Brendan Fraudgers!

Aye, if this was the end of August I'd be a tad worried. It's not though.

Already signed one highly rated striker, one that I thought would be way out of our reach. We have a highly experienced at the top level centre back coming in next if the Toure reports are to be believed, which considering our manager has actually commented on it, should be.

We're going for quality here.

 

Plus we have more than enough quality to negotiate the first qualifying round anyway. I'm not worried in the slightest.

No way did Brendan come here without assurances about transfer money.

 

It's always the same. Unless we've signed 5 or 6 players that are going to win us the Champions League, all for £5-10m each, some fans will always panic.

 

This.

BR knows we will defeat our opponents with what we have at the moment. I'd rather he had a look at what we have right now, then decide for himself what areas need strengthened, not just rush out and buy the first player we've looked at.

 

Not to forget Ajer too

 

Aye, very true. Who Rodgers seems impressed with.

He's assessing the squad first and foremost.

 

I'm honestly pretty happy with what we have overall, maybe need a few here and there but all in all we have a lot of quality. I think a new GK could be a thing to potentially look at, a new CB and perhaps another ST. A LW most definitely needs to be looked at.

GK : Gordon, Bailly, Fasan - Not fully convinced by Gordon as I've said before, in saying that from what I've seen of Bailly and Fasan they've failed to convince me either, I think we should maybe be on lookout for a new No.1.

RB : Lustig, Janko, Fisher, Ralston - I'm happy enough with that, good bit of depth there.

LB : Tierney, Izaguirre - Sorted, strongest we've been there for who knows how long.

CB : Erik, Simunovic, Lustig, Ambrose, O'Connell - Need to add another Toure/Duffy but overall happy with that.

CM/CDM : Bitton, Allan, McGregor, Ajer, Henderson, Rogic, Johansen, Armstrong - There's a lot to work with there, I realise for some it's not their natural position but I think some are versatile enough to play in that position effectively.

CAM : Rogic, Commons, McGregor, Roberts, Christie, Allan, Henderson, Johansen, Armstrong - Absolutely plenty to work with and quite exciting options for that area.

Wings RWF & LWF - Roberts, Forrest, Griffiths, McGregor, Christie - Some decent options but a natural LWF is clearly missing.

ST - Dembele, Griffiths, Ciftci - Now that Ciftci doesn't seem a total failure he may make a good squad player, would perhaps like to see another striker brought in.

So the point is we have plenty quality depth in our squad for Brendan to work with and I've no doubt he will squeeze everything out of them and more and they will look like different players under Brendan in comparison to Deila. We don't need that many players, just a couple of key positions filled in.

 

Still don't think Ciftci is good enough at any level for us.

 

You forgot our captain...

 

On purpose, I don't view him as a good option for the position others are competing with him for, I've made my views very clear on that.

 

What about as an option on the bench?

 

Central midfield is one area I really want us to strengthen. I'm really not convinced that despite the abundance of players we have in that are we have the quality to compete in Europe in the group stages. If we can add in another centre back, get rid of Efe and get Mulgrew tied up on a new contract I would be pretty happy with the defence, and provided Griffiths stays fit and Dembele is as good as we all hope, the forward positions are ok, if a little light on numbers. Just not convinced by our midfield at all really.

Does anyone actually know how were likely to line up?

 

Brendan.

 

He deserves a chance to prove himself under the new manager, I just don't think he'll do it. If he proves me wrong, wonderful. Going on what we've seen so far, he'll be another in a long line of dud strikers we've signed.

 

Do people sometimes still just pinch themselves that this guy is our manager? Just had one of those moments there whilst reading an article with Brendan chatting to some Slovenian coaches in his Celtic gear. Still kinda crazy he's our manager, can't wait for the season to really start.

 

BRENDEN RODGERS ALMOST CRYING
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I just watching this back and was about in tears
All that matchoman stuff (That he is good at, lol) aside, Brendan Rodgers was chocking to sing #YNWA big style, he wanted to just belt it out. I think he was holding back the tears or actually welled up at least, certainly looked like wet eyes. Had me the same.

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You just get the feeling this guy knows EXACTLY what to do, he is, his own man, he 1000% owns the football fiscal part of the club, all transfer money from fees to wages from buying and selling will have a PL stamp on it for sure, but the deal will have been done by Brendan Rodgers and his OBVIOUS ability to be a TOP CLASS manager and sell one of the most loved and supported clubs in the World, with a global market and tell or sell his ideas to players Like Moussa Dembélé, we knew this before, we have just seen him sign a top, top player for Celtic

I think when the transfer window slams closed we will have passed on several players but signed 4, maybe superb, well known players. He likes a tight/small squad but he can't build nor rebuild this in a matter of weeks. This rebuilding CAN'T happen right now, he needs to get whatever 11 players to guide us through what should be a routine win in Gibraltar then ay home in the CL, then he will pounce, if he already hasn't, at superb talent for fans to get excited about. Timing is perfect, our manager is sailing us already, not perfect, but we see more pressing. If there is to be debate on 'Ronnys version, or Lennys version of squad fitness', we must understand Rodgers demands as they are WORLD CLASS, all players who have spoken to Celtic TV are saying, almost "Its a lot harder, but very enjoyable with a good end product we can see and we are loving it"

HH
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Tonight's post match interview

 

Just as I thought, he is building from the back.

Get the defensive side sorted and the attacking side will occur naturally.

We certainly can't afford to be so open in these qualifiers again.

Lets get through them and we can worry about style later.

 

Originally Posted by Crow View Post
BR: "It's been an excellent tour for us. It's only 20 days since we have been together."


BR: "I felt we left having worked well at Lennoxtown & after this 20-day period, we now travel to our first Euro game as a team."


BR: "Been overly impressed by attitude of the players. A long way to go but for attitude & players taking this on board, delighted.



BR on @nkmaribor match: "They are a good side. Because these teams are unknown, people take it for granted you can just turn up & win."


BR: "They qualified for the #UCL and ran Chelsea close here. A good side & when they play on own ground, they are hard to beat."


BR: "I thought our players were excellent in terms of what I have seen over the four games."


BR: "We have only conceded one goal from open play over four games so our defensive organisation and pressing has become very good."


BR: "Our solidity and mentality has been excellent and that is very important to form a collective unit."
Excellent comments from brendan, especially the lower ones.

BR: "We will get better offensively as time goes on but that collective idea of defending & pressing together has been very pleasing."


BR on benefits of tour: "It's helped us enormously. The games were very important for us, another real, good test for us tonight."


BR on playing in hot conditions: "What is shows is that we have to be better with the ball. That will come over time."


BR: "Will be a tough game in Gibraltar, but we are ready as we can be. We have prepared as much as we can both on and off the pitch.

BR: "Wanyama1967 is a complete roaster though, he reminds me of fannyboy"

BR "L could be mafia"

Some good comments there, especially the last two