Celtic qualify after Astana Champions League nailbiter. What have we learned from this?

First, the good news. We should congratulate Brendan Rodgers, the players and coaching staff for a fine achievement in qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League.

The improvement over the past twelve months has been remarkable and, as we have seen against Kilmarnock twice this season, our young players are developing well.

Tough Night in Astana: But the mighty did not fall

One of the rare joys of watching football is to see young players coming through and blossoming into first-team footballers. It was what Jock Stein once described as his greatest pleasure as a manager and should be at the heart of any club’s aspirations.

It is also good business, as Manchester United illustrated with their “Class of 92”, including Giggs, Butt, Beckham, the Neville brothers and Scholes. We don’t appear to have that level of talent from the development squad, with the exception of Kieran Tierney, but it shows that even the richest clubs benefit from developing their own players.

The young signings we have made are also bringing great hope. We all know about Moussa Dembele but Olivier Ntcham is already showing signs that he may be the story of this season. Eboue Kouassi is still promising and I believe that he will also come good, but over a longer period of a year or more. The same applies to Kundai Benyu.

These two players have talent and seem eager to play but they lack the top-level experience of Ntcham.

It’s important to focus on these positives and to remember just how far we have already come before looking at negatives and the next steps that must be taken to keep making progress.

The two legs with Astana, in particular, illustrated that perfectly.

And, when I look back at what I wrote at the end of last season, it wasn’t too far off the mark. Notable exceptions were the prediction that Johnny Hayes wouldn’t sign and the expectation that Nir Bitton had played his last game for Celtic.

That may have come against Astana.

Astana are a decent team and I suspect that they will qualify for the Champions League next season and cause some scares.

We deserved to qualify but they exposed some frailties, with dynamic attacking play that we are unused to, in Scotland.

Going back to my piece about possible ins and outs, I may have to correct myself about Craig Gordon. He is a good shot-stopping goalkeeper but, despite his experience, I am increasingly concerned about the nerves he appears to display in high-pressure matches.

I thought so during the Scottish Cup Final, again during the Scotland-England international at Hampden and also against Astana.

Admittedly, goalkeepers usually need a central-defensive pairing in which they have confidence and Gordon did not have that. No blame should be attached to Kristofer Ajer but, though played out of position, Bitton again looked like the last man you would want beside you when your back is to the wall.

Nevertheless, Gordon was beaten at his near post – almost a crime for any top goalkeeper – and inexplicably parried a ball downwards in his penalty area to an Astana player, when he could have caught it.

That was self-evidently due to nervousness but will he be similarly shaky in, say, Madrid or Munich?

We also saw the other side of Mikael Lustig. Lustig is much-loved for the joy he clearly takes in playing and winning for Celtic.

But the Astana match showed again that he does not do well in frantic, top-tier games, such as in Barcelona last season. Frankly, Lustig’s legs look to have gone, after a number of serious injuries over the years.

It’s great news that Anthony Ralston has shown that he can play in the first team but, do we want to depend on him, at 18, against the cream of Europe?  Probably not, though that is also not a criticism of him.

We have a weakness at right-back that some top teams will undoubtedly test.

The centre of defence is not such a cause for concern as it appeared against Astana because Dedryck Boyata will, hopefully, be back in a few weeks. The expected arrival of Rivaldo Coetzee will bring someone who, according to reports and his history to date, should bring real quality and Jozo Šimunović is a Champions League defender.

Presuming the Coetzee deal is confirmed, he can be expected to pair with Jozo in Champions League games, due to his international experience. But Brendan would be unlikely to have any fears about placing Ajer next to Jozo for domestic matches.

So, while Erik Sviatchenko is rumoured to be on the way out, we don’t really have the defensive crisis that the Astana performance may have suggested.

Up front is a different story. Brendan quite rightly pointed out that he had had to play Champions League qualifiers without strikers, having stated previously that he didn’t sign another because it was impractical to bring in an expensive forward who would sit on the bench.

He has, as ever, a point. Preferring one forward and with goals in other areas of the team, it is difficult to keep three quality players who are vying for one spot happy. And it can be very costly.

And yet surely we need someone now, given the injuries to Moussa and Leigh Griffiths over the early weeks of the season. Wingers and attacking midfielders may know where the goal is but the runs that strikers practice, the tricks they learn and the instincts they develop over years are something else again.

Bad defenders leave a team humiliated. Bad strikers merely mean lost opportunities. So, with the price differential, it’s only natural to focus on defence. But we still need at least one more. If he is a top-class old pro who is content to play about 15 games a season, great.

If he is younger and hungrier, then we can presume that the way is being paved for Moussa to leave.

We should, though, remember that this is all, in a sense, good news.

Brendan, the coaches and players are doing an outstanding job in climbing the upward curve. And, again going back to an earlier piece, we should be looking to finish third in our Champions League group and ecstatically happy if we finish second.

The Champions League is not only awash with richer clubs but also becoming something of a clique in which strong clubs from lower leagues have gained considerable experience that we still lack.

Where we are now, fourth would be a disappointment, third an outstanding success and second outrageously dizzying, leading to new and unrealistic expectations.

An experienced civic politician once told me that there was “no comfortable plateau” on which cities could exist. They were either going up or going down.

The same could be said of football clubs.

Celtic are not where most of us believe we should be, in European terms. The corporate nature of football has ensured that TV money has made the field of play ridiculously uneven.

But enjoy the draw on Friday. We are going up.

• What now for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers? Pt 1 Legitimate goals for the season ahead

• What now for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers? Pt 2 How to make the best in Scotland better

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Echoes of the past and green shoots of trust for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic

There is something in the air around Celtic Park at the moment, for now little more than a faint aroma but it's growing.

Brendan Rodgers asked Celtic fans to trust the players after another night when questions were asked but the right answers were delivered.

Young Team: Eoghan O'Connell and Moussa Dembele

It was far from a perfect performance and there were a few players who illustrated why Brendan is still said to be pursuing four other signings – but more of them another time. This is a time to be positive.

He is right in everything he says about fans' impatience creating extra pressure and anxiety. That leads to players making mistakes and it is only natural that a manager should try to do everything to create an atmosphere that allows his team to perform at its best.

But that trust is already slowly starting to build. If Brendan doesn't realise that, he should have been around last year.

For the past two seasons, many of the same players who were on display last night screwed up almost every time they were faced with a major test.

Fans were becoming accustomed to it. But there are signs that improvement is already being made.

There is an increasing sense that the players understand what is expected of them  – both in terms of their roles and commitment – in a way that had been missing.

That lends confidence to the fans and, if understandably nervous, most seem to be getting back that sense of belief in the team.

It will take time – and consistent professional performances – to fully restore that trust but the green shoots of hope are there.

Kieran Tierney, Eoghan O'Connell and Patrick Roberts continue to impress but honourable mention must also go to Saidy Janko who showed some of the ability that caused Manchester United fans to have such high hopes for him before he was thrust into a transitional defence at Celtic.

There are areas for improvement in his game, such as his decision making, but, crucially, he looked like a player who could develop with the sort of quality coaching most of us believe we now have at the club.

And I can't be the only one to have waited for Moussa Dembele to take that penalty, thinking that we were about to witness a pivotal moment in his career.

My mind went back to the story of a 20-year-old Kenny Dalglish tying his lace before scoring a penalty against Rangers for his first competitive goal.

Kenny later admitted that it wasn't because he was cool-as-a-cucumber but instead he was taking the chance to steady his nerves.

We don't know how far Dembele will progress but we do not need to doubt his nerve on the big occasion ever again.

Kolo Toure also brought a sense of assurance to all around him although, ironically, the goal was conceded a few minutes after he went on. We seem to have a new top-drawer defensive coach but, this time, he's on the pitch – and he can play a bit as well.

But, for me, the most surprising change was in Scott Brown. I have long been an admirer and

Play it Kolo: Toure calls for calm

defender of Brown, often taking pelters for my troubles.

I was even once harangued for having mentioned him in the same article as Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard although no direct comparison was ever made.

So I was amused to read Brendan comparing Scott to Gerrard in terms of leadership and commitment to the club.

Before he took a single match, Brendan replied, “150% yes”, to questions about whether the club captain would remain. When you hear the manager then praising him for tactical understanding and playing ability that even he hadn't expected him to have, you can finally put the constant critics to bed.

Last night's was a different performance from Scott, apparently free from being the sole input of drive in the team, trying to force play with sheer energy.

He seemed to have more time on the ball than on any occasion I can imagine, no doubt helped by the improved organisation Brendan Rodgers has brought to the team.

With that, came probably his best night in terms of ball distribution that I have ever seen from him – both long and short passing with both feet, including one 35-yard pass to put Leigh Griffiths through on goal.

Brendan has said Scott can be the playmaker and – pelters at the ready, now – there were even shades of Paul McStay in his readiness to take pressure off his teammates, switch play and create opportunities.

None of this need be taken as premature predictions of greatness for the team or individual players.

What we have are signs of progress and with them, early seeds of trust. It will be continued progress that will allow that trust to grow.

And then the sky's the limit. We may even start talking about hope.
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Goodwill lost as corrupt Astana play dirty to rob Celtic of key players

For the past week, I have, I think been suitably gracious in my praise of Kazakh champions Astana, ahead of and after the first leg of our Champions League qualifier.

There are good reasons for that. Firstly, they are a good team as their home results against top-class European opposition have shown.

Secondly, the caricaturing of Kazakh people by Britain's best-loved racist comedian since Bernard Manning, Sasha Baron Cohen, with his Borat character has heaped humiliation on that nation in a way that has disadvantaged the country and, especially its young people.

Related to this is a sneaking suspicion that journalists in the tabloids that I do not read would not hesitate to big up those racist epithets with all the grace and dignity of an infant shouting, “funny wee man” at someone with an apparent physical handicap.
Kazakhstan is a nation asserting its confidence and its football teams are instruments of that.

Unfortunately, the country is also one of the most corrupt in the world.

Transparency International rates the country as coming 123rd (out of 167 listed states) in terms of above-board dealing. In other words, Kazakhstan hovers around the top 25% of the world's most corrupt countries.

Why is this relevant now? Because, when the referee was adding five minutes of injury time to a match that Astana had to win, that didn't seem to fit with the pattern of play during the match – but it would have seemed churlish to pick up on it at the time.

But when Astana are publicly issuing footage of Leigh Griffith wrestling off the attentions of Astana defender, Igor Shitov, – and claiming the clips showed a punch and red-card offence, you can tell that something from the darker side of football is afoot.

The referee on the night, allowed Patrick Roberts to be hacked down almost every time he made contact with the ball. Kieran Tierney was the subject of a ridiculous claim of a foul worthy of a face-holding.

These incidents are not coincidental. Astana identified Celtic's key players before the match and sought to neutralise them for the second leg.

In the case of Griffiths, he received a yellow card for the shoving in the box and therefore it should be impossible for UEFA to review the “incident” as if it had been missed.

But we now know the nature of Astana and, in terms of goodwill, at least, the gloves should be off.

That is to say that they will come to Celtic Park next week, where their players, staff and fans will enjoy a safe environment in arguably the best football arena in Europe.

But the underhand efforts of the club and its coaching staff should be seen for what they are – a bid to rob Celtic of our best players.

60,000 fans at Celtic Park? I wonder how the Astana players will enjoy their evening.
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Emerging talent and the first signs of Celtic improvement under Brendan Rodgers

Well, it wasn't an emphatic performance but there are reasons to be cheerful tonight after Celtic left Astana with an invaluable draw.

The last two pieces on this blog both referred to the tie with Astana and for good reason.

“Glamour friendlies” are all very well but you only had to see the half-full Celtic Park on Saturday to play the English Champions in the International Champions Cup to get an idea of the difference between real competition and exhibition football.

Managers can say what they like about playing to win in these tournaments but the smiles all round after Leicester City won the penalty shoot-out showed that only the established UEFA-recognised tournaments count in football.

So, the complaints about Brendan Rodgers being left hamstrung were well justified – it is shocking that the club had to go into such a crucial qualifier without a recognised reliable central defender.

However, amid that sort of adversity, sometimes a genuine talent emerges who would not otherwise have been given a chance. In Astana, that was Eoghan O’Connell, rightly praised for a composed performance belying his young years and inexperience.

If we could just get a mirror image of the left side of our defence and apply it to the right, we would have lot fewer nervous Celtic fans.

The other post was on how fantastic a result a draw would be against a team that Galatasaray, Benfica and Atletico Madrid all failed to beat in Kazakhstan, last season.

So, in the circumstances, Brendan Rodgers and the players deserve all the credit coming their way for achieving that at such an early stage of the season, with such frailties in the squad.

There were mistakes and nerve-wracking times – far too many – but what was most encouraging was how Celtic managed to get a grip on the match in the last 20 minutes, when previous sides would have crumbled.

In fact, it was as if the team matured before our eyes, using the ball intelligently after Patrick Roberts and Leigh Griffiths had combined to produce a goal of exceptional quality.

We've had to many European disappointments to count in recent years, so there was never a sense of the job being done until the referee's final gift to Astana of five minutes added time had expired.

But, under immense pressure, there was a self-assuredness on the ball in the late stages that surely reflected the first meaningful improvement under Brendan Rodgers and his team.

There is still a major amount of work to do against an Astana side that showed once again that the generously funded Kazakh football has arrived and will make an impact soon.

We can look forward to that day – but hopefully not for another year yet.

• No Kolo Toure but Celtic and Brendan Rodgers have a point to make in Astana

• Celtic PLC leave Brendan Rodgers hamstrung ahead of Champions League tie

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