Brendan Fraudgers!

Great article here about that pish from show racism the red card, the * have tried to turn this on our manager and should be hounded for it.

https://thecelticblog.com/2018/07/b...otland-have-zero-credibility-where-it-counts/

 

BR: "It was very hot for us on the bench and we were only watching so I take my hat off to my players. We are certainly not used to these conditions but they coped really well and showed a strong mentality."

BR: "I was very proud of the players’ fitness. Three and a half weeks into our pre-season we’re playing a team that is midway through their season. Our performance tonight was a great mark of how the players are working, which is very hard."

BR: "The first half we expected the home team to come and have a real intensity in their game inside the first 10 or 15 minutes. We had to withstand that pressure and, as the half went on, we created chances as well."

BR: "We got the goal on half time which was important and then in the second half we took control of the game."

BR: "The goals were good goals. James Forrest’s goal came from a second phase in a corner and the last goal came from a great piece of play from Kris Ajer to step in from defence with some nice combination play around the box and then Callum McGregor gets his goal."


BR: "Three very good goals but I’m equally pleased to keep a clean sheet which is equally important in European football.


BR: "When you can score late goals like we did then it tells you everything about the fitness. We pride ourselves on how hard we work, how hard we run and the intensity of our game."


BR: "To do that in these conditions is a huge testament to how focused and how fit they are at this point and it was really pleasing for me."

 

I think it could take a couple of more players at their level to get us to qualify for Europe. The task is just so difficult this year.

 

Hope Celtic sue the * of show racism the red card and all the * rags that have slandered our manager.

https://thecelticblog.com/2018/07/b...racism-lie-are-now-in-serious-legal-jeopardy/

 

IF THERE was a surprise this week as Celtic brushed aside Alashkert in the searing Armenian heat it was not that there was no Gibralter Red Imps re-run.

Rather, the decision to start with two strikers in Moussa Dembele and Odsonne Edouard might have raised a few eyebrows. The latter netted his first European goal for the club while the former looked in the kind of menacing form that was the hallmark of his opening season at Celtic.

It remains to be seen if there is more of the same expected as the campaign gets underway. Rodgers has favoured a loan striker with two wingers supplementing an attacking formation with midfield players also making an impact in the final third.

Yet, both Edouard and Dembele are highly rated by Rodgers and it will be interesting to chart if there is a difference in Celtic’s style as the games start to come thick and fast over the coming weeks.

“Odsonne and Moussa have played together before in a different sort of structure in the team,” explained Rodgers. “There’s a respect there for each other’s talents.

“They are quite synchronised in how they work at times. Odsonne can play off the left side a little bit as well but they looked a real handful and threat.

“This is a period where we’re looking at various thinks within our tactics that can hopefully help us going forward and in the games they’ve played together they’ve looked everything you’d want: fast, strong, dynamic and quality.”

Both players found themselves making news headlines this week in the immediate aftermath of Celtic’s 3-0 win in their opening Champions League qualifier. Dembele was believed to be driving a little behind Edouard and Olivier Ntcham when the duo were involved in a collision with another vehicle but Rodgers has insisted that there is no lingering ill-effects on either the players or the driver of the other car.

“The guys thankfully were fine and the guy in the other car was too,” he said. “It was obviously a scare for them. There’s not too much we can say as it’s under investigation but there are no injuries.”

Rodgers more immediate concern now is in trying to ensure that Celtic make it into the Champions League group stages for the third successive season.

This is the most arduous route the Parkhead side have faced with four qualification rounds to negotiate but Rodgers will look to the experience of the last two successful campaigns as a springboard to making it back into elite company.

“I could tell in the first five minutes of the game the other day that that team were a step up from any of the opening games I’d been involved in since came here,” he said.

“It was just in terms of the speed of their game, the intensity with which they tried to press early on and the conditions. It was going to be a difficult game for us.

“So it was really a mark of where our players are at in terms of their mentality and fitness. We withstood that. Our preparation has been to try and fast-track them into 90 minutes.

“When we were away, we played two 90 minutes and I think that really helped the players especially in the heat of Austria.

“To score a couple of goals late on is always a good sign of a team’s mental and physical fitness. So, yes, it was a very good result for us and performance at this stage of the season. We’ll never be perfect but it gives us a nice advantage coming to play at home.”

The expectation is that Celtic will face Rosenborg in the next round. It would be a familiar foe for the club who met in the qualifiers last term too but the Norwegians defeat to Iceland part-timers Valur this week offered an insight into the dangers of taking anything as read at this stage.




Valur’s 1-0 lead is expected to be overturned in Trondheim this coming week but the defeat for the Norwegians perhaps offers a framework for the professionalism of Celtic’s performance this week.

“It just shows you,” said Rodgers. “Everyone is probably looking at Rosenborg as being the favourites but it’s a real treacherous period to be playing your games.

“Rosenborg are obviously in season as well. We’ll see how that evolves and whoever we play, if we get through, we’ll meet the challenge.”

Meanwhile, the Celtic manager has insisted that Scotland must use the performance of Croatia at this summer’s World Cup as inspiration for how to rebuild the game.

With a population of just 4 million, Croatia have made it to the World Cup final but it is has been their sustained exposure to major tournaments that Rodgers has insisted is something that Scotland need to take note of.

“People will look to the likes of Germany and Brazil and the big countries but if you’re a small nation it’s probably worthwhile looking at Croatia and Uruguay to see what they’re doing,” he said.

“Consistently now Croatia have, over a period of years, produced teams that have consistently qualified and now they’re in a World Cup final.

“I’ve been very impressed by that for a really small country. They’ve produced players like Vedran Corluka who came on in the semi-final and Dejan Lovren is in their playing, Ivan Perisic.

“You could go through the squad - very talented players. It should give a great inspiration to countries like Scotland as they’re showing it can be done.

“I haven’t personally studied what they do but from a distance I’ve always been impressed by the level of players they can produce.

“It can’t be an accident, not when you’re sustaining it and qualifying regularly for European Championships and World Cups.

“They clearly have a spirit to fight, certainly in my experience of working with players from Croatia and Serbia, they have a passion in playing for their country but individually they want to fight.

“And they play a really good level technical game. A lot of them come from a real good technical base and they’re very impressive. "

 

BR: “I was very pleased with both halves. We were playing against a good side, who just missed out on the Belgian league last year and won their domestic trophy, the Belgian Cup."

BR: "We knew it was going to be a good standard and they have good speed in their team. In the first half, our shape of the team caused lots of problems for them and then obviously the quality of our goals was exceptional really."

BR: “You come in with a good solid base at half-time and you put out a younger team with some experience around it, and again we were good. The defensive organisation in both halves was excellent and the football was exciting."

BR: “Congratulations to club and the groundstaff. as I’ve been crying about a pitch here for a long time. You saw the speed of it, and it’ll get slightly quicker which is great for us. A very pleasing day.


BR: "If I think back to my first game when I came in a few years ago to where we’re at now, you look at both teams, and the organisation through the phases of the pitch, the pressing, the speed of it all and the quality, it makes it all exciting.

BR: "We still have a way to go to continue our work but it’s good to see.”

 

Brendan Rodgers believes the new pitch at Celtic Park will bring a "different level" to the champions' game.

Celtic maintained the momentum of last week's Champions League qualifying win at Alashkert with a 4-1 friendly victory over Standard Liege.

Goals from Odsonne Edouard, Moussa Dembele and Callum McGregor put the hosts 3-0 up before Rodgers changed the entire team for the second half.

Mikey Johnston added a fourth before the visitors scored a late consolation.

Rodgers says the club have spent £1.5m on a new playing surface over the summer and he believes it will reap swift dividends.

"I've been crying about a pitch for a long time and you see the speed of it and it'll get slightly quicker as well," said the Celtic manager.

"Our identity and purpose is always to be fast, dynamic and very aggressive, and of course when you have a really good pitch and a fast pitch, then that supports that way of playing.

"It was a big investment by the club, but they'll get their rewards, the players get their rewards and most importantly the spectators get their rewards.

"It does help, because we want to play a fast game. You've seen it today with the benefit of a good playing surface. It brings a different level to our game."

Celtic will take a 3-0 lead against Armenian champions Alashkert into Wednesday's second leg at home, in the first of what could be four qualifying rounds if they are to reach the Champions League group stage.

Rodgers believes Saturday was perfect preparation as his players continue to build up their match fitness, with Scott Sinclair, Marvin Compper, Eboue Kouassi, Scott Allan and Ryan Christie featuring in the second half alongside a number of home-grown youngsters.

"I was very pleased, we were playing against a good side," he added.

"I thought the fluency and crispness of our game was outstanding. The first half we caused lots of problems for them and obviously the quality of our goals was exceptional.

"Then in the second half we put out the younger team with a bit of experience around them, and again they were outstanding."

 

Sound familiar ?

 

I don't understand it, why didn't Logan mention this straight after the game so it could be investigated? He says it happens all the time so there is no point mentioning it. Is he saying it happens at Celtic Park all the time or everywhere he plays?

I was actually on his side during the Tonev accusations as I thought no one is going to make such an allegation out of the blue for no reason.

Now after seeing his behaviour and the way he's gone about reporting this along with the logical fallacy of the love of his three children I am starting to doubt him.

 

Apparently BR was expecting McGinn and a RB to be brought in before our next Euro match!

 

Yeah need least 1 new face before 2nd round.

 

Well he better hurry up then..

 

In my opinion, the only area where Brendan has failed to EXCEED expectation since his arrival is in the transfer market.

There's been obvious masterstrokes with Dembele, Edouard and Ntcham. Sinclair was unstoppable first season also.

Then there's your one's who you have signed and have either been rotten or just not had a chance which makes you question what was the point in signing them; Hayes, Hendry, Compper, Gamboa, Eboue, Benyu.

This transfer window is the most important since Rodgers came in so although it's been disappointing thus far there is still time to do some good business. I'm looking for players to come in, in a few key positions (RB, CB and Winger) and be able to either walk right into the team or challenge for a start spot right away.

 

Rodgers on weight gain and players wont train with first team if they go over 2 kilos

Now im not saying its harsh or wrong but If it where ronny going along this route with qhat he introduced everybody wouldnt be so hush hush

 

I support it, and supported Ronny. Still can't believe in 2015 our players were eating chips and drinking fizzy drinks at the training centre. Mental.