[Official TC Thread] Celtic v The rangers semi final sun 23rd Oct

I'm kind of similar to be fair, any game at Hampden has me as nervous as I am about this one.

 

If we play to our best, there's no team in Scotland that would stop us. Even with the funny handshake crew trying their best we'd come out on top.

They tend to only make the difference when we're below par.

 

I * hate Hampden, it's cursed

 

I've never seen us win there, so I've stopped going

 

What I mean is Celtic are always a bit unpredictable no matter who we're playing at these stages at Hampden, so it's always a bit nervy. Other than that this is just against any other mid table team in terms of quality.

 

The Rangers are a world class outfit though!

 

Stay away this Sunday!

 

Id sooner have Armstrong in the centre of the park than Mcgregor, guy does nothing at least Armstrong can pass a ball side ways Mcgregor is hopeless, but fair play.

 

Oh I am, pub for me. Hampden and Champions League games I don't bother with anymore. Prefer nice chilled out saturday afternoons watching Celtic v Kikmarnock or some other *

 

That's actually exactly the same as me. I don't enjoy watching European or games against the Huns

 

Celtic should absolutely be favorites and I will think they will win but I dont think they should be 1/2 to win over 90 minutes.

(The smart money will always be where there is mismatch between price and chance of outcome. So for example lets say you knew the chance of something happening was 10/1 but you were getting 12/1 on it happening and 1/12 on it not happening. The smart money is to back the 12/1 even though you know you will only win 9% of the time.)

 

If we play to anything remotely near our potential we'll win by 3 clear goals. They are a woeful outfit, not a single one of their entire squad would get anywhere near our team. The gap (financially and quality wise) between us is bigger than the gap between Celtic and Monchengladbach.

This is the time we end our Hampden hoodoo once and for all. We're going to * annihilate them, and deep down they know it.

 

Doesn't sound like smart money to me, I mean you could probs make more winning smaller amounts the other 91% of the time. That sounds like throwing your money away hoping the bookies get it wrong.

 

Nothing indicates they're value at their price though (9/2)

Every league victory they've had this season they've scraped by a goal. Aberdeen played horrenduous and beat them. They have a leaky defence and haven't scored more than 2 in any league game this season. Add in injuries & suspensions and the fact we just dismantled them a matter of weeks ago. I just don't see how any rational gambler would view that as a value bet.

That bet wouldn't even have won last season when they were meant to have been outstanding, up against Deila's joke of a team.

Perhaps there's a bias in my view but personally I think the 13/2 available for Celtic to score 4 or more goals is a far better bet. With recent results available to back up that view.

 

This game calls for a big decision by Brendan on the complexion of our midfield.I think it is obvious that a midfield of Brown, Biton and Rogic dozen't work. Neither Rogic or Biton are workhorses, and you need at least two workhorses in the CM positions to be able to dominate a game IMO, at this moment we only have one workhorse in Brown which is too big a strain on him at 31 now. How many times have you seen infuriatingly Biton and Rogic jog and amble back into position ? That cannot be allowed to continue, especially in high stakes games like the Champion League and Cup.

If Brendan is serious about still potentially having European football after Christmas, then the time is to change the midfield is now in this Ranger's game which signifies the beginning of our quest for domestic honours.The likeliest candidates for replacing either Rogic or Biton, or both from our midfield, are Christie, Henderson and Armstrong, where you will get a mixture of work rate and creativity.

I think it would be a huge mistake by Brendan to go into this one off Semi Final with Rangers with Brown, Rogic and Biton as our midfield trio, on the evidence of Wednesday.

 

We opened at 8-11 on the High Street though so I think the smart money would have taken those prices ( depending on how much you could get on obviously.)