Benjamin Nygren

Worry for me is that every time we sign a midfield player with drive within weeks we seem to stop them doing it

 

He’s far less inspiring than Engels was at this point in his first season.

We seem to sign midfielders with the ability to take games by the scruff, but they just don’t have the mentality to do it.

 

Agree.
Is it the Calmac negativity disease that infects the new guys or is it the Brendan 'thou shalt not lose the ball' mantra?

Agree also ref systems, we are far too predictable and easy to play against.
Just man mark the 3 midfielders and we are busted.

Rogers really has to shake the formation up now and then.

 

Really struggling to work out if he’s good or not, at times he takes it on the half turn like Rogic and others it bounces off him. Hopefully once he knows the role inside out he will kick on because he should have all the attributes to play that role for us when drifting wide etc

 

He is one of those clumsy looking player that looks much worse than what he really is. created 2 of the goals yesterday.

 

He's very effective, two assists and his challenge in our box, set off the move for Tounekti’s goal.

 

He has been easily the biggest positive out of the summer shambles.

 

Never heard of Seb Tounekti?

 

To be honest, nobody we bought for this summer has been bad... Just a couple we don't know about yet, and a whole lot of business we DIDN'T do... That's not the players faults!

Are they worldie signings? No! Are they bad? Also, appears to be, no!

 

haha totally forgot our last minute signing

 

I don’t think it hurts to have a guy that will do numbers even if he doesn’t always shine for the full game.


We were missing goal contributions from central midfield last year, thought McGowan was the only consistent goal threat from the 8’s. Nygren brings a quality in his final action if nothing else

 

Benjamin Nygren’s dream will have to wait.


Celtic’s Champions League chance has been and gone.



And it starts with arguably the toughest away day in Belgrade.



The name Kairat Almaty will haunt everyone of a green and white persuasion for some time yet.

Fans celebrated when the Kazakh minnows’ name was drawn out of the hat in the playoffs.




It was meant to be a free pass into the £40million league phase.

But 29 days after that shock penalty shootout defeat in Kazakhstan, Celts have accepted their fate in Europe’s second-tier competition.

And it’s clear that everyone in the Parkhead camp is keen to draw a line under what could have been - and use it as motivation for what can still be a memorable Euro journey.




Nygren said: "Yeah. It didn't go as we wanted but it doesn't do any of us any good to live in the past.

"What's in the past is in the past and we need to look forward and do as well as we can in all of the competitions we are in now. That's our focus now.

“It didn't go as we wanted to and for myself it's one of my biggest dreams to play in the Champions League.




I was devastated that we didn't manage to go there.

"But now we're in the Europa League, we play a lot of good teams and I have good hopes that the team can do well in this competition and go far.

“The Europa League is still a massive competition so of course we will do as good as possible.




Just how far Celtic can go is the big question.

Although Brendan Rodgers’ side have dominated the domestic scene, punters have watched on with a hint of envy as Rangers have sparkled under the lights on a Thursday night.

Now, it’s Celtic’s opportunity to go deep into a competition they haven’t played in since 2021/22.






And while they won’t be dining at Europe’s top table this season, their eight-game fixture schedule is still packed with glamour ties against the likes of Feyenoord, Roma and Bologna.

Nygren said: "Yes, we are going to play a lot of very good teams.

"A lot of them normally play in the Champions League.


"I'm looking forward to it a lot. We will do as good as we can.

“It's hard to say how far we can go. We have to focus game by game.

“Now we have eight games and we will do as good as possible to get through to the next stage and then we'll see.




I think it's a bit silly to try to set some points target. Every game we go into our goal is to win. And that's it."

Around 1,500 diehards have made the trip for the bucket-list clash at the Rajko Mitić Stadium.

It’s as difficult a start as Celtic could’ve asked for as they brace themselves for a red-hot atmosphere at one of Europe’s most hostile venues.


It’s a far cry from the soulless arena in Kazakhstan when around 300 hardcore Hoops punters made the gruelling 7,500-mile round trek to the border of China last month.

Nygren knows Celtic owe their fans. And getting a result in the Serbian bear-pit would be a solid start.

He said: "We are so grateful for the support of the fans. It's one of the biggest clubs in the world.




We were really happy to have the fans coming all the way to fly 10 hours to come and support us.

“But it's in the past now. Our goal is to win every game we play now."




Nygren’s heard all about the deafening noise that awaits Celtic in the Serbian coliseum.

Not only will they play in front of a fiercely partisan crowd but they’ll also have to make the daunting 90-second walk down the most intimidating tunnel in football.

The cramped concrete underpass is coated with graffiti, logos and even lined with armed police officers.


That's all before you're greeted on the pitch by the notoriously barmy Delije ultras behind the goal.

Yet rather than dread what lies ahead, Nygren can’t wait for the bedlam.

He said: ”I'm looking forward to it a lot. I’ve heard a lot about this place. It's going to be an amazing atmosphere. So I'm looking forward to it a lot.


“It’s what you dream of as a kid. That's why you want to be a footballer to play in front of these crowds.

“I don’t think anyone in this team wants to play in front of zero crowds.

“We play at Celtic Park in front of 60,000 every week so we know how it is and we’re looking forward to it.”




Two wins on the bounce and instant impacts from new Bhoys Seb Tounekti and Kelechi Iheanacho have seen Celtic finally start to build some form and momentum.

And Nygren is confident Rodgers’ side have enough in their locker to silence the manic home crowd




He said: "Yeah, of course. Me and everyone else have a lot of confidence. We’re players for Celtic so we know how good we are.

“We’ve had some games where we didn’t do as well as we wanted to but that’s in the past and now the focus is on the future.

“We won the last two games and we want to win every game moving forward.”