Let me tell you, that first performance last night was as good as anything we’ve seen in pre-season so far. Chelsea fielded a strong team, they pressed us high up the pitch, and the keeper had to make some good saves; Kasper Schmeichel really does look like he has real quality. But on the counter, we were quite brilliant.
I thought it was really something to see us playing that kind of quick-fire football on the break.
It’s not a style we’ve seen much of from Celtic because we tend to dominate games and don’t get pegged back much. But the midfield – who should be singled out for special praise – performed exceptionally well.
Hatate was as good as he’s been on this tour. Matt is at the top of his game right now.
But Callum was next level.
Callum belongs on a stage against players like this; the Scotland manager’s appalling tactics didn’t unleash the players at his disposal and so we didn’t get to see a genuinely towering McGregor performance …. and that is a great shame because he’s been immense in these games.
Three little quibbles; no Kuhn, but we can presume that there’s nothing too serious there.
Maeda went off with a knock, and hopefully that’s not a bad one.
And Kyogo, he got a goal but his tendency to be too far in front of the play saw him in an offside position way too many times in the first half, and forced us to be more cautious in some of our forward passing than we would otherwise wanted to be.
Playing on the edge of the defence is one thing, but he spent a lot of that half over that line and the manager will have been pretty miffed about it. And yet for all that, he was alert, sharp and he got a goal. We can’t complain too much, that’s why I’m calling them quibbles, and that is all they actually are.
James Forrest’s brilliance should be hailed by every fan – every single one – by decree.
He will be a big player for us this season as he has been for nearly every year he’s been with the club and even the small number of our fans who never give him credit or see the value in him should be on the brink of their Damascene conversion by now.
Luis Palma continued an excellent pre-season with another goal and another really good display.
The manager has obviously sorted out the issues he had with his style of play and his work-rate and I actually think that for him this has been the rehabilitation tour. I reckon we’re going to see plenty of him this season and that is down to the boss and the way he has got everyone firing.
The boss himself was absolutely buzzing after the game as you would expect.
“I don’t have any doubt. There is still a way to go in terms of fitness. It takes a bit of time and you can be a few weeks into the season. I think there’s more to come. I am really happy with what we are seeing. We have another week to go before the league kicks off but you can see the development in the players.
“It’s been a fantastic tour on and off the pitch. My pride comes from the work we do on the pitch and the level of football, the speed, the intensity, everyone running, fighting, scoring good goals and playing with personality.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Chelsea, Man City or DC United, we play to our intensity and we are a hard team to play against. It was very pleasing, when you see the level of talent Chelsea had. At any top team you need a structure and you need to have talent. Very importantly, you need to have the mentality to win. I think we had that from the very first kick of the ball to the end. Everything was very synchronised, the pressing, the work in such hot conditions. I was so pleased.”
And so he should be. That was thrilling. That whole tour was a triumph, even without a single outfield signing, and it should shame the directors that they have failed to give the manager players to enhance the squad so far. They have a week. That’s all that’s left until they have to appear in front of 60,000 fans.
And party or not, they should not be left in the slightest doubt about what fans think of their utter failure in this window if they don’t get some real, some significant, business done before we kick off our league defence seven days from now.
“And Kyogo, he got a goal but his tendency to be too far in front of the play saw him in an offside position way too many times … ” I haven’t watched it back yet, James, but is there not an argument that his runs weren’t spotted in time by the midfield?
That was some squad Chelsea put out. Looking good for the season ahead especially when the recruitment team do their job.
Get the Tifos primed for our board IF no
Significant signing and that includes big Adam.
That performance looked geared up for European football . Forget preseason, it was brilliant to watch and with a couple of decent signings we could fail to embarrass ourselves in the Champions League! How good would that be?
You could even be in attendance James. Hail Hail
Do you think results like this convince PL we need strengthening?
Celtic have been outstanding during this tour. I think, though, the Kyogo offside runs were not always his fault. He made some excellent runs and had the forward pass been delivered a shade earlier we would have seen a couple of goals added to his tally. No doubt this will be addressed.
I agree with you entirely about the board having to back our top level coach. We are very lucky to have him.
Where’s Bernardo?? He was supposed to have been as good as signed days ago, and yet there’s still no official announcement!! This board really know how to squeeze every ounce of frustration out of our fans. BR has made it clear what he expects. If there are still no signings through the door by the opening day of our season, then the board better be ready for some serious abuse on flag day!!
The BBC Webpage report of the Chelsea match is disgraceful. At best it is dismissive and actually borders on poisonous. The contributor is clearly upset.
Do as I do, don’t pay the tv licence, it’s the same in everything they do , they gave up impartiality a decade ago.
