Match Pictures | Matches: 2021 – 2022

Trivia

KO: 15:00; Sat Game
West Ham managed by ex-Celt Davie Moyes who has done a good job there.
Friendly match, last of the summer season.
Next week is big one v FC Midjylland, second leg to guarantee Europa League group stages.
Celtic fans paid a decent farwell to Charlie Gallagher who recently passed away, his funeral was held on Wednesday past. RIP
Ajer sold to Brentford for £15m, Carl Starfelt bought for £4-5m.
Scottish indie band Mogwai (and Celtic supporters) nominated for the Mercury music awards for the first time, their 10th album. Congrats.
Celtic aim to to land a right-back to bolster his Celtic squad with George Baldock the key target
Griffiths comes on in second half and is booed by many Celtic fans due to recent
Marian Shved has left Celtic after just three appearances to join KV Mechelen on a three-year deal.

Covid

Olympics in Tokyo beginning in a very eerie situation….
Sevco fans unhappy with the decision of Glasgow City Council who have given Celtic the green light to host 18,500 fans for a friendly with West Ham United on Saturday, two hours after 8,500 fans will be at Ibrox to watch a friendly with Brighton & Hove Albion. Sevco will have 12,500 supporters for the friendly with Real Madrid on Sunday.

Summary

(JBCity of TheCelticWiki)

Bizarre as it may sound, Celtic were actually playing across much of the first half in particular, the best football they’d played in a long while, capped with a great goal by Callum McGregor which gave Celtic a deserved lead and Christie played another great game. Some good play by the attacking Celtic side.

The big problem as the scoreline showed was the defence, and sadly also Barkas was poor. It was a very young inexperienced defence and it didn’t half show, totally out of their depth and West Ham scorers had a field day.

This is not a new thing, and is legacy from the poor handover from Lennon whose defence was a shambles. Add in that Starfelt just signed and will start next weekend for Celtic and Jullien to return, not all bad, but goalkeeping is a disaster. Barkas positioning for one of the key goals lost was pathetic even for a primary school kid.

Ange is learning fast, but has already made some big changes.

Incredibly, ex-Celt Okoflex who never even won a game for Celtic, and signed for West Ham a couple of weeks back came on, and inevitably scored! It was bad.

(Twitter)

Celtic Wiki @TheCelticWiki · 9h Whatever your view on Griffiths there’s surely a consensus his continued presence at the club is, at best, hugely divisive. The club have enabled a toxic situation which could and should have been avoided. A parting of the ways is the only means to resolve this matter.

Celtic Shared @Celtic_Shared · 15h A clear message was sent to the Celtic board today. Leigh Griffiths’ presence in the team caused (and will continue to cause) distraction, toxicity and division. He is not worthy of wearing the Celtic jersey, and should be moved on immediately.

E-Tims @ETimsNet · 18h HT #Celtic 1 WH 3 Cracking start. Great McGregor goal. Eddie sitter. West Ham could/should have scored 5. Defence miles off where we should be. Don’t blame defenders. Don’t blame Ange. Blame the Celtic board. Months to fix this & we are now even weaker at the back!

Bhoys Analytics @BhoysAnalytics · 17h The fact we look likely to sign a rb on loan instead of signing a 1st choice player in a position probably gives a good indication of what’s going on behind the scenes

Chris Sutton @chris_sutton73 · 17h 6-2 once again at Celtic Park.That’s on the board not the manager…

Bhoys Analytics @BhoysAnalytics · 17h Celtic getting what they deserve here. Club was neglected and sat in the dark ages for so long. Ironic a player they refused to develop gets a goal No quick fix. Probably going to be a full year or more until this disaster is fixed

Teams

Celtic: Barkas (Bain 46); Ralston (Urhoghide 55), Welsh (Bitton 55), Murray (Hjelde 55), Taylor (Montgomery 55); Soro (Shaw 55), McGregor (Robertson 55); Abada (Forrest 55), Turnbull (Rogic 55), Christie (Henderson 55); Edouard (Griffiths 55). Subs: Doohan, Ajeti, Bolingoli, Urhoghide, Connell.

Goals:(Antonio 23 & 32, Noble 38, Benrahma 54, Bowen 74, Oko-Flex 85)
Assists:

West Ham: Fabianski (Randolph 46); Fredericks, Dawson (Alves 78), Ogbonna, Cresswell; Benrahma (Okoflex 78), Fornals, Noble (Forson 87), Bowen (Holland 87); Antonio (Johnson 71), Lanzini (Coventry 66).

Goals:(McGregor 8, Christie 50)
Assists:

Ref: Beaton
Att: 18,500

Articles

Match Report (see below)

Pictures

Match Pictures

Match Links

Match

Articles

Celtic: Ange Postecoglou’s confidence unaffected by 6-2 friendly loss

Last updated on

24 July 2021.From the section Celtic

Said Benrahma scored West Ham’s fourth in their 6-2 win at Celtic Park

Celtic’s 6-2 friendly defeat by West Ham made “no difference” to manager Ange Postecoglou’s confidence as he looked ahead to the second leg of their Champions League qualifier.

Postecoglou’s men will travel to face Midtjylland on Wednesday, with the scores level at 1-1 from the first leg.

“We knew it was going to be a tough challenge going over there,” he said.

“We saw in the first leg that we played well but it was still a tight contest. It will be the same in the second leg.”

Captain Callum McGregor scored the opener for Celtic against West Ham, but Michail Antonio’s double and Mark Noble’s penalty put the Hammers 3-1 up at the break.

Christie pulled one back for the hosts only for Said Benrahma, Jarrod Bowen and former Celtic player Armstrong Oko-Flex to wrap up a comfortable win.

“This result makes no difference to my confidence ahead of Wednesday,” said Postecoglou, who oversees his first Premiership match at Hearts next Saturday.

“It was disappointing because there were some positive things in it. But there were also bits of our game that were poor. And against a good quality opponent you get punished.

“Collectively, we didn’t stick to our task in a defensive sense. We were bright going forward and showed a willingness to play our football.

“But you’ve got to match that with the other side of the game.”

Celtic 2 West Ham 6: Big decisions, barracking for Griffiths, and beaten up defensive confidence as Londoners lash Ange Postecolglou’s men on grim afternoon

Assessments over what befell Celtic in their 6-2 thumping by West Ham will require to be reserved until their fate against Midjylland in the Champions League on Wednesday is known.

By Andrew Smith

Saturday, 24th July 2021, 5:26 pm

Updated

11 hours ago

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/celtic-2-west-ham-6-big-decisions-barracking-for-griffiths-and-beaten-up-defensive-confidence-as-londoners-lash-ange-postecolglous-men-on-grim-afternoon-3322191

There was understandable logic from Ange Postecolgou in selecting his strongest possible XI – and the one he will likely field in the Danish return when Celtic will attempt to use their home 1-1 draw as a platform for European progress. It is a side that haven’t had any real game-time together; especially green centre-back pairing Stephen Wesh and Dane Murray, In his thinking, too, no doubt would have been the desire to avoid a sore one that wouldn’t exactly build confidence.

There was failure on the latter front, and, frankly, Welsh and 18-year-old midweek debutant Murray were given the runaround by Mikel Antonio. They were simply overwhelmed by his physicality and his sharpness – even if David Moyes’ men are three weeks behind in their pre-season preparation. Despite some promising attacking play from Celtic – a brilliant curling finish eight minutes in from Callum McGregor to open the scoring, and Ryan Christie showing bravery and desire to force a head in after fine work on the flank from Liel Abada to reduce the arrears to 3-2 just after the restart- vulnerabilities at the back were sobering.

It also proved an afternoon to have Leigh Griffiths looking inward with the striker relentlessly booed after he appeared as one of the wholesale changes made by Postecoglou 55 minutes in. The jeers became so pronounced with his each touch, which told of the fans’ judgement on the allegations he sent inappropriate messages online – which police found no criminality in – they resulted in counter rounds of support-applause. It was a sorry situation but the entire afternoon provided little edifying for the near 18,000 allowed back in Celtic Park as pandemic restrictions ease.

A couple of fine early saves from Vasilis Barkas seemed redemptive following the blame heaped on him for a poor moment for Midtjylland’s goal in midweek. They were then offset by him leaving a gap for Antonio – who had waltzed round three home players to net a 24th minute equaliser – to bag his second just after half an hour. It came from Celtic losing the ball in the Londoners’ penalty area. An Ismaila Soro barge on Antonio accounted for the penalty converted by Mark Noble to make it 3-1. Following Christie’s counter, Saïd Benrahma was just too clever for Welsh and Murray in restoring the two-goal advantage. A deft flick in 74 minutes with which Jarrod Bowen beat Scott Bain for 5-2 heaped on the misery. That was completed when Armstrong Okoflex, who only departed Parkhead in the summer and was a late sub, netted with an angled drive in the closing minutes. More boos ensued, with a few also detectable at the final whistle.