SUBS –
Brendan Rodgers manager of Celtic talks with their players before being substituted on Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock
DUNCAN IDAHO – 4/10 – Of course. Of course it had to happen to him. Showed a good bit of promise during his time on, never quite got the service to exploit. Maybe he was going to be the hero of the hour, you wondered. Then he stepped up for the multi-million penalty… Yep. All went as expected.
GREAT – 5.5/10 – I worried, but the kid was just fine. Pass marks for being unfazed and appearing lively while senior players around you seemed stoned, mostly.
THE TERMINATOR – 5/10 – Game changing? Should have been. The midfield balance in games of this magnitude requires Arne beside the Captain to offset the workload and provide an extra dimension opponents can’t contain. But we also require better deliveries; let himself down too may times, yet DID bring the dominance we needed. As someone pointed out in ratings after the first leg. Took his penalty with the arrogance and killer instinct under pressure that we required for both legs from everyone in a hooped jersey.
HIGHLAND TOFFEE – 2/10 – Luke. Don’t Luke, just hit it in the net. God damn. Big lines, fluffed.
MELLOW YELLOW – 5/10 – Another kid, another pass. Somehow also able to approach without fear, try to build, to open them up. If only it had been infectious.
Brendan Rodgers manager of Celtic Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock
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Pretty much agree with everything, but Scales was easily man of the match for me, by quite some way, and although Anthony never let us down, he never has, he was carrying an injury , and was as sloppy as the rest re passes etc.
Idah i would give a special mention to, held it up well(first who did), and tried to get us into the game.
I really don’t understand this thing about transfers, we know exactly how it works: Rogers says positions needing strengthened, the recruitment team(whoever they are)go out and find suitable candidates, and these are run past Rogers for final choice.
ps the refs were a disgrace both ties, falling for what can only be described as schoolboy antics, and acting like they’d never seen a game of football, they were literally using the oldest tricks in the book. Not only that, like last week he punished Celtic players for Almati indiscretions, in between patting them, shaking their hands and having a laugh with them, but alas he was not to blame for our shambles
The players completely bottled it, both ties, and as you say, against journeymen.
Anyone looking forward to the game on Sunday……anyone???
This was the replay of the Aberdeen cup final where the manager’s tactics were turgid and predictable. Last years signings left on the bench. The board are also culpable but an elite manager. You’re having a laugh.
The ratings and summing up are spot on
Just about spot on as always, and normally such a laugh. Just not on this occasion! I said the exact same thing in a post the other day about the definition of insanity. And yet here we are. What kind of tactic is that? Try the same thing away from home? Utter madness. And utter folly. We’ve rightly pilloried the board for lack of investment, but the Boss needs criticised for lack of invention.
This is a team that mostly also played under Ange. They know how to go on the offensive, at pace. And this is a manager who used to come out the blocks, all guns blazing (Man City 3-3 anybody?) – so it CANNOT be beyond the will of the manager or the players to conjure up a different approach, even for 1 game. All this rigid structure and style is a joke. It’s gotten us nowhere, and it’s completely strangling not just the style of the players, it’s now (clearly) strangling their confidence as well.
Calmac is clearly on the decline – pace and strength are nowhere near good enough for these games and he’s been exposed too often in Europe and in the SPL if pressured. But he could be far better utilised in a “number 8” role head up, going forward, taking chances etc, and getting more rest. The less said about Maeda’s missed chances the better. And 3 of the worst penalties I’ve seen. There are too many players bottling it not just last night but in every game – but I think the system we play is encouraging them to bottle it – so passive, so repetitive, so predictable, so unimaginative. We need a good shake up. It’s not just the Board now, it’s the Boss too, and the players. I hate to say it, but I do not enjoy watching us play right now – that needs to change. BR needs to bring back a bit of swashbuckling and in your face tempo or other teams will simply try and do the same thing that Aberdeen and Almaty have done – and so far we have no answer to that. It’s absolutely clear we have no answer unless BR changes it. Let’s see what happens against Martin Baw this weekend….
Yes tippytappy didn’t work in a lush flat Celtic park how the hell did Rodgers think it would work on a pitch thats was bumpy slippy McGregors pass back says it all what a bounce everytime we missed out a packed midfield that needy to touches to control which you didn’t get we got into good position but we kept trying to pass it in to the goals come on Brendan plan b you have players that cant think for them selves if they do likely dropped psg couldn’t pass on that pitch so why i persisted
Yes tippytappy didn’t work in a lush flat Celtic park how the hell did Rodgers think it would work on a pitch thats was bumpy slippy McGregors pass back says it all what a bounce everytime we missed out a packed midfield that needy two touches to control which you didn’t get we got into good position but we kept trying to pass it in to the goals come on Brendan plan b you have players that cant think for them selves if they do likely dropped psg couldn’t pass on that pitch so why i persisted