with this season, it means we think highly of ourselves as a team and have a proper winners attitude.