3 decent results in the good old USA, excellent in DC, terrific in North Carolina, and great in Indiana, but have to be careful as it was just pre-season. Come on Celtic let’s start getting the signings in now, a centre forward, a good defender, and a ball playing midfielder is what’s required. HH
In all likelihood we’ll make our signings closer to the window closing, probably deadline day, if we make much more
i tuned in to a few chelsea vlogs last night…and each one was complimentary of celtic…not the usual english dismissive shit…celtic were brilliant against the high press…schmiechel is so much distribution than big JH…and of course, an excellent shot stopper…brilliant acquisition…looks good so far…but we MUST have an upgrade on scales and taylor IMHO if we are to do anything in europe, along with CF and strong ball winning midfielder…and thats before matt leaves – tho’ wish he would stay, but am resigned to losing him.
it’s all fine and dandy playing against teams with a high press – how many teams are we gonna encounter with similar press in SPFL…be interesting to see how BR tackles that cunundrum…
BR has the team in fabulous shape…done a brilliant job – are the spineless, bastard board gonna step up???
Let me tell you something about James Forrest (the footballer). I love the guy and always have. I have absolutely no idea why so many Celtic fans are so meh about him. I remember watching him score (I think) his first league goal v Hearts in a 4-1 victory in an evening midweek game. I haven’t googled that so that might not be right. He was 19 at the time. Since then he has been dependable in terms of performance and ability to score big goals for us. I don’t think you’ll see him play many sub 7 out of 10 games but I’ve seen him plays many, many 9s and 10s. I never worry about him when he is on the pitch. Brendan talks about trust. Well, I am sure Jamesie is top of the trust list alongside Calmac.
As for last night, it was very promising. It’s nice to win the pre-season trophy for a change. I just hope, unlike the huns, winning it does not lull us into a false sense of security. We are woefully under-resourced up top and at the back. I don’t think there are too many players to get on board but we do need them. Also would love to see a wildcard game changer, for the lols.
Looking forward to next week. I never tire of attending flag days.
One thing not mentioned , our set piece defence , corners and general marshel of defence has improved out of sight at least on these showings.
More of that and the quick running at opposition and we are a handful. However in the spfl bus parking is the norm have we found the key ?
Certain sites covering the live match report didn’t want to mention the 4 goals just Maeda going off injured
I reckon Kyogo’s runs were not being spotted quickly enough but that will be an issue resolved over next few games.
The crispness & accuracy of our passing is a clear improvement on last season which could/should manifest in a step-up in Euro performance levels. Some new ‘plers’ would be of assistance in that regard, too.
Be interesting to see how we fare against the space-stealing ruination tactics of our domestic opposition. Could be a few tankings handed out if we play with with same zip witnessed in last 3 games. Here’s hoping.
Yes your namesake was really showing what a good player he is and always has been ,a true Celt ,up there with calmacs, Paul MC stay ,big billy ,the Lisbon lions etc .
I watched the game. As I have the previous two, I’ll hail this as a really successful pre season for us in terms of morale and teamwork and the refining of our overall play. We usually have sticky pre seasons where things don’t always seem to click and it’s maybe a blessing in disguise that there haven’t been any new signings (although I’m on my knees praying everyday for some) to try and bed in and this has reflected in the teams performances.
Speaking of performances, I’d like to highlight a few starting with our wee buzz bomb Kyogo.
I think he has been excellent on this tour and I get your point on the frequency of offsides James but I would have to contend like some of the others above that this was due to others not moving the ball forward quick enough for him. I spotted about 3 last night where he made incredible runs and wasn’t seen, he must be an absolute nightmare to play against. He’ll be the league top scorer this year baring injury.
CCV. Absolutely delighted to see him back. The rock we absolutely need at the back. We need quality to back him up just in case, and hopefully it’s just in case.
Tony Ralston. Been solid and dependable. Looks to have gotten over a couple of shaky Scotland performances but showed why he is great back up to Johnston.
Big Casper. Well what can I say. Again showed his class and value last night especially in those first 10 minutes. I agree with an earlier comment you made, he’s an upgrade on Hart.
Midfield again most of them firing on all cylinders and great performances from most, still some questionable, such as the much maligned Mikey Johnston and to tie in with your previous post about players moving on I think because of the quotas for Europe I think we’ll be keeping him and Holm will stay also, which I’m comfortable enough with as I still think there’s something there.
Speaking of Europe and without wishing to pour cold water on the hot coals of our tour the main critique I have from our tour is that the same weakness are there that will see us punished in the CL. I have nightmares about the likes of Lamal and musiala running at Greg Taylor and Liam who still tends to play that short pass from the back into the defence midfield area thats always too short. And the tendency to be slow to react to clearing balls in and around our box when they break to opposing players is another habit we need to quickly break. Minor imperfections agreed but something that needs worked on.
BRING ON THE SEASON!! HAIL HAIL!
Spot on James. I was saying last night when our midfield three play like that, it’ll take a top team to beat us. I always said Palma shouldn’t be written off and this coming season we’ll see his real level. If we’re looking for things to grumble about then I’d say the back 4 is too slow. AJ improves it.
All in all, it was a great preseason tour.
Anderson looked good again when he came on.