Please use this thread for all posts relating to our Pre-Season Friendly match against Celtic at Notre Dame University Stadium, Indiana before, during and after the game.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 21:00 hours on Saturday, 27th July 2024 (Local UK time/date)

So apparently this is their last pre-season game before the SPL starts and they beat Man City in their last game. 

Might not be a walk in the park. 

30 minutes ago, Ham said:

So apparently this is their last pre-season game before the SPL starts and they beat Man City in their last game. 

Might not be a walk in the park. 

I expect come tomorrow the sky will be falling down again. 

6 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

I expect come tomorrow the sky will be falling down again. 

Last year's tour was enjoyable and a false dawn..the year before that it was an absolute shambles and a disaster.

The Wrexham game was a true preseason warm up despite valiant attempts by some over here to "big up"  Wrexham ..."..head to head with Chelsea" etc...first half all Chelsea possession and one shot as I recall,,second half playing Chelsea shirts basically...all beneficial to the preseason conditioning etc. But not indicative of anything substantial as yet.

Once we get past the tribal victory desire the games can,,and should,, be looked upon as extended training sessions and not as competitive important match ups...hard though that may be! 

The fitness and game ready state of the long list of injury hit players from last season is a thing to look for and the sense of how the new man really wants the side to play,,the level of coaching etc etc is the crux of the tour as much as anything else.

My feeling,,humbly and possibly wrong. is that the feared "possession" based "boring" football suggested by the clever pundits will be a starting point, not the long-term end product from what appears to be a young forward-looking coach with a good learning curve behind him.

Half full.......

 

What’s happened to Jackson? Is he injured? 

Yes

5 minutes ago, Original 21 said:

What’s happened to Jackson? Is he injured? 

sprained ankle playing for Senegal 

What is strange is the absence of KDH. You would think Maresca would really want him on the pitch for these games, as he is the one that actually knows the game plan inside out?

4 minutes ago, McCreadie said:

What is strange is the absence of KDH. You would think Maresca would really want him on the pitch for these games, as he is the one that actually knows the game plan inside out?

Surely he must have some sort of knock? 

A couple of goals, some slick passing, a clean sheet and no injuries. Is that too much to ask for?

You can see the difference in the progress of the two sides preseason,,Celtic further ahead in match "slickness".

Some worrying gaps at the back when Celtic break.

50 minutes ago, McCreadie said:

What is strange is the absence of KDH. 

He's injured.

So much for a clean sheet. We look very sluggish at the back.  

6 minutes ago, chara said:

Some worrying gaps at the back when Celtic break.

Two oppo players in the box unmarked. Simple as that really.

Very sloppy defending out on the left for the goal,

This is bad. This is very, very bad. 

Badashile hasn’t quite got the hang of this playing out from the back lark. 

1 minute ago, Original 21 said:

Badashile hasn’t quite got the hang of this playing out from the back lark. 

Not sure he's got the hang of football yet tbh.

That was a hell of a save from Sanchez to keep us in it.

Not a Sanchez fan but he has done well ..that last save had me on my feet!

Too easy.

Not sure what we’ve been doing in training. But this is embarrassing. 

So sloppy at the back....this is Celtic ..not lower league Wrexham......lot of encouraging stuff up field but the back so flakey

36 minutes ago, Original 21 said:

A couple of goals, some slick passing, a clean sheet and no injuries. Is that too much to ask for?

If you was referring to Celtic, job done